Toddler going off veg

[Zooropa]

except peas!
He was blw and we have tried not to ever pressure him with eating - he's always been a fantastic eater though so that's not hard! But now he's really going off veg. I've read extracts form "my child won't eat" and I know that he says not to worry too much - but should I be trying to make veg palatable? If so any ideas - I'm not the most creative cook!

thanks

I remember once my eldest 2 saying they didn't like peppers when they saw me preparing them for dinner. I waited until they left the room and then whizzed the peppers in the blender with some cheese and milk. They had 2-3 helpings.

I often puree veg and add it to other stuff -She loves pasta and rice so often puree the veg we are having and mix it through.

ALso... we've been experimenting with nuggeting.... Dip in egg then breadcrumbs [usually crusts from sandwiches and ends of bread in food processor - do big batch then freeze] We started with chunks of turkey, chicken, fish and am now trying veg....

Also, grated carrot, swede, potato, squash etc mixes well with mince in shepherds pie, lasagne etc.

Also cauliflower cheese, with peas in.

Sorry, what is blw?

ahh... baby led weaning

I don;t know, does he like fruit? We can;t ehlp but worry eh.

How old is he? Little Ff went from fantastic with everything, then hit about 14 months and started rejecting anything that wasn't rice, pasta, cheese or weetabix. I largely ignored the fussiness, and carried on serving meals as I did before. She's now 20 months (Jesus, I can't believe she's that old!) and eats everything again. Could just be a phase. I second the suggestions of whizzing up or grating veg into stuff, just for your own piece of mind.

DS goes through phases of not liking veg much. He always likes cauliflower cheese and I add other veg to that (often brocoli so he gets some green veg)

I also do a great pasta sauce with tons of veg blended into it. I use it as a topping for pizza too.

Home made veggie burgers are also good.

He's just getting into soup now too and will also eat things dipped into houmous that he wouldn't otherwise try.

My DS ate anything until about 14 months then went quite fussy and would only have peas, sweetcorn, spinach (cooked and mixed in with stuff, not on its own or raw) and tomato sauces. At one point he even started picking the spinach out of things which got me worried as that had always been a big favourite.

My tricks are:

• soup: mostly blended but sometimes fine chunks. DS sometimes uses spoon but mostly uses bread to soak up the soup.
• risotto: will eat lots of veg if finely chopped into a risotto
• add extra veg to sauces: e.g. we make tomato sauce with a base of carrot, celery and onion just to up the veg quotient and he will eat that happily enough.

I never worried too much as he loves fruit.

As with FfFf I have never pandered to his tastes, always served stuff up on the plate and never offered something else so he gets used to the fact that there are many different veg in the world and he doesn't always get his favourites.

But now 19mo and I think we are seeing light at end of the tunnel - back on spinach, recently ate finely chopped carrot in a stew and a few days later had 3 big chunks of carrot as a side, he ate a single green bean the other day (always loathed them!), and he nibbled on a raw leaf of spinach this weekend and also finally eating red pepper in a risotto which he has always picked out more.

I just re-read my post. I meant, of course, PEACE of mind, not piece of mind.

Cheers everyone. Some really useful stuff here. Yes he does like fruit, not all of it but he loves blueberries, grapes, melon, pear and banana, so I suppose he's getting lots of nutrients from these. He's 16 months.
I will try some of these veg ideas. With the nuggeting, how long do I cook them then - I'm assuming in the oven? (sorry I'm not a great cook!) Also I'd love a pasta sauce recipe, they sound great.

thank you.

Pasta sauce recipe is basically bung a load of veg (peppers, mushrooms, courgette, onion, garlic...whatever's hanging around in the fridge) into a pan, fry for bit in oil, add a tin of tomatoes and some herbs. Cook until all veg is soft, then blend.

It's a bit cheeky calling that a recipe really! Last time I made it I also added a few red lentils.

It's quite a good way of using up veg though and if you add some stock, you can even call it tomato and veg soup!

i was thining about my other tricks with DS last night and came on to boast about amazing lentil pasta sauce but sounds like i'm not the only one who does it and i'm just borntofolk's copycat

I do an onion, a stick of celery, a carrot, a red pepper, good slug of red lentils, tin of tomatoes and some veggie stock. blend when cooked (lentils need to be soft and mushy). yummy! freezes well.

it's adapted from a recipe for a tomato lentil dip in "finger food" by jennie maizels which has some great ideas.

try corn on the cob - it's so tactile and interesting for a toddler and he may not realise it's veg. my DS loves this slathered in butter and will eat a whole cob if given the chance!

also remember that baked beans count as a vegetable (although best with lower salt/lower sugar ones)

does he like omelettes? i chop veg up finely and mix into an omelette. similarly veggies in a cheese sauce stuffed inside pancakes works a treat.

good slug? i have no idea what i meant there i meant good handful!