Goodness Grazes, that looks and tastes amazing!
That’s exactly how we feel when we dig into our grazing board. During the quarantine, we really got into creating epic veggie, meat, cheese, and fruit platters. They make the perfect dinner because you don’t have to deal with washing a bunch of dishes and we love the variety and combination of all the flavors. I named these platters, “Goodness Grazes” and wanted to share some of our favorite ingredients along with tips on how to get your kids to eat more vegetables.
For each platter, we always make sure to add something Asian whether it be Korean pancakes, seaweed rolls, steamed buns, or a type of dumpling. I always add a variety of vegetables, fruits, cheeses, pepperoni, nuts, and crackers.
How to get your kids to eat more veggies
Tip 1: Get your kids involved in the preparation
Emmy loves helping with our goodness grazes board and is the first to help with all the prep work. Getting kids involved with meals will make them invested and more interested in trying different things. She gets super excited and is getting so good with the presentation. Why do veggies taste better when they look pretty?
Tip 2: Add a variety of sauces, dressings, and dips
I like to add ranch dressing for the veggies and the kids especially love cookie butter with celery. If your kids have a hard time with eating celery, try adding different condiments with them to try.
Peanut or almond butter is delicious with apples and celery. Honey mustard is so yummy with cucumbers and bell peppers. Try creamy dips like spinach or artichoke. Or add Asian gochujang or something similar with a spicy kick. The possibilities are endless! We also love creamy brie cheese with hot pepper jelly on top of crackers.
Tip 3: Remove the foods that your kids will only eat
One follower on Instagram asked me what to do when her kids will only eat all the berries and leave everything else out. I advised her to remove the berries next time. Most kids don’t like the taste of vegetables but they are able to gain a palette for it if they try it over and over again.
Don’t give up! Keep serving it and encourage them to try it again and again. Those Korean seafood pancakes from my mom were the bomb!
Tip 4: Keep the food out and available
During the long summer months, I kept a much smaller and more simple veggie board out for a couple of hours. This helped the kids snack on vegetables and fruits as opposed to just walking to the pantry and grabbing chips or crackers. This makes me feel much better about our family’s heavy addiction to ice cream. 🙂
Tip 5: Make it fun!
One of our favorite activities is making our huge charcuterie board and eating it while watching a movie.
We lay out a blanket under our coffee table for protection from all the sauces and we go to town.
It’s not only fun but delicious. It feels like we’re having a picnic with all of our favorite foods. Everything was gone before the movie was over.
These little moments really help create happy family memories and a tradition I hope will be passed down. I imagine my grown kids creating these goodness grazes boards and eating them with their own families.
You can find my favorite food-safe round board here.
Do you enjoy charcuterie boards? What do you like to put on them? You can find more ideas on these types of food boards here and here on the blog.
Enjoy and happy healthy eating!
xoxo,
Let all that you do be done in Love. 1 Corinthians 16:14
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