Need new recipes for foster child who hates certain textures

[flamingnoravera]

I have a 12 year old foster child with me who hates the following:
Mashed potatoes
Baked spuds
Porridge
Cereals
Toast (too crunchy)
Stew and casseroles
Anything sloppy
Spicy food
Pepper or chilli flavours

My repertoire of stews and casseroles with baked spuds is ruled out. My curries are out. I cooked a baked Spanish rice and chicken dish this week, she didn't like the rice (texture).
She likes pasta but I cannot eat it every night.
She has FASD which explains the sensory stuff. I am finding it much more difficult than I thought I would to feed her. We eat together so it has to be adult food that I and my son aged 22 can eat too.
She loves chinese food (I don't), ketchup and mayo which she will pour over anything. I have not owned a bottle of ketchup before her arrival. She likes chips (guess what Mrs healthy eater doesn't eat them, she won't eat sweet potato chips either).

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm running out.

Breakfasts, would a continental style work, thin slices of cheese and ham with bread, things like baby belle cheese, hard boiled eggs, pain aux raisins, brioche etc.

Main meals, things such as roast chicken and chips, rack of lamb with peas and broccoli, baked ham and chips (great with ketchup), pork chops and savory rice. Sausages and lentils. Fish baked in a foil parcel served with rice or vegetables. Any roast meal served without gravy.

Although chips are frowned on a bit these days, remember they are a great source of Vit C which is not fat soluable.
If you want a quick rice portion for your guest when you have potatoes, don't forget Tilda microwave rice sachets, sainsburys do their own version of these which are very good and economical.

I hate sloppy food too!
How about dry cereal for breakfast? Granola style if you don't want to buy coco pops etc.
Pizza and salad/crudites
Arancini instead of risotto, with pasta sauce and cooked veg.
Non-spicy fajitas/wraps.

Just been reading the Super Noodle thread......
Maybe instant noodles (drained) with Chinese flavoured chicken sliced into it, also some veg that she likes?
It's something that she could have when you were having a meal that she wouldn't eat?

OP it sounds as though you're getting there with her slowly but surely.

well done.

Allalone - I like your idea about continental breakfasts plus any leftovers you can put in sandwiches for her or you and your son or lunchbox.

can add other cold meats (salami etc).

also all sorts of cheese - Edam, cheddar etc and you can bake croissants from a tin I think?

I bought croissants and crumpets for breakfast. She ate a petit filou, doesn't like either :(

Tonight we are out for pizza, I know she will eat that.

Petit filou at least is calcium OP.

how about scotch or american pancakes? pains au chocolat?

Pizza restaurant was a great success. A local place that does the best pizzas this side of Brazil. She had a deconstructed hunters chicken pizza that was bigger than a big thing in a big thing contest followed by knickerbocker glory. One very happy girl came home. We have cold pizza for breakfast waiting in a box.

I may have to devise a mostly pizza based diet (only kidding).

Would she eat couscous? Its so quick and easy, you could make her a portion while you have potatoes.

For breakfast could you try a healthy homemade muffin. I make banana yoghurt muffins that freeze really well if you are interested in a recipe.

Will she eat greek yoghurt with a bit of fruit and topped with sunflower seeds or a few raw oats? Or is that too sloppy.

Lovely to see the pizza night went so well

I can't tell from one day to the next what she will eat at breakfast. This morning it was a petit filou (large). Yesterday it was pork pie. She doesn't seem to want carb loaded stuff first thing so I'm going to raid my son's cheese selection out and see if I can tempt her with some of that. She is very slow to get going in the mornings and we have time pressure so I'll sort it the night before when I do her lunch.

If she likes pork pie, how about Scotch egg for breakfast, lots of protein to keep her going till lunch time.
She might like toad in the hole for dinner, goes well with ketchup.

As she likes rice, but not risotto, how about paella, that's not sloppy at all, and can include say chicken and sausage. Also she might like Egg Fried rice, Tilda make a sachet of it that microwaves in a couple of minutes for something quick and hot when you are desperate!

Our little one, also fostered and ADHD has cheese on toast for breakfast. I make a big pot of homemade pasta sauce once a week, put some in a container, spread this on toast and top with cheese and grill. A bit like pizza.
Need to get him to eat in the morning as meds suppress his appetite so he hardly eats any lunch.

