"Put it on a cracker" is not a particularly elegant solution to neophobia, we confess–especially when it comes by way of a Ritz (or worse). It doesn’t have the courage and resilience of serving the same leafy green 20+ times until it connects; it doesn’t have the playfulness or collaboration that comes with imagining a vegetable as something more fun (e.g., an airplane). Sorry to say, you’re not going to feel like a Parent of the Year for doing this.
But it does work. For zucchini. Beets. Carrots, in more ways than you can imagine. Eggplant. Cauliflower. We could go on—and have, dozens of times. (See links!) Chips, breads, tortillas–just slather on carbs and you’re good.
Now, we should be honest here and admit we do “cheat”: a lot of times these vegetables come in a creamy and spreadable form—think hummus, dips, sauces, et al. But, as this post’s recipe shows, it’s also possible to stick whole vegetables on top of something creamy–on top of something crackery–and still get a small child to down several pieces, both willingly and gleefully. Basically, the cheat code is this: the closer you bring a vegetable to the taste and texture of yogurt or guacamole, the more likely your child is going to eat it.
In a way, the following recipe brings carrots closer to both yogurt and guacamole, not the least because avocado is involved. Here, we skew Moroccan flavor-wise—honey, cumin, citrus in and on everything—but the architecture of the dish is straight out of the contemporary restaurant playbook: a vegetable deeply roasted to bring out its sweetness + a creamy element + crunchy stuff for contrast. The spread is a not-quite hummus: there’s no tahini, but a bit of the chickpeas’ aquafaba and half an avocado provide a similarly whipped texture. Our kid insists it’s guacamole; we haven’t the heart to tell him otherwise, especially not when he eats it so readily.
(Note: as there are two components to the dish, the recipe instructions below are organized by each component.)
We typically serve a Ritz cracker topped with the chickpea-avocado spread, with a piece of carrot placed in the center of the cracker. If your child is skeptical about the orange root vegetable on the cracker, hold firm: it’s soft and sweet–he/she will like it. After serving on a few occasions, try eliminating the cracker and serving the spread on top of a carrot piece.
Virtually all the components here are interchangeable. You could swap carrots for beets or sweet potatoes; you could use maple syrup instead of honey. Use yogurt instead of whipped chickpeas, especially if/when pressed for time; use other herbs instead of parsley or cilantro (say, dill).
Brad (the Dad) is the founder and Chief Recipe Officer of New Dad's Kitchen. His own cooking/feeding journey started humbly during his son's infancy, preparing and managing his son's bottle intake in order to support his wife; it has since blossomed into a full-on passion to feed his child and family delicious and healthy meals that can satisfy both a toddler and his very tired parents.
