Eat yo veggies!

I used to think that kids only liked bland food, or that they could only handle bland. When I had Jo, I started making my own baby food, and one mom mentioned that her baby loved hummus. I love Arabic food, and had hummus on hand often, so I tried it with my little one and he loved it! Then I thought, I bet kids in Asia eat spicy, interesting and a variety of foods that are more nutritional than pizza and french fries (not that we had those a lot). I make lunches relatively simple since its just me and the boys all day, but dinners I take chances and my kids are always willing to try. This is amazing since my boys are 2 and 4 (peak picky eater season). Jo has a longer list of foods he will eat than Mo who was raised on bland food. When we go out to eat, I tend to buy off the sides menu for the kids and I have fun watching the waitress's surprised face that my boys are eating broccoli with gusto!
Another thing I have learned to getting the kids to eat more veggies, is to offer more veggies. A few nights ago I made a meal where the main dish had lots and lots of vegetables, so there were less sides because the main was so awesome. Jo asked, where are my veggies? My 2 year old was concerned that his plate did not have enough vegetables on it. Awesome. It must be working. I also put out some chopped raw vegetables, like carrots or cucumbers, etc in a bowl on the table while I am working on dinner. This cuts down on hungry visitors hovering while I try to finish making the meal, and adds more vegetables to the kids daily intake. They tend to have fruit for snacks and dessert, so I try to keep the bowl full of vegetables. On occasion, if its the day before shopping day, and we are low on vegetables, I will put out peanuts. They do not eat very many, and the little bit of protein helps keep the whine away. I have always offered a few vegetables, but as my tastes have grown, so has my offering to my children. They will eat a variety of veggies now, but a couple years ago it was slim pickings on what Mo would eat at all. I just kept trying, and offered often. Now he does not even think twice when he sees a pile of broccoli or beans. In fact, for a long time, Mo would not eat pizza, but eat a very leafy green salad instead. We would have to almost beg him to eat one small slice. I make the pizza we eat most often from scratch, and I found out recently he really likes whole wheat dough. I still have to offer a lot of side veggies when we have pizza, otherwise he does not get enough to eat. I guess that is not a bad thing. Just inconvenient and awkward when others want to bless our family with pizza and Mo refuses to eat it. This may not be a very interesting or entertaining post, but its something I want to remember about my boys. They love vegetables and fruit.