Ways of Convincing Your Child to Finally Eat That Broccoli

It’s not easy to raise children. They always want to make things their way, despite the fact that you have the best intentions for them. You want them to grow up healthy and you try to convince them from the early stages of their life to make the best decisions. For the past months you’ve been learning how to become a nutritionist, so you are very well aware of the importance of healthy meals and that you are what you eat.

You are familiar with the expression “Eat your vegetables!” For you, this doesn’t put you in any difficulty, since you’ve always been a veggie lover and you eat them on a daily basis. However, you have a problem when it comes to convincing your child to eat them also. You can make him to eat tomatoes or cucumber, but broccoli is a no-go.

So how do you convince him to eat it? You’re not an expert when it comes to child psychology, but you think it might be helpful to convince him using role models of his: “You said you wanted to be a cop. You know that police officer who lives next door? Do you know how he got his job? He ate broccoli”. It’s not. Your child gives you that look, like you have no idea what you’re talking about. The only thing you could do, apart from giving up, is to try and make broccoli more appealing to him. For many kids, broccoli has the appearance of a green little monster – they just don’t like its texture and they would probably try it if only it would a bit different. You can try out these recipes and be prepared to be asked to make them more often!

•  Broccoli and potato pancakes

Your child loves potato pancakes, so we have half of the problem solved. Now, we only need to take care of the broccoli, which won’t be that hard. All you need is a cup of finely chopped broccoli, 3 eggs, 2 sliced green onions, 1 cup of boiling water, 2 tbs. of flour, ½ tsp. of salt, vegetable oil, 1/8 tsp. of pepper and one backing peeled potato and you’re ready to go. You have to put the broccoli and the boiling water all together in a bowl for 5 minutes. In a different bowl, you have to beat the 3 eggs and add all the other ingredients, minus the oil of course and mix them. After you have your mixture ready, you add the broccoli and the shredded potato at the end, right before you’re ready to cook and that’s it.

•   Broccoli Cheese Emerald Nuggets

Your kid adores nuggets. It was love at first sight, ever since he saw that McDonald’s commercial. However, despite the fact that those were chicken nuggets, he’ll love these ones as well, especially because the broccoli is barely noticeable. All you need for them is a bag of frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained, 8 ounces of finely grated and sharp cheddar cheese, 2 eggs, ½ tsp. salt and a cup of Italian breadcrumbs. You blend the broccoli and the eggs until they become a puree. When this happens, you put the whole content into a bowl and stir in the cheese and salt. Half of the breadcrumbs have to be spread onto the surface of a cutting board and you press the puree on top of them, then you add the remaining breadcrumbs over the broccoli and cheese mixture. Finally, you slice and bake them in a preheated oven to 425 degrees for about 9 minutes.

These recipes are both healthy and delicious! After trying them, your child will regret calling broccoli a monster.