Sneaky Sneaky Food Mixes

The age old question for most parents is 'How to get better nutrition into our youngsters?' If you are blessed with a child who will eat whatever is put in front of him then, you don't have this worry. If, however, you are like most of us, you have at least one child who is a picky eater! There's tons of strategies to help expand your child's taste palette but my favorite is hiding the "yucky" food in the "yummy" food.

Not sure about what food combos to try? Gain inspiration from the baby food aisle and the holidays.

Companies like Horizon's Little Blends, mix fruit, veggies, and yogurt to appeal to kids' sensitive palettes. If your kid loves yogurt, use this to your advantage. Mix yogurt with juice or pureed veggies and fruits. Mixing yogurt with acidic juices, fruits, and veggies mellow the flavor for your kiddo to enjoy without the bitter after-bite.

Baby food combination ideas:

• apples and squash,
• sweet potatoes and bananas,
• carrots and pineapple
• yogurt and juice
• meat and apples
  

Another strategy: use the holidays to your dinner table's advantage. With Halloween right around the corner, it's a perfect time to incorporate green, gooey, and gross looking dishes so kids will find it FUN to eat healthy without ever realizing it.

• Add a black olive to a hard boiled egg with a toothpick for funky eye balls.
• Green pea soup is transformed into witches brew or slime!
  
• Make magic potions of fruit and vegetable juices.
  
• Vials of tomato soup is now billed as vampire blood
  
• Add a dollop of whipped cream on top of individual sized pumpkin pudding for a ghostly effect.
  

Don't forget to decorate the table with dollar store Halloween decorations to set the mood. After all isn't a positive mood everything when it comes to kids?

Visit Twittermoms for some other kid friendly food ideas.