To keep making this dinner

[Soitis83]

So, once a week I'll make a pasta and the sauce I make by myself. I roast loads of veg and blitz it in the blender with coconut milk. My two year old loves it, I love it and my husband loves it. Problem is, my 4 year old (who used to devour the whole plate) has now decided he hates it and refuses to eat it the last two times I've made it. Do I stop making it as it makes dinner time so stressful, or do I carry on making it as everyone else enjoys it and it's healthy? Making two separate dinners is just not an option as I also have a 3 month old and cooking dinner is hard enough as it is!

Keep making it, but serve it differently. Plain pasta for the 4 year old (won't kill them) with a tiny bit on the side. Do on repeat, keep enticing them to eat the bit on the side, then when they do, add a tiny bit more the next time and so on.

I'd keep making it, to be honest. It's probably a slippery slope otherwise.

What he meant is, he doesn’t feel like eating the sauce today. Another day he might fancy it. Just like how you have a hard time figuring out what you want to eat.

So it’s happened twice? Just older plain pasta and let him serve his own sauce (if he wants any) on it.

Make plain pasta and put some sauce on the side for the 4 year old. And see if he comes back to it?

Sounds delicious, I might try it!

I'd keep making it if everyone else likes it but bear in mind sometimes if you make a dinner too many times its quite common for kids to go off it. My DD used to woof down prawns but I now realise that she only likes them if I do them say...every couple of months rather than every week.

Maybe just put some grated cheese on the child's pasta and a few pieces of cold meat or something from the fridge - something that doesn't involve cooking a whole separate meal but ensure everyones tummy is full.

He's 4..... Welcome to years of suddenly detesting meals he loves last week. I've heard this is n important and good developmental stage. Something to do with a sense of self and growing confidence cause it's one area of life where the can exert their will

That said if you find a way to keep your sanity through this stage, please do let me know.

Could you just take some out the blender before you put the coconut milk in? Then he is having similar but something he enjoys. Or leave it chunky and then he can pick the bits he does/doesn’t like. It’s not cooking a second meal, it’s just adapting the one you are already making.
i remember eating dinners I hated as a kid because my mum had made them and it doesn’t lead to happy memories

This is really not a problem, op.

Also tbh coconut milk with pasta sounds…interesting. I am sure it is delicious but it’s not something I’d eat. Seems a slightly odd combination.
veg and tomato sauce or veg and cheese is equally healthy

I'm all for not cooking different meals but as a child I was forced to eat things I didn't like, it was eat it or go hungry, I went hungry a lot.
It left me with a bit of an issue with food, even now I'm funny about food.
Could you maybe give him the pasta with a tomato sauce and sprinkle a bit of grated cheese on it?

I would probably just not make this dish for a few weeks then reintroduce in a couple of months when he’s forgotten he doesn’t like it. It’s a bit samey to have any dish every single week and it won’t be too bad for those who do like it to eat something else for a few weeks.

My 4 year olds memory is short enough that he won’t remember saying he didn’t like something if I serve it a few weeks later!

Maybe give him pasta with a little cheese and pesto? Gives him a choice and no extra cooking for you.

I think it's a non issue. Give home some plain pasta and a bit of cheese. Or switch out the pasta for noodles and add some ginger, spring onions etc to change it up a bit.

Crikey it wouldn't really be "making two meals" to serve pasta with a different sauce or bit of cheese instead if he's gone off your sauce.

Mini bowl with a small amount of sauce for him to dip the pasta into if he wants. No engagement around whether he does or not.

And some chopped cucumber/tomato/cheese/whatever on the side to make it a balanced meal.

Just keep small portions of a different sauce in the freezer for those occasions.

Coconut milk in a pasta sauce?

You’re putting coconut milk in pasta sauce and you think the kid who doesn’t like it is the one with the problem?

I didn't realise this wasn't normal! I roast onion, garlic, tomato, courgette, red pepper and carrot and blend it with a bit of coconut milk, only say half a cup full and it's delicious!

My thought too. 😂

Everyone who said plain pasta and sauce on the side, thank you!

Let him press the button on the blender if you can. He might be more interested in it then.

I hate coconut milk, even a little bit makes everything taste like coconut!