Baby B-Dub continues to be an adorable human tornado. He is in many ways the butterfly that spawns the storm and the storm the butterfly spawns. He is chaos theory. He is delight.
I mean, he’s not always delight.
There’s the separation anxiety, and the teething, and the moodiness.
You know. The toddler stuff.
But one of the fun things now is feeding him food that is adult or almost adult in origin — stuff that doesn’t need to be pureed or chopped quite so finely, stuff that he can gnaw through even with his meager two bottom teeth. Sometimes, the kid is a bonafide eating machine.
So, I come to you Parental Humans Of The Internet and I ask:
What do you (or did you) feed your toddlers?
I’m looking for recipes, if anybody is willing to share.
Jeff Xilon says:
The feeding thing was never our strong suit, and our son (4 now) can be a bit of a picky eater, especially since we made the mistake letting him learn the joy of fruit before vegetables.
The three most common foods we used as our go-to were:
1) fried rice, with the veggies chopped up ever so tiny
2) a scrambled-egg style omelet, often done Korean style where you roll the egg up as it cooks or in a Korean patty style with tuna, (usually eaten with rice)
3) A soybean-paste soup with lots of tofu. This one is my own variation of probably the most commonly eaten Korean soup. My son loves it still and it’s really healthy. (usually eaten with rice)
Probably the only one you’d need a recipe for would be the soup. I don’t know if that’s the kind of thing you were looking for, but if it is I’d be happy to type up the recipe for you. I could put it here or email it.
Oh, and small-sized kimbap – which is a kind of california roll sort of thing. My wife always made that though, I’m terrible at rolling them.
July 11, 2012 — 12:21 AM
Robert Brown says:
From when he was 11 months old, our boy ate pretty much what we ate. We started with Thanksgiving Dinner. Had to chop up the turkey pretty fine, but he tore into that, the smashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce like a swarm of starving sharks. This was a huge relief, because he’d never been into the jars of smooshed baby food.
Hmm, it’s been five mostly sleep-deprived years, but I think what he mostly ate for meals in his second year was pasta, mashed potatoes, finely-chopped meat or ground beef, some peas and such that he mostly threw around. Beets. Chicken or BBQ rib meat shredded off the bone. (I let him teeth on a clean rib bone once when he was 6 or 7 months old. He loved that.) Pancakes (LOVED pancakes. Still does.), scrambled eggs. For snacks, apples, bananas grapes (cut in half, so he wouldn’t choke if he tried to hork the whole thing down without chewing), the usual stuff.
Basically any kind of people chow that we were pretty sure he wouldn’t choke on went into the wood chipper.
July 11, 2012 — 12:36 AM
Bronson O'Quinn says:
Animal flesh, straight from the bone. Best to start toughen him up now before he grows up and only wants greek yogurt and quail eggs.
July 11, 2012 — 12:55 AM
Natalie says:
My tip for feeding children of all ages (might work for teens too, I’m not there yet) is to give them the vegetables FIRST in each meal. When they start saying they are starving and they can’t wait the 8 minutes it’s going to be before dinner is ready, slide over a plate of sticks of carrot, cucumber etc. If they are hungry, they will eat it. Their dinner plate might then look a bit bare with just meat on it, but they have already had their vegetables.
July 11, 2012 — 4:50 AM
The Liz says:
The only ‘rule’ I’ve heard from the people who’ve brought you parental paranoia and a thousand baby books… Is try not to give him too many utterly new foods at once, on the off chance he has an allergic reaction. (Which is most often a rash that appears for no known reason.)
My monster managed to develop an allergy to Papaya as a baby. Weirdest allergy I know of. But it was the only thing she ever ate that made her skin turn bumpy all down her back, so now I have to tell every teacher and doctor to put it in her file.
But kids should be exposed to lots of foods so you won’t get stuck with a 4yo who eats nothing but carbs and cheese. Veggies are good, avoid too much sugar, salt, or spicy.
