Dinner finger food ideas?

[KatieRabbit]

I am looking for finger food ideas for my 13 month old DD for dinner. She eats fish, but no other meat (my choice not to give it) so she is pretty much veg and is shying away from spoon feeds in the evening. So other than steamed vegetable pieces, veg patties etc what else can I give her for dinner? I am a bit stuck as she needs a protein food (eggs, legumes or fish etc) with her meals to get her through to breakfast. Any ideas?

[Thecla]

Scrambled eggs have always been a big hit with both my children

A quiche is also good, you can put heaps of veggies in that, and make mini quiches if you have a muffin pan. Or just cut the cold quiche into little bite sized pieces for her.

How about crunchy veggie strips (capsicum, cucumber, celery, lightly steamed carrot sticks, quarters of mushrooms, halved cherry tomatoes) with some kind of dip? Hommos, or tzatziki for example.


Home-made pizza? Cut into easy sizes for her to handle.

[Michelle71]

Chick pea patties or legumes added to the vege mix.
Cous cous with pumpkin and chick peas.
Salmon patties (made with a base of mashed potato / sweet potato) and add veges.
Risotto cakes / balls - you can make them with tuna / salmon / mushroom and veges added.
Home made fish fingers / pieces

Any of the patties / rissoles can be crumbed in multigrain crumbs and dry fried or oven baked. Use an oil spray to keep it healthier - although the shallow frying of some of the options adds flavour.

[Glamourcide]

My house is full of meat-eaters (I don't eat very much personally as I prefer the taste of chicken or fish to red meat, but I will eat whatever I'm cooking for everyone else if I'm feeling too lazy to make a separate meal for myself), so I can't help much with vegetarian ideas, but I've found the best way to get DD to eat is to simply serve her up whatever we're having and let her make a huge mess if that's what needs doing.
She's very independent so she doesn't like being fed by me, but she picked up how to use a fork very quickly just from watching DH and I, and me helping her once or twice - now I just sit her at the table with us, plunk a small plate of food in front of her and hand her a fork and she's set.

I know that's not much help at all, but as long as you are eating meals that are nutritious and tasty, you shouldn't have to worry about her nutritional requirements, and the kids seem to eat better when they can see they're having the same thing as the grow-ups (makes them feel included). Good luck, sorry I'm not very much help... it's magic when they start eating 'adult' food on their own, I always swell with ridiculous pride when I see DD sitting up at the table using her fork to tuck into whatever DH and I are eating And it makes it easier on you because then you're not having to prepare separate meals every night!

[Kmn]

Avocado or ricotta on bread?
Salmon mushed with avocado on bread - messy, smelly, but it seems to work here!

[christy]

One thing we do is if we are having a salad or something our girls won't eat much of, I add some plain pasta for them to munch on as well. That way they fill up a bit, you could boil an egg and make egg slices on the side, or I make a 1/2 red lentil, 1/2 chick pea hommous as a dip to get more protein in.