Veggie Eating Machines

I was asked this week by my littles' teacher how I have gotten my kids to eat so many veggies and be super happy and excited about eating them. My oldest takes lettuce, red peppers, carrots, cucumbers and broccoli (or some combo of those) daily for his school snack. He requests this for his snack. At first I worried that he would starve or see other kid's snacks and start demanding those kind of normal kid's snacks. Neither has happened. I put some thought into it and here's what we have done to promote veggie eating machines.

We plant a garden and have the boys involved with the process.
We read kids books about gardening and healthy foods.
We make a really big deal about the veggies when we buy them at the store.
We try to find the ones they really enjoy and push those.
We talk about what healthy foods are and why we need to eat food that rots.
We make a really big deal about how awesome they are when they eat healthy food.
We cut up veggies so they can grab them out of the fridge for a snack.
Have some veggies at every meal and snack. It doesn't have to be a lot, but it gets them seeing that it's important to eat veggies.
Model it for the kids.
If they request to try another veggie, we get it for them to try.
Another key we have found is the taste of organic has made a huge difference for the boys liking the veggies. More taste and less bitter.
Give incentives to eat them.
Give them a choice about which ones to eat.

This 4 inch tall container will last 2 days.

Also: it took awhile for them to get excited eating more than carrots. It took my oldest until he was 4 to really start being brave and trying new things. The next little follows his brother so he was eating veggies like crazy at 2.

Right now the boys are loving lettuce, cucumbers, red peppers, carrots and broccoli. We just have them eat that every day. When more becomes available from the garden or in the stores, we will add to it.

It comes with time for them to understand the importance of food. With consistency, teaching and making it a  huge deal, it will come. That's what has worked for us. Though I'm always waiting for the mutiny to happen.

Best wishes for finding the key to your littles being veggie eating machines! And what has worked for you??