inspiring meal suggestions for toddlers please!

[rony]

hi dd 2.5 and ds 13 months are going through a very fussy eating phase at the mo, I know it's probably just a phase and will pass but they're turning their noses up at everything I make for tea. Breakfast, lunch and snacks is fine. I'm wondering whether they're just bored of the menu - I need some suggestions for things which are healthy, relatively easy to make and a bit fun. This is our rota of meals at present:

fish pie
fish in mushroom sauce
past with chicken and cheese sauce
chilli / spag bol / shepherds pie type things
spaghettti with pesto and veg

more ideas please as they and I are sick of the above!

Have tried finger type food? I just got a book called "Finger Food for babies & toddlers" as my DS who is 10 mths has been going through a really fussy stage of not wanting anything off a spoon! The book has lots of recipes for meatballs, chicken nuggets, fish fingers, cheese straws, filo parcels etc.

Do you do anything with rice/cous cous/quinoa/other grains? Dd (2.4) likes all of these.

Here's what we (me & DS 2.8) eat:

hummous with stuff to dip in (pita, carrots, apples)
Omelet
Frittata
Egg & chips
Fried Egg Sarnies
Egg Mornay
Quiche

Veggie Bake
Grilled Portobellos w/ roast toms & ricotta on sourdough
Onion & Olive Pissaladiere (puff pastry)
Onion & Goat?s cheese tarts (puff)
Tomato & Tapenade Tarts
Sweet potato & chick pea curry
Baked spuds
Potato & Onion Tortilla
Spicy Roasted Veg
Veggie/ Allotment Pie
Chunky Veg Chili
Leek and Potato Gratin
Paneer, peas and potato curry
Cauli Cheese
Baked Figs with Stilton
Stuffed Peppers
Stewed Okra w/ tomatoes
Baba Ganoush
Aubergine Parmegiana
Aubergine & tomato gratin
Aubergine in cheese sauce
Roasted Eggplant, Zucchini, and Chickpea Wraps
Perciatelli with Roasted Tomatoes and Eggplant

Black Bean Burgers
Mushroom veggie burgers
Carrot Lentil burgers

Pumpkin, Walnut & Blue Cheese Gnocchi
Spinach & Ricotta Lasagna
Roast pumpkin and mushroom lasagna
Lentil Lasagna
Tortellini
Ravioli
Pesto
Tagliatelle w/ Veg ribbons
Macaroni Cheese
Canelloni
Spaghetti w/ fontina & Kale

Risotto
Mushroom Barley Risotto
Mushroom Stroganoff
Crunchy Lentil Loaf
Dahl & rice
Cheese & Lentil Loaf
Lentil Stew
Lentil Shepherds Pie
Spiced Lentils
Lentil Chili
Quinoa Taboo
Quinoa w/ avocado and mango
Quinoa in coconut milk
Veg fried quinoa
Couscous with spicy chickpeas & veg
Red Beans and Rice
Chermoula Chickpea burgers
Chick Pea Burgers
Tuscan beans w/ tomatoes and sage
Adzuki Bean Stew
Parsley & butterbean stew

Spinach, Goats Cheese & Pepper Quesadilla
Pizza
Cheese & onion pie
Leek & onion tart
Spanakopita
Wraps
Vegetable Tart
Toasties

Burritos
Quesadillas
Mexican Lasagna (black beans, salsa, pasta)
Mexican Lasagna with tortillas (refried beans, sour cream, spicy veg)
Fajitas

Homemade Soup
Veg Soup
Barley & Veg sop
Tomato & Lentil
Onion
Winter squash (Roast pumpkin/ Butternut & onion)
Cream of watercress & stilton
Mushroom
Spicy Carrot
Pea and bacon soup
Borscht
Carrot and sweet potato
Pumpkin & Red Pepper
Tortellini Soup (w/ escarole/ spinach)
Tomato Veg soup
Split pea and ham

Salads
Pasta w/ green beans & mushrooms
Potato
Greens w/ warm bacon & eggs
Nicoise
Beetroot & mint
Fried Halloumi & grape
Tomato, Bean & fried Basil
Watermelon & Feta
Anchovy & roasted pepper

