to feed DD so much pasta?!

[popmimiboo]

Not v exciting subject, sorry. DD2, 10, eats lunch at home every day (-common practice where I live.) She won't eat rice or quinoa, eats v little veg and has quite a small appetite despite using huge amounts of energy, sport training 12 hours a week.
This week she has pasta and pesto on Monday, pasta carbonara Tues, toasted cheese sandwich Weds, pasta and tomato Thurs and a tuna toastie today. She always has cherry tomatoes, an apple and sometimes a yogurt.
Is this a carb overload or just a bit boring?
Any alternative ideas (but easy and quick, I work around her lunch break,) very welcome!

Can you try wholewheat pasta instead? Also, how about stews and pulses? A thick pea or lentil soup is normally good enough to eat on it's own, with no bread necessary. Also a meat stew with potatoes would do the trick.

No chance I'd get her to eat stew or soup!
Good idea about the wholewheat pasta though, I'm sure she'd be fine with that.

Jacket potatoes (either microwave or cook the night before)
Noodles, mixed frozen veg, and any meat chopped in to it - all mixed together.
Beans etc on toast
Wraps/Sandwiches - make her own, so even quicker for you at least
Omelette and chips
Pancakes (we make a batch and freeze them) can add bacon etc to make them more interesting

You could try varying the type of pasta? Whole wheat, the types made from bulger wheat, a normal white pasta. The problem is that she may become extremely bored and you'll be even more stuck!

Pasta is a good vehicle food though, sauces and accompaniments can be full of veg, it's not the worst thing in the world by far.

She loves beans on toast but baked beans aren't easy to find where I live (outside UK!)
She doesn't like chips, pancakes or omelette and has to be coerced into eating noodles but baked potatoes would go down well.

My dd has pasta a good 4-5 times a week. My husband and I both eat pasta a few times a week too. I don't see an issue with it. Vary the type of pasta and the way it's served as much as you can.

Would she eat gnocchi ? I convince my dd that it's pasta. Lol

Tbh I always see lunch as the "easy meal" - if they want the same, relatively healthy, meal every day fine by me. Breakfast is the healthy start, dinner is the meal with the most veg and lunch is "get them filled up and get on with the rest of the day".

So what she eats is fine to me.

Dd (4) has a ham sandwich, cucumber and cherry toms, a few crisps and a yoghurt for her lunch every week day, unless she asks for something else. And even then the alternative is a quesedilla or scrambled eggs on toast so not dissimilar.

We live in Italy and that is very normal for adulto too!! What you have fed her sounds yummy! It's basically what I eat at lunch too. Better than a cheese sandwich every day which is probably what most kids have!

Sorry 'adulto' was the naughty Italian keyboard kicking in!

What happened to potatoes?
Also consider sweet potatoes, corn, chestnuts, yams.

I'd add more protein to her diet too.

She loves meat but gets that in her evening meal with the rest of the family, so no need for extra protein at lunch. She'd swap a rare steak for a cheese sarnie any day!

A rare steak is a lot healthier than a cheese sarnie!
Why isn't she allowed protein at lunch time e.g tin of tuna with jacket potato or salad?
Could also give her rice, pitta bread, baked spuds, new potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash , noodles if you want to vary the pasta.

I really don't think it matters that much. As long as she is getting a good balance of carbs, protein, fats, plus fruit and veg in her diet, I don't think it matters where those carbs come from. Could you add in some chicken with the pasta and pesto to up the protein? Otherwise it sounds absolutely fine. Carbs are carbs, and the only other improvement you could make is making it wholegrain pasta to give her more energy for longer.

If she likes baked beans, would she eat gigantes?

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/12229/gigantes-plaki

I was going to suggest noodles too. You can get rice noodles or buckwheat (soba) noodles if you want to mix it up a bit so she's not just eating flour and egg all the time.

If she likes bread and cheese, how is she with wraps etc? You could make fajitas or quesadillas including salad/veg, cheese and protein, super easy.

It sounds fine, if she's happy and not keen to experiment.

I think it sounds fine.

Personally, I'm really frightened of pasta and see it as a 'bad, evil food' but when I look at the nutritional information this is illogical - it's low in fat and not that high in calories. Should be absolutely fine for a carb choice - no issue with that carb choice lacking variety at all.

She isn't "not allowed" protein at lunchtime! She often has tuna toasties, ham or chicken with pasta etc. I was just pointing out to the poster who suggested she didn't eat enough protein, that she does get plenty but mostly in the evening.

Notinagreatplace -the gigantes recipe looks gorgeous. Not sure if DD would entertain it (onions!) but I will try it and be happy to finish hers if she's not fussed :-)