We all want to feed our little ones good, healthy food, and yet that isn’t always as easy as it sounds. As parents and carers, we play a huge role in shaping our children’s attitudes towards food but the individual child’s tastes and character play a big part too.
Take my two daughters, for instance. Our first daughter Jess is nearly nine, and will eat practically everything you put in front of her. Everything that is, except mushrooms for some reason. But overall she is an absolute joy to feed and cook for and she’s always been this way, ever since weaning. She has an adventurous and curious approach towards food and is always eager to try new things. A lover of strong, bold flavours, Jess delights in being able to eat chillies almost as hot as those my husband and I can eat.
So my husband and I were rather proud about this little foodie we assumed we had created. And then our second daughter comes along; Mia, who is now nearly six. While she will eat quite a varied diet, it is only after a great deal of coaxing and cajoling. And disguising. Mia likes meat and plain foods. Bangers and mash is one of her favourites, or a straightforward roast dinner; sweet puddings and chocolate. You can see the look of suspicion instantly appear in her eyes when I serve up anything different, or smelling of spices, or containing a heavy quota of vegetables.
Yet our children have had exactly the same influences, have grown up being fed the same foods and tasting the same tastes and yet their whole response to food is at such polar opposites.
That’s why I’m thrilled to be hosting this month’s Family Foodies challenge, calling for your favourite family recipes featuring Hidden Goodies.
While I’m not a big believer of making special food for children and would much rather they ate the same good food as the rest of us, we do need to acknowledge that sometimes children need a little extra persuasion to enjoy new foods, tastes and flavours. And yes sometimes, at the end of the day, all we care about is making sure our kids get something nutritious inside them, whether they realise it or not.
So that’s this month challenge. What are your cunning ploys and devious devices for getting some of the good stuff into your kids – be it fruit, vegetables, fibre, nuts or pulses? What are your favourite recipes containing hidden goodies? At the end of this month’s challenge, it would be fantastic to have a store of ideas to share with other parents looking for creative ideas on how to tackle this age old problem.
Win a delicious juice and smoothie recipe book
At the end of the Hidden Goodies Family Foodies challenge, one lucky winner will receive a recipe book from Passion 4 Juice, featuring an inspiring collection of tempting juice and smoothie recipes created by Trish Tucker May. Trish launched her mobile juice bar at the Glastonbury Festival back in 2003 and since then thousands of festival goers have experienced her amazing taste sensations, both here in the UK and in her native Australia.
Family Foodie Entry Guidelines:
- You may submit any recipe on your blog that fits this month’s theme, new or from the archive, and feel free to enter as many times as you wish. You’re also welcome to submit the post to other challenges too. If the recipe is not your own, please give the appropriate credit.
- Send your recipe URL to me at vanesther-at-reescommunications-dot-co-dot-uk, including your own email address and the title of your recipe or post. The closing date this month is Tuesday 28 January 2014.
- Display the Family Foodies badge (below) on your recipe post, with a link back to both Eat Your Veg and Bangers & Mash, as well as details of this month’s challenge.
- If you’re on Twitter, then please tweet your post to myself @BangerMashChatand Lou @Eat_Your_Veg and include the hashtag #FamilyFoodies. We’ll retweet all that we see.
- You may enter from anywhere in the blogosphere, and we’ll happily post out any prizes.
- At the end of the month a guest judge will choose a winning recipe. The winner will be announced in a monthly round-up of all the entries. Winners will get to display a Family Foodie Winner annotated badge on their blog if they wish and their recipe will go through to the Family Foodies Hall of Fame on each of our sites.
- All entries will be added to the Family Foodies Pinterest Group Board.
I’m really looking forward to seeing your Hidden Goodies entries!
