1 Cup of Vegetables
1 cup can come in the form of:
- 1 cup broccoli (raw or cooked)
- 1 cup cooked greens (like collards or spinach)
- 2 cups raw spinach
- 2 cups raw lettuces like Romaine and escarole
- 1 cup of sliced or chopped carrots (raw or cooked)
- 2 medium carrots (raw or cooked)
- 1 cup cooked, mashed pumpkin
- 1 large baked sweet potato
- 1 cup cooked squash
- 1 cup cooked beans
- 1 cup tofu
- 1 cup or 1 8-inch ear of corn
- 1 cup green peas
- 1 cup mashed potatoes
- 20 french fries
- 1 medium baked potato
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 1 cup chopped cabbage (raw or cooked)
- 1 cup cauliflower (raw or cooked)
- 1 cup chopped or 2 large stalks celery (raw or cooked)
- 1 cup cucumbers (raw)
- 1 cup green or wax beans
- 1 large or 1 cup chopped red or green pepper (raw or cooked)
- 2 cups chopped iceberg or head lettuce
- 1 cup raw or cooked mushrooms
- 1 cup chopped onions (raw or cooked)
- 1 large whole or 1 cup chopped tomatoes, (raw, cooked or canned)
- 1 cup tomato or vegetable juice
If you've ever watched Rachael Ray, you probably know she loves throwing out tips as she's cooking. Time and time again, she talks about washing and prepping your vegetables as soon as you get them home from the grocery store. (That's probably how she can cook anything in half an hour or less.) I have been doing this for over a year now and it makes a difference. I used to let vegetables rot in the fridge when pressed for time or tired and I didn't feel like standing around chopping. Now I just toss the already prepared veggies into a stir-fry or casserole and I'm done.
Something else I do is use a chopper I got eons ago from Pampered Chef. (I recently saw a cheaper version of this at Wal-Mart.) It doesn't require me getting out a giant food processor or attachments and it can actually be operated by your toddler (with supervision, of course). It finely chops vegetables, so I store these in baggies and toss handfuls of carrots, onions, celery and squash into rice and pasta as they cook. If you're making canned soup, add some of these chopped veggies and extend the cooking time by a couple of minutes. It's an easy way to add vegetables to dishes where they weren't before.
Kids in this age group usually aren't big fans of things like spinach, kale and other greens. I've found that chopping these up very fine and adding them in the last minute of cooking soup works.
You may have heard about or read books that involve pureeing vegetables and hiding it in foods your toddler regularly eats like macaroni and cheese or meatloaf. I don't have a problem with this at all. My mom used to do it all the time. Only it was more to extend the expensive meat or cheese in a recipe that she was making to feed our very large family. We knew she was doing it and we were served other vegetables as sides. There was nothing sneaky about it and if you're going to start adding pureed vegetables to your toddler's other dishes, I recommend full disclosure. It's good for kids to learn that there are lots of different ways to eat any one food. They may not like cole slaw, but they may love cabbage sauteed with some a little olive oil and smoked sausages. They may not like big chunks of butternut squash, but may love that same vegetable pureed and used as ravioli filling or sauce.
Of course, the best way to get kids to eat their vegetables is to let them see you eating your vegetables. If you try serving your kids broccoli and you're eating french fries or nothing at all, they know the difference. All this modeling counts toward the exposure your child is getting to vegetables, too. Did you know that it can take exposing your child to a vegetable up to 50 times before they're fully comfortable with it and can say they like it? Keep that in mind for regulars like broccoli, for sure, but also for veggie oddballs like Swiss chard or fennel that don't get much as much play.
Source: United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition
