Getting My Picky-Eater to Finally Eat Veggies

Winter Minestrone Soup

I have one amazingly adventurous eater (8 year old) and one extremely stubborn one (5 year old). My oldest will gladly try tripe or a raw oyster (but probably will never again). My youngest will avoid any protein (except for nut butter, eggs, or bacon) or most veggies (except for carrots, celery, or tomatoes in tomato sauce). He is the epitome of a picky eater. Or as he puts it, "just scared."

Maybe veggies and other non-carb foods are truly scary to him. Or maybe it's his sneaky way of getting out of something. But I've found a way to get him to try - and even like - veggies. I get him to help me make Ina Garten's Winter Minestrone Soup.

Experts suggest (and my own experience has proven) when you get your kids involved in cooking a meal, they will most likely taste it, then proclaim they are the greatest chef the world has ever seen (as my kids have done). Another way to get kids to try something new is to mix new ingredients with something tried and true. In my case, pasta + bacon + cheese. The kid was scarfing up the stuff so fast, he forgot he's throwing down spinach, carrots, celery, tomatoes and other veggies he proclaimed to be so scary in the past.

Plus this soup is so good. Especially during a polar vortex. Make this. You won't be sorry.

Click here for the recipe.