How can I include fruits and vegetables in my child's breakfast?

Fruit fits easily into breakfast, but vegetables can be a challenge. Here are some tips to help you wake up your kid’s fruit and vegetable appetite:

• Stir things up. For a quick breakfast, add raisins or chopped dates to instant oatmeal or stir blueberries, strawberries, or sliced banana into whole grain cereal with fat-free milk.
• Get scrambling! Add fresh or frozen chopped spinach, mushrooms, and diced tomatoes to scrambled eggs or omelets. Really, any veggies will work!
• Make a breakfast sandwich. Top a whole wheat English muffin with either reduced-fat peanut butter and banana slices or a poached egg, a slice of Canadian bacon, and a pineapple ring.
• Batter up. Add grated carrots or zucchini to pancake, quick bread, or muffin batter.
• Drink your produce. Whir carrots and fresh orange juice in a blender for a refreshing breakfast beverage.
• Say “Olé!” Make a breakfast burrito by wrapping low-fat cheddar cheese, scrambled eggs, and diced bell peppers in a whole wheat tortilla. You can also make a vegetable and cheese quesadilla in a nonstick pan with a scant amount of canola oil.
• Pick a fruit pizza. Spread reduced-fat dinner rolls in a pizza pan and bake. Top the pizza with orange sections or slices of kiwi, apples, or strawberries and drizzle fat-free vanilla yogurt over the top.
• Make a quick white or sweet potato hash. Grate the potatoes -- they cook faster that way. Place the potatoes in a glass bowl and microwave about three minutes or until hot; drain any juice. Heat a skillet or frying pan on the stove and then stir-fry the potatoes with a teaspoon of olive oil until crispy.

Fruit and vegetables can be added to make a smoothly with 1 cup of low fat milk. Fruit can be added to make a yogurt parfait with whole grain cereal added as well. Fruit can also be added to hot or cold cereal. Another fun breakfast is to make fruit or vegetable kabobs and this can be served with a sweet or savory yogurt dip. A veggie burrito is another option for adding chopped vegetables to a breakfast, lunch or dinner meal.