Monster loved spaghetti. Straight noodles chopped up and doused in homemade marinara with sausage. Kids love anything that makes a mess.
July 11, 2012 — 5:19 AM
jeffo says:
I don’t really remember any recipes. The great thing about that age, as I recall, is that our girls ate pretty much anything we set before them. No complaining, no funny faces, they’d just pick it up and pop it in their mouths. It’s a great age. Exhausting, but great.
July 11, 2012 — 6:02 AM
Marko Kloos says:
At that age, ours got to eat everything we ate, only toddler-fied with a wand mixer. Don’t underestimate the toddler’s capacity to enjoy savory stuff.
July 11, 2012 — 6:16 AM
Jennifer says:
I fed Chompers pretty much whatever I was eating and that worked out pretty well because he’s a pretty adventurous eater — the other night he chowed down on coconut curry cauliflower. If you’re cooking something super-spicy you can always take a little bit out for B-Dub before you spice it to your tastes.
Toddlers really like finger food, so anything you can chop into little bits is perfect! His favorite snacks were avocado, peas, banana bread, and noodles. Oh! And I shredded carrots in the microplane and cooked them with acini de pepe pasta and olive oil and froze that in ice cube trays — that was his favorite lunch forever!
July 11, 2012 — 6:32 AM
Rick A. Carroll says:
This picture seriously makes me think of Peter Fonda in Easy Rider. No great reason, it just does.
Bannanas were the first important toddler food for all three of our kids. They’re soft, so they can chew them, and if you cut them in thirds they get experience with manipulating the food. Toast is another great thing, and you can also experiment with different jellies to expand their taste buds. On that, I would keep it the same taste for a few days in a row, and then switch. If you switch it all up too fast, you can turn them off of new things pretty quick.
Maggie and I didn’t have much luck with meat aside from bologna, but the bologna we get up here for cheap is what rich people in America would eat if they ate bologna. Seriously, the stuff is damn near divine. I couldn’t for the life of me understand why Maggie spit out bologna when she was in the States. I do now. However, it is a good soft meat that’s an even texture, and that’s the big thing. Hot dogs are great for that also.
Eggs have been a miss on all my kids, but anything bready has been good. Pancakes are the clear winner. Mix them with applesauce, and if you can, make your own applesauce. I know with a kid and this entire writing “thing” you do, there isn’t a lot of time, but you can leave the fucker simmering on the stovetop most the day and your house will smell great. Pasta is hit or miss. I would definitely avoid longer noodles for now.
Whatever you end up feeding him, just be sure to let him play with it! Let him make a mess, let him splat it, let him smear it all over him. This is an exciting adventure for him, and that exploration with taste, texture, and smell is really good for his cognitive development.
July 11, 2012 — 6:47 AM
terribleminds says:
We feed him from our plates whenever we’re eating, so he’s getting a pretty good range of foods — but I also want to get in the habit of having around meals that work for him even if we’re not eating (like, last night I made him buttered noodles with a little onion, corn and peas, and he seemed to enjoy it).
We don’t even puree stuff for him anymore — he’s pretty comfortable just using his two meager teeth to gnaw whatever enters his maw.
Thanks, all!
— c.
July 11, 2012 — 6:57 AM
Rick A. Carroll says:
Oh, also! Our nutritionist (we had one as part of some autism study that went nowhere), it usually takes about three weeks (15 meals or so) of experimentation before a toddler decides if they like something or not. I have no idea how accurate that is, but some really smart lady said it, and she had a white coat and glasses and everything. It seems to hold true with our kids, aside from Thomas (who is extremely rigid in his diet). So, even if he doesn’t try it for up to a week, keep giving him little bits of something. He should eventually try it and then make his Ultimate Decision.
July 11, 2012 — 7:07 AM
John Anealio says:
My son had to be put on a gluten/dairy free diet pretty early on in his life. Frozen waffles are pretty easy (you can even get the gluten-free kind in a lot of super markets).
