- Guess what, my kids, they don't eat all the food
that I make on this channel.
And yes, it often upsets me that I put in a lot of effort
to make and develop recipes,
which I often share with you throughout the videos here,
and they turn their noses at my food
because they don't want it because it's got green specks,
because it's fishy, because there's onions,
because I don't know, maybe the spaghetti wasn't cooked,
it wasn't cooked all the way through,
or the rice is too hard, or the oats are too dry,
or the muffins taste funny, or they're not sweet enough,
and the list can go on and on and on.
So today's video is not so much of a recipe
but a lot of tips that I have for you guys
who are also struggling to feed your picky eaters.
And here I am every week,
sharing recipes with you that I try at home,
that I try to get my kids to eat,
that at least I offer it to them.
After years of going to feeding therapy
with one of my kids and seeing a nutritionist
to try to make sure that my kids were eating
enough nutritious foods,
I've picked up a lot of tips and tricks
that I often share with my community members
and in a free e-course that I'm gonna link
right below this video,
all my tried and true mom tips,
as well as the therapy sessions,
all summarized for you.
And there are some printables that you're gonna get
from how to make your family meals better,
to awesome lunchbox builders that help you pick and choose
proteins, fruits, and veggies,
all to help you expand what your kids are eating.
Now if there's one thing that I often get emails about
is about hiding veggies in kids' food.
Now that strategy works for some people.
It doesn't work for other people.
But there is one recipe that I talk about,
which is tomato sauce as a vessel to hide veggies,
or not really hide it, but infuse your tomato sauce
with more nutrition.
I do have a recipe for broccoli pesto on this channel,
which I'll also link below that I show you
how to use broccoli as the base
to make a pesto sauce with all the flavors
that we all love from pesto sauce.
What I love about that broccoli pesto
is that it literally tastes just like regular pesto,
and it's really easy to incorporate
into tomato sauce, into pizza, into pasta,
and just about anything.
Here I have about 24 to 28 ounces of tomato sauce
that I've made for a different recipe.
Now whether you use store-bought or homemade tomato sauce,
it doesn't matter.
But the idea is that you're gonna have
about four to six cups of sauce,
and then you're gonna have about one cup
of the veggie pesto.
The reason it's so important to use pesto
is that because pesto is typically made with garlic,
olive oil, basil, so it infuses the food
with a lot of flavor that kids typically like.
And because of that, it's really easy to then add
other veggies in a sauce.
So I simply heat up my sauce in a pan,
and once my tomato sauce is warm,
I take about a cup of pesto and add it straight into my pan.
Now why I love pesto is that you can make a ton
ahead of time, a big batch, and freeze it
and you can just use a cube or two of frozen pesto
in your sauce and in your meals.
Now I did actually print out a couple of questions
from emails because I didn't want to forget
to share with you whether should your sauce be smooth
or should it be chunky.
It really doesn't matter whether your sauce is smooth
like mine or a chunky tomato sauce or marinara sauce.
It really depends on what your family really enjoys.
My biggest suggestion to incorporate veggies into meals
is to use the vessel that your kids already love
and enjoy eating.
So if it's pizza, awesome.
Instead of pizza sauce, put some of the broccoli pesto
or any pesto sauce or veggies in your tomato sauce,
which is gonna be underneath a cheesy layer.
Now maybe it's pizza chicken.
I've got this awesome recipe for pizza chicken
on this channel that is baked chicken
with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese and mozzarella.
Super delicious, I'll link it below.
Now I have a paleo chili recipe on this channel
that is full of veggies that my kids absolutely love,
and while they would typically pick the veggies out,
on a tip that I tell my parents in my community
is to chop the veggies really fine.
And you don't have to sit there and chop with a knife.
I have a video showing you how I use my blender, you guys,
how I use a blender to finely chop carrots,
zucchini, onions, everything that goes in the chili.
I'll link that for you so you can finely chop
all this nutrition right into your recipes.
So all you have to do is warm up this tomato sauce
or marinara sauce with the veggies in it.
Now if you do start to add things like pureed carrots
or pureed zucchini or pureed butternut squash,
white and orangey foods,
your tomato sauce might take on that color as well,
so it's no longer going to look as bright red.
It may kinda go more in the orange fashion.
So you just have to play around with your quantities.
But the great thing is,
is that you could use this sauce
for anything and everything.
Like my breaded chicken strips are a huge kid favorite.
Cheese twist chicken nuggets.
I have tortilla pizzas that you can make
in the toaster oven really quickly.
And just about any recipe out there,
you can use a veggie-filled tomato sauce
and it comes together in about five minutes.
So the recipes for all that and all the printables
for you to help you build lunches
and make meals easier are gonna be right below this video.
So if you're struggling with picky eating
like I've been for years,
all the resources are right below.
See you next time.
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