ideas for tea for a 2yr

DD used to be so good with her veggies but then she started having pasta when nana had it and it got out of control and she is really constipated so i am tryin to keep her off the pasta so now she doesnt seem interested in her veggies.
she only seems to like pasta (the packet alfrado ones)
tin spaggetti
noodles

wat r some ideas to get her to eat something dif or dif recipies. she doesnt like mushy stuff either so chopping them up fine wont really work and she wont eat much meat.

i have tried just tellin her thats all she is gettin and it lasts about 2 hrs then she is screamin she is hungry and i feel like i am starving her and give in and give her pasta or a sandwhich so she is actually eating.

Try a pasta bake using wholemeal pasta and very little of it with cheese, chicken and grated vegies. DS1 not good with vegies but this way he doesnt notice!!

Slow cooker meals can grate lots of vegies and can thicken sauce at end with corn flour (ds1 loves sausage casserole, lamb shanks, curried chicken)

scrambled eggs, omlette (hide vegies)

Birds eye make bubble and squeek pattie things

We currently are living on sandwiches and yougurt mainly with occasional other meal eaten!! GOOD LUCK

Grating veggies into everything is a good idea, that way she won't know she is eating them but you'll know she is getting them.

If she is really stuck on pasta at the moment you can buy the wholemeal pasta or high fibre pasta and serve a little of it with meatballs (veggies grated into them), my dd loves meatballs and pasta and doesn't realise she is eating veg at the same time.

What about vegetable muffins or zucchini fritters? - things that don't look like veggies and can be snack type hold in the hand kind of foods.

I agree with feeb about the omlettes. My DD loves an omelette (or scrambled eggs) with grated zucchini, carrot and mushrooms in it.

What do you eat for tea? Is there any reason why she can't eat what you are having?

lol I was going to suggest pasta ... my 2yo loves it.

Schnitzel and roast chicken are two of her favourites, and as to veggies? Never eats much at dinner, but while I'm preparing dinner she usually steals a fair bit of raw sliced carrot, raw pumpkin, and frozen peas and corn. If we ever have gravy she'll just eat that out of the gravy boat so you have to get your gravy first or you miss out.

Toddlers are a strange lot.

My DD also loves rice and cous cous dishes, anything you make with pasta you can subsitute with rice or cous cous and they are just as yummy!

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What do you eat for tea? Is there any reason why she can't eat what you are having?

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Do you cook her a separate meal to you and DH? Do you eat together? Definitley helps our small people be encouraged to eat.
Offer small portions. Not as much as you think she should eat but a small (tiny) amount so that it looks doable to her. Encourage her positiviely and try not to let it become a battle. Any negativity associted with meal time remains for a longer time than you think and then it just becomes about the fight rather than the meal.
Try eating in a different spot for fun - have a picnic on a blanket in the lounge/outside, sit on the floor with her at her table and chairs - just somewhere that isn't associated with the regular battle.
Let her help prepare her food.

I agree with the others, try and encourage her to eat whatever you are eating. Kids follow your lead so if you are eating veggies, meat, rice etc, they may be more inclined to give it a go. I am also a firm believer that even if you have veggies hidden in dishes they should still be served up on the plate, kids need to learn that veggies are just a part of the meal, they may not eat them, and you shouldn't make to much of a fuss or force them to, but if brocoli is served up 2-3 times a week and it just becomes normal then she may start to eat it all on her own.

I have been serving veggies and salads with my kids dinners since they were at least 18 months old, they have eaten what we have eaten for as long as I can remember. Now they eat brocoli, peas, carrots, cauliflower, beans, tomato, cucumber etc all without even batting an eyelid, it is just normal for them.

ok, i am now a pro at feeding a child with constipation issues, as my dd has a bowel disorder.
for breakfast try porridge made on water, you can add a bit of milk after it's cooked, put brown sugar, some psyllium husks (get in your health food aisle) and some lsa powder. this can also be done on weetbix
snacks - offer fresh fruit, valia (or other probiotic yoghurt), some highfibre cereal, plate of fruit with sultanas and prunes
dinner - if she's a big pasta fan make spag bog, with 500g mince, 1 can brown lentils, 1 can of 5 bean mix, box of frozen spinach, and then whatever else you use to cook as normal.
apricot chicken is also a good one, get a tin of apricot nectar, and the recipe is on the back, serve with mashed SWEET potato and peas
basically, you can add beans and lentils to pretty much any dish.
also, make sure she is getting plenty of fluids, try to limit milk.
good luck!
basically,

My kidlets love love love pasta as well! They also east chicken nuggets (home made with chicken thigh fillet cut into little pieces, dipped in plain flour, then egg then bread crumbs), fish nuggets (same as chicken), home made sweet potato chips (oven baked), oven baked carrot, sweet potato and normal potato cubes all mixed together, risotto with chicken, finely diced carrot and zucchini(peeled so you can't see the "green" bits).

