10 sneaky fruit and veggie tips

It's no secret that many kids don't like to eat their fruits and vegetables. The secret is how parents get their kids to eat them anyway. We asked our readers to open up and share how they get the healthy food off their kids plates, past those picky taste buds and into their tummies. Here are ten of our favourites:

1. Hiding it in the sauce. A number of our crafty readers confessed to grating and chopping such veggies as zucchini, carrots and spinach into their pasta and cheese sauces so that picky eaters can't see or taste them. Virgina Francey of Brampton, Ont., even goes one step further, "I purée the mushrooms before I put them in the spaghetti sauce. This way they don't see them and pick them out."

2. Adding it to dessert. What kid can pass up ice cream or Jello? Adding fresh fruit pieces to Jello, yogurt or ice cream makes a healthy treat. One parent suggests puréeing fruit and using it as homemade topping instead of chocolate syrup; another suggests letting your kids make their own fruit parfaits.

3. Put it in the meat. Grating vegetables in meat dishes works well, too. Hide grated veggies in meatballs, casseroles, meatloaf, shepherd's pie and lasagna.

4. Make it fun. Some of our readers don't have to sneak in the veggies - they just make eating them fun. Rocky Brooks of Victoria, BC, says, "We pick up the broccoli and say green tree. We dip it in the sauce and it is a white tree. Then we see who can make the biggest crunch with the celery. The kids love it."

A method Tish Gatenby of Ottawa came up with for her two boys is Dinosaur Rice. "It's simply plain white rice cooked in chicken broth and then I mix in very finely diced cooked spinach. I put in on their plates in the shape of a tree and they get to pretend they are herbivore dinosaurs and eat the tree."

Page 1 of 2 - Read page two for six more tips!