Chelsea Kaplan’s Musings About Life... After Birth

Though The Momtourage and I are quite the gang of supermoms (more on that later this week), getting our kids to eat vegetables is, without question, our kryptonite. While I’d love to blame it on the omnipresence of chicken fingers, pizza and mac and cheese in kids cuisine, I kinda think it’s because a lot of vegetables - a least ones not sautéed in butter and garlic and topped with lemon juice - just don’t taste all that good. Though I love vegetables, I can sort of understand it.

To address this issue, we’ve tried all sorts of creative ideas. Momtourage member Melissa’s first plan of attack was to sneak vegetables in to quesadillas, a tactic I later employed and which worked like a charm until my son overdosed on quesadillas. I next tried chopping up broccoli and sneaking it into mashed potatoes, which worked well until one day my son held up a spoonful and disapprovingly screamed “Green mashed po-tay-TOES!!!???!!” (translation:“Who the hell do you think you’re kidding, woman? I came from your uterus, not the dumbass farm!”), and that was it. Momtourage member Alison told me last week that her twins like frozen peas; the crunch tricks them into thinking peas are fun and good. I’ve yet to try that one, but trust me, I will.

Luckily, there is one option that my son has always loved and has never tired of: Dr. Praeger’s Homestyle Spinach Pancakes. These all-natural spinach patties (ingredients are as follows: Spinach, Potatoes, Onions, Egg Whites, Oat Bran, Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Arrowroot, Salt, Garlic, Pepper and All Natural Vegetable Gum), were originally recommended to me by Momtourage member Lauren, and I gotta say, they are seriously GOOD. Think potato pancakes, but with spinach. You can get them at Whole Foods and I imagine other natural or even mass-market stores that stock healthy food, and they cost roughly $4 for a box. They also come in traditional potato variety as well as a broccoli variety, but in my house, the spinach ones are the biggest hit, which is cool, because they also have the greatest nutritional value.

So, if you have a home full of noodle and cheerio addicts, take this advice go and hook your family up with some Dr. Praeger’s Spinach Pancakes - you may succeed in actually getting your kids to consume something that’s not beige.