BUT my fail safe when all else fails and I have to resort to pasta my home made vege pasta sauce:

1 and a half apples peeled and chopped
1 garlic clove crushed
half an onion diced
sweet potato diced
carrot diced
zucchini diced (peeled)
english spinach
tomato paste
chicken stock

cook the veg (except the spinach) garlic and apple in a smidge of oil until soft-ish
add chicken stock (or veg stock if you prefer) and tomato paste
cook on low heat until all soft and squishy
add spinach for a few minutes
blend until smooth (experiment with the amount of stock you add to determine how thick you want the sauce)

Kids love it because it's sweet from the apple. It's got heaps of veg plus garlic for healthy little immune systems! Perfect to portion up and freeze.

I also use it as the sauce base for pizza and for dipping the nuggets into.

I also give my kids a mini fruit salad for desert every night. Nothing flash just a handful of cut fruit whatever is in season.

Good luck!

I think she might just be trying you on! I know it's not easy, but you might just have to try following through on the "that's all you are getting threat". It might just be a phase. She might also not be that hungry at night. I know my DS1 can eat a horse for breakfast, but he's a bit of a grazer for the rest of the day. We battled to get him to eat dinner - and he won the battle by not eating. We gave up battling, and when he's hungry he'll eat, but when he's not, he's not going to starve.
Do limit milk intake. That's what my 2 years old would do, fill up on milk.

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My kidlets love love love pasta as well! They also east chicken nuggets (home made with chicken thigh fillet cut into little pieces, dipped in plain flour, then egg then bread crumbs), fish nuggets (same as chicken), home made sweet potato chips (oven baked), oven baked carrot, sweet potato and normal potato cubes all mixed together, risotto with chicken, finely diced carrot and zucchini(peeled so you can't see the "green" bits).

BUT my fail safe when all else fails and I have to resort to pasta my home made vege pasta sauce:

1 and a half apples peeled and chopped
1 garlic clove crushed
half an onion diced
sweet potato diced
carrot diced
zucchini diced (peeled)
english spinach
tomato paste
chicken stock

cook the veg (except the spinach) garlic and apple in a smidge of oil until soft-ish
add chicken stock (or veg stock if you prefer) and tomato paste
cook on low heat until all soft and squishy
add spinach for a few minutes
blend until smooth (experiment with the amount of stock you add to determine how thick you want the sauce)

Kids love it because it's sweet from the apple. It's got heaps of veg plus garlic for healthy little immune systems! Perfect to portion up and freeze.

I also use it as the sauce base for pizza and for dipping the nuggets into.

I also give my kids a mini fruit salad for desert every night. Nothing flash just a handful of cut fruit whatever is in season.

Good luck!

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This is a fantastic recipe, thanks - I'll have to try it!

All I can say about the fussiness is hang in there. What about cutting some vegie sticks and letting her dip them in some cheese sauce? S was notoriously fussy from about 14-15 months and only now (nearly 3.5) is he starting to try more things and be a little more adventurous. I also found he just didn't seem hungry, whereas now he might have an enormous breakfast, say porridge, weetbix, a banana, a piece of toast and some apple or pear, as well as a big cup of milk. He tends to eat more in the morning as well. Just keep offering and trying different things, and eventually she'll get over it. I know it seems like she never will, but she will!

Sass your not alone here, hamish was the best eater of everything until he was 18 months and then he started becoming fussy, i have learnt a few tricks from my mum.
I make vegie cakes with whatever vegies i have at the time, just mix with and egg and some bread crumbs and grill them, he loves them. He loves fruit so lunch time is usually fruit and yoghurt. Breakfast he has become fussy also and since i am dieting we make a smoothy either with a bananan, yoghurt and dash of honey or frozen berries.
Another simply thing i do is use the noodles from 2 minute noodles and throw some grated vegies into it and he loves it. If we are having a roast i cut vegies to look like chips and he will eat them.
He is mad on dipping so if i cant get him to eat something usually if i have cheese dip or gravy etc on plate he will have some.