My kids are older teens now and eat everything including salads, but it took many years. Vegetables introduced on pizza (spinach, mushrooms, onion, olives, broccoli, artichoke) rose to the top of the willing to try list. Also - salads that included sweet fruit items like pears, apples and cranberries were some of the first that they seemed to enjoy. Don't give up - as they get older their tastes will continue to develop.

Anonymous wrote:I can't get over kods liking ranch dressing- is it full of sugar?

Not usually. We made it in a kids cooking class recently and the kids loved it. This is what was in it: sour cream, mayonnaise, buttermilk, garlic, assorted herbs based on kids' preferences (chives, parsley, etc). It's all fat.

I'm very sympathetic. One idea is to go to the farmers market this summer-there's usually someone with a wide range of greens that will let you sample them. It's sort of fun like a frozen yogurt shop. We did this and my DD decided that pea shoots were not terrible. So we used that as a gateway green. I personally think romaine and iceberg lettuce taste awful, so don't blame any kid for not wanting to eat them. Some of the other weirder greens actually have a better flavor.

She also will eat broccoli lightly steamed with butter, Parmesan and a squeeze of lemon; green smoothies with a ton of lightly steamed baby spinach, yogurt, banana and mango; certain brands of frozen peas.

Things that I think my kids should like but they don't: shredded broccoli/ramen salad; roasted Brussels sprouts with maple mustard sauce; homemade kale chips; beet/carrot fried pancakes (like latkes but with beets and carrots).

I can't get over kods liking ranch dressing- is it full of sugar?

Have you tried unconventional ingredients you can top the salad with?
olives
hearts of palm
pickled beets
all colors of peppers
avocado
sunflower seeds or nuts or sesame sticks
fruits - apple, pear, mandarins, pineapple, grapes

Dressings:
a sweet cider vinaigrette
catalina - a perennial kid favorite
mild ranch

As for a base, would your kid be up for a taste test greens such as romaine hearts, shredded iceberg, kale, baby spinach, mixed greens, broccoli slaw, etc...? My kid like bibb lettuce best - of course, it's most expensive!

Maybe it works better for a little kid, but have them help you make the dressing with something they like? Like lemon or raspberry or goat cheese.

My kid likes ranch, but since he likes lemon he started making a lemon vinaigrette and that is (sometimes) acceptable on what ever vegetable is acceptable that week. Usually cucumbers or tomato. Occasionally lettuce (but only iceberg).

Anonymous wrote:My 9 year old DD eats salad and she particularly likes spinach leaves too. She doesn't put dressing on them - only if she's ordered a cesar salad in a restaurant and it already has it.

She'll put the leaves in a sandwich with peppers and mozzarella.

Maybe try that?

NP. That is a great idea to incorporate salad into meals by making sandwiches that use them. Or even things like tacos or burritos, like Chipolte or Moe's. Sometimes to move a step forward you have to take a step or two to the side.

My 9 year old DD eats salad and she particularly likes spinach leaves too. She doesn't put dressing on them - only if she's ordered a cesar salad in a restaurant and it already has it.

She'll put the leaves in a sandwich with peppers and mozzarella.

Maybe try that?

My kids like salads (so much that we often have a salad main course), but a key reason is they really like lettuces and spinach leaves. If your kids do not like lettuces, then you could try using broccoli slaw as a base, or just offer various raw veggies out in bowls but not in salad form.

We leave grapes, sugar snap peas, carrots, celery, baby tomatoes, cut jicama, fruit salad, whatever, on the dining room table. If it is sitting out, the kids tend to graze on it.

OP: does your daughter *want* to eat more vegetables? Is she feeling self-conscious because her friends comment that she doesn't and she just can't get past the taste or her aversions? Or is this about your concerns for her nutrition/eating habits?

I ask this because my daughter has a feeding disorder, which means I've had the chance to learn a LOT about what others see as "picky eating." The good news for you is that kids who have limited diets past toddlerhood generally start expanding and adding new foods once they hit the tween/teen years. Why? Because if you are physically more sensitive to the taste of certain foods, the only way to get past that is to be exposed repeatedly (this is why they tell you, when you're feeding a toddler, that you have to give them a food 10-15 times or more). But if you physically perceive a food as unappealing, you have ZERO motivation to try it over and over until you get used to it, and maybe even realize it's kind of good.

So where does that motivation come from? Peer pressure. Going to sleepovers, summer camp, school lunch, birthday parties, etc, where others are eating those foods and *not* eating them will make you look weird or immature. So you grin and bear it, choke it down, and sometimes you discover it's actually not that bad. Poof! New foods--maybe even vegetables.

For all of us, but especially tweens, where does motivation *not* come from? What someone else wants us to do, or what someone else wants for us.

Keep serving vegetables, sans comment, at meals if you enjoy them. Make sure your daughter takes a multivitamin. Believe that she can be trusted to become a healthy eater if she's _not_ pushed, as opposed to if you assume control of her diet and intake. You might be surprised what happens in the end.

My 11 year old loves salads. He loves a cesar salad, if we are out he'll usually order one. At home I usually use iceburg (his favorite lettuce), needlestick cut carrots (i buy them pre cut like that or I just use my cheese grater if I have whole carrots), sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, some type of crouton. For dressing his favorite is Newmans Own Seasame Ginger. Kens also makes one he likes that's called Asian Sesame Soy Ginger, they taste the same.