Suggestions / ideas to swap

[ThomCat]

Hi girls

I know we've ben here a hundred times before and I have tried going through all the old threads and jotting down ideas but it's too much, too daunting.

Basically Lottie is becoming a slightly fussy eater and I think that's my fault. I think where I've become a bit lazy and started buying convenience type food it's altered her tastes etc. I think some of it is also down to the fact that she wants to feed herself, but can't cope with it yet so just turns her head away when she sees the fork. Therefore stews and casseroles, shepherds pie etc are becoming harder to feed her, and she's always had a small appetite. Now she's refusing things she used to really like.

Basically I wondered if you girls could just bosh out a few key things your little 'uns have had in the last couple of weeks that may inspire me as I'm becoming bored with the whole thing! I've just startd to run out of ideas and want to give myself a kick up the backside and nake food fun again.

I'll start it off if you like.

Baked beans, mash and sausages
Fish cake and veggies
pitta breads, scotch eggs
pizzas
cheese on toast
chicken nuggets, potato waffle & veggies
steak pie & veggies

See how deadly dull and rubbish is that - help me girls!!

Thomcat xx

quesadillas- tortilla with chedder cheese sandwhiched inside(you can put chicken and tomato in to it also)

macaroni and cheese with peas(or brocoli)(I make a white sauce and add cheese to it)

stir fry veggies with chinese egg noodles (I buy the stirfry veg mix, my kids mostly eat the noodles and not the veggies, but I try. Sometimes I put an egg in too.

I am American, and we just moved here so we are still trying to find the things our kids will eat. If we were at home I would also make pancakes with maple syrup(as a treat meal), we get great pizza dough at the store and it is so much fun to make pizza with your kids(well maybe not SO much fun but find my kids eat more when they help create it) We would also make black beans on tortilla chips with cheese. I am not sure if this all comes across of very foreign!!!

Sounds alright to me, TC, but then that probably means we're as bad as each other! The only other convenient, nutritious thing I can think of off the top of my head is French Toast. I do it the Annabel Karmel way , where you put marmite on the bread first, then soak in beaten eggs, then fry in butter. A fair few calories there! At least it's finger food, but obviously not all children like marmite. I also make kind of huge chicken nuggets by frying chicken breasts (bashed to flatten first) in breadcrumbs and parmesan. Otherwise it's casseroles all the way I'm afraid!
Hope Lottie starts enjoying her food again soon.
xx

I tried some of the ready prepared children's meals but my little boy didn't actually like any of them. His favourite is pasta. I buy fresh pasta - tagliatelle, spaghetti or shapes and make a sauce to go with them - red pesto, bacon, butter and a little milk, or mascarpone cheese.

He also likes the fresh ravioli with a sauce.

He also likes a lamb stew - he won't eat any of the veg, but I whizz them up into the juice so that he doesn't notice.

'moroccan' chicken (sounds flashed than it i...)
fry up some onion and bits of chicken til browned
any other veg you could add too
add passata or tinned tomatoes and some water...(if you want to try it, then i can give you proer measures..)
bring to the boil then simmer for about 15-20 mins
when simmering, add chopped dried apricots and raisins (always a winner in our house)
serve with rice or couscous
ds also likes risotto - any type - dead easy - do risotto as the packet tells you and just add veg etc...butternut squash with raisins and apricot (again! can you see a theme....) is a favourite
if no time, i do pasta with a cheese sauce then stick in some tuna and a variety of veg (or some cod - frozen, boneless and skinless from tesco freezer section!!)
ready made puff pastry is also something that we have started using to make stuff with
saying all of this though, ds had bob the builder spaghetti on toast for tea....feel like a REALLY bad mam now!!

Preview, pops, preview!!!

oh - also 'cheats' shepherd's pie
do the mince and stuff in a pan, do the mash in the pan but dont bother cooking it in the oven, just in the pans!

Well, DS is one of the fussiest kids on earth, so your list sounds good to me! Have you tried letting Lottie feed herself with a spoon and bowl - just make the casserole or stew a bit thicker by mixing in mash potatoes or rice, then put a BIG bib on her and let her go for it. DS likes lentils and sweet potato, chicken casserole, and chicken with coconut cream. I mix these with rice to make them spoon-friendly.

Also I think it is pretty natural at this age to become fussier - so don't worry, it's not your fault, it's just a stage. DS started off fussy and just got worse!

Anyway, some finger food ideas - if she likes fish cakes, try chicken and broccoli cakes (M&S sell these!), bubble and squeak cakes. What about cheese and corn muffins or corn pikelets? Or coucous with raisins and carrots, bits of chicken on the side? Also sandwiches - ham, egg mayonnaise, marmite, cream cheese and jam?

