Salad for kids

I love salads and can eat them almost everyday.But getting kids on the salad kick isn’t that easy. Like all things related to food acceptance in little ones, it takes time and exposure. But what if there was a way to make salads so irresistible that they’d love to take a bite and get hooked!

Here are a few salad ideas that will surely make children give a thought to eating if not liking them immediately.

1. Start with a simple salad : Two or three- ingredient salads are perfect for kids, especially kids who are picky eaters. And every ingredient should be something the kids already like. For ex : try a salad with some crisp lettuce and some cherry tomatoes in it. Drizzle it with some fruit juice. Do not add any salt. That way the kids develop the taste of individual vegetables/fruits added in the salad. Here is a salad of quartered figs and lettuce drizzled with some orange juice and some honey

2. Fruit surprise : Kids love it when something they put in their mouth is sweet. Adding fruits to your salad is a perfect idea when you want kids to have them. Rose apples, phyllius, cherry tomatoes and lettuce - a combination of fruits and some crisp lettuce with a drizzle of olive oil and some orange juice vinaigrette will be totally irresistible for the kids

3. Cucumber boats : Some times not just the taste, but the color and the looks too appeal to their senses. Mix some bright colored vegetables together and present them on cucumber boats and kids will want to at-least taste them. Make sure you remove the seeds of cucumber by scooping them off with a teaspoon as sometimes it is hard to digest the seeds and many don't like them too.

4. Salad sticks : Another idea is put the vegetables and fruits with some feta cheese (or paneer) on a grill stick and tell the kids that they can have only one skewer stick. The kids are definitely going to come back for the second helping. Sometimes salads may not be nutritionally balanced, but that is okay, we are just making an attempt to raise a lifelong salad lover.

5. Add textures and color to your salad: Kids always love crunchy salad. Add some walnuts, raisins or even some homemade bread crumbs to your regular salad if you want your kids to eye them.

Here is a grilled paneer, honey glazed baby corn with apples arranged on satay sticks.

6. Allow the kids to make their own salad - Creating a simple salad on a weekend with the kids will not only be fun but will also increase the prospects of eating them. Let them dig into the fridge baskets and decide what they want to put in the salad rather than you putting up the same dinner salad again and again. The ideas they come out with may be really interesting and you may also love it!