Getting Kids to Eat Veggies

• Need some good veggie recipes kids enjoy
• Preparing cruciferous vegetables
• Related page: Vegetarian Families

Need some good veggie recipes kids enjoy

February 1999

At the risk of sounding hokey, but in the interests of getting my kids off to a healthy start, I'm trying to track down the following. Any and all recommendations would be greatly appreciated:
1. great vegetable recipes the kids will enjoy
2. good vegetable cookbooks and/or websites with good recipes, esp for kids/families
3. the name of a local nutritionist with whom we could work as a family to help us prepare delicious, healthy meals and who could help educate us about making healthy food choices. Thanks so much, Deborah

Michele Vivas, at the Tang Center, is a clinical nutritionist and exercise physiologist. She is very knowledgable, practical and funny! I highly recommend her and her class, Healthy Lifestyles, offered through Tang. Debbie

Deborah, I'd highly recommend the book Feeding the Whole Family: Whole Foods Recipes for Babies, Young Children and Their Parents by Cynthia Lair. The author is a nutrition counselor who has written articles ocassionally for Mothering Magazine. The book mentions their website: www.feedingfamily.com but i haven't checked it out. I couldn't find the book around anywhere, but Diesel Bookstore on College Ave. in Oakland ordered it for me and had it in less than a week. (please support local bookstores instead of buying online!) It's a vegetarian cookbook that includes sections on why feed your family whole foods, well balanced family meals, why buy organic, and how to make changes. Recipes are divided into the following sections: bustling breakfasts, lively luchboxes (this section had indeed livened up our lunchbag/lunchtime repetoire), soothing soups, substantial suppers, vital vegetables, fresh breads and muffins, sauces and stuff, wholesome desserts and natural drinks and brews. There are also sections on starting your baby on whole foods, attracting your children to healthy eating and basic grain and bean cookery. you don't mention how old your children are, but each recipe is followed by sections for babies 6 months and older and for babies 10 month and older. The idea is not to cook separately for the babies, but to adapt what you are making for the family. My partner, our 10 month old and I have loved everything we've tried from this book. It's easy reading and the recipes are very straightforward. Most of them don't take too much time. We've had to add some staples to our pantry like umeboshi vingear, mirin and a few other things. This book has made it easier for us to eat healthy, tasty meals. buen provecho. Susan

the cookbook vegetarian coking for everyone by deborah madison is the best cookbook i have--it is a vegetable primer with excellent, tasty recipes. Gaeblers

There is a good cookbook for infants and young children called Mommy Made and Daddy Too by Kimmel and Kimmel. It offers lots of interesting vegetarian recipes (although not a vegetarian cookbook). Happy cooking. bonnie

There are many vegetarian web sites which would be a good source of vegetable recipes. Many restaurants with web sites put on some of their recipes, so if there is a place you like to eat, check to see if it has a web site. As for a good general cookbook with healthy, kid-friendly recipes, try Jane Brody's Good Food book. Some web sites you might try are:
Vegetarian Resource Guide http://navigator.tufts.edu/general/vegetari.html Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) http://vrg.org/ Vegetarian Times http:www.vegetariantimes.com/index.html Fatfree - Low Fat Vegetarian Recipe Archive http://www.fatfree.com/ Center for Science in the Public Interest (not vegetarian; has a kid's site) http://www.cspinet.org
Eleanor