Inventive ways to eat your veggies
Jul 2, 2012, 8:55 AM
SALT LAKE CITY — Do you have too many pins on
Pinterest and not enough time to try them all? Don’t worry
— the Page Two editors of ksl.com will try them out
and give you the low-down. This week we’re sampling
inventive ways to get more veggies into your diet and your
child’s diet — without a battle and without
sacrificing taste.
Zucchini tots
Pin: http://
pinterest.com/pin/70509550386321070/
Link: http://curiouscountrycook.blogspot.com/2012/03/
zucchini-tots.html
I had high hopes for this recipe for “Zucchini
Tots,” and it delivered — though not at all in
the way I was expecting. The pin touts the recipe from The Curious Country Cook as the
“healthy version” of tater tots. Utilizing
just a few ingredients and a mini muffin tin, the final product
was supposed to be a crispy, crunchy veggie bite loaded
with flavor. Not all of that was true when I made these.
They were loaded with flavor, but they were not crispy or
crunchy. Instead, they were more like soufflés with
the texture of a crab cake (even though I wrung out and
dried the zucchini as suggested). It seemed that the
zucchini-to-egg ratio was off, or maybe I didn’t add
enough bread crumbs. In any case, they were still
delicious. If I ever find myself hosting a fancy dinner
party, I’ll make these in regular-sized muffin tins
and serve them as a side dish. Final grade: B
Oven-baked zucchini fries
Pin: http://
pinterest.com/pin/70509550386594840/
My toddler is obsessed with French fries, so I thought
I’d pull a fast one on him and swap out the potatoes
for zucchini. He didn’t fall for it, but I myself
thoroughly enjoyed the oven-baked zucchini fries from allrecipes.com.
It’s a pretty basic recipe, which I only modified by
making my own Italian bread crumbs first (with some bread,
seasoning and Italian croutons). As for flavor, I give
these two thumbs up. Sadly, however, the crumbs
didn’t all stick to the zucchini, leaving the good
stuff in little piles on the cookie sheet. Final grade:
B-
Carrot chips
Pin: http://
pinterest.com/pin/70509550386040281/
I turned to this recipe for carrot chips again in an
attempt to entice my toddler to try something new. And yet
again, it was a failed attempt. In fact, this didn’t
turn out entirely successful, but it did introduce me to a
new way of cooking carrots. Since this pin
for oven-baked carrot chips doesn’t go to a post
(it’s just a picture with a few brief instructions),
I experimented with different cutting thicknesses. The
thinnest slices were crispy but too brittle, and the
thickest slices were not crispy at all but were still
delicious. It seemed I could find no happy medium. I
won’t bother with carrot chips again, but I will be
baking carrots in the oven for my next side dish. Final
grade: C+
Green smoothies
Pin: http://
pinterest.com/pin/70509550385824527/
Full disclosure: Not only does this pin link to a ksl.com article about green
smoothies, I am the author of said article. But since the
story has been viewed nearly 20,000 times and shared more
than 200 times on various social networks, it’s safe
to say that people other than myself are on board. The
article touches on the various health benefits of adding
greens such as spinach, kale and chard to fruit smoothies
and gives first-timer tips and instructions for making
them. I’m including the pin in this week’s
review not for more page views (I promise), but because I
swear by green smoothies and always will. My daily green
smoothies not only helped me kick a horrible fast-food
habit and lose weight — not to mention improving my
overall health — it got my son to eat healthy right
from the start. Green smoothies were one of the first
solid foods we introduced him to, and now, more than a
year later, he still craves them. The best part is, when
he has his smoothies I don’t have to worry about
getting in all his fruits and veggies for the day, because
he’s already gotten them all at the start. And, as
picky as he is, he loves all kinds of fruit and will even
gobble down raw spinach. As any parent can attest, that is
a huge victory. Final grade: A
Yam-n-jam muffins
Pin: http://
pinterest.com/pin/70509550386126448/
Link: http://www.parents.com/recipe/cupcakes/yam-and-
jam-muffins/
Here is another victory in the toddler war on food. These
yam-n-jam muffins from parents.com are another way to sneak healthy
stuff into your children’s food by adding sweet
potatoes. Now, the recipe itself isn’t super
healthy; each muffin packs 215 calories, but if you make
them without the icing, as I did, they’re still
sweet and delectable without giving your kid a sugar rush.
I also made mine with canned pumpkin instead of sweet
potatoes because it’s what I had on hand, and I
reduced the amount of jam. (I used strawberry.) But they
were still excellent. And yes, my son wolfed them down. I
made a big batch before a week-long trip to California,
making them not only the perfect road trip snack but an
easy treat to take into Disneyland, helping us avoid the
churro carts and bakeries. Final grade: A-