Cassimin I have never met a child who does not like toast but, mine won't eat it. No matter how lovely the bread she turns up her nose.

This morning she had a huge bowl of leftover macaroni cheese with cauliflower from last night for brekkie. I was happy, she ate good food and lots of it. Tonight I pre-prepared an after school snack of fruit cut up with some milk and she ate it whilst having a little relax. We went to the park and came home to a supper of leftover roast chicken with egg fried rice and homemade sweet and sour sauce. I got her some trainer chopsticks and we put bowls on the lazy suzy- she ate her weight in chicken and rice. If I fed her this every day she would be happy. I wish I liked it as much as she does. She did suggest that if I like Indian food so much I should take her to a restaurant where she will try it and if she doesn't like it she can "have a McDonalds in the car on the way home"- bless her she does like to find solutions!

NB I did not put the cutted up fruit in the milk, that would be EW, it was a glass of milk with cutted up apple and grapes :)

Bread based meals? Quiches?

You can make a casserole, but use a whole piece of meat rather than cubes. You then take the piece out and she can just eat it without the sauce, the rest of you eat it with the sauce. Accompany with bread.

What about fish?

Pancakes for breakfast? My DN with sensory issues loves them!

Chicken pilaff is good, rice baked with chicken stock and onions, garlic... Lots of nutrients and is filling. I often cook this and bung a slow cooker veg curry/chilli or a stew on for me ahead of time. DS who has texture issues might have a fried/hard boiled eggs with his.

Mine also like baked chicken pieces with soy sauce and honey and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Good for wraps, salads, stir fries and if I cook ahead and keep in fridge saves precious time at the cooker.

Oops sorry just seen you're not keen in chicken and rice

Can you try a wider variety of (easy) Chinese or other SE Asian sauces? Honey garlic sauce is really easy. Teryaki sauce is easy to make at home. Korean style barbecue sauce is similar to that (and you can leave out any chilli). Satay sauce is easy (and, again, doesn't have to have chilli in it). Etc. Might add some variety to the liking Chinese thing for you at least.

You could get her involved in making many of them as you simply mix everything up together. So no flames or anything to worry about. Then you can heat it later. If you make a big batch most of the above sauces will keep well in a jar in the fridge for later use.

Our little fella doesn't like toast but will eat it with cheese and tom sauce on. I have to cut it in triangles then cut the corners off as they are "too pointy".
He would live on noodles and pasta if I let him.

Wrt Indian food, I would make a meal of chicken tikka (dry) with basmati rice, naan and poppadoms, cutted up veg on the side. Serve it with the tikka in a little bowl on her plate and she might do some picky dipping.

I feel for you - one of my bio kids has adhd and textural issues with food and this is without the complication of fosterig

thebeachis I love chicken and rice, FC does not like it cooked Spanish style "arroz" she likes basmati steamed and or fried with bits- it is dryer that way. She then smothers it all with ketchup or mayo and it goes slopppy but she has made it sloppy, not me.

I have decided to stop shopping in one big shop as I seem to be continually topping up a mega shop with stuff "she might like". Instead I am adopting the "Just in Time" mantra and shopping daily for a small amount of food we can cook and eat after we have agreed what it will be in the morning. Bang goes my meal planning which worked so wonderfully for my own kids and in comes living life by the day. I think I will waste less this way.

Update:
I have now given in to separate meals for some meals this week where i could eat left overs or she could. I have been buying ready made pizzas and adding veggies and cheese and this has worked. Tonight she had fish fingers and chips and beans and ate it all, I had fennel pasta with salad. I have realised that I cannot hope to have us both eating the same food all the time.
The most successful thing has been chinese fakeaway, I did teriyaki chicken which she loved, stir fried veg, sticky rice and bought a huge box of prawn crackers from the chinese supermarket that we fry ourselves and she was in heaven. All served in a proper Chinese "working lunch" box with extra soy and sweet and sour sauce (home made). She is using kiddies chopsicks and loves this meal as I put it all on a lazy suzy and she can reach across and get the bits she wants. It will become the saturday staple I think.

Thanks to everyone who has made suggestions- I have taken many ideas and am grateful for them. All I need now is some extra energy to deal with the never ending demands of a child with so many needs.