What do i give DD instead of pasta

[octobermum]

I am having probelms in giving dd a heathy balanced meals as she will not eat potatoes in any form including chips and crisps.

She doesn't like rice much either.

At the moment her dinners seem to be

Spag bog
Pasta with mixed veg sauce (blended until smooth)
Sausages and yorkshire pud
Roast meat, Yorkshire pudding for sunday dinner.
Fish with peas and bread and butter.

She will eat stews mainly soaking up the gravy with bread then eats the meat and veg.

Can anyone give me some more meal ideas even if it is pasta dishes that don't have a tomato based sauce.

I am just realy suck now, after 2 and half years i have just run out of ideas as she has never realy taken to food, I wish i had found mn when i was weaning her instead of struggling un aided as i did.

Have you tried cous cous? It took a touble of tries with my two but they like it now. What about macaroni cheese? tuna pasta bake? Have you tried savoury type rice, say with a chicken stock, or jambalaya?

My dd (now 8)has never really liked potatoes or chips, but to be honest I've stuck at it and she will now eat mashed potatoes (only with gravy!). Or she'll sometimes have a new potato with butter.

a 'couple' of tries!

Does she like flour tortillas? Could do chicken strips with roasted peppers, courgette, onion, tomaotes, etc all wrapped up in one. She could even have a go at wrapping them herself.

What about making her savourty type pancakes -a again to wrap things in?

I sympathise as I have never been too keen on potatoes! I still find large lumps of unadultarated carbohydrates off-putting, my DH on other hand would like nothing better than chip butties with a side order of bread and butter.

Have you tried disguising/mixing the potato in with the dishes, eg putting small cubes in stews or incorporating the mash into the dish, as with cottage pie or shepherds pie? It might be the boring potato-y-ness that your DD finds off-putting.

Other good sources of carbs:

Pastry (pies/pasties/flans/quiches)
Couscous (either just plain, with a little butter, or you can mix it with veg or feta or have it cold and serve as a salad)
Rice (I know you said she doesn't like it much but have you tried risotto?)
Dumplings in stews

Other pasta ideas:
Pasta al forno eg lasagne, macaroni cheese, pasta bake
Creamy based sauces eg spaghetti carbonara, pasta with bits of chicken and bacon in a creme fraiche sauce
Oil based sauces eg pesto
Pasta salad - cold pasta with any salad veg and a spoonful or two of pesto dressing
Other pasta variants like tortellini and ravioli

Good luck!

Noodles? My two love them but they also love rice too...

Sorry i taken a while to come back to this, as dh got home at sat using my laptop.

granarybeck

I was thinking about cous cous, i tried it once and didn't like the texture(sp), but i was thinking about trying again. I will try macaroni cheese should be ok as it cheese. Tuna pasta bake will try but on a saturday so that dh can have it with her as i don't like tuna. Rice i'm trying her with so far so good as in she has eaten a few mouthfuls.

hulababy yes she does like flour tortillas i well try her to make her own chicken strips courgette, onion, tomaotes, etc all wrapped up in one. She could even have a go at wrapping them herself.

MissGolightly i have tried disguising/mixing the potato in with the mash into the dishes like cottage pie or shepherds pie but she eat the cheese topping then leaves the potato.

What's wrong with pasta? If that's what she likes as the carboyhdrate element of a balances meal, then I would stick with it. It's healthy enough and easy to cook. DOn't forget to keep on offering her other things, though - thier taste buds change over they years. Particularly if no one's ever made a fuss about what they eat!
BTW, try making cous cous with a stock cube in the water and a bit of butter stirred in at the end. Delicious!

Curlew

I know pasta healthy, it just that she has always been fussy and now that she is actually eating 3 meals aday, for her to get bored with pasta as she is having it 3 or 4 times a week and we go back to where we were a few months ago where she was eating almost nothing.

I see your point. I'm sure you've thought of this, but just in case you haven't, how about different shapes of pasta? My dd used to say they all tasted quite different(!)

Curlew, thats a good idea, she olves noodles as they are worms.

Have you tried sesame noodles - I do a kind of stir fry with them for my kids with carrots, peas, babycorn and chicken strips cooked in sesame oil, soy sauce and honey.

Also, what about soups? You can make big batches of lentil or vegetable soup and freeze them in small portions. My DS is very fussy but I always feel good if he's had a big bowl of lentil soup.

Quiche also goes down well in our house.

Have you tried sesame noodles - I do a kind of stir fry with them for my kids with carrots, peas, babycorn and chicken strips cooked in sesame oil, soy sauce and honey.

Also, what about soups? You can make big batches of lentil or vegetable soup and freeze them in small portions. My DS is very fussy but I always feel good if he's had a big bowl of lentil soup.

Quiche also goes down well in our house.

Actually I think her diet sounds quite good to me - I'd be pleased if my DD ate that list. Lasagne and cannelloni might be a variation - what about mac cheese? Or mixing rice in with a casserole? have you tried tortillas?

Personally if she eats bread and pasta I wouldn't worry much - if she has a cereal for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch then her dinner can be a bit lighter on carbs. Biscuits etc also a source of carbs - I find most snacks are pretty carbohydrate-rich.

Oh, and if she like meat and mince then how about meatballs?

White pasta can be bad coz the carbs in it are converted to sugar really quickly coz it is made with refined flour. So wholewheat pasta is MUCH better. And if you eat it with a sauce on you can't tell the difference at all.

Also, what about trying rice pasta or buckwheat pasta? You use it as pasta just the same, but it's made with other grains and so you get more balanced intake of nutrients, And can help stop a wheat allergy developing from eating too many wheat products. Some bigger supermarkets stock it, or the local healthfood shop.

Good luck!

Thank you for your replies, you have just proven how paranoid i am about dd not eating as it has been a struggle to get this far.

I am going to try all your suggestions.

I'm going to keep saying to myself "stop worrying dd eating is good" over and over again.

She does eat any type of bread, we have white for toast, wholemeal for sandwiches but she will eat multiseeded or granary which my mum has.

I am slowly changing from white to brown rice as dh isn't that keen yet.

I will look at other types of pasta and noodles to introduce other tastes.