Enjoy a Vegetarian Happy Hour Before Dinner so Kids Can Eat More Vegetables
Every night my dining table was a battleground. “What is it?” the often repeated refrain sounded, accompanied by a wrinkled face and a tiny fork pushing the vegetable portion of the dish to the farthest side of the plate. No matter how tasty I found the product in question, no matter how much butter or Parmesan I sprinkled, no matter how much I had to work hard to make it look funny with a spiralizer, my children could not be sure that the green object on their plate was actually actually was not poisonous. I was defeated.
That is, until a friend suggested that I start my vegetarian happy hour.
Here’s what I do: For the rest of my meal, I display a vibrant assortment of chopped vegetables along with a variation of the sauce. This much-needed livelihood comes to them in the terrible “witching hour”, when children are hungry, tired and quarreling. It’s a safe bet: my kids eat vegetables and I can focus on not burning our food.
The variety and complexity of vegetables depends on the season, but young carrots and cucumbers are staple foods. I aim to pick at least two vegetable choices no matter what, but three is usually the magic number. Sometimes I hear the familiar: “What is this?” It’s like I tried to tuck something dangerous on their plates, but usually they’ll at least try to take a bite, especially if they can drag the questionable vegetable through some sort of ranch dressing or hummus first.
Having dipping sauces always draws my kids to the vegetable tray. While not all sauces are as healthy as others, I still try to stick to hummus or yogurt-based sauces, which have some nutritional value. Here, you can also add visual interest with different colors.
It is also helpful to design the vegetable tray to make it look attractive. I like to incorporate an element of surprise with oddly colored vegetables like rainbow carrots, which are not only the standard orange, but also purple and white. I arrange vegetables in a fancy way, sometimes I even make drawings or pictures with them, and the kids like to guess what I tried to draw with their snacks before dinner.
When dinner is served, I no longer worry about whether my children will eat vegetables, because thanks to the vegetarian happy hour, they have already received the nutrients they need. However, there has been a wonderful shift since I introduced vegetarian happy hour. My children are eager to try new vegetables that are served to them. Maybe it’s because they are getting to know new vegetables during happy hour, or maybe due to the lack of pressure to try them, but their tastes have expanded and without any threats or bribes. I consider this a triumph.