One of my goals this year was to:
Serve fruit and/or vegetables for a snack and at at least two meals a day.
I know a lot of other moms want to get their more fruits and veggies into their kids, too, so I thought I'd talk about what has helped me make this happen in the last few weeks.
It helps to have the fruit already prepared and just waiting in the fridge.
I try to slice the cantaloupe or wash the strawberries as soon these come home from the grocery store. (I'm exaggerating, of course, because I don't really do this as soon as I get home from the store, but I do try and do it as soon as possible.) I will often spend some time on the weekend and on a weeknight around dinner time getting the fruit ready for the days ahead.
I have found that if I have to wash and prepare the fruit after the kids have come into the kitchen, jumping around my legs, begging for a snack, fruit is way less likely to be what I give them. At that point, vanilla wafers are going to win because they are just so quick. And even with meals, it's too easy just to give the girls bagels without fruit on the side unless the fruit is already ready to put on their plates.
Serve fresh fruit or a veggie platter with dinner.
If the girls haven't had as much fruit as I wanted them to have throughout the day, I will slice up an apple or pear and give to them as I side with their dinner. If it can't go on their plate next to everything else, I will just put it in a little bowl next to their plates. No matter what I am serving, fresh fruit always goes over well with the kids. Earlier this week, I served a platter of fresh veggies with ranch dip with dinner. We had our own plates but we also all ate off the platter in the middle of the table. It was a great way to get fresh veggies into all of us while also enjoying a traditional, hot dinner at the same time.
Keep an peeler, corer, slicer on the counter.
I used to store my peeler, corer, slicer deep under the cabinet with baking sheets and pie pans. Now it just lives next to the toaster. I find I serve twice as much fresh fruit having this "appliance" within reach. It's much easier for me to choose to have fruit this way, too.
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