January’s entries…
- Turkey Sliders from Mamacook
- Spinach and Potato Bites from Mamacook
- Broccoli Frittata from Mamacook
- Chocolate and Beetroot Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting from Selma’s Table
- Spicy Chicken Burgers from Caroline Makes
- Chicken Cutlets with Veggies from Happiness is Homemade
- Chorizo and Vegetable Stromboli from Utterly Scrummy Food for Families
- Smoked Mackerel Fish Cakes from Mamacook
- Broccoli, Courgette and Stilton Soup from Caroline Makes
- Veggie Sausageless Rolls from The Crazy Kitchen
- Chicken, Pearl Barley and Veggie Stew from Eat Your Veg
- Slow Cooker Turkey Supreme from JibberJabberUK
- Chocolate Avocado Mousse from Eat Your Veg
- Mini Calzones with Asparagus from My Tasty Adventures
- Avocado Oat Cookies with Raisins and Chocolate from Veggie Desserts
- Creamy Green Chicken Curry from Dip’s Diner
- Roast Cauliflower Cheese Soup from Bangers & Mash
- Lamb & Potato Bake from JibberJabberUK
- Green Olive & Date Breadsticks from How to Cook Good Food
- Parsnip, Carrot & Lentil Soup from Tinned Tomatoes
- Beef Pie with Hidden Carrot (and Other Vegetables) from Gluten Free Alchemist
- Apricot, Coconut & Plain Chocolate Cookies from Eat Your Veg
- Carrot & Courgette Fritters from The Spicy Pear
- Jerusalem Artichoke Cake from Chocolate Log Blog
- Jerusalem Artichoke and Rosemary Soup with Jerusalem Artichoke Crisps from Allotment 2 Kitchen
- Leftover Rice Balls from My Tasty Adventures
- Roast Vegetable Sauce for Pasta from Bangers & Mash
- Slow Cooker Carrot & Coriander Soup from JibberJabberUK
- Vegetarian Canneloni from Spurs Cook
- Fig and Honey Smoothie from Bangers & Mash
- Beef Ragu from Feed My Family!
Bangers & Mash 
Brilliant challenge, and brilliantly written Vanesther! I’ll be equally as excited to be making my own entries as I will be to reading the tactics employed by others. I have a similar situation to you, but in reverse. My daughter who’s 5 was tricky to wean, rarely showed any interest in food and has always been sceptical to new foods and dishes. But thankfully, she’s changed a good deal in the last few months and suddenly appears much more willing to try new foods. Phew. Her little brother was a dream to wean, always loved an enormous variety of food and flavours and would happily try anything (and usually like it). And at three and a half is virtually impossible to get out of the kitchen, wanting to watch over, stir, smell, taste, question and cut everything. And I mean everything!.
Thanks Lou. It’s funny how children growing up in the same house can have such different attitudes towards food, isn’t it? And it’s also really interesting to see how their tastes change and develop…
I really looking forward to seeing what recipes come up. I too have a fussy eater to contend with, I find getting them to eat peas is the biggest problem.
Thanks Julie – yes, I’m really excited about this challenge too. If anyone can come up with a recipe to persuade my daughter to eat mushrooms I’ll be over the moon!
What a great theme. My little boy is pretty adventurous and eats a wide variety but is not a huge fan of vegetables on their own (except peas and sweetcorn which he adores). I am therefore constantly smuggling extra veggies into all sorts of dishes and sauces. I will have to think up a good entry!
Thanks Antonia – can’t wait to see what you come up with!
I really struggle with getting my daughter (20 months) to eat anything new or healthy so I’ll be really looking forward to the roundup. She refuses to eat sauces so it’s very difficult to disguise anything.
I’m sure you’ll have a few new ideas to try out by the end of the challenge. What kinds of food does your little one normally enjoy?
I’ve added it to The Food Blog DIary for you.; Great topic!
Wonderful – thanks Jac. Had been meaning to drop you a line 🙂
Great challenge! I have a three year old daughter who is a picky eater as well 🙂 I will be posting my hidden goddies recipe soon 🙂
Ooh I didn’t realise you’d already linked them. Thank you!
Looking forward to looking through the entries. And sorry to have missed the boat – I have it all photographed and ready to blog but missed the deadline after a rather busy week! Will try to be more organised next month.
Oh no! That’s such a shame. Definitely next month!