dh says ds won't eat because I am rubbish cook

[raggedyanna]

so what I need is recipes and ideas I can't muck up!

DS cannot have dairy or gluten so please keep that in mind and is not so fussed on meat but it might be my cooking.

PS DH was being honest and told me very nicely that it could be the reason that ds will not eat.

why doesn't he cook the?

you could try some delia smith recipes they are pretty foolproof!

what sort of food do you like and cook?

Like milward said!

Cooking without dairy, gluten or meat sounds dead hard too.

How old is ds?

Jamie Oliver is a bit of a gurner but his recipes are pretty good and simple, imo.

it was annoying, but i continue to find that ds will eat very little that i 'create' but if i follow an annabel karmel recipe he nums it up. shame he doesn't also wash up the 4 saucepans and 3 bowls her things always require, not to mention earn the money for the ingredients.

i don't remember much in the way of non-allergenic food in her stuff, though, but i'm sure others will know.

How old?

My girl (2 and a bit) always appreciate food that 'looks like itself'.

In a funny way, I find if I over-cook and over-process she is more suspicious.

So I'd advise very simple. E.g. plain grilled chicken breast, peas and new potatoes. Sliced cucumber.

It's a cliche, but involving kids in the preparation really works. Firstly, it makes my Dd more confident about food. Secondly, I find she eats quite a lot while we're doing it! 'Stirring' jobs are always winners- if you don't mind mess.

Thirdly - don't expect too much, and worry about it too much. Depending on age, they actually don't need to eat too much. I think the most important thing is to keep them fairly open minded about food, and not give too much 'rubbish' as snacks, rather than 'watch every mouthful'.

Also - dips are great to send anything down.

My fave is mayo with a squeeze of ketchup ( can you get dairy free mayo?).

There isn't any dairy in mayonnaise (eggs, oil, lemon/vinegar, mustard mainly)

thanks so far, he loves to dip food and likes things on wee cocktail sticks too. He will be two in August. DH doesnt cook because of his work hours. He does like to stir etc and watch me when I cook he just doesnt like to eat it. He is on the 3rd percentile for weight which is why I worry a bit I guess.

DH could cook up a batch at the weekend and freeze it?

The cheek of your DH! although I understand the difficulty of creating good tasting food when you have to follow a restricted diet.

There are plenty of things you can do without glutten and diary. Think of pasta recipes but use rice instead. AS for milk... a pitty about the cheese and other dairy, but with some practice with spices you can get to forget that you would like some dairy in them.

There is a book called "Food for all" which has nice collection of children freindly recipes for those who have dietary restrictions, you can get it from Amazon.

P.S. If he can watch you cook, he definitively can help.

There are plenty of gluten free pastas available, and not all of them are hideous - the Gallo stuff is nice (fancy rice pasta from Italy) and the Orgran rice and millet one is reasonably tasty too.

Sainsburys do some fabulous gluten free sausages, but they are cunningly disguised so you have to know about them in advance, or read the labels of everything like I do. They're in their Taste the Difference range, nearly always on special offer, 2 for 3.50. The gluten free ones are the Toulouse, the Sicilian and the pork and fresh herb (the last one is the one I would give to a child, the others are too spicy/garlicky probably). I couldn't swear that they are dairy free, but worth a look.

Delia has a fab recipe for cassoulet, have a look at her website - it has breadcrumbs in but easy peasy, miss them out and bung some rice in instead.

For your dh I suggest a diet of dog biscuits until he pulls his finger out and does some cooking himself. Surely he has some free time, cooking doesn't have to be done in the evening, after all.

Btw, I should also add that my cooking is very much at the casserole end of the market because it's much harder to mess them up - I like being able to just bung it all in and not having to be precise about anything, far too much like hard work.

Another excellent Delia recipe if your ds can have eggs is Spanish omelette - dead easy, ignore the bit about flipping it over using a plate unless you are feeling brave, I just whack it under the grill to finish the top off (or get dh to do the flipping for me).

I got a really good cookery book for kids with allergies for my sister (she's got loads) from Waterstones that tries to make 'normal' food for teenagers specifically but I can't remember the name - something like - 'what to eat when you can't eat anything'. It had some really good tips in for cooking with things like gluten free flour and how to make the food attractive and that kinda thing. I think they had other ones for children. It might be worth a look.

HTH