In terms of a snack, my son really liked this stuff called Veggie Bootio, which is essentially puffed corn with vegetable flavoring.
Hope that helps.
July 11, 2012 — 8:07 AM
Shiri Sondheimer says:
Our pedi was a big fan of the kid eats what you eat in whatever form is possible/safe starting at 9 months. It worked pretty well for us — of course, we avoided too spicy/salty etc.
Keep in mind that as he develops his even more that he’ll become picky. My little boy who used to eat anything we put in front of him except yogurt or eggs is now more limited, though he’ll eat any fruit and almost any veg. Luckily, we’ve managed to convince him that the meat alternatives (not veg, but they’re healthier if we have to do processed) are better than chicken nuggets. He won’t go near fast food except potato products, but then, who doesn’t love those. We’re hoping that early introduction means when he decides he’s bored of what he’s eating now, he’ll go back to a wider range and he will always take at least one bite of something new.
I would say we’ve learned not to make a big deal of it when he tries something (had some chicken the other day) because if we do, he’ll then not eat it just to rile us up (especially my husband). We also started him on the whole what alternatives now (pasta, bread etc) because I knew those would be a staple and at least it has more nutritional value.
We had a new baby about a week an a half ago and he seems even happier with eating real food now. Makes a disgusted face every time I feed her, though this morning he copped to it being okay that she’s getting “special water from mommy’s boob,” then asked for a banana and peanut butter cheerios (yes, there is such a thing and yes, they are delicious).
The main thing I’d say (I’m a pediatric triage nurse in real life and talk to parents about this a lot) is not to make it a struggle. With these kinds of fights, the kid always wins because even if he does eat what you want him to eat, you’re ready to pound your head against the table. Go slow, let him lead, and it will be much more pleasant for everyone.
July 11, 2012 — 8:22 AM
Laura Libricz says:
I read somewhere that parents should aim for a balanced week instead of trying to balance the diet every day. There were days when my daughter would only eat cheese, the next day she’d eat curried vegetables, the next day maybe only noodles. And we never forced the kids to clean their plates, like we had to do when I was a kid. When they are full, they are full! I noticed that both kids liked the foods that I craved when I was pregnant, too.
July 11, 2012 — 8:50 AM
Ben K. says:
As a guy who is not so good at the cooking of the foods, I was delighted to learn a couple of easy-to-prepare items from my wife, who is awesome at the food makings.
1. Cinnamon apples: cut up an apple into bite-sized pieces. Put them in a bowl. Sprinkle a generous amount of cinnamon all over them. Cover them with water, then microwave, for two minutes. They’ll be hot and soft when you’re done. Let them cool a minute, then hand them off to the Food Monster.
2. Our daughter liked (still likes at 2+ any kind of pasta. You really can’t go wrong with pasta. For her it’s usually simple pastas, not a lot of messy stuff like tomato sauces. Cut up tomato pieces are a winner, or something different like greens and turkey sausage chunks. Also, she loves olives. Loves them.
July 11, 2012 — 9:55 AM
Brandy says:
Ha! I write an entire series on this. Come check it out. We talk about all kinds of issues and then I post photos of my kid’s meals each night via instagram/twitter under #toddlerdinners
http://www.mannlymama.com/toddlerdinners
July 11, 2012 — 9:58 AM
Wendy Wagner says:
My daughter was obsessed with meatloaf. I tried to keep a stash on-hand in the freezer for easy snacking.
