Kids won't eat veg? Here are a few tricks I've learned that work really well – Hayley Matthews

We used to have a chef who would come in to cook on the show at STV Edinburgh, and her meals were specifically designed for children who wouldn't eat their vegetables.

Vegetables in plain sight, rather than hiding in cupcakes (Picture: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

She would always sneak in aubergine or courgette in to cupcakes and you’d genuinely never know! They were amazing! She’d do all sorts of sweet treats, and all with some extra veg mixed in.

I'm trying to sneak extra veg into our diets with it being the cold winter months because that's always when we seem to feel run down. I have to admit though, my youngest eats a lot of veg and fruit.

However, my eldest is very specific about what he wants for dinner and it tends not to be a request for baked courgettes and roast butternut squash (as amazing as that sounds).

So I'm always looking for new ways to get in more veg. I nearly collapsed on the floor when my eldest ate soya beans after I told him they were massive peas that would make him do really funny farts. He was loving them. However, that's about as adventurous as it gets.

I have got another veg trick up my sleeve since seeing Heinz have launched vegetable pasta hoops that contain 30 per cent more vegetables.

They've cleverly crafted Spaghetti hoops from carrot and cauliflower, as well as adding sweet potato to their traditional tomato sauce and I have to admit – the boys love them and are none the wiser to their extra veg intake.

Now I just need to discover a way of sneaking in a few olives, avocados, butternut squash and parsnips and we’re laughing.

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