toddler meal ideas [General]

2009 Nov 20
i am starting this thread to help ms foodie, myself and an other person who has to feed a toddler out.

what i would love are ideas for picky eaters, ideas for those nights when you have 5 minutes to get food on the table and ideas on how to expand their food repetoire.

2009 Nov 20
my son is going through a very picky stage so i am hiding good food in favourite standbys.

here are some of the meals on our rotation

1. cook in bulk and freeze extras for ready-to-go frozen meals. i do this with soup and pasta dishes. take out the night before and leave in frige to thaw, then microwave at dinner time.

2. cook and puree veggies. put in small containers in the freezer to quickly add to meals. you can also do similar things with meat and chicken.

3. have a "snacks" dinner - my son loves dip (hummus) and crackers or toast and fruit.

4. peanut butter on whole wheat bread with banana and a glass of milk

5. "chips" oven roasted slices of sweet potato. slice thinly, cook at 425 for 6 minutes, flip and 6 minutes more.

6. whole wheat tortillas toasted with cheese and veggie puree or shredded meat inside. puree ideas: sweet potatoe, butternut squash, roast red pepper. cheese can mask just about anything.

7. pancake night | morning | lunch. either make the pancake mix yourself (i use joy of cooking buttermilk pancake recipe) or use store bought (if store bought make it with egg and milk). puree veggies and add to the mix: beets (pink pancakes), sweet potato (orange pancakes), corn, etc. i use a sweet tasting veggie. eat as is! no syrup.

8. eggies (my sons term). this is an omlette - mix eggs with milk and a veggie puree, cook as an omlette, add shredded cheese. you can add sweet veggie - like sweet potatoes, or stronger veggie like spinach.

9. pizza - whole wheat pitas (i use the smaller morning break ones), home made tomato sauce (can tomatoes, spinach, lentils, cooked chicken thighs, all cooked then pureed), shredded cheese on top. my son will now allow brocolli on the pizza, but nothing else. thankfully i know he is getting more nutrition in the sauce.

10. grilled cheese (whole wheat bread, cheese - not cheese slices), gingered butternut squash soup (roast butternut squash, peel, put in a pot, add tetra pack of low sodium broth - chicken or veggie, plus a few slices of fresh ginger. cook for 25 minutes, then puree. this makes lots of soup, so i freeze it in small containers.)

2009 Nov 20
hff - have you tried mini potatoes with dips? Or sweet potatoes? Or of course the wonderful healthy baked?
May I ask how old is your son? We supply baked spuds to schools as part of their hot lunch programmes and kids LOVE baked potatoes.
By the sound of it, you are doing a great job at providing your son with good nutrition and a good start! Well done!

2009 Nov 20
I used to throw red lentils in pasta sauce (with some veggies in it) and puree...My kids hated chunky sauces but ate that! Kids generally like pasta so that would be my addition to the above ideas which I have to agree with work. We used to have a "snacks" dinner and they loved doing that.

I used to make my french bread every friday and make pizza from the dough and cinnamon sticky buns. They really looked forward to that. Use butternut squash puree instead of tomatoes for the pizza sauce and veggies like zucchini and eggplant and caramelized onions... jum!

My kids are all grown up now, youngest is 23 and I have 3 grandkids by my daughter. They still bring up the friday pizza nights as fond memories...

2009 Nov 21
As a little kid, I loved fruit plates with a couple slices of cheese. I remember this is what we served at one of my birthday parties.

I used to also like soft boiled eggs with toast "soldiers" that you could dip into the yolk. I also had a special egg holder.

You could also try making whole grain muffins with carrot, pineapple or zucchini to increase the vegetables.

My other favorite for pancakes is using a fruit puree as a sauce rather than syrup. I used to do this for a diabetic client that I had to cook for. We'd use mashed bananas or blueberries. Pureed peaches work as well.

2009 Nov 24
Pan Bagnat - You bring up a really good childhood memory of mine... Soft Boiled Eggs with Toast Soldiers, and my own personal egg cup... I figure that if I now 50 years later, can still recall those "favourite childhood" food thoughts, then it certainly would be a hit with other little kids too.

