Green Food

[3at50]

Help! I have just taken charge of a 3 year old under a Special Guardian award. She generally eats very well and loves fruit. But does the all too usual thing of turning her nose up at green food! My partner and I have an incredible good diet with little meat, home grown veg and nothing pre-prepared. Any suggestions as to how to get her to eat her greens greatly appreciated please. Thanks

soup- pureed so no bits detectable

mixed in with mash (colcannon)

as salad with nice dressing

to dip in hummus

what is a special guardian award please?

Hi Shallishanti

It was pureed soup that turned her right off. We've had a living salad tray in kitchen and she has told me at least 3 times she's not going to have any, even though it hasn't been offered. Colcannon is a good idea - and one of our favourites too.

A Special Guardianship award is like adopting only for family or friends of the child, so it is for life. I am her great aunt.

I don't agree with disguising stuff really. If she likes fruit and eats a variety of other things she's not going short on nutrition. Start with a few peas or a tiny piece of broccoli on the plate, tuck happily into yours, ignore what she's eating completely and, if she leaves anything behind, no fuss. If she tries the green things .. big praise.

I think I got the idea from Nigella but we do "green eggs and ham" like the Dr Seuss book which is finely chopped spinach in an omelette (and a slice of ham).

I also finely chop spinach and broccoli and put it in cheese sauce with pasta.

I would also recommend tenderstem broccoli as it's very sweet and nice and easy to eat - maybe that would be good to try just as it is (or even to dip in ketchup, mayo whatever sauce she likes).

What Cogito said.
It may be unfamiliarity or it may be that she really doesn't and never will like greens. If it is unfamiliarity just stick small amounts on her plate regularly: I think that I read it takes 17 tastes before something looses it's novelty. Never make a fuss. As long as she's eating a variety of stuff she'll be fine.
..and mild curry: mine between them will eat almost everything normally, but absolutely everything in a mild curry (tomato based) sauce.
My eldest stopped eating some veg at 3 due to peer pressure at nursery (sigh) but would eat anything labelled dip: she had foods she liked to dip into foods she wasn't sure about, and it worked well.

Try and make any new food a treat, rather than an experiment, so 'I've got some of my very favourite food today as a treat. I can give you a taste but that's all as it's so lovely' etc etc. A warning though: my brood will now order anything they have never had before off a menu, which makes eating out a very expensive rarity

Reading the post above reminds me that Nigella made green cakes instead of fishcakes: I think it was peas and broccoli in a fritter, which her children liked.

Have you seen the I Can Cook programme? It's a Cbeebies series with pre-schoolers cooking. They have a series of books, one of which is called 'I can cook from the garden' which is full of recipes from home grown produce that tiny children can make themselves (scissors instead of knives etc). Something like this might pique her interest?
www.amazon.co.uk/Can-Cook-Garden-Kate-Morris/dp/0600624064/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1393792248&sr=8-2&keywords=i+can+cook+cook+book

if she has just come to you there may be other things going on and food is just a vehicle? do you know what she used to eat? they may have advice on the adoption/fostering threads
spinach and potato fritters
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/feb/16/nigel-slater-five-fritters-recipes

Thanks all, very good advice and gives me plenty of ideas to try. Also succeeded in getting her to eat peas and broc by smothering it in butter! She's my great niece and a total addiction to butter runs in our family!!

You are right, she is working through many issues, so I know I have to go easy on her, but they too easily get entrenched in a pattern if you are not careful, so there is a bit of starting as we mean to go on.

On to tackling a flat refusal to try potty training ...

Cheers
3at50