I tried to ask the ex if she had any success feeding our very finicky DS3 twin #1 any vegetables. I got a "you figure it out and I'm not discussing this" response.

Soooo......

I thought I'd tap the infinite wisdom of the MB family and the experienced parents here about the subject.

I've done some reading on techniques to try and am going to give the following one a shot: chicken and veggie pancakes.

So you supposedly take pancake batter, add corn, peas, broccoli, and carrots and shredded chicken, mix it all together, and serve with maple syrup.

It sounds gross, but sounds like it might work. I will probably leave out the broccoli.

Stuff like this is supposedly the way to do it. Sneak veggies into their favorite foods and they'll get the nutrition.

So what has worked for others here?

You might find this one hard to believe but what worked for me is almost too simple... don't cook them. My kids will eat raw veggies with Caesar dip all the time. Take the same veggie, cook it, and they won't touch it. The only exception is broccoli (Unless of course I over steam them and they turn into mush).

I remember on trick my mom used for my brother and I to eat carrots. She would mash them and mix them in with mashed potatoes. We loved it.

Their favorites are carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and cucumbers.

Here's the most important thing of all...children rarely suffer long term from not eating veggies when they are young. Mine only ate carrots for the longest time. But, put out some ranch dressing or ketchup and the dipping begins! Yuck...but they do it. Also, my pediatrician said to make zuccini bread and also add some shredded carrots. To make the bread (found in any basic cookbook) you have to add alot of zuccini and they had no idea it was in there!
Remember, it's not really a big deal. They do eventually come around. And, I also learned that things they would not eat at home became very appealing at a friends house. They'd tell me of all the things they ate there and then I'd think "hey, why not for me?" So, I stopped asking and just started cooking. Once they were a little older I gave them a three month warning. When January 1 hits, I will no longer prepare several different meals for one family. Get it out of your system now, but you have three months to do so. Remember, kiddies, as of January 1...only one choice! Amazingly, this worked and we have stress free dinners!
Good luck.

Oh, and one more thing....your ex is being silly. Why can't she simply talk to you? Not mature at all!

I'm with the others - dipping is the way to go. Our DS4 will usually eat whatever veggies we give him as long as there's a small puddle of ranch or french dressing to dip it in. Of course, this kid *loves* broccoli - go figure.

get the V8 fusion juices. they have at least 1-2 servings of fruit AND veggies in them! and they taste great.

make smoothies out of them to taste like a shake. throw some ice, some vanilla yogurt, and this v8 juice in a blender with or without some frozen fruit and wallah! they get fruit and veggies in one shot in a yummy shake.

mlhb

I tried something yesterday with my 3 yr old daughter who is a Dora freak.

Lined up the food on the plate, she had to eat her way 'along the potatoe river", "through the fish filet", "over the corn cob", and that is "how we get to chocolate ice-cream bowl" (or some other treat). My 5YO daughter played the occasional role of Swiper the Fox when I sensed interest waning.

Worked brilliantly, although it is probably not something that I want to do every meal time..

I have found that if my 6 year old helps me pick out the veggies in the store (she loves to weigh them and put twist ties on the bags) and prepare them, that she is then at least willing to try them.

One trick I have found in letting her help me prepare them is to have her use scissors. She loves to cut the ends of of green beans. Also with brocolli I have her just break apart the pieces, she has fun making different sizes, some days tiny pieces other days big pieces.

Don't cook them too long, leave them crunchy. Also, my daughter will only eat green beens or broccoli with the "I can't believe it's not butter" spray. It adds to the fun factor to be able to spray it on the food.

Another veggie we have found that my little one loves is spagetti squash. You just cut it in half, clean the seeds and stringy part out of the middle (like a pumpkin), boil it until it is soft and pulls away from the skin easily with a fork, then use a fork to separate and scrape the squash out, then serve it with butter and sauce just like spagetti. My daughter loves to help make this veggie.

Basically just get them involved and make it fun! Also, what they love one day they may hate the next and vice versa, so just keep trying.

Great ideas everyone!

Thanks for the inputs.

Ex says this isn't a "parenting" issue. Somehow she files calling me to yell at me about the boys drinking bottles at my house a "parenting" issue but sharing information on what the kids do and do not eat is not.

I think the problem is that I generated the question.

Amazingly, the kids seem to have no problem eating anything at her house and eat everything she gives them. They behave like angels, float on air, perform miracles, eat all their food, sleep the entire night, never wet their beds, and never have any problems at her house.