2009 Nov 24
I don't have a toddler myself, however, I was perusing the cookbook section of Chapters the other day and I came across Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook for kids called "Deceptively Delicious". Apparently she looks for sneaky ways to get vegetables into her kids' diet, without it being obvious. All of the recipes looked pretty healthy. I was thinking of picking it up for a friend, perhaps you could get some inspiration from it : ) Here's one of the recipes from it to give you an idea:

Jessica Seinfeld's Chocolate Chip Cookies with Chickpeas
Prep: 20 minutes, Total: 31-33 minutes, Makes 2 dozen cookies

This recipe is from Jessica Seinfeld's much talked about book, "Deceptively Delicious." These are so easy and fast to make, but watch out for flying chickpeas! If using a standing mixer, partially cover the bowl with a dish towel to keep the chickpeas from flying out. (Of course my kids think it's hysterical when this happens.)

Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
3/4 cup trans fat free soft tub margarine spread (I use butter)
2 large egg whites
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 (15 ounces) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (I put them in a food processor to grind them)
2 cups (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
3/4 cup raisins (optional)
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

2. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and margarine with a wooden spoon or on medium speed until smooth. Beat in the egg whites and vanilla, then the chickpeas and chocolate chips. Add the flour, oats, baking soda and salt, and mix on low speed until a thick dough forms.

3. Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto the baking sheet, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart. Press gently with a fork to flatten. Bake until the cookies are golden brown and just set, 11 to 13 minutes; do not overbake. Transfer to a rack to cool.

4. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

2009 Nov 27
i'm familiar with ms seinfelds book. there are some good ideas in it. he doesn't do chocolate yet and i try to limit sugar. i figure there will be lots of both in our future as he gets older, no need to rush it now.

spud, he loves roasted sweet potatoes, but i haven't tried any with dips yet. he likes hummus, so i will try a home made dip and see what he thinks.

ms foodie, have you gotten any ideas from this thread? any to share? our past two dinners have been miserable failures and he has ended up eating cheese, crackers, fruit and yogurt. he made a little progress and actually tried two bites of the meal before rejecting it... it turns out he only like "orange" coloured soups. now to figure out what i can add to the squash soup to boost it up a little.

2009 Dec 1
You could add chick peas, lentils, etc to the squash soup. I imagine that'd be quite yummy.

2009 Dec 2
Toddlers are genetically programmed to be picky about food. They will often eat almost anything when they are really small, as all their food would come from Mom & Dad, and thus be safe. When they get to be bigger toddlers, their biology then tells them to dislike anything they don't know, which keeps them from eating everything they find (as the babies often do), such as poisonous plants and such. If you are serious about effecting change in your toddlers eating habits, you may need to use hunger as incentive. If he/she can always put their nose up at the food you prepare, and always get copious amounts of the 'snack' food they love and are familiar with, they have no incentive to eat what you prepare.

In our house, we try to prepare a meal that includes at least something that the toddler will like, but also other things for everyone else. If our son decides he doesn't want the food that's been prepared for the meal, he can sit and eat nothing while everyone else finishes (i.e. no playing in lieu of dinner time). Then if he still doesn't want to eat, we all just continue our evening. When he inevitably gets hungry an hour later, he gets served the same plate he refused at dinner time. He can have his more 'usual' snack ONLY AFTER eating some/all of the prepared meal. Otherwise, the choice is his to have an empty belly. He has tried once or twice to persevere with an empty belly, but it has never lasted long.

If anyone has seen the recent research that suggests that 40% of food in America gets wasted and thrown out, this makes me want to be more forceful with the 'eat what we have prepared' rule.

Am I some form of evil ogre from medieval times? I have to admit I don't entirely understand the requirement to please the eaters in the household that have the least knowledge/experience/palatte of food and nutrition...

2009 Dec 2
We do much the same as Pete - with minor variations.

We generally serve them what we are having, though we have a rule that they are allowed to refuse to eat a certain number of items on the plate. For example if we are having chicken, rice and 2 veg, we put it all out and tell them they are allowed to not eat 1 of the items. The exact number of items they are allowed to not eat changes depending on what we are serving.

