Great Idea for Picky Eaters!!!

My oldest daughter Taylor has always been a terrific eater, at 2 years old she was eating salmon and steak and now at 4 she loves sushi! I never had to argue with her to eat and I never had to make separate meals for her because she loved everything, including roasted bell peppers! My baby Madison is a completely different story! I dread mealtime because I look ridiculous jumping up and down singing food songs and trying to persuade her to eat. Basically she has three food groups, bread, any kind of drink, and junk! She would be content drinking milk and juice all day long and nibbling on bread and Cheez its! It drives me nuts! She refuses to eat meat unless it is well hidden in pasta or some other carb. At first I thought it had to be some characteristic of Down syndrome considering my older daughter's eating habits but in fact it has more to do with being 2 than any sensory issues. Not to worry I'm not just complaining here....I actually found a solution!!!!

A couple years back I had bought the book "Deceptively Delicious" (surprisingly it was to help hide veggies for my husband!) Well this book came in handy with Madison because I could hand her a plate of macaroni and cheese that was full of hidden cauliflower and she would eat it without hesitation and without a song and dance from me! The only problem is I don't always have an hour to create this full meal with hidden vegetables in it so back to the song and dance I went. Well the author of that book came out with another one called "Double Delicious" it has the same idea of hiding pureed veggies in regular food but this cookbook has a lot more simple and quick recipes. Two nights ago I made the recipe for tomato soup, it was full of tomatoes (of course), broccoli, and sweet potatoes. After it was done cooking I poured the whole pot into a blender and pureed until it was perfectly smooth. Then I poured it in a sippy cup that had a straw instead of a spout and my insanely picky eater drank the whole thing!!! Over 2 cups full of healthy veggies! No song and dance, no 2 hour meal plan to pop out with some spinach chicken nuggets, just 30 minutes, a blender, and my baby was drinking her veggies! I'm thinking I'm going to spend a day making lots of different soups, freezing them, and having them readily available to trick my bad eater into drinking some veggies!