Day Twenty-Nine / Eat Your Vegetables!

There is a great debate among mothers over whether vegetables should be hidden in yummy foods, so children will eat them without noticing, or whether children should be in the habit of eating vegetables straight down, after staring them in the face. That's a carrot and I like carrots. Chomp.

One Hungry Mama shares why hiding vegetables misses the point.
The Sneaky Chef adds spinach and blueberries to homemade donuts and carrots and yams to mac n'cheese.

I like to make homemade macaroni and cheese with butternut squash, but it's cubed, not pureed. Not exactly camouflaged. Very delicious. And the kids love it.

As with many controversial topics, I tend to take a middle-of-the-road stance. If you need to hide them, do it! If you feel like eating them stare-down style, do it! Sometimes the best approach is a cumulative one. Some of each.

My boys will generally eat carrot sticks. They will eat roasted broccoli. They like oven fried potatoes. Baked yams are a favorite. Spinach is sometimes eaten by itself, bunny style or in a green drink, mixed with carrots and apples.

You can always try giving vegetables funny names...like broccoli trees. And then there's the dipping trick -- this hummus is our favorite.

How do you make sure the veggies get eaten? Do you have any tricks up your sleeve?