Add Vegetables To Ketchup To Make A Quick Meal Nutritious

Alina isn’t the pickiest of eaters, especially for a toddler. Since I’ve been adding vegetable purees to her food since the beginning, she doesn’t question when she sees a dark green hue or inspect her meal like a hawk. But our lives have gotten busier and quick meals have been on the menu a lot these past few months. I don’t feel bad because that means I spend more quality time with my family instead of cooking a lavish meal, but boosting the nutrients to Alina’s favorite “chickie and fries” has been on my mind. So, its time to add vegetables to ketchup!

Last week I had an Ah-Ha! moment and decided to try it out over the weekend. As a meal solution, I added vegetables to ketchup and amped up her quick meal with just a few extra steps, leaving us lots of time for a family game night! Daddy D, Alina and I had a blast, and I loved knowing she still got her veggies.

Add Vegetables to Ketchup

Alina LOVES to dip her food. Are your kids the same way? She especially loves ketchup and I thought it would be a great place to sneak in vegetables. So last week, after the baby’s nap, I tried to squeeze in a quick shopping trip to Walmart before the toddler’s afternoon nap. The trip was so quick that I didn’t even grab a cart, but Alina still managed to fall asleep! I picked up a butternut squash, Tyson chicken nuggets, Ore Ida crinkle fries and continued on to the condiments aisle to inspect the variety of Heinz Ketchup…

I was amazed at the variety of ketchup that Heinz makes! I opted for the Reduced Sugar option for my vegetable experiment, but bought a traditional bottle too. Just in case.

Once home, I cooked the chicken nuggets and fries according to the package directions and got busy preparing the vegetables to steam and blend. My original plan was to make two batches of vegetable ketchup: one with carrot and butternut squash and the second with the addition of spinach. But, that second batch didn’t happen. Life did instead. Oh well, maybe next time I’ll throw spinach into the mix.

While the chicken and fries cooked, and before Daddy got home from work, Alina and I sat down to enter the #DipDipHooray sweepstake and unlock a fun online game for us to play. It was super simple! I just set up an account and uploaded the UPC codes from the chicken, fries and ketchup. And the grand prize is a gift card to stock up the awesome games Hasbro makes – something we really need to do! Family game nights are a great way for a family to spend quality time together, and I hope to offer my babies those experiences as they grow.

Once the chicken was done, I mixed one part ketchup and one part vegetable puree and plated Alina’s dinner with some fresh fruit and a cup of water. Just like I expected, she wasted no time in dipping her food in the vegetable ketchup. I have to admit, I held my breath anxiously, waiting for her reaction. She loved it. Vegetable Ketchup is a keeper!

Family Game Night

Because of our quick meal and easy clean up, I had time to sit down with Daddy D and Alina to play a fun Hasbro game I bought on my shopping trip- a matching card game, for ages 3+, princess theme of course. I wish we could have a Hasbro family game night every night! It was so much fun! In the end, Daddy D and I were battling it out, but we all came out winners. Including my vegetable ketchup!

Does your family have game night? Which game is your favorite? I am already making a list of the fun games I want to keep stocked in the house for those nights when a quick meal idea leaves us the time to play one!