And each boy is allowed to have a small number of dishes they just simply do not like. Last night was falafel burgers (which BTW are quick to serve as leftovers) and #1 son loves them, but they are one of the 2 things on #2 son's "no-eat list". In this case my wife just made him something simple in lieu - the same bagels we were using for buns, but with peanut butter on it for him.

But more often than not, it is "you eat it or you go to bed hungry". And usually it will see them give in even if the odd time it is after being in bed a bit.

Just the other night my wife made some wonderful home made tomato soup from our own canned tomatoes. Both boys balked, but eventually they both gave in and ate it all.

BTW, leftovers rarely get thrown out - they end up in my lunch the next day :-) Only exception being when they are sick. But even then if it is something liquidy that I can reboil before tossing it back in the fridge, I'll do that. Like stew a couple of weeks ago. I took their leftovers and put it back into the pot, boiled a bit, then put it into a jar for my lunch.

2009 Dec 2
Pete-in-Ottawa nope no signs of ogres in your post you are just a concerned parent-;) I used to work in a school library in a former life and I was appalled at the amount of processed foods the kids would bring for lunch. They never had a chance to fully develop their tastebuds IMO.

On another note there are alot of moms in one of the recipe groups I'm in and many of them mention that they have alot of success packing their children's lunches in bento boxes. They would put grapes in one section, cherry tomatoes in one section, etc. Apparently there was alot less of their lunches going in the garbage.

2009 Dec 2
my guy is still pretty little, so i don't send him to bed hungry. i do offer him options though. i also have a plate with sections - similar to bento box. the main section is the dinner i have made and the sections around the edges i put slices of cheese, fruit and veggies. if he doesn't eat the main, he will eat the sides. i let him decide for the most part.

2009 Dec 2
I am with PiO and Zyg on this, but maybe a little softer on the edges. I remember reading some articles (unable to cite them now) that claimed that part of the blame for the obesity epidemic amoungst children may be due to the "eat what you are given" concept. I am not exactly sold on it, but I do believe sometimes my toddler doesn't want to eat because she simply isn't hungry and/or I've put out portions that were not in-line with her requirements at the time.

I guess I am in the camp of: I don't make anything special to suit her palate, but I also don't force her to eat N-1 items on the plate. I find when presented with 3-4 options, each of high nutritional value (we never have "filler" carbs), I am always satisfied that she, at a minimum, consumes what she needs to get her through to the next meal.


2009 Dec 2
hhh - my doctor said - for toddlers at least - to look at what they eat over the course of a week, rather than each day. some days the kids just aren't that hungry, other days they seem to be bottomless. it (should) all balance out.

2009 Dec 2
Oh we don't force them to eat N-1. We force them to TRY N-1. And we do not by any means force them to clean their plates. If they leave leftovers - even lots of them - that is absolutely fine. As mentioned, they go into my lunch for the next day. But we'll leave the leftovers on the kitchen counter until they are asleep, and if they want anything else to eat before then, they have to eat from their own leftovers.

My wife told me very early on that she is only concerned about their eating as it averages out over a couple of days. And she's read just about every book under the sun on it so I trust her :-) e.g. too much or too little - you can only really judge over a few days. Kids will one day stuff themselves full, and the next eat almost nothing. And this is fine.

And then of course you have to watch out for growth spurts, during which they'll eat and eat and eat and eat!!! And this is also normal.

2009 Dec 2
Yeah.. like Zym does.. we don't force feed anyone. Technically my wife is the bon cop, in this scenario so there is lots of 'softness on the edges' ;-) I said this WRT toddlers hipfunkyfun, but my son is now 4, so not so toddly. That being said, there was a time not too long ago, when we noticed he was not eating meals (which he decided he didn't like) and asking for 'snacks' an hour later. When we figured out we were being played, the snack and meal rules tightened up substantially...

2009 Dec 3
Ha, ha, we do "good cop, bad cop" too Guess which one I am?

2009 Dec 3
Pete-In-Ottawa - LOL when talking about parenting techniques, I always found that describing "the dance" always sounded much worse than the application... so no you are not an ogre at all... you are just a concerned parent doing the best job you can.

