Nutritious, calorific food ideas for picky children who have been ill.

[pinkpaperpiggy]

I need some inspiration please.

I have 2 dds - age 6 and 4.
Neither have ever been good eaters although dd1's appetite has improved in the last year or so.

Both of them have recently been ill, dd1 with a bad dose of tonsillitis and dd2 with chickenpox.

DD2 had sores in her mouth and ate very little for days. She has always been thin but she has definitely lost weight in the last couple of weeks.

Any ideas for tasty things that will provide lots of calories and nutrition in relatively small portions?

I make homemade soups a lot and have bought cream to bulk up the calorie content but otherwise am struggling for ideas.

Thanks

A simple one is cooked, drained pasta shapes into which you've stirred a big dollop of Dairylea spread until it melts. Stir through some chopped ham at the end. Very tasty.

Sweet things are appropriate as well. A proper dairy icecream would be nice on sore mouths.

banana mashed up with milk to make it runnier was always my favourite when poorly as a child. Or scrambled egg with a little poached fish flaked in to it. And ready brek!

You might think about getting some minadex tonic - I found it boosted my children's appetite when they were off their food and will supplement lost vitamins/minerals.

Initially I would give them whatever they would eat.

DS1 had chickenpox last winter and lost a shocking amount of weight. Once he wanted food again then he had plenty of milk to drink, flapjack, chocolate biscuits, fruit which kind of pepped him up a bit.
I make a fruit loaf in my bread maker which has eggs in it and he had that.

Then I moved onto making his favourite meals so as to get protein in again.

All soup is low calorie, even creamy ones, so I'd ditch that for something solid.

How about cheese toasties? Peanut butter on cream crackers? Fried egg and chips with baked beans? Veggie pizza with smotherings of cheese?

If they had anti biotics I would avoid loads of cheese and cream. A little bit should be ok but not loads. Maybe just a little dose of those pro biotic actimels to re generate gut bacteria properly. Nut butters on toast or pasta. Go slow as yes it's concerning they have lost weight but they been ill so little and often with simple food rather than rich fatty creamy stuff. :)

My kids like egg mayonaise so I use that if I need to bulk them out a bit. Or mashed potato (with lots of butter) but fussy DD2 doesn't like that.

Thanks for all the replies. I am grateful for all the ideas but they really are the fussiest eaters.

DD1 will not eat pasta or cheese in any form and never did even as a toddler. She was allergic to egg but we have recently started giving her baked things with a small amount of egg which she seems to be tolerating. Not ready for full on egg dishes yet.

DD2 eats a wider range but has the appetite of a bird even when she is in good health. I made her French toast which she enjoyed. She eats scrambled egg so I'll do that for her tomorrow.

They are both over their illnesses now so trying to build them up a bit.

The soup dd2 likes best is leek and potato so I make that with half milk and stock and am adding cream to it when cooked. Don't think that one is too low cal.

I'd make a peanut butter and chocolate cake. Bet they'd eat that!

No it be ok. Now is not the time to
Au around. Give what they will eat as eating is what they need to be do. Weight should always be gained slowly anyway bodies don't cope with sudden intakes of rich calorific food very well ( think how sluggish we feel after a pizza slice too many) :) they will build it back up just takes time :)

lol colditz. You would think so but I made little cakes today with chocolate icing and they ate the icing and left the rest.

If dd1 didn't look so unbelievably like me I would think she was switched at birth. Her taste in food is nothing like mine.
She doesn't like cheese or pasta and is very unenthusiastic about carbs in general. She loves icy things and would eat an ice lolly on the coldest day of the year. She has no interest in food at all.

Um......

Pancakes with ice cream?

Greek yoghurt with some fruit stirred in? Stewed apple is nice. Or what about a fruit crumble - again served with cream/yoghurt.

As for savory what about mashed potato (add butter to it) (sweet potato also has extra vitamins) and baked beans?

Avocado is very nutritious, but possibly not something they'd eat if they're picky.

Hummous?

Would your egg resistant DD eat eggy bread? Sprinkled with sugar? That usually gets DS eating, and he is usually very reluctant to anything.

I like the idea of pancakes and ice-cream. They both like pancakes.

Stewed apple might go down well too with custard for dd2 and and ice-cream for dd1.

It's not just calories they need. It vitamins/minerals too. DD2 has totally gone off fruit and veg in the last few weeks.

I am making pasta to go with the chicken tonight and putting making a sauce with loads of hidden veg.

It's been a problem for a while now but the fact that they have been ill has compounded the problem.

My two picky eaters both love
Homemade nuggets - chunks of chicken breast covered in olive oil then rolled in breadcrumbs then in the oven for about 15mins.
Egg in a cup - boiled egg mashed up with butter in a mug
Milk Jellies - just use milk instead of water with jelly mix but put into shaped silicone muffin tray(we have some ghost shaped ones that they love)

How about fruit smoothies made with bananas, yoghurt (and/or full fat milk) and fruit?

If you want some fruit into them and they love ice lollies why not make smoothie and freeze into lolly moulds

I've recently been making American-style pancakes with cornmeal .. more like big drop scones than pancakes. Man those things are filling!!!! A couple of those with some ice-cream and maple syrup on the top would be terrific.