How to sneak veggies into kids' meals

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5 ways to sneak in the veggies

Research shows that it can take as many as 10 to 15 tastes before a child will learn to appreciate a new flavor. While you may struggle to get your kids to eat their vegetables at the dinner table, there are some ways you can sneak in servings of vegetables without them even knowing it. Here are a few tips and kid-friendly EatingWell recipes to try:

1. When cooking pasta: Near the end of the pasta cooking time, add your child's favorite vegetable to the boiling water, drain and combine it with the sauce.

2. Finely shred zucchini or summer squash and add it to casseroles. Its mild flavor blends in seamlessly with other flavors while adding important vitamins and minerals.

3. When you're making sloppy joes or meat-based spaghetti sauce, reduce the amount of ground beef and add some finely chopped mushrooms to the mix. The meaty texture of mushrooms is similar to the ground beef, and they absorb the rich flavors of the sauce.

4. Make already lycopene-rich tomato sauce even healthier by stirring in canned unseasoned pumpkin puree. It adds fiber and beta carotene, but has a mild flavor and creamy texture. One cup of pumpkin puree stirred into 1/2 cup pizza sauce is enough to top 1 pound of pizza dough.

5. Already hiding steamed broccoli or cauliflower under cheese sauce? There's nothing wrong with that if that's what it takes to get your children to eat their veggies. Just be sure you're making a healthy cheese sauce—traditional cheese sauces are made with lots of butter and cream. This lightened version uses flour to thicken low-fat milk and a small amount of full-flavored sharp Cheddar.