Dinnertime Deception

I can see already that my daughter is favoring my preferences at mealtime. That is, heck with these stupid vegetables, where's the good stuff??? As you can see from my last blog, that birthday cake went down easy!

I, however, am hell bent that my child will eat vegetables. The only real "sweets" I give her are fruit, which she loves, and some puffs or animal crackers. I don't think for right now that this is denying her, because she's never had the junk food to begin with, so she has no idea that she is missing it.

I try to give her a variety. I had noticed for a while that I was giving her only the vegetables I liked, not even thinking to give her other things. It was just a natural reaction. But while at In-Sung's for our play date, I tried to give her a tomato. That was spit right out. Mommy doesn't like tomatoes either. She doesn't seem to like green beans, but I love them!

I steamed some frozen green beans the other night. I then cut them up into small, bite-size pieces. I cut off a square of cheddar and melted that over the beans, hoping that would entice her. She slowly picked up a bean and cautiously held it to her mouth...she always looks at me while she does this, which I find to be funny. She then put it in her mouth and began chewing. I felt triumphant. That was short lived. She proceeds to spit the bean out, but has managed to suck the cheese off of it. She continues this pattern with the rest of the beans. Sigh.

My next good plan was to offer her the steamed veggies that Green Giant makes that steam in the microwave and that are seasoned. I prepared the broccoli and carrot combo in its seasoned sauce and cut some up into tiny Claire-sized bites. She took some, spit it out. Took more, spit it out. She normally does pretty well with carrots and broccoli. It didn't help that she was overtired. Then she just wanted to fling it all off of her tray. That was the end of that meal.

FINALLY I scored...puree them and mix them into something she likes. I know this is a fairly common trick, but I was hoping she'd just like the vegetables by themselves. No such luck. So last night I steamed some more Green Giant veggies..edamame, snap peas, white beans, carrots. I threw them into the baby food processor with a little water and buzzed them into puree. I cracked an egg into a bowl (I like Eggland's Best), added the puree, and beat it slightly. I sprinkled a little organic shredded mild cheddar into this mix and scrambled the egg on the stove. Claire really likes eggs. She gobbled almost all of her veggie egg up! Now I'm inspired. I think tonight I'm going feed her some chicken breast (another Claire favorite), which she loves, and use the puree as a "sauce." I can also start pureeing cauliflower and squash and other such vegetables and mixing them into mac and cheese and mashed potatoes.

Hey, Mom's gotta do what a Mom's gotta do.