It only happens at my house.

It must be my wallpaper colors that throw them out of whack!

I'm going to look at the V8 suggestion. They don't like regular V8, but might like the V8 splash. That's a very good suggestion.

i don't like regular v8 either :-)
the v8 fusion is awesome. and my kids drink faster than i can buy.
i also like it because it does not have any extra added sugar, just what is there naturally.

good luck!

and yes, all of our exes say the kids are just "perfect" with them.
when my ex and i first split up, i had taken something away from my son because he had acted up with me. well, i thought his father should carry that over (and if we could actually co-parent he would) because if he loses tv at my house but can watch it at dads and he happens to be going there, what kind of punishment is that? his father's answer? "he never acts up for me so why should he lose tv here?"
yea, whatever. mr. "lying cheating immoral father of the year" over there!

mlhb

Agree with previous posters--dip is good, and raw (or only slightly softened for carrot sticks) is good. Zucchini bread is great.

I also put baby carrots or squash (puree) in tomato soup for extra nutrition.

My secret weapon? Pumpkin pie filling. Look for Patty's pumpkin pudding on verybestbaking.com. I changed the recipe and dropped sugar to 1/3 cup (from 1/2), and increased eggs to 3 (from 2), b/c my toddler doesn't eat much protein either. And I bake it much longer, probably an hour. He loves it.

Martes.

Lots of good ideas. Not sure that pancake thing would work for my kids though. Sounds gross!

The best ideas: raw veggies with dip, and V8.

We call V8 "Power Juice" and H tells them how it makes them strong. They sometimes request it instead of fruit juice.

When our kids were about 3, I could hide peas and those tiny chopped carrot cubes and other small veggies in rice. Make some of their favorite rice (white, wild, whatever), add some frozen veggies and maybe some small pieces of chicken, and you have a complete meal in one pan.

Now, they don't like anything "mixed" or "combined".

Also, they like some veggies more than others. They will eat steamed broccoli as fast as they'll eat french fries. DSb likes the way H roasts asparagus spears in marinade on the grill. For awhile they liked canned green beans and canned corn. Now they prefer fresh green beans and carrots, lightly steamed and with butter.

Corn on the cob is always a winner because it's different.

Sweet potatoes are very good for you, in fact I think they are superfoods. Bake in the oven, then serve with butter and cinnamon sugar.

Baked potatoes also are good for you.

Expect something to work for awhile, then to stop working. Then switch to something else.

Oh, with the dipping sauces - go ahead and invest in tiny "sauce cups" or whatever. Or save the plastic ones from when you get sushi, or go to a fastfood place and get some of the plastic ketchup cups, etc. We use those at almost every meal - for ketchup, or ranch dressing dipping sauce, or teriyaki sauce, or bread dipping sauce (olive oil and balsamic vinegar).

The kids love having their own little cup, and putting the cup on their plate avoids drips, and is better than putting it on their plate and hearing "ketchup got on my green beans!"

Those are all great ideas. Especially the zucchini bread. You can also use a carrot cake recipe and substitute part of the shredded carrots with zucchini and substitute part of the oil needed with applesauce. This is a low fat version.
I used to work in an elementary school as lunchlady (it's a great position to work) and I made what we called "Kitchen Sink" spaghetti sauce. Using my food processor I basically made mush out of onions, red & green peppers, celery, zucchini, carrots (lots of carrots because they are sweet) and garlic. Put this into a covered baking pan with olive oil and cook for about 20 min. in a 350 oven. Then stir in tomato sauce, and some herbs. The kids loved fresh basil and a touch of oregano and marjoram. Recover and 'bake' for about 1 hour. You can add precooked hamburger or raw chicken or raw pork then also for meat sauce. Serve over pasta made of spinach or other veggies for a change and lots of colors. I make the sauce in bulk and freeze and then it can be reheated and used over large noodles like ziti for great easy lunches and finger food.
**By baking the sauce rather than on top of the stove cooking, the veggies cook slowly without burning or charring like the onions and garlic. BTW: Kids love garlic!!

How much olive oil do you use in that?

Have them help you start a veggie garden. Have them help you tend it, and watch the veggies grow, and then let them 'sneak' one right there, out in the yard, without even washing it! shhh! Turn it around into something to aspire to.

My daughter dips everything in honey mustard salad dressing.

