Kid Friendly Salad

Am I the only mom in a constant struggle to get more veggies into my kids? I feel like it's a never ending battle. My kids are SO picky. I heard a mom say the other day that her child would eat anything put in front of him...brussel sprouts, broccoli, just whatever. Well, I have had no such luck with any of my three children. My middle child is better about trying new things than my other two, but there is still no lovefest with vegetables going on around here. That's why I try to be a little creative at getting them to eat more. Especially greens.

My family, and this includes myself, prefer raw vegetables over cooked. This means that we eat a lot of salads. However, my kids' version of a salad is generally iceburg lettuce, cucumbers and carrots. And cheese. My oldest will drown everything in cheese if I let her.

I decided to change things up one night. I put the things I knew they liked in a salad on a plate, but I also placed some different things on there too. (I also had a few other things in separate dishes, like cheese, mandarin oranges, raisins.) I let them prepare their own salads. They thought it was very odd that I had chicken and potatoes and boiled eggs on the plate, but I told them to just give it a try. I didn't force the issue or make them choose everything. The plate looked so pretty, I sent a picture to my sister. She responded with "are those chicken nuggets?" Why yes, yes they are. I knew I had to start things off with things they already liked. Grilled or boiled chicken would not have gotten a good response, but I'm working up to that!

My kids devoured their salads! They were much more adventurous when preparing their own salads than had I done it for them. My son wouldn't eat the potatoes or eggs, but even he did better than I expected. Next time, I'm adding even more variety and see how it goes.

Are your kids good veggie eaters? If not, how do you get them to eat more or try new things? I'm open to suggestions...my 6 year old is my pickiest kid yet! {Of course, he did actually try something new the other night...he put hamburgers in gravy on a bun and called it a crabby patty! But hey, at least he ate it. First time ever eating any kind of hamburger!)

By the way, chicken nuggets and potatoes are actually really good in a salad :-)