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!

Maybe just do it with different vegetables?

Ahhh yes I have this problem too with banana. If I dare give my 2yo it whole, it gets smashed onto the floor, sliced into long fingers though..delicious!
I think that's the consensus here, plain pasta with sauce on the side. Definitely will try that next time.

My DS "went off" bolognese for a while. Would eat the spaghetti with cheese and garlic butter/olive oil, but decided he didn't want the bolognese sauce. For some bizarre reason he would eat the sauce with a hot buttery roll! He liked dipping in. 😂 So we halved the spaghetti and let him have his roll. Now he'll happily have bolognese any way we present it!

I have, it's in this thread somewhere

I agree with this. Side note, I love saying spaghetti aglio olio. It's so satisfying.

Absolutely, and kids actually need more carbs than adults for energy and brain development, ie whole meal bread, potatoes, pasta, rice and fruit.

Op: everyone likes this meal apart from my 4 year old

Mumsnetters who can’t read: I bet it’s shit and no one likes it

This site is wild

@Soitis83 yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Kids do go off stuff suddenly sometimes. In fact I do that too myself!

Make the sauce and freeze it into ice cube sized amounts. Take a cube out for the 2 year old and make a different sauce for the family? That way you know it's getting the veg into toddler but you're not eating the same thing week in week out with your 4 year old. Or find a sauce the 4 year old likes and do it for him?

You’ll come up against this time and again whilst your kids are growing up. I generally won’t make two separate meals (unless I want something I KNOW is unreasonable to expect a young child to uncomplainingly eat- eg a very spicy curry) so there are a couple of compromises I make:

• Some meals I serve family style - so basic meal components on the table and we help ourselves - you dont have to put anything on your plate you really don’t want- but ideally I would like you to try everything
• I will happily hold back sauce from protein for example, and serve in a separate bowl for DS if he’s unsure about it - so if I was making hunters chicken, I’ll roast a couple of thighs without sauce for DS, and put him sauce in a bowl to one side
• i never ever ever ask child to clear a plate
• carrot sticks and cucumber are always available as substitute veg (eg if I want kale, which DS just doesn’t get on with)
• dont want the dinner I’ve made full stop? Cool. Toast or cereal?

that’s pretty much it. I do include DS in meal planning to an extent, and I’ll ask if he would rather have X or Y for dinner that evening if there’s more than one thing I could make, but that’s it. It works for us, it won’t work for every child, but we’ve (so far- DS is 8) had a fairly easy ride around food (other things less so! 😉)

Just serve pesto pasta as an option to the child that won't eat it. Just a mention, when I was eating a lot of coconut milk and using coconut oil I ended up with high cholesterol which I was really surprised about because I didn't eat meat. I don't know if the coconut milk / oil was the cause but I have cut down significantly since.

😂😂
I rarely post but have noticed on the treads I read how off topic some people go. It's like they think 'nope, people aren't addressing the real matter here' and just need to spew something, anything negative.

My thoughts too; Italian food is the best for a reason. They don't do fusion.

Agree. And it demands to be said in a proper Italian accent.

I don't know why you're getting such a hard time about your recipe. There are definitely published recipes based on this idea readily available on the internet...all with great reviews.

I also think there's a very high proportion of people out there eating the same meal once every week, if not several meals. Especially all the batch cookers!

Regarding your actual aibu I think the suggestion of pasta with sauce on the side is a good one.

It most definitely does. Although my DH would disagree as I've been saying it with a thick Italian accent for 2 minutes straight.

I don’t agree with cooking separate meals for individuals but equally I couldn’t regularly serve up something my child doesn’t like.

The suggestion to serve the sauce on the side, or give an alternative topping are what I would try.

I'm also big on veg and encourage it. One dish I do variations on frequently is sautéed zucchini and cherry tomatoes, add a spoon of pesto and stir, add al dente pasta and toss, add a couple handfuls spinach and crumbled feta, toss snd serve. I add sautéed prawns, left over salmon or left over chicken when I have it. If my older one doesn't eat the veg at least the flavour is there so there's some exposure.

I actually got the idea from a website but just added a few different things in.
Also true, is roast every Sunday not a thing anymore??

Can I come to yours for tea?

I was thinking same! 😁

Door's open. 🩷

This is how I make soup when I have veg that needs using up, if I have no cream its coconut milk. Can you not give it in a small bowl, thicken it up a little and serve with some bread and a handful of plain pasta or meats like ham or chicken?

Now this sounds tasty, and the vegetables go together well!

Excellent. I won't invite my 4 year old