Also, invest in one of those books that teaches you how to cut fruits and vegetables into fun shapes. If they're old enough, let them help.

Finally, do NOT offer something else in place of what's on the plate. My nephew spent his first 15 years eating nothing but nuggets and french fries cos his mother couldn't stand to see the little darlin' go hungry; so he just learned to refuse everything, and she'd run him out to McDonalds.

My D17 did that - once. I told her fine, I guess it's bedtime then. She went to bed. She got up, there was the food from last night, waiting for her. She refused it. I packed it for lunch. (By this time, MrCat was freaking out about her withering away from hunger; I told him school always offers a PB&J if you want it.) She came home, and I had the next night's meal ready, vegetables and all. She said she didn't want it. I said fine, I guess it's bedtime then. She pouted a while, and then started eating. Now her favorite foods are salad and sushi.

Okay...for enough to serve a family of 4, add 1 onion, 1-2 cloves of garlic (minced), 1/4 each of red and green pepper, 3-4 stalks of celery, 3 carrots, and maybe a small zucchini. Chop these up in food processer to mush about applesauce consistancy. Add approx. 1/8-1/4 cup olive oil so the veggies are mixed in and they won't cook to the bottom of the pan. Then after they bake/cook the first 20 min or so, add 2 large cans of sauce or 1 can sauce and 1 can chopped tomatoes. I use the petite diced tomatoes. Add any herbs. Continue cooking for about an hour. You can check it every 15 min. or so and give a good stir.
***In the summer months when herbs are easily bought or grown, they can be frozen by chopping them fine and adding a little water and putting this into ice cube trays. Pop the basil cubes out and freeze them in sealed bags. For soups, stews or sauces, just pop a cube in.

There's a cookbook out that details ways to hide veggies in food. It is by Jessica Seinfield and is called Deceptively Delicious.

What works best is continued exposure to good choices over time, and an absence of bad choices.

We've gone from Fast Food Nation, with chips on the side, at our house, to a table with 3-5 fruit and veggie choices out every night. The rule is, you have to eat a little bit of some vegetable. You can pick which one. My son is 14, with special needs, and now asks for Brussels Sprouts and Asparagus. Who would have thought?

We don't keep chips at home any more, and haven't for a long time. But there is always a bowl of fresh fruit out, and it gets used daily. (The other rule is "you can have fruit whenever you want!")

Just have the good choices available, and give them freedom to make some choices. I discovered by accident that veggies were less of a battle if I served several different kinds, but only required one choice. My son feels he is getting away with murder to leave several untouched bowls of veg on the table, and doesn't notice that he tried 2!

Also, at age 3, it is tempting to let food become a power struggle. Don't. It's much easier to be indirect and say "Do you want the asparagus, carrot sticks, or sugar snap peas for your 1 bite of veggies?" At age 3, you will absolutely win the battle by getting them to take one bite every day. After a child has tried something 10 times, they begin to like it (or at least accept it.) And they do get used to the expectation that they have to have a little bit of something every day. Shower with praise once the bite has been taken (but they don't get to spit it out or make a big huge deal about how awful it is, either.) We do let our son leave the table after he has had his veggies, if he wants (and once you have won the "one bite" battle, you can gradually increase the requirements.)

If your fridge passes the "what would Child Protective Services think of this?" test and you make the good choices freely available, your kids will be way ahead of the battle by the time they get to Jr. High.

We also have nuts, dried fruit, and string cheese and yoghurt available.

My kids were always considered kind of freaky by their friends' parents because when they went to visit ..my children would ask for salad or if there were any veggies with supper.
My DS13 has always been fond of fresh green beans with lemon juice and a touch of margarine on them. I undercook them a little so they are still a bit crunchy and he will eat most himself and we have to make sure he saves some for H and me.

I have nuts and fruit available. It's the veggies that have been a challenge.

I'm going to try that spaghetti sauce. Good suggestion.

I'm going to try giving them mixed veggies tonight and will put some velveeta on them. I hope they like it. I may also try the veggie pancakes and let them participate in making it. They might think it's fun and be more inclined to eat it if they tried making it themselves. Will canned chicken due instead of shredded chicken?

I guess I'll find out.

I'm trying to move away from chicken nuggets and have tried a bunch of different things.

They do like ham, wheat bread, yogurt, bananas, and stuff like that.

I just wish to add some variety to their diet.

Thanks to everyone. Seems like this has become quite the hot topic!