My 11yo son isn't a picky eater so salads and veggies aren't too big of a deal, but I try to get him to make suggestions what vegetables we will add to salads or what vegetables we will buy for dinner. His favorite salad has mixed greens or lettuce, cucumber (kirby), sweet onion, cannellini beans, and homemade Italian dressing. He'll also eat Greek salad without olives, feta and tomato and he also likes Caesar salad.

Also, when we have parties or when it's a holiday I always make an awesome veggie tray with ranch or dip. He's gotten to where he associates the veggie tray with celebrations, so when we've had nights where I'm scraping together items to pull together a dinner meal, he really enjoys the raw veggies on a plate as a side dish.

Can you do something like an orzo salad so they think they're eating more pasta? What my mom did was dice veggies (red, yellow, + orange peppers and broccoli), toss it with the orzo with a lemon vinaigrette, add in some pine nuts, and voila!

So our kids have always eaten salad and fruit and veggies. For a while, though, about 5 years ago, we had a neighbor's child for 2.5 months while the parents were back 'home' dealing with a family issue. That child would not eat a fruit or veggie to save her life or mankind. I tried everything. Our 5 kids tried everything. We all thought something horrible had happened to her when she was a kid that she wouldn't eat anything except starches, meat and breads.

But one day I had a tub of cherry tomatoes on the counter and I had poured some blue cheese dressing into a little gravy boat as I got ready to made the dinner salad. I was hungry so I grabbed a cherry tomato, dipped it in the dressing and ate it, saying something like 'Oh, that hits the spot. It's so good'. The child leaned over an started pounding away on the cherry tomatoes, dipping them in to the blue cheese dressing. She ate the entire carton and ALL of the dressing I had put in the gravy boat. The rest of her stay that was the only fruit or veggie I ever saw her eat (and you can believe I tried every tactic I could think of to scaffold her over to other foods). So I kept the kitchen well stocked with cherry tomatoes and blue cheese dressing.

The only thing I -did- begin to do was to bake a lot more and 'hide' veggies in the baked goods (chocolate cupcakes with zucchini in them, chocolate brownies with kale or spinach or something - which were as horrible as they sound, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with carrots in them, etc.). To this day that child still won't eat fruits and veggies as far as I know.

OP, I don't know what to tell you except, good luck. I think some people like veggies and salad, and some don't.

Try something simple - nothing not to like - romaine salad (no super green leaves just the light ones), tomato, cucumber, and Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing. If she eats that, then you could add things that kids like: bacon, dried cranberries, black olives, etc. Kids also like the iceberg lettuce mixes in a bag -- it's a start.

My kids LOVE Caesar salad. Not the healthiest choice, but it's salad.

My girls love salad, but they also mix in a ton of shredded cheese. That makes a big difference. Plus, I throw in some blueberries or strawberries to add a little bit of sweetness to it instead of dressing.

What about soup? They ARE high in sodium but if you get one high in fiber and vegetables that can be a good start. Souper girl in Takoma Park has a few choices and they sell two at Costco.

How about kale or nori chips? My kid inhales these and his friends fight for dibs when he brings them to school. Weird, but true. You can get them at WF or the Asian market. It started by sprinkling furikake (roasted nori bits with other herbs/spices) over rice.

Apart from roasted veggies, DS will only eat veggies raw and without dressing. The one small, recent concession is a tiny bit of shredded greens mixed into empanadas.

Anonymous wrote:When I was a kid/teen I got to choose 3 things I "hated" and my mom wouldn't make me eat them. Mine were lima beans, brussel sprouts, and asparagus. Anything else I had to eat. My 13-YO now lives by the same rule - I had her write a list of fruits/veggies she will eat (and how she likes them prepared) and keep it taped in the pantry. If she then tries to tell me she suddenly doesn't like something, I show her the list that we agreed on and she eats said fruit/veggie.

Make her eat some veggies!

same here, but the list includes 5 things.

A girl thing? Uh...

My kids both love the sweet kale salad from Costco. Shredded kale, broccoli, cabbage, with dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds in poppy seed dressing. They'll both go back for seconds.

Does it matter to your DC if the veggies are fresh or cooked? My DS only eats raw veggies and a pretty decent variety: broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado. He will eat cooked tomatoes in sauce, everything else he only eats raw/fresh. So, that is was I give him on the side with lunch and dinner. Doesn't like squash, lettuce, so I just don't serve it. I noticed in previous posts that many children preferred roasted veggies, but mine prefers fresh, so maybe try both and see if your DC has a preference?

BTW, does anyone know if kids need to eat both cooked and fresh veggies for nutritional purposes, or if one or the other is sufficient as long as they are eating them at all??

My kids get a customized side 'salad' every night at dinne. Basically it's a bowl of carrots, sugar snap peas, cucumbers, and/or avocado. One of mine will eat sliced peppers too, and a token piece of lettuce. Sometimes they'll add dressing (most often ranch), but more often they eat them plain.

We do the personal salads so we can relax about other veggies. Maybe you could insist your daughter pick two (carrots and something else) and always have those as a side?

Steamed green beans and roasted veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, winter squash, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts) are enjoyed by one of my kids and tolerated by the other. Also grilled asparagus and grilled beets. Interestingly, my kid who only tolerates the cooked veggies is the one who regularly eats big quantities of a select few raw veggies.

Mine like deconstructed salad - even in their teens they don't love stuff to touch. So I have salad but they have separate lettuce, green peppers, carrots, etc and I do give each the veggies they prefer. Only one of my DS likes cooked veggies - the other only likes raw. Just keep trying until you find one or two your kid will eat. I don't make special dinners but I do give everyone the veggie they will eat.

I have 2 boys 10 & 7 and we eat a dinner salad (not a side salad) at least 2xs a week. Greens with cucumbers, avocado, red bell, zucchini, red onions, and then a protein. I make a homemade dressing, usually something quick, lemon OOV, mustard, honey and toss it all in. Only special thing I do is chop all of the vegetables up very small. They will eat the veggies when it is small and they still do not realize that I have zucchini in there.

I will say though, I've been doing this forever. I lost about 45lbs about 6 years ago and radically transformed the way I eat. I have absolutely no time or desire to be a short order cook, so for the last 6 years they have had to eat what was put in front of them. There are no snacks whatso ever after diner and they only get a snack after school. so they come to dinner very hungry and will leave hungry and go to sleep hungry if they refuse to eat what I've prepared.

When I was a kid/teen I got to choose 3 things I "hated" and my mom wouldn't make me eat them. Mine were lima beans, brussel sprouts, and asparagus. Anything else I had to eat. My 13-YO now lives by the same rule - I had her write a list of fruits/veggies she will eat (and how she likes them prepared) and keep it taped in the pantry. If she then tries to tell me she suddenly doesn't like something, I show her the list that we agreed on and she eats said fruit/veggie.

Make her eat some veggies!