Easy to make, potato nuggets made with your favorite seasonal vegetables!

This post is sponsored by the Idaho Potato Commission. All opinions are my own.

As a mom of 3, feeding my kids can be challenging. Out of my 3 diverse children, I have a child that will eat almost anything and loves a variety of foods (yah). Then I have the child that can’t eat certain foods because he’s allergic so I always have to take that into account (this can be tricky). Finally, I have the child that is mind-boggling picky and will only eat a few things, as in very very few things are worthy of being on his plate.

What Foods do Kids Love?

I have asked this question many times over! If I were to ask my kids what their favorite foods were, it would go something like this:

• Unanimously pizza would be number one!
• Followed by hamburgers (and a side of fries).
• And finally, they’d definitely skip to adding in snacks out of a bag or box and desserts.

I try, I really do try to be creative with this crew, but sometimes, I have to add in some stealth-like ingredients just to make sure they have a variety of vegetables.

Yes, I sneak it in, then I have them try it out, at least a bite, and if they like it and continue to enjoy it, then I confess what’s in it. I have found this to be a great way to introduce new flavors and foods into their diets. It might not be the best approach, but it’s worked so far and I’ve lately seen my oldest willingly order things like asparagus!

Here are a few easy kid-friendly dinner recipes that seem to pass the kid test in our home:

• Fruit kabobs, it’s all about presentation, just put the fruit on skewers and they seem to enjoy it more.
• Sloppy Joes, such a classic. Sometimes I substitute the beef with turkey, and they never know the difference.
• Mac n’ Cheese, at least my oldest will eat it, and it was my favorite growing up. Plus there are a great many ways to enjoy this classic nowadays.
• Personal pizzas! I make the homemade pizza dough, and let them top it off with their favorite toppings, yah for pizza night!
• Sausage rolls, these are also great as finger foods or party appetizers.
• Potato nuggets or you could simply put them on a stick and call them potato lollipops for a fun whimsical sounding snack. I’ve added in broccoli and cheese, but you can also use cauliflower, corn or whatever seasonal vegetables you have on hand. Finely dicing up the vegetables is a great way to include them for picky eaters.

When making kid-friendly recipes, I know that I can’t go wrong when I turn to Idaho Potatoes to create some great foods and snacks that are irresistible! Of all the recipes I try, the one thing I’ve found is that my kids all agree on are these homemade potato snacks and Idaho Potatoes are my go-to for all things potato (just look for the “Grown in Idaho” label)!

For more potato recipes, visit Idaho Potato Commission!

Thankfully, I’ve learned a few tricks along the way, that has encouraged my children to at least try a bite before casting their final judgment of the food. Yes, I still get the “nope, I don’t like it” remark, but those moments are getting fewer and farther apart.

As I said before, I really don’t like “hiding” vegetables in their food, but this has happened on more than one occasion. For instance, two of my kids do not like cheese except for mozzarella, this is rough because that accounts for seemingly two-thirds of kid-friendly meals. My other child is skeptic of anything green lurking in their food, so I typically have to dice those vegetables very fine when including them in the recipes. Eventually, they do realize that they really like some of the vegetables and then I don’t have to “hide” them anymore. 

One of our fun and tasty potato recipes are these potato nuggets along with a nice grilled or rotisserie chicken. It’s a yummy meal and just to note – my son wanted me to let you know that he suggests serving these potato nuggets with ketchup. I do agree, but I also think they taste great with a bit of mustard too.

 

Enjoy!