My happy little ball of energy loves food, as long as it’s food that contains yogurt, bread or cheese. When he was a baby, I could shovel kale purees in his mouth with no problem. Now that he has an attitude and can communicate, he likes to signal ‘more, more more!’ for everything except vegetables. Today, he has managed to bypass every vegetable I’ve tried to put in his mouth. He’s napping now but I’m pretty sure he won’t be able to resist this doctored Applesauce when he wakes up.
Ingredients:
Juice of one large lemon
4 apples, cored, peeled and cut intoΒ 1″ squares
2 cups washed spinach
1 cup water
Directions:
1. Peel, core and cut the apples.
2. Double wash the spinach.
3. Add apples, lemon and water into a pan, turn heat onto medium, cover. Allow to simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until apples are fully soggy and soft.
4. Transfer apples and water to a blender (I use a Vitamix and swear by it). Blend on low until apples are fully smooth.
5. Steam 2 cups of spinach until wilted.
6. Add wilted spinach to blender and blend on high until spinach is fully incorporated.
7. Allow to fully cool before storing in glass containers.
This applesauce is sweet enough without any sugar but if you absolutely must add some, start with 1 oz. of Honey or Agave and work up from there.
We’ve had a fun weekend – lots of play time, hiking, and very little sleeping. Jamisen only napped 1 hour yesterday (eek!) and slept fitfully last night. I’m hoping for at least another hour of nap time today, for his sake!
He’s getting better with spoon skills (and yes, that’s cottage cheese, one of the Jamisen-approved food groups). And yes, he gets up so early and eats breakfast so early that it’s (sob) still dark outside.
Jamisen is all boy in so many ways, including his complete disregard for the basic laws of gravity. He has taken his far share of spills but so far, it doesn’t seem to slow him down. I hope you’re having a great weekend – and if you have any secret ways to sneak greens into toddler food, I’d love to hear it. It looks like we’ll be going the sneaky way for the next few months until he outgrows this ‘I eat only white foods!’ phase.
Going to try this with my youngest gbaby. At 16 months she’s definitely got the opinion thing going – which, btw, is *much* cuter when the munchkin is your grandchild vs your own – but is definitely an apple sauce girl.
Have you ever seen the Monkey Mike book? I’m getting it for my daughter. http://www.terawarner.com/monkey-mike
Mash turnips into mashed potatoes, works well. Also a little mind control helps. Read him Dr. Seuss Green eggs and ham. Vege lasagna can hide a lot of veges plus it has the dairy that he likes. Great idea about the applesauce. Brightly colored confetti rice and he gets to decide what goes in it. Have cooked red peppers, yellow peppers, red onions etc all cooked up and he gets to “color” his own rice.
my favourite way to hide veggies was in homemade (or doctored store bought) pasta sauce. My kids loved pasta, so I used the whole grain variety and added lots of finely chopped veggies into the sauce- you could even puree them and mix them in.
Sweet sweet sweet…and I am not talking about the applesauce. My “little” boy turned 32 last week and I’m still trying to keep him from falling . Soapmaking is fun, being a mom is pure heaven. Thanks for sharing your handsome fellow with us
Your adorable little man will outgrow this stage- eventually…..I insisted on lots of green veggies from the time my 2 kids first started eating solids. As they got older and wanted the starchy, white foods I still insisted on green to go with it. They are now teens who enjoy vegetables, especially when prepared in unique ways. One little trick that helped tremendously was when I began gardening. I grew fun veggies like Thumbelina carrots, Carnival carrots, Tom Thumb lettuce, broccoli, and cherry tomatoes to name a few. I told them they could pick and eat as they wished and they loved that! They readily chomped down broccoli and carrots fresh from the garden (washed first of course:-). There is something to love in growing what you eat. I love seeing your son’s pictures. You are an inspiration! Keep it up!
Annie
How about bringing him to a petting farm with rabbits? Or if you have a friend with rabbits. Show him the rabbits and how cute they are, and how they LOVE eating greens and carrots. Kids usually like to follow suit and start eating greens.
Sounds like a great idea. The apple skins really have a lot of nutrients. Since you’re pureeing it anyway, keeping the skins on while the apples cook will save you time and make it healthier for your little boy.
I did that last time I made him applesauce and some of the skins escaped the Vitamix and then he choked. So, I skipped it this time but I agree (!!) Very nutritious and way better for him. I’ll try it again next time. In theory, he should get better with skins and stuff any day.
What kind of apples are you using? Gala apple skins get soft a mooshy when cooked. I love using them in applesauce because you can’t even tell it has skins in it when using the gala apples.
I don’t really pay attention – isn’t that terrible? I just buy whatever looks the most delicious in the store. Good tip with the Gala apples though. I’d love to keep the skin on next time.
How about Chocolate Zucchini Bread? My mom started making it one year when we were little and the zucchini plant was producing like crazy. It is still one of the most delicious chocolate cakes I’ve ever had, and you’d never know it has zucchini in it! I don’t have the exact recipe, but they’re all over the Internet! And yes, I know it’s technically a cake, not something you’d serve every day at dinner, but still… π
We found the Vitamix was great for adding kale to a smoothie. I keep a bag of chopped kale (or collards or other greens) in the freezer. I made a yogurt smoothie with blueberries (to hide the green color), other fruit as available, and a handful of kale. Chop the kale with yogurt first, to really pulverize it, then add the rest. Works great!
My daughter also loved scrambled eggs at that age, and I always sauteed some baby spinach into them.
Or make pesto with fresh parsley and baby spinach along with the usual ingredients.
Sweet potatoes mashed with a little cinnamon, ginger, and honey.
Add carrots and your favorite green to tomato sauce.
You’ll figure out ways to add them! There are also a couple of “sneaky chef” books on the market for additional ideas. π
Good luck!
I make “Bunny Bars” for my kids – they are packed with grated carrots. It started off as a blondie recipe that I did a major overhaul on to reduce the sugar and eliminate the butter (I use pureeded beans in it, and you can’t tell).
Happy to share the recipe if you want.
Yes, yes, and yes! I would love love love to see it! Thank you for offering to share.
Great idea! Since you have a Vitamix, fruits pureed with spinach and then either some fruit juice, milk, or alternative like coconut or almond milk makes a delish smoothie. I”m sure you know that already.. π
We are HUGE fans of Hemp Milk in our house – and if you puree with a banana, you can’t even taste the greens. Kale is a slightly different story … =)
Good approach, mom. Just about the only way I could get the dark greens in my younguns was to vitamix them into something they thought was yummy, too, even the meatloaf. Take care of that golden boy.
I can’t wait until they have those little squirt packs in a refillable option so I can puree up spinach, bananas and mix in yogurt and just let Jamisen run around and squirt it into his mouth! =)