Weirdly enough, my daughter is now a rabid vegetarian, but I don’t think there’s any connection to the meatloaf-eating. 😉
July 11, 2012 — 10:01 AM
Writergrrrl says:
Drop little glops of yogurt on a cookie sheet. Freeze. When frozen, pop them off and store in a bowl. They make a great cold treat. My little ones always enjoyed a sweet potato from the microwave with a little pepper. Scrambled eggs are my toddler son’s favorite, and we broke up little pieces of sausage in them when he was really small. If you make real mac and cheese by boiling the noodles and then melt Velveeta in them, it reheats well, and little ones can use fingers to feed themselves. Steamed carrots shouldn’t be overlooked, and yams are pretty perfects as well. Mandarin oranges let them chase fruit around their tray if you’re busy in the kit hen.
July 11, 2012 — 10:08 AM
Kim Foster says:
Hey Chuck –
Your kid is delicious. Here is my kid’s favorite week night dish. I ripped it off from Thomas Keller’s Butter Poached Lobster.
Butter-Poached Fish
2 Tbs, water
1 1/2 sticks, unsalted butter
4 fillets of Swai (also known as basa, or another buttery white fish that can take poaching)
Salt to taste
Chives (cut small)
Lemon wedges
1. Place water in a small to medium-sized saucepan. (I like the pan small so the butter mixture pools more and covers more of the fish) Heat it until it’s hot and add butter, a little at a time, over very low heat. Whisk the butter and water together. Continue adding butter until it’s emulsified. Do not burn the butter.
2. When butter is melted, add the fish fillets. You can turn up the heat a little, but it should be at a deep simmer. You don’t want to over-cook the fish. Salt the fish fillets in the butter so the butter gets salty, too. Cook about 3-4 minutes on each side depending on thickness and heat. You can ladle some of the butter over the top of the fish to get that buttery goodness everywhere. If you feel the fish is nearly done, turn off the heat and just let it sit for a minute in the warm butter.
3. With kitchen scissors, cut small pieces of chive over the fish. Salt more to taste, if desired. (I like a bit of salt, so do the kids) Serve with a little butter sauce, extra chives and lemon wedges.
It takes about 10 minutes to make this dish. Enjoy!
@KimFosterNYC
July 11, 2012 — 10:15 AM
Mike Manz says:
Our little guy got his first two teeth at 4 months and his third and fourth by 5 months and really he didn’t stop until his 1-year molars came in at 10 months. He’s 19 months old now and generally eats whatever we’re eating as long as it isn’t too spicy. We don’t really eat many processed foods – not because we’re nutrition nazis, just because we live in rural China and everything is fresh and local here – so that works out well for him.
We had a bit of a bump going from mushy foods to chewy foods. It wasn’t that he couldn’t chew them, it was more that he didn’t see the point in chewing, or didn’t want to bother. He was too lazy to chew. He has since discovered the joys of chomping and his current favorite seems to be herbed chicken drumettes. Or anything with ketchup on it.
July 11, 2012 — 10:48 AM
Casz Brewster says:
I’m with Natalie up there — give him the veggies first. I still do that and the lot still at home are 16, 14 & 11. My friends are so amazed at how much veggies my kids eat. They now have their favorites (like one refuses mushrooms, the other doesn’t really dig tomatoes, and another despise green peppers — yes, I just cook with those items regardless and they get to pick it out or eat it, which the do both depending on mood). When they were toddlers, it was veggies first. And lots of variety. I looked at it as a culinary adventure. I got to introduce all the wondrous food world to them. My kids will eat eggplant and zucchini and broccoli like it’s candy, still.
We started a “fun food Saturday,” too where we eat the “junkier” stuff and create things out of our food — like this: http://bacontoday.com/bacon-turtle-burgers/
Or just their favorites like homemade macaroni and cheese with broccoli. It’s taught them about moderation. It’s okay to have pizza, etc. But only in moderation. Last week, the request for fun-food Saturday was bbq chicken.
The point is that this is the time to establish healthy eating habits and have a food journey adventure together.
Enjoy!
July 11, 2012 — 10:53 AM
Kym Robertson says:
In retrospect this seems crushingly obvious but I strongly advise against prunes in any form while on a road trip (or if there is any event in which it would pose a problem to pull to the side of the road and throw out all the child’s clothes…even socks….leaving him naked save for one last Huggie).
