PLEASE GIVE ME SOME IDEAS

[VeronicaMars]

for dinner for a fussy 21 month old, who has been having potato based dinners with chicken but who seems to have gone off them......

Pasta and bolognese sauce.
My DS would eat nothing else, if left to his own devices. And you can use celery in the sauce at the start with the onions, and chuck in peas, beans, lentils and other stuff when it's simmering, to increase the vegetable content.
Use good quality beef, hate to think what goes into cheapo mince...

My DD fav meals is Spag Bog & Shephards Pie!
With mince you can add practically anything!

Fish pie?
make a white sauce (butter, flour, milk) and add a little drop of anchiovy essence.
Mix in tinned salmon (make sure you take out all the bones and skin.
Put mashed potato on the top.
Freezes well and can be re-heated in the micro.
Serve with peas (serve peas and sweetcorn with everything- that works)
All our family love it and have done for about 3 generations......
Good luck.

DS is 2.3 and currently will only eat breaded items - I think they go through fazes of liking the texture of things.

I have made fishcakes for tonight. Lots of potato and fish, covered in breadcrumbs. My dd loves them (I also grate carrot into them)

Dd also really goes for pasta and meatballs.

And we do eggy mess for lunch a lot. (basically its scrambled egg, but I tried to make an omelette and ended up with an eggy mess... ). Just chuck whatever veg is in the fridge (eg tomatoes, mushrooms, courgette) fry up some potatoes or bread and mix it together in a pan with omelette mixture- yum!

Or what about dips? For the fun factor (!). I made eggy bread yesterday and gave her some passata (our sneaky baby-friendly ketchup ) and spinach dhal (spinach and lentils) and she happily dipped away... You can also do hummus or anything really just pureed.

Macca cheese is the number one in our house.

Chicken drumsticks with a sticky sauce might make him like them again - Australian Womens Weekly Kids cooking book has a great recipe but I can't remeber it off the top of my head and I'm at work - can look for you tonight if you'd like.

Jacket sweet potatoes are a bit different and popular.

Soup? Tis the season when it seems an attractive option again... Corn chowderish soups are thick, sweet and sticky so go down well with my dds.

Plaice fillets are also v popular here, either unadulterated and pan fried in butter, or the M&S breaded ones which are currently on offer and therefore filling up my freezer.

Fish cakes are also a good one. I find bought ones too salty but they're easy to make and you can use the more eco friendly but less glam fishes like coley and pollack.

Eggs? My dd2 is going through a major egg phase at the moment in any form except scrambled.

I'd recommend that AWW book on Kids Cooking. I think it's meant to be for stuff older children can cook themself, but the recipes have been generally pretty popular here.

Oh and totally weird, but my dds have both had a passion for prawns since they were about 6 months, despite being queen fussy pantses (esp dd1). Prawns are a v absorbable sort of protein and small people don't need a big portion so it's not too expensive.

Oh thank you thank you. I'm in work but I am keeping an eye on this. I'll wait till this evening and print the whole thing out. Lots of stuff on here that I would never have thought of. Thank you again.

Furzella it would be great to have the recipe thanks, if not too much trouble. I've tried so many new things from Annabel Karmel's book but she showing little or no interest at the moment.

No probs, will post it tonight or tomorrow morning. x

Thanks a mill

Managed to slope off early today, so here it is:

Marinade: 2 tablespoons ketchup, 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 tablespoon mildish mustard (recipe says American but I loathe that squeezy stuff and use dijon). Mix all the ingredients together, pour over chicken drumsticks (recipe says wings, but my dcs prefer drumsticks as they're easier to hold), leave for 3 hours or overnight. Cook them for c30minutes in a hot oven. The recipe also has a dipping sauce made from 1 tablespoon mustard, 2 tablespoons ketchup, 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, but my dcs always prefered it without.

Actually, although they got really into chicken drumsticks with this sweet sticky recipe, now they prefer them as they come. I think it's the fact that drumsticks are so easy to hold that appeals.

I know the recipe looks slightly revolting, but the children do seem to like it and if it gets you through the current dilemma, who cares!!

There's another marinade that I haven't done on the same page, which mixes 100g tandoori paste, 95g yoghurt and 1 grated onion, which might also be worth a go. My girls loved curried lentils until they were each about 3 and have refused them since, but they were pretty cosmopolitan when they were teeny.

Thanks Furzella I suppose anything with worcestire sauce and ketchup has to be good right? I'm off tomorrow so I'll marinade tonight and give them a go tomorrow. I'll let you know what dd thinks

FUZELLA Thanks the sticky sauce was a great success and she loved the jacket sweet potato