Children's meals need to be easy, delicious and nutritious. Getting little ones to eat vegetables is a major task. Finding a way to get vegetables into the mouths of little ones is easy when they are involved in the fun. Coming up with creative ways to get kids to help with the preparation and the cooking of kids' recipes is part of the fun. Kid friendly recipes will allow you the peace of knowing your children are eating healthy and the kids will like feeling in control of what they are being fed.

Take your kids along when you go shopping. Let them pick out the fruits and vegetables that they like. This is always the best way even with children as young as 4 years old. Kids learn to eat healthier when they participate in the cooking and the shopping for the whole family.

Children really like color. Even with fruits and vegetables, kids will first look, then smell, and finally taste. So a variety of color in meal planning is great. Eating a diversity of foods greatly improves the odds of getting all the nutrients you and your family require to achieve optimum health.

A creative way to get kids to eat vegetables is to use the vegetables as part of a project. Kids get to count, make shapes, and then eat what they have created. You get the reassurance of knowing that you are giving nutritious foods into their meals.

Kids Recipes for Create My Own Soup

Let your children separate the carrots and celery pieces. Let them spell their names with the noodles if you include alphabet noodles. You can find other special noodles like car shapes, etc. Make a topic of the soup project.

Cut star shapes out of the carrot slices and zucchini (using an aspic cutter) then set aside.

Ingredients:

*1-2 carrots

*1 zucchini

*4 cups low sodium chicken broth

*1/4 cup shaped pasta

*Dash of sage

*3/4 cup chopped, cooked chicken

*Salt and pepper to taste

Bringing it All Together:

*Let the children help you wash the vegetables. After they finish you can scrub the carrots and zucchini softly with a vegetable brush.

*Cut the vegetables into 1/4-inch slices.

*Cut star shapes out of the slices, and set them aside.

*In a medium sized pot, bring the broth to a simmer over medium heat.

*Add the carrot stars and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the carrots start to become tender.

*Add the pasta, zucchini and chicken. Continue cooking the soup for another few minutes, stirring occasionally, just until the pasta is done. Makes 4 servings.

*Let your children search for their names or count the number of shapes in their soup bowl. The children will take plesure in the adventure and fun, you will feel good knowing they are enjoying their vegetables.