July 11, 2012 — 11:02 AM
D.B. Baldwin says:
I think both my girls lived from 1 to 3 on a diet of fruit and cheese. When nothing else would work, I could always get them to eat mandarin orange slices and string cheese.
July 11, 2012 — 11:52 AM
Julie Farrar says:
I had a bit different experience, but I think it could help. Instead of starting with a baby, we started a family with two 8-year olds from Russia. Their food choices had been extremely limited, not enough, and frequently connected with punishment. We had to get them to eat tons of nutritious food fast for their massive undernourshiment. One of my tricks was whatever I cooked I got vegetables in any way I could. They would eat fruit, but veggies were foreign. Throw spinach in spaghetti, add frozen carrots to everything, let them munch on green peppers, buy a juicer and make sure to put something citrus-like in to sweeten all the veggies. I made a lot of hash-like meals (chopped up meat with gravy and lots of veggies cooked till soft). And as he grows, do not give in to his food fits. He won’t starve if he doesn’t eat what’s put in front of him. We told the kids the kitchen closes after dinner except for whatever was left on their plate. My 20-somethings eat great and even when kids they ordered adult food at white tablecloth restaurants because I didn’t want to eat McDonalds.
This was probably more than you wanted, but I was astounded by how many kids controlled what a family ate when my own were growing up. Their friends refused to eat pork tenderloin and other fabulous food at our house because all they ever ate at home was pizza.
July 11, 2012 — 12:06 PM
Rachel says:
This is a recipe for lentil soup from Linda McCartney’s recipe book, Home Cooking. It’s cool because it was not only referenced in a Simpson’s episode and bestowed upon the world by the wife a real live Beatle, my daughter ate it over brown rice and loved it! It’s incredibly healthy, very delicious, and is in no way a choking hazard. But don’t expect the progeny to eat it after he starts school. Be warned: These days of gustatory exploration are numbered!
Ingredients
1 medium onion, chopped
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
4 oz/155 g lentils (any kind, green, red or brown)
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon of freshly chopped or dried parsley or other dried herbs
1.5 pints/850 ml water or vegetable stock
Salt/pepper to taste
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the onion and garlic. Add the carrots and celery and cook, stirring frequently for 10 minutes. Rinse the lentils and add to the mixture, along with the bay leaf, parsley or herbs, salt and pepper and stir. Add the stock or water, cover the pan and simmer for around an hour until the lentils are very soft. You can add a little more stock or water if necessary. This soup is delicious served with a crusty bread or steamed brown rice..
July 11, 2012 — 12:08 PM
Cameron Suey says:
I feel like I’ve stumbled into most of my good recipes, but here’s what works.
Eggs, mixed with finely chopped basil, spinach, arugula, or other leafy green. A lot of greens, enough to drown away any egg yellow, but drained of excess water. Cook slowly, not scrambling, but making a big patty. Cut into finger size stripped.
French toast, chopped into finger size bits, make great snacks, and can be frozen in bulk. One loaf of challah will make several weeks worth. If you don’t use challah for the French toast, you’re a terrible person. Same with buckwheat or other whole grain pancakes. A batch of silver dollar sized pancakes will freeze and defrost great.
Ground beef is a big hit. I’ve been dicing all sorts of vegetables or fine chopped leafy greens and mixing it with ground beef (1lb), an egg, and a small amount of Panko crumbs. Roll into breakfast sausage size logs. Then cook in a pan til well done. They look like the spoor of an inefficient omnivore, but they’re delicious. Kid loves em and she’ll eat one or two at dinner.
I’ve also been surprised that my baby likes spicy foods or more “adult” spices like cumin. Coat some firm air dried tofu cut into fingers in a spice blend, then flash fry. She digs it, but I dunno. She might be a fucking weirdo.
