Any good recipes for a 2 year old ds?

[Kt1991]

My lb is the fussiest toddler I know and it?s really difficult trying to find something he likes for dinner! He loves anything chicken, so any ideas would be very greatful. ( He refuses to eat any veg too! )

My DS loves chicken coated in mayo and rice crispies then oven baked. Or in ruskoline crumb and shallow fried.

I recently made a homemade version of a fish cake but with chicken, potato,parsley and carrot. ( I have also made them with sweet potato or use basil and chopped tomato).

Does he like sweetcorn? Mine like chicken and sweetcorn burgers made with chicken mince. I often grate carrot or courgette in too to up the veg.

They also love these gingered chicken things. DH and I like them too. Again, I just use chicken mince rather than faff about with thighs. Also good for sneaking in the grated veg.

All sound really nice thanks everyone! will look out for ingrediants at the weekend! Lookslikerain- He sometimes has picked at sweetcorn, but if I can mix it into something and its hidden might be in luck!

Have you tried corn on the cob? It's a bit expensive at the moment but I bought some the other day and my DD devoured it! I don't know if it was the novelty of it, but she didn't leave one kernel on there despite only having 2 teeth!

Don?t think hes ever tried it but they are delicious! especially on the BBQ- I guess it would be a good thing for him to eat as he likes finger foods so good for him to hold! Aww bless thats good!

It is awful when they are being picky, isn't it? If it gives you hope, I have a 3 year old that spent a lot of 2012 living on fish fingers, porridge and not a lot more. Then in January, something happened (goodness knows what) and he suddenly started eating normally again. There is light at the end of the tunnel!

Oh, just thought. Does he do rice? Mine like egg fried rice and it's good for putting small bits of chicken in.

Slow roasted is best. I hear they barbecue well, too. A tangy ketchup and orange juice based marinade is traditional.

I couldn't eat a whole one, though. If it's just for a small family, I recommend no older than 18 months old.

I second the egg fried rice: we called it "Jewelled rice" and got away with including sweetcorn (gold) peas (emeralds) red pepper (rubies), fried diced onions (diamonds).............. in fact anything that was left over/sitting in the fridge etc! got more expensive when he DS decided he liked it best with prawns included.

Chicken soup.

Chicken risotto.

With rice if we are having curry or chilli (which he will eat! ) i mix small portion of rice into his but he won?t eat it individually, I think he finds it too messy and awkward to eat! but I may try the egg fried rice and see what happens. Yep I know its a nightmare I feel awful giving him some of the same foods all the time, but I?ve wasted so many meals over last couple of months don?t want to keep wasting things! he started nursery in April and has tried a few new meals there but when I?ve gone to make them he refuses! Guess it?s cause the other children are eating. He would like the tangy ketchup Ouryve :)

My DD loves chicken in a creamy or cheesy sauce.
I v finely dice some onion and soften it in butter, add a crushed garlic clove, and the bite size chicken pieces, fry gently until the chicken is sealed, add a sprinkling of flour, then slowly add milk/cream mixing it in til you have whatever consistency you were aiming for. At the end add some grated parmesan. Sometime grated cheddar too.

Have you tried doing buttered veg? She's not keen on it plain, but she loves buttery brocolli.

All the better if there is a poached egg to dip the broccoli in! Infact, broccoli and a poached egg is my standy by 5 min tea for her. She's usually snacked on oatcakes or similar so I prefer to not give her the option of just filling up yet further on carbs and nowt else.

Hadn?t thought about chicken in a creamy cheese sauce! sounds really nice, he likes lots of cheese too so may try that this week :) Pretty much tried everything possible to get him to eat veg just not working! :(

Ooh, we have recently been through a hellish veg refusal stage - even the ubiquitous Red Pasta Sauce (you know, the grate up 5 types of veg and blend it with passata, garlic etc) was refused. But my success has been veg bhajis/pakoras, she adores them.

Bhajis:
Pulse together in a food processor half an onion onion, a smattering of frozen peas and a small handful of baby spinach (you could hack it all up by hand but I cba) until its very finely chopped.
Grate half a carrot.
Combine all veg in a bowl. Add a load of gram flour (ground chickpeas), and spices. I added 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp ground coriander, 1/2 tsp garam masala and a little sprinkling of cayenne pepper.
Mix the spices and gram flour round the veg until everything is well coated (add more gram flour if you need it).
Then add milk (or water, but I figured milk is extra protein), mixing, until you have a fairly stiff batter.
You can also mix in some sesame seeds or similar if you feel they need the extra oils/protein.
Then pour enough oil into a small frying pan to cover the base of it.
Heat the oil
Drop teaspoons of the mix into the hot oil, squidge them flattish, and fry for a couple of mins each side until dark golden and crispy.
Drain on kitchen paper.

For toddlers, let them cool before eating (they willl be very hot inside)
For adults, salt generously and scoff while hot. They are fab before/alongside a curry.
The mix above does me, DH and DD.

You can obv vary the veg, but the onion is key so don't skip that. Sweet potato, broccoli stalks grate in very well. You could add frozen corn/broad beans. Or mini cauliflower florets. Whatever really.

The creamy sauce I described earlier is also very good with prawns. For those I would start with the onion/garlic, but not add flour, would crumble in a tiny bit of stock cube instead, add a small splash of boiling water to dissolve the stock cube and help the prawns cook through, then when the water is reduced to almost nothing, stir in cream and add a small amount of grated parmesan. It's yum with spaghetti.

Thought of another one - I know you said he struggles with rice, but have you tried risotto? It clumps together a lot better and you can hide a fair bit of veg in that.

I blend down some onion and celery almost to a paste, sometimes with a handful of spinach/few peas, and fry it all with garlic, a pinch of thyme, splash of worcester sauce. Then add rice (I just use normal basmati usually, but she does like proper arborio stuff if I happen to be in the mood to faff a bit more), and a bit of stock cube, add boiling water and simmer until rice is done. Grate in a bit of parmesan, and serve.
That's the basic concept. I sometimes add a bit of chopped tomato to the water.
She likes it with chickpeas in. Or smoked fish.
But any leftover meat can be shredded and chucked in. If peas/corn/broad beans are likely to go down then chuck them in a few mins before the rice is done.

Spiltthetea, those bhajis sound delicious.
Thanks for writing out the recipe. I'll be giving them a go
Have you tried freezing them?

We have a veg refuser and I mostly get by with soups and hidden veg pasta sauce. We also use the sauce as a base fore pizza, with lasagne etc. I also used to do mac and cheese with broccoli in and mashed up the brocolli so it was mixed in the cheese sauce.

That reminds me DeathMetalMum cauliflower is ace for hiding in white/cheese sauces as it's white!

I've not tried freezing the bhajis, there's never any left! I think they might lose their crispyness, but worth a try.

Spilttheteaagain- Those Bhajis sound amazing! Deffo going to try those! and he has started trying risotto at nursery, so I may try doing it at home, he didn?t eat very much so unsure whether he will eat it here! He is so fussy that he won?t even eat pasta!

Does your little one like pasta? When my daughter is in a fussy mood, ill or teething, she will always eat Nonna's pasta soup!

I sometimes do a carbonara type sauce with leftover roast chicken. My two have peas or sweetcorn in the sauce too so you may be able to sneak some in.