Food questions!!?? Sorry Paranoid!!

[Softy]

Hi,

Am looking for a bit of help/advice, DD is 15 months doing well on solids-weaned herself at 13 months. But am finding that the food I'm giving her seems to be the 'same old thing'! She has 2 fav meals for dinner, beef + veg stew mixed up and a veg and risoni pasta mix, lunches are mainly cheese s'wich or scrambled egg or b/beans-was giving ham but then read a post that ham was too salty + too many preserv. so not the best for little ones She has lots of yoghurt, crackers, sultanas and I steam apples for her but am looking for other snacks.

Bought some Heinz wholegrain fruit bar things, was wondering if anyone else has given them a go??

Have been continually giving her chunks of my dinner, ie, chicken, beef, lamb but she just chews and spits. She seems to mainly eat things when they're mixed up together, she's not big on mashed potato by itself or veg by themselves....am I going to be stewing/slightly mashing it all together forever??? Have looked on the toddler food recipe thread and got heaps of ideas am about to try now as well, would love more tuna ideas as I wanna get her onto it and more stuff that won't take toooo long to make, can freeze and is healthy....don't really want much do I!!

[BhoysGirl]

Hey Softy,

It sounds to me like you're actually doing pretty well.

I think it's great that you're letting her try your food, she might be doing the chew & show with it now, but it's a terrific way to encourage her to try new things without being stressed about it.

When my DS was younger, I always had a pre-made frozen mix of vegies in meal portion sizes, which I'd often mix with whatever we were eating for dinner, particularly if we were having a casserole or pasta style dish. My DS also loves risotto, which also freezes well. And soups, which I tend to thicken up for him a bit with pasta or maybe bread, or even with the vegie mix, just so that he gets the taste of things.

I don't do it so much now, but I also used to give him Dates & dried apricots as snacks. Dates are a bit funny, cos they do stick to teeth a bit, but he was always happy to eat them, and I think they're quite nutritious. I never had much success with store-bought snacks, he's a bit of a food snob I think!

I also love Annabel Karmel, she has some great recipes & ideas. My library usually has a couple of her books available.

[amberj]

Softy in many ways I could have written your post! I feel like I have a few main meals for DS and its always one or another (spaghetti or grilled cheese or creamed corn and peas).
I find it really hard to give him a good variety. Like you, I feed him from our meal as well, but often he doesn't eat much of it or isn't terribly interested. But like Bohy's girl said, I will persist because at least he is getting different tastes.

But here are a couple things that have also worked for me- I have in the freezer some quiche I made (really basic- cheese and tiny chopped sundried tomatoes), and some meatballs, and some steamed mashed veggies, all in little containers that I can pull out early in the day and they are ready for dinner. The mashed veggies I will often add to his spaghetti to give it some nutritional value. The meatballs are pretty much the only meat DS will eat, but he loves them. (also easy because I chop them up small and let him feed himself) (ditto with the quiche).

Um, well, that's all my clever ideas exhausted! I suppose I might try making up some tune patties and cooking and freezing them like the meatballs, I haven't really tried tuna.

Oh, one other thing I tried that didn't work was veggie burgers. DS just didn't like them, but others have had good results.

I will be interested to see others in put as well. Let me know if you come up with anything that works well! (how do you do your meat & veg stew- home made or bought??)

[Crystalwings]

I love making homemade food for Olive. She seems to really love tomato based pasta dishes which are super easy and also lentils and and vege is another favourite. Let me know if you want actual recipes or just ideas. I have also been making sausage rolls with mince, garlic, spinach and onion wrapped in mountain bread (Olive and I loovvee mountain bread) and baked. Vege and lentil soup is easy and nutritious. Another fav is mashed potato mixed with baked beans and also home made pizza.
Tuna mornay's are quite easy. Make a white sauce add a small can of tuna, some corn and pureed spinach and some macarone. Something else you could try is making a bolognaise sauce and cooking lasagne? Savory mince on toast, baked bean sandwiches, avocado and vegemite wraps...
There really are so many possiblities. Good luck

[~Kim~]

not sure if you're after dinners or snacks.
At that age Darcy loved
mini homemade muffins (there's heaps of recipes in the recipe section)
pikelets
boiled eggs
all sorts of fruit - bananas strawberries, pears, nashis, blueberries, grapes, watermelon etc
vege sticks and dip
half a toasted english muffin

I never really had any success with commercial baby food/snacks of any type.
Babies will generally (in my experience) let you know when they're bored with the food you're offering, and for the most part that doesn't start happening until they're a bit older. If she's happy and eating what she's served I wouldn't worry.

[Softy]

Thanks so much everyone for your help and advice. I think I find it hard to find inspiration!!

I will check out the library for Annabel Karmel thanks Bhoysgirl I love going over recipe books trying to find new stuff!

Amberj it's nice to know I'm not the only one feeling like I'm giving DD the same food! I've put the beef & veg stew in the toddler recipe thread along with the risoni & veg mix if you're interested...they're both very easy and I freeze them in the take 'n toss containers from Target or Big W..DD will eat a whole container full (the big size) for dinner! You just basically chop everything up, put it all in a pot and bring to the boil & let simmer, then process to the consistency your little one is currently eating.

Have found a recipe for cheesy meatball things...will test 'em and if they're a winner will put them in the toddler food thread thingy. Will put everything that's a winner in there from now on as I think everyone needs some different ideas at times. Especially at those times when your're really tired and can't seem to think

Crystalwings & Kim thanks heaps for your suggestions as well, she does eat a lot of banana's, mandarins, steamed apples-I prep and freeze them in a glad bag, strawberries & cherry tomatoes....am about to try pancakes this weekend...have been scouring the supermarket for sugar free jam which is harder to find than I had originally thought!! Would love it if you guys wouldn't mind putting up a few recipes as well...don't really eat tuna myself so am a bit nervous about how to prep and make it but I love making homemade food as I know what's in it and it's cheaper I think too!! Also think it means her pooh's don't smell as bad I don't think as there's not so many preservatives in her food!!!