Thomcat ,lottie sounds exactly like my ds 15mos.The meals he really likes but unfortunately I can't give him everyday for the rest of his life are ;
tagliatelle with chicken and roasted veg mixed witha fresh sauce from waitrose like primavera or something.I make loads and freeze it.

can't think of anymore,see I need this thread more than you.ds would be a rake if it wasn't for captain birdseye fishfingers!

Meatballs, Fish-in-sauce( My kids won't eat fish unless it's in a yummie sauce and then I mix vegetables into the sauce so they eat them, Pasta in sauce with vegetables, fishfingers.....

Quickest supper of all and ds' favourite - penne with brocolli florets (chuck it in the same pan), a handful of pitted olives, put in a bowl and sprinkle a bit of cheese on top. You can also add peas, sweetcorn, bacon or whatevcer else needs to be used up.

Casseroles are good and can last a few days in the fridge.

Quorn pieces and noodles stir-fried - good finger food.

It's just trying to keep one step ahead of her food moods!
She won't eat pasta.
Won't eat bits of chicken breast unless they are Blue Parrot chicken nuggets
Won't eat cheese anymore
It's more and more of a struggle to get her to eat a selection of veggies and she'll eat a few peas, carrots and babycorn but that's about it.
She point blank refuses cereal these days and just about eats her toast.
Won't eat egg
The list seems to go on. She'd basically live on water melon and crusty rolls / pitta breads at the moment I think.
It's so hard isn't it. I'm trying to provide a balanced healthy diet, that can be transported around and given to the childminder to give her.
Trying to find new healthy things that she won't throw across the room is getting harder and harder. She was so good up until a little while ago and she's turned into fussy eater. It's trying to keep the fridge packed with things she'll eat, it can be a bit exhausting!

Today she'll be provided with:

Lunch - a piece of breaded cod, oven chips and baby corn and carrots
froamge frais
a few white chocolate covered raisins

Tea - skinless organic sausages, alphabites and peas and carrots
banana and an apricot

Snacks - an organic museli bar / prunes /

Whether or not she'll eat any of it I don't know.
So if any of you have any suggestions, something I'd forgotten about or never tried that would be great. I can't think anymore!

Noodles are a great hit with my 2 (well not so much the oldest one 3- but cetainly the younger one & the eldest one did like them at one stg).

Anyway, lightly toss some noodles in butter or oil, then you can add sweetcorn, brocolli and a bit of bacon maybe.

Thats about as imaginative as I get I'm afraid. My 2 also like tomato & mascarpone sauce with pasta..........probably not too good for them, but hey.......

Will she eat home made burgers, Thomcat ?
I make lamb burgers and freeze before cooking. Then just stick them under the grill straight from the freezer. I make them quite small so they cook quickly. Ds1 will eat 2 and ds2 just has 1.

My dd went through a stage of not wanting to eat any veg - when she had always eaten all the veg I had put in front of her. I stopped cooking it and gave to her raw and she started to eat it again. Sorry I am not much help - But dd eats similar foods to those listed. Good Luck

Thomcat, your Lottie sounds better than my dd at the moment! She seems to survive on about 5 different foods! It's chicken nuggets, fish fingers, dairy lea, youghurts and toast! I despair at times. I am going through a real homely stage too and have cooked lots of lovely food but dd just looks at us in disgust (she's 2.8) Good luck with Lottie and do let me know if she likes anything and i'll have a go with dd

I've started to jot down some of your ideas - so thanks. Some I've tried but had forgotten about, it's good to be reminded and inspired.
I wish I had more time to cook her everythig from scatch. If I hadn't stopped doing that she may well be a much better eater now. Work pressures and life in general just meant it was impossible for me to keep making everything and a few convenience meals sneak in, then a few more and before I know it she's a fussy eater. Bloody additives and the like. If I earnt more money I'd love to employ someone to cook her fresh meals everyday.

I've started to jot down some of your ideas - so thanks. Some I've tried but had forgotten about, it's good to be reminded and inspired.
I wish I had more time to cook her everythig from scatch. If I hadn't stopped doing that she may well be a much better eater now. Work pressures and life in general just meant it was impossible for me to keep making everything and a few convenience meals sneak in, then a few more and before I know it she's a fussy eater. Bloody additives and the like. If I earnt more money I'd love to employ someone to cook her fresh meals everyday.

baked beans, topped with grated cheese and mashed potato? The potato hides/melts the cheese. You can even mix an egg into the potato and stick it in the oven for a bit so it goes nice and crispy on top.

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