July 11, 2012 — 12:15 PM
Randall G. Hauk (@RandallGHauk) says:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/oregon-salmon-patties/
My son loves these salmon patties. Been eating them regular since last summer (he’s now 2.5), so a good time to introduce them to yer lil man.
July 11, 2012 — 12:32 PM
Toni Rakestraw says:
Hi Chuck,
When ours were that small (and we’ve got 8 of ’em), our go to teething foods included chicken drumstick bones. We’d take off that weird pointy bone and the gristle on top, and leave some of the yumminess towards the bottom. The kids loved them. Other good foods for toddlers: chunks of avocado, rice, boiled or mashed potato, peas. Any meat that has been cut up into tiny pieces that could be swallowed whole just in case baby doesn’t gum it to death. We would introduce some seasonings like salt and herbs. Hold off on the spicy stuff until they’re at least 3… my oldest son absolutely adored hot salsa when he was 3. He’d dip the chips in and eat until his eyes watered and he’d have to fan his tongue. He’d take a drink of something, then go right back and do it again. He didn’t grow up too twisted… now he writes game reviews online. Okay, maybe he is a little twisted.
July 11, 2012 — 12:48 PM
Mattw says:
I had some success with a simple home made mashed potatoes with cheese and a little peas mixed in. Our youngest would be a little more daring and liked stronger favors for a while, horseradish, mustard, etc. Scrambled eggs are good, and you can get a lot of variety out of that.
We kept running into the situation where whatever the kids can’t get enough of one day, they won’t touch the next.
July 11, 2012 — 1:35 PM
Sheri Hart says:
My son loved homemade oatmeal with plain yogurt, a little cinnamon and applesauce. (Or any other flavour of the non-sweetened Mott’s Fruitsations). I’d make a big pot in advance and heat it up in the morning.
He was also crazy for mashed avocado and then guacamole.
Hummus was another good one — my kids loved it on bread or crackers or for dipping veggies into.
Mini meatballs, cubes of cooked meat, cheese and Goldfish….so many Goldfish.
July 11, 2012 — 2:00 PM
Susan Spann says:
“Ribs” probably isn’t the answer you’re looking for.
My son liked anything he could handle while eating – green beans were a big favorite (steamed, with butter and pepper). He loved sticky rice (my apologies to a thousand waiters and clean-up crews in Chinese food restaurants).
My son went through a two year phase where he wouldn’t eat any meat but hot dogs (which are only arguably meat anyway) so we had to add protein powder to his milk and serve him a lot of scrambled eggs and peanut-butter-on-sourdough toast – both easy toddler foods. I’d cut the toast into strips for easier handling – toast, a dab of butter, layer of peanut butter, cut into strips….the perfect recipe for “carpets that need replacing” – oh, and a happy toddler.
July 11, 2012 — 5:14 PM
Lydia says:
Older son was mad for cold lima beans, drained, from the can. And beets, which, needless to say, he ate minimally clothed and over a dropcloth. He’s 6’4″ now, and an ad for eating your vegetables.
July 11, 2012 — 6:11 PM
Anah says:
Sweet potatoes in any form.
Pancakes or waffles (cut into strips or use cookie cutters).
Chickpeas (once he has a few more teeth) and hummus.
Avocados and guacamole (I’d mix this with yogurt and let her feed herself).
Fresh pasta (flat or stuffed) — older kids can help with the dough: double bag it, squeeze out the air, and let them pound it into submission.
I subscribed to the serve veggies first, balance the week and not the day, theories of feeding and that seemed to work really well. I introduced foods by putting a small amount to the side during a meal and allowing Kid to get used to it. She turned out to be a spinach-eating lentil-muncher.
July 11, 2012 — 6:19 PM
Name Miya says:
Rice is always good, rice with shredded chicken, rice pudding, wild rice with chopped broccoli, all hits at my house. Sushi (the veggie kind) was a big one when my kids were a little older.
