I got my kids to eat spinach

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Ive been worried about my kids eating habits for some time. I know there is a thread about this very same thing. I have been searching for ways to sneak things into the foods my kids eat but nothing has been successful. I have tried the "just taste it" thing and the "you used to love this when you were a baby" but I have been making two meals for a long time. My older daughter, who turns 19 on Saturday, was also a very picky eater. Oddly enough all three of them have been diagnosed with ASD. My youngest, my autie, actually eats better than my Aspies. I also have Asperger's but I have always loved food....I guess its one way or the other.
Anyway, I decided to buy a high powered blender. Im not advertising but I will tell you guys if you consider this to get the Omni Blend It is far cheaper than the other two comparable blenders the Blendtec and the Vitamix (I read a lot of reviews that said the vitamix falls apart after two years of use) and it also had much better reviews than both. Its really easy to use, you just throw in fresh fruits or veggies and it liquifies them. So I made a green smoothy (we made this one up ourselves but there are many different recipes) with frozen banana, kiwi, plain yogurt, a bit of orange juice, some watermelon and two handfuls of spinach. They loved it and asked for more. Im amazed!! !! I thought it tasted slightly grainy from the kiwi seeds so If we use kiwi again Ill leave it on longer. Anyway, just an idea for anyone struggling....if nothing else you can use the blender for yourself and if you cant get the kids to drink the green smoothies you can at least get some fruits and yogurt (even soy yogurt if no dairy) so they get some protein and fruit. There are recipes all over the web and I also bought an inexpensive ebook for the blender, its about eating a raw diet but it has really good recipes for soups and sauces.....I made an awesome curry sauce last night with fresh vegetables in it and I hardly had to put any work into it.....just chopped a bit and threw everything in the blender.

My son always at least tastes what I give him. He will stick out his tongue and lightly touch the new food wit the tip. It's kind of cute to see... unfortunately he usually doesn't actually eat the food.

ask popeye:)

Good deal! I hadn't thought about putting spinach in a smoothie. I wonder if mine would drink that?

On the graininess from the seeds, I try to take them out becasue it seems like no matter how liquified the mixture gets that funky texture is still there. Pretty easy to remove the kiwi seeds, just scoop out the core and seeds with a spoon but watermelon is a little harder. Even the so-called seedless watermelons have those white seeds and I thought they gave the smooties a terrible texture.

We JUST got my daughter to try spinach for the first time last night!

We make gnocchi - which she already likes thanks to years of repeatedly getting her to try pasta in other shapes than spaghetti and macaroni - and we mixed it lightly with spinach pesto sauce. We told her it was the white cheese sauce that she already likes but that it had spinach in it. And spinach is a leaf veggie like lettuce. She JUST starting eating lettuce on her own because of Pokemon. She considers herself a grass type and grass types eat lettuce - so she asked to try it!! ! We've been trying ALL green veggies on her with this lettuce initiative. So far - so good!

If your kids have a particular character they are into - I'd highly suggest talking to them about it and introduce questions like 'Well, what does so-and-so eat?" You can guide those answers a bit by calling out things that would suggest foods that you may like to get them to try. And I would do it slowly - subtly. Pose a question like 'Well that type of dinosaur lived on the plains... what do you think they ate on the plains?" Let them think into the answers on their own. After they've had some time to do their own thinking maybe introduce a food and ask if he thinks his favorite character would like it. And leave it at that. Leave it on the plate but don't push trying it. They may surprise you.

My mom used to do that.... She used to mix spinach in other foods... I hated spinach as a kid but now I love it!

All of a sudden I have spinach cravings now!

My parents got a juicer when I was younger. Carrot and spinach juice is the only way I (knowingly) intake spinach.

Normal melons (the melons with a white inside and a yellow cover [skin]) are pretty great when in juice form, except you don't get much juice from it.