Alina isn’t the pickiest of eaters, especially for a toddler. Since I’ve been adding vegetable purees to her food since the beginning, she doesn’t question when she sees a dark green hue or inspect her meal like a hawk. But our lives have gotten busier and quick meals have been on the menu a lot these past few months. I don’t feel bad because that means I spend more quality time with my family instead of cooking a lavish meal, but boosting the nutrients to Alina’s favorite “chickie and fries” has been on my mind. So, its time to add vegetables to ketchup!
Last week I had an Ah-Ha! moment and decided to try it out over the weekend. As a meal solution, I added vegetables to ketchup and amped up her quick meal with just a few extra steps, leaving us lots of time for a family game night! Daddy D, Alina and I had a blast, and I loved knowing she still got her veggies.
Add Vegetables to Ketchup
Alina LOVES to dip her food. Are your kids the same way? She especially loves ketchup and I thought it would be a great place to sneak in vegetables. So last week, after the baby’s nap, I tried to squeeze in a quick shopping trip to Walmart before the toddler’s afternoon nap. The trip was so quick that I didn’t even grab a cart, but Alina still managed to fall asleep! I picked up a butternut squash, Tyson chicken nuggets, Ore Ida crinkle fries and continued on to the condiments aisle to inspect the variety of Heinz Ketchup… {Check out my entire shopping trip on my Google+ album.}
I was amazed at the variety of ketchup that Heinz makes! I opted for the Reduced Sugar option for my vegetable experiment, but bought a traditional bottle too. Just in case.
Once home, I cooked the chicken nuggets and fries according to the package directions and got busy preparing the vegetables to steam and blend. My original plan was to make two batches of vegetable ketchup: one with carrot and butternut squash and the second with the addition of spinach. But, that second batch didn’t happen. Life did instead. Oh well, maybe next time I’ll throw spinach into the mix.
While the chicken and fries cooked, and before Daddy got home from work, Alina and I sat down to enter the #DipDipHooray sweepstake and unlock a fun online game for us to play. It was super simple! I just set up an account and uploaded the UPC codes from the chicken, fries and ketchup. And the grand prize is a gift card to stock up the awesome games Hasbro makes – something we really need to do! Family game nights are a great way for a family to spend quality time together, and I hope to offer my babies those experiences as they grow. Visit the Dip To Play website to find out how you can unlock a game and enter the sweepstake. Follow Tyson, Heinz and Ore Ida on Facebook to learn more! Click here for the official rules.
Once the chicken was done and we finished playing our diptoplay game, I mixed one part ketchup and one part vegetable puree and plated Alina’s dinner with some fresh fruit and a cup of water. Just like I expected, she wasted no time in dipping her food in the vegetable ketchup. I have to admit, I held my breath anxiously, waiting for her reaction. She loved it. Vegetable Ketchup is a keeper!
Family Game Night
Because of our quick meal and easy clean up, I had time to sit down with Daddy D and Alina to play a fun Hasbro game I bought on my shopping trip- a matching card game, for ages 3+, princess theme of course. I wish we could have a Hasbro family game night every night! It was so much fun! In the end, Daddy D and I were battling it out, but we all came out winners. Including my vegetable ketchup!
Does your family have game night? Which game is your favorite? I am already making a list of the fun games I want to keep stocked in the house for those nights when a quick meal idea leaves us the time to play one!
Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ Tyson and Heinz #CBias #SocialFabric
What a great idea! My kids LOVE veggies and actually i thinkmaybe i should grind up some chicken instead to add to their ketchup…LOL….once they see veggies they want nothing to do with anything else…..but seriously I never would have thought of that!
and yes we love games……especially OPERATION! I think thats their favorite so far but they also love puzzles too and we have a puzzle of Puerto Rico which they love because they know their family lives there
Mixing veggies and ketchup is such a great idea! My daughter loves dipping her food, so this is something I’ll have to try. Thanks for the tip!
Good idea! I will do the same. My daughter won’t notice the difference
Our favorite game is Monopoly.
What a fabulous idea! I always do that to our pasta sauce, never thought about doing it for ketchup! Great idea!
Um…love this!! Nope, never thought of doing the ketchup. I think my guys would look at me like, “what’s in here.”…they are just that clever. But I’ll try it
Who knew there were so many kinds of Ketchup!
What a great idea, Vanessa! I never would have thought to put other vegetables in ketchup!! You are so creative. And of course I love any post with Alina in them.
I never thought about making my own ketchup! And yes, I saw their line at Target too and I was super shocked at their variety. Something for everyone!
Such a great idea to hide things by blending them in. (Not only a tactic to be used on picky eaters that are children, jaja)
I once heard that ketchup is a great source of lycopene and that it actually contains more than a fresh tomato. Thanks for a creative way to eat more veggies.
Great idea!! I’ll have to share this with some new mommy friends!
What an awesome idea. I’ve seen the new flavors of ketchup hubs is loving the hot and spicy one. I think I will try this next time. The kids like to dip different things into their ketchup or dipping sauces. I’ve seen apple slices hit the ketchup as well as watermelon… I cringe a little but hey at least they are eating it.
That’s an awesome idea!! It never would have occurred to me, either.
I loathe having to pop in chicken nuggets…. this might make me feel better!
perfect idea! I love any way I can come up with to add more veggies to our meals. Game night tends to be Candyland for us! (2 year old)
Kate – Las Vegas Family Photographer
Love this idea! No children here, and I’m not the biggest Ketchup fan, but my mind is reeling about what other dips I can add veggies to.
Wonderful!! I need this for me lol I need more veggies in my diet
I think this is great! Any trick that gets more veggies into your children’s diet is good. Well done mom!
great idea, thanks for sharing!!
Great idea! I also love the reduced sugar.
That’s such a good idea…. I think I may have to experiment with a little vegetable ketchup action myself.
Great idea, so glad you shared it! I really would have never of thought of it & it’s so easy to boost the veggie intake w/out them suspecting anything lol.
Next time, I challenge you to making your own katchu!
You’ll love it even more. But, it’s def. a great way to get kids to eat their veggies. Also, sweeting mustard a tad bit with honey! It works like a charm and has less sugar than ketchup.