Spinach Mushroom Meat Loaf: Get the kids to eat veggies

Coming up with a healthy recipe for kids that actually gets kids to eat veggies can be challenging. I sometimes have a hard time getting my teen to eat veggies. He only likes baby carrots, cucumbers and mushrooms. That doesn’t leave me much of a choice. I want him to have a balanced diet, which means he needs to eat more veggies! Hiding the veggies in my vegetable muffins worked so well last week, I tried it again with this spinach meat loaf!

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I know we want all our kids to eat vegetables presented separately but we do what we have to do to bring them to eat a balanced diet. If hiding vegetables in their favorite recipes is what works then so be it. My son is a huge fan of meat loaf . The idea of adding vegetables to this dinner recipe came when someone suggested swapping mushroom with meat. Basically, instead of having 3 servings of meat, mix 2 serving of meat and one serving of mushroom. It is leaner, healthier and cost effective. So I thought it will be a great swap for the meat loaf.

Spinach Mushroom Meat Loaf: Healthy Recipe for Kids

Ingredients

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• 1 cup of mushroom washed and uncooked
• 1 cup of spinach: boiled and drained
• 3 cups of ground beef. I usually go with extra lean ground beef.
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of your favorite crackers.
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup of ketchup
• 1/4 cup of grated cheese. I usually go with cheddar but mozzarella works too

Make it

• In your favorite blender, blend the mushrooms.
• In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients. Make sure to mix well the mushrooms with the meat
• Heat oven to 350F
• Add your mixture in a 10.*5 pan.
• Bake for at least 40 minutes.

Tips

The above meat and vegetable mixture will be a great addition to your spinach lasagna.

If you want to save some time, mix the mushrooms, meat and spinach and freeze them in freezer bags. You will find them ready for future use. If your kids don’t like mushrooms, you can swap them with zucchini. It adds nice color along with the spinach. My kids love topping the meat loaf with tomato sauce, make sure to have it handy. I usually cook a homemade tomato sauce and have it in the freezer. It is handy.

Do you have any great swaps that you make in the kitchen to get your kids to eat more veggies? What do you think of this healthy recipe for kids?