I on the otherhand was raised very old school (although to be fair to my parents it was the accepted way of thinking at the time... Dr. Spock and all).

I was never allowed to leave the table until I had cleaned my plate... lets just say there were a lot of long sessions sitting at the kitchen table forcing myself to eat food I absolutely hated... mostly veggies... I remember it was painful... it honestly made me gag.

Has this effected the way I eat as an adult... you bet it has, and not in a good way at all. First off, I still clean my plate (conditioning) although I am trying to be more conscious of that behaviour, I eat quickly... hoping to get thru the stuff I like (and I suppose subconsciously wanting to escape from the table... although I don't have that urge), I enjoy forbidden foods (special occasion eats) way too much, and because of all of this I have struggled my whole adult life with my weight... up down, yo-yo. Feast, Diet, Feast, Diet. Ridiculous.

Oh ya, and the funny thing the veggies I hated as a kid, I don't mind so much as an adult... so if I wasn't forced to eat them, I probably would have discovered them somewhere along the way on my own.

As for my kids, we did basically the same things you do... Prepared a meal, presented a meal, and let them eat what they wished from the plate. We rarely made seperate meals... although there were certainly a few "adult dishes" where we had substitutions available for (for example the kids never got any meals that had alcohol in the recipe... Coq au Vin). We didn't have much junk around, so their late night snacking in front of the tv after dinner wasn't an issue. And if they were ever hungry there was always the acceptable snack of fruits, veggies or a bowl of cereal. In the end they ate / eat most things... and as adults are quite willing to try new foods.

I am a BIG believer in these concepts... there was a real movement when our kids were growing up that parent's had to be a kid's friend, there was a real lack of parenting, of which food was just one issue. I had countless girlfriends who struggled to make 2 and 3 different offerings at mealtime to meet the "wants" (vs needs) of their children. This was just one issue in these Mom's lives (another was having their kids sleep in their beds), in the end all these Mom's were super burned-out when their kids were under 10, and strung-out when their kids were out of control as teenagers. Of course by then it was WAY TOO LATE to change the course of history.

2009 Dec 3
Food ideas: dehydrated fruit. This can include dried apples, apricots, raisins, bananas if they like them ect. They fill the snackable niche, have sugar to make them tasty but are still healthy.

Picky eaters: My mother is an excellent cook, but she had certain mainstay dishes. I "didn't like" beans because for me, the world of beans consisted of canned baked kidney beans or a highly kidney-bean salad and both of those specific _ways_ of preparing beans were not pleasing to me. Turns out that I just don't like kidney beans nor the sauces used for her two mainstay dishes. I eat lentils, chick peas, black beans and a host of others now because I had a chance to experiment and eat them in a different fashion.

If they don't like food item X, try a few different ways of preparing the item and see if some of those different preperation methods lead to dishes they like. You might be able to get them happy simply by cooking up the spinach with balsamic vinaigar instead of steamed or sauteed garlic.

2009 Dec 3
Our kids flipflop all the time - they have a hard time remembering what they don't like :) Then after a while they'll decide to try it again. When they don't eat what we have for dinner there is also usually some other choice such as red peppers and fruit - may be cheese. We haven't forced our kids to eat anything, but have gone with the try it you'll like it approach. My eldest are twins, and they both like very different things - my daughter loves meat in any form, and sweets and cakes - veggies are pretty much down to pepper strips and cukes. My son - loves fish (and sushi), cheese (especially blue or parm), potatoes, any kind of fruit and some vegetables. He won't eat cake, or whipped cream or soups/stews. Go figure ... The only consistent one is the 6 month old - breast milk, mushed bananas and porridge :)

2009 Dec 3
Yeah, gotta hate the flip-flopping!

2009 Dec 5
F&T How many kids do you have? It can be harder with one as they get all the attention and it can be easier for the parent to just let it go. I also believe in serving the same menu to all. Our only rule was that a new food must be tried twice, If a dish has wine in it, by the time it is cooked the only part left is the flavour so I don't think serving it to a child would be a problem.