As a kid who has grown up eating lots of fruit and veggies without a fight, I thought I would share a few of my mom's and my favorite ideas with you!

1. Add a can of coconut milk to rice right after it finishes cooking and serve with frozen or fresh mango slices.


2. Mix yogurt with slightly frozen berries, especially blueberries.


3. If you like crunchy, mix the yogurt with the berries, and add a bit of cereal or granola — a tasty way to get calcium if you do not drink milk.


4. Rice with pineapple slices. Good warm or cold.


5. Smoothies.


6. Sweet potatoes (mashed) with a small amount of brown sugar in them, and marshmallows toasted on the top. (Mom says — marshmallows are for holidays only.)


7. Green beans sautéed a minute with butter and garlic (works with spinach too).


8. Sweet carrots — add a little butter or brown sugar to the carrots after they are cooked.


9. Make eating fruit and veggies fun, examples include:
• Sushi-bar thing — put out sheets of seaweed, rice, rice seasonings and veggies and let kids roll their own sushi rolls. The seaweed and seasonings are available in Asian food stores, which is a fun field trip.


• Make your own omelets, or smoothies — everyone cuts up the possible ingredients and then makes their own. Supervision with stove required for young kids.


• Fruit salad bar — add mini marshmallows, nuts and yogurt as toppings.


• Scavenger hunt (eat all of your vegetables on the list, and you get a two-dollar toy next time the family goes out).
10. Fruit on pancakes or with a serving (that is 1/2 cup) of ice cream.


11. When playing Monopoly, put a bowl of sliced fruit in the Free Parking spot, and whenever someone lands there, he or she must take a bite.


12. Frozen fruit in the summer — frozen grapes, bananas or strawberries, possibly with a thin coating of chocolate.


13. Take an ice cube tray or popsicle mold, get some fruit juice — orange, lemon, lime, grape, whatever — and insert little pieces of fruit like strawberries or banana. It's like a treat at the center.