Veggies first really is easier.
Things they can dip. They LOVE this. Guacamole with cut up tortillas, Hummus (homemade so you can control the garlic and spice levels is best at first) with crackers or pita chips (small bits of course), salsa. They LOVE to dip things. If there is no peanut allergy, Peanut butter and goldfish, or bits of fruit/veggies.
July 11, 2012 — 6:20 PM
Lais says:
My kids (now 8) both loved mini pancakes. I thing the brand is Krusteaz? Microwave for 10 seconds, shmear with whole fruit spread, let the gnoshing commence!
Cheese toast was always a favorite, and also very easy to make.
Life cereal is a great step up from Cheerios to keep on hand for a quick snack.
Mix chopped banana and cheerios with plain or vanilla yogurt. Aim for thick concrete consistency, and he can easily eat it with his fingers.
Frozen peas.
Frozen blueberries.
Remember, toddlers eat the way all people should eat; they graze. All day. Like little cows.
Keep giving him stuff he doesn’t initally like. (Prepare to duck. He may throw it.)
Most of all, if he seems a bit picky.. don’t sweat it. He will eat when he’s hungry.
July 11, 2012 — 6:56 PM
Danielle La Paglia says:
We never did specific recipes. We just gave her a modified version of what we were eating. She loved pastas, we just left cut the meat up into fine pieces if it had beef or chicken and left out the shrimp (if it had any). We eat Mexican food most nights so beans and rice (minus the salsa) was always a favorite. If you’re eating Asian food, rice with finely diced chicken (no sauce or little seasoning). We tried to keep seasoning to a minimum but didn’t cut it out completely. In Mexico they roll honey in chili powder and give it to kids as candy, spice won’t kill them, just introduce it gently. Start with small amounts of flavor and build up. My kid is 12 and will eat anything–Thai, Greek, Mexican, Italian, Indian, the more flavors, the better.
July 11, 2012 — 7:19 PM
Nazarea says:
My baby (13months) eats whatever we do. She might have a little applesauce first while her dinner cools, but she chows down on pizza, roast and veggies, meatloaf and Chinese. Rice (Mexican, wild or fried) is always a huge favorite as is honey-balsamic salmon (season a salmon filet, cook in pan with olive oil. Stop with 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup honey and let simmer (pairs nicely with that wild rice)) she is crazy for that. And popcorn.
July 11, 2012 — 8:35 PM
Aline says:
Two words. Baked beans.
(Perfect for small fingers and developing fine motor skills, nutritious and super yummy (at least my two thought so)!
July 11, 2012 — 9:09 PM
Mike says:
I’m amazed at all the toddler-specific recipes in here. Do you people have nothing else to do? My kids – once they could chew – got whatever we were eating. We focused on a balanced diet (for them, not us) and nothing to spicy, but the more variety, the better.
As for picky eaters – as much the parent’s fault I think. We didn’t coddle ours – unless it was a new food they rejected right away. But we introduced thos with other foods on the plate too. Basically we served the meals and you could either eat or leave and check in next meal time.
July 11, 2012 — 10:59 PM
arizela says:
I fed my guy just about everything. He got in a phase pretty early on of not wanting to try new things, so we made a deal – we got to go out to eat together on a “date” every Tuesday afternoon, but only if he tried something he’d never tried before. Meantime, I didn’t pressure him to eat anything new on non-Tuesdays.
The steamed broccoli (“little trees”) were a hit, as was just about everything pan-Asian.
Today, he’s 13 years old, 5’10” tall, and his favorite foods are sushi, asparagus, and collard greens.
