Gather round, gather round! It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the Great Family Taste Test! Snacking tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers – oh my! – and tasty dips to try. Have fun while encouraging your kids to enjoy more vegetables with this Veggies Taste-Test from Emily Dingman.
Do you want your kids to eat more healthy veggies? You’re not alone! Emily Dingmann, a home cook and mom with a degree in Nutrition, has a fun, new way to help kids appreciate the flavors of vegetables.
For a quick and easy snack packed with veggies, organize a little family taste test. This gets the kids in the kitchen to help prepare food together – saving you time & energy while teaching them to appreciate the food more – and is a fun way to try new ingredients. Plus, you’ll get honest feedback about why they like or dislike certain flavors!
Before diving into the recipe that really makes this family activity work, Emily shares a few tips for helping kids to feel more comfortable trying new foods.
First, it’s important to know that just because you’re encouraging them to eat more vegetables, you don’t necessarily have to talk about it. Don’t make a big deal – if you do, they might react in a “big” way! Instead, Emily says, just make more veggies available.
Leave some Sangria® Medley Tomatoes in a bowl on the kitchen counter for easy snacking. Include a few Aurora Bites Mini Sweet Peppers on their plate at lunch. They might not eat them at first, but kids are curious – eventually, they’ll take a bite!
An important way to encourage more vegetable consumption at home is to include them in family dinner recipes. If your kids see you enjoying veggies, they might eventually warm up to the idea too! The important thing is to not put any pressure on them – let them decide for themselves.
The second tip Emily shares is to add a bit of fun to their diets. You could surprise them with Funny Face Wraps & Sandwiches or get their help making a tray of Mini Pepper Sailboats.
Emily’s genius idea for a Taste Test is also a really fun way to enjoy healthy food with the whole family.
Your kids can help with every step in the taste testing process: picking out ingredients and grocery shopping, preparing the food, setting up the test and then, of course, tasting!
Emily recommends three snacking veggies, two dips and one or two crackers. Let everyone – including Mom & Dad – choose an ingredient or two following those basic guidelines. That way, everyone’s happy and everyone gets to share their favorite flavors!
Emily chose three different snacking veggies to show her kids the variety of flavors, textures, colors and shapes that vegetables can come in.
Juno® Bites Red Grape Tomatoes are exactly the kind of juicy and super snackable vegetables that kids love. Aurora Bites Mini Sweet Peppers are perfect for dipping, either sliced in half or whole! As you can tell from the name, they’re super sweet! Finally, Emily likes to include the newest snacking cucumbers from Pure Flavor®, Uno Bites™ Nano Cucumbers, the perfect size for little hands!
To set up the Family Taste Test, collect some supplies including paper, markers and a cutting board or cheese board.
Your talented little crafters can put together tags for each item and voting cards. Let them get creative – you can vote on best veggie, best dip, best combo, and so much more!
Next, arrange all the veggies and dips on the board and let the tasting begin!
As you can tell, there isn’t much to this recipe for success. It’s a few simple steps, but there isn’t any cooking involved. What’s important here is Mom and Dad’s enthusiasm – you need to get everyone exciting for healthy snacking!
To save Emily’s Taste Test recipe to guide your own healthy snacking activities, click here. Want to get new recipes delivered right to your inbox? Sign up today for our newsletters.