July 11, 2012 — 11:22 PM
arizela says:
PS – does Bdub have a mustache going on? Kinda looks like he needs a razor in that pic 🙂
July 11, 2012 — 11:36 PM
Kort says:
At a recent memorial service, my little one (22 months) ate all the cherry tomatoes she could reach off the fruit plate and then started going around and asking for everybody else’s, too. I would say she’s a fan of tomatoes. And broccoli with ranch dressing. We keep around bite size carrots and apples for her, as well as tiny cubes of cheese and slices of lunch meat (she likes turkey and roast beef) and just give her bits of whatever we’re eating at meals. She’s not a big fan of candy but she was so excited by watermelon, she was trying to figure out how to get it out of the big piece and settled for just trying to take a bite. Funniest picture of her yet, I have to admit.
July 12, 2012 — 3:01 AM
Marijke Brick says:
One of our favorite recipes was (and still is) banana carrot bread. This recipe has been fed to four generations of our family and we have yet to meet the toddler who can resist its sweet, but not too sweet, wonderfulness.
1/2 cup softened butter (it originally called for oleo which is another word for yuck- use butter)
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup mashed banana
1 cup grated carrot (I usually grate it on the big side but my grammie prefers a more finely grated carrot for this recipe)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Beat in eggs (I do this one at a time but I don’t think it matters)
in a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
Add mashed bananas to wet bowl, stir.
Incorporate dry ingredients.
Stir in carrots and, optionally, nuts.
Turn into a greased 9X5 loaf pan.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes.
Cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes then remove from pan.
The bread is good right out of the oven but is better the next day.
July 12, 2012 — 11:05 AM
Danzier says:
When my kid was little(er) she ate yogurt and pancakes. She’s now 10, very picky, and is often mistaken for a kindergartener. (Her doc says she’s on track though…)
My favorite to make and her third-favorite to eat, since she was three, is apples and oatmeal. Chop an apple into one-bite bits and put them in a sandwich bag. Add 2T cinnamon, a dash of sugar, and a half a cup of dry oatmeal. You can add berries or seeds if there’s no allergy to it, too. Zipper the bag (or knot it, whatever keeps it from leaking) and shake it like mad for a minute and a half. Open and serve. 😀
Other than that: ask the doc. If he’s eating, good. Mine sometimes just wouldn’t. But his doc will know what will work for him, being somewhat interested in his health and safety. YMMV and all that.
(Break is done, back to editing!)
July 12, 2012 — 9:05 PM
Jade B. says:
Though this is not a recipe, per say, my first thought was French Fries. I would bite the hard, crunchy ends off both sides and stick the softer middles in their fists. Not nutritious… I know. (No, my kids are not over weight, nor do they need to be on Oprah or Dr. Phil.) French Fries were a treat, but the “Todds” loved them when they got them.
p.s… Please don’t tax me.
July 12, 2012 — 10:25 PM
Tera Q says:
My son is 14 months, some of his favorites are:
– whole wheat banana pancakes,
– white fish,
– oatmeal,
– hummus with anything to dip in it,
– Greek yogurt with sugar free strawberry sauce, and
– Applesauce squeezers.
Of course this all ends up everywhere. Happy toddlerhood!
July 16, 2012 — 8:13 PM
Elaine Cunningham says:
When my kids were toddlers, they both loved steamed green beans. They’re great finger foods. Steamed sliced carrots were also a hit, cut into coins and presented as “bunny money.” They liked broccolli florettes, especially if there was a cheese sauce for dipping. (“Trees with cheese!”) And before anyone gets snarky, this was more about Fun With Words–something both guys enjoyed from a very early age–than cajoling them into eating veggies.
My older son was very fond of spinach souffle, toddler style. If you’ve got a mini food processor (a blender should work okay), toss in an egg, a few leaves of fresh spinach, and about a half teaspoon of cream cheese. Blend it into green froth, pour into an oiled ramekin, nuke for about 30 seconds (time depends upon your microwave.) When the egg is just set, cut the “souffle” into toddler-sized cubes. These are easy to spear with a toddler spork and they also work as finger food. Big hit with Dr. Seuss fans.
July 17, 2012 — 3:50 PM