We?re veggie but when we ate meat - I also made the following

Spaghetti Bolognese
Shepherds Pie
Burgers
Lasagna
Chili (with rice)
Frito Pie
Meatloaf
Meatballs
Sausage Casserole (tomato based)
Spicy sausage casserole with potato or celeriac mash
Spicy Sausage with Penne
Toad in the hole
Bangers & Mash
Moussaka
Lamb steaks w/ redcurrant glaze
Beef in Beer Casserole
Goulash
Steak Sarnies
Spaghetti Carbonara
Chicken Curry
Roast Chicken
Chicken Casserole
Chicken Pie
Fajitas
Kebabs
Chicken and dumplings
Thai Chicken Skewers
Peas & bacon with Pan-fried Chicken
Chicken. Bacon & Leek Pasta bake
Chicken salad wraps w/ wholemeal wraps & yoghurt. Chop salad into sticks
Spiced Chicken
Chicken goujons/ nuggets
Chicken Parmesan
Chicken parcels wrapped in Parma ham
Chicken Kiev
Tuna Pasta Bake
Tuna Polpettine
Fish Pie
Creamy Salmon pasta with veg
Coley/ white fish with cherry tom, capers and black olive topping.
Kedgeree
Salmon with Leek & Courgettes
Salmon fillets baked in the oven with sweet potato chips
Seared Tuna
Grilled White Fish
Fishcakes
Fishfingers
Haddock w/ fennel butter
Prawn Curry
Thai Pasta with Shrimp (Spaghetti, ½ can coconut milk, curry powder)
Linguine with prawns and garlic
Scampi

PMSL - that has to be the longest suggestion list ever!

Flippin 'eck UnderRated !!! Can I come and live with you????

underated, how on earth do you get a 2.8 yr old to eat all that stuff.
If DCs hadn't seen a particular dish for a few weeks, they would forget they'd enjoyed it and we'd be back to 'just a little taste' reintroducing again and again.
DS is 5 and this is the first year he has recognised a melon after the autumn/winter/spring break!

Mine like polenta (the quick version)
I make it with a bit of cheese in for extra flavour.
I cool it in a flat shape about 2cm thick.
They cut out shapes with biscuit cutters then I fry lightly to warm it up/crisp it up.

underated - fancy wrting a recioe book?

Rainbow rice - boil rice, add frozen peas, sweetcorn, diced carrot or whatever you and they like, then before serving, stir through chopped ham and a beaten egg. Heat through until the egg is set and makes the rice stick together.

I wish I could cook Polenta but it is always Bad when I do it. I think I must be lucky to have a DS who will try more or less anything. And there is enough variation that if he doesn't like something, he'll eat something else.

I would love to write a recipe book

I'm going to add rainbow rice to my list

I'm flattered

If you ever do write a cookbook, give me a shout. I'd LOVE to do one too.

I would have no idea where to start, Scootergrrl. And I don't have a target audience. I suppose it would people with small children and not much money and not much time (i.e. me)

Aitch's lentil moussaka has gone done really well with my nearly 2 year old (I prefer a normal cheese sauce topping to the yoghurt one she does here as I when I made it it went all gloopy).

Ds also loves pea/asparagus risotto and chickpeas and pasta from the Jamie Oliver Italy book ( basically 2 tins of chickpeas , add stock 500ml,sprig of rosemary and simmer 30 mins then remove 1/2 chickpeas and puree the rest with the stock (remove the rosemary sprig) with hand held blender in pan and add small (soup) pasta to cook in this mixture then add the other chickpeas back in at the end - serve with ciabatta/french bread.

He likes stir fry veg with chicken or the marinated tofu with noodles.

For a quick tea I roast chicken thigh or breast in a high oven for 30 mins with some garlic,olive oil and rosemary sprigs chucked on top and make a gravy from frozen stock to go with it and veg - really easy.

wow underrated thank you that's an amazing list!

you definitely need to write a recipe book as I now need recipes for all those things!

thanks everyone else too - some great ideas here

I actually made them a new pasta last night, basically just a tomato sauce with onion, garlic, mixed herbs and an egg mixed in, and dd totally loved it - for the first time in weeks she ate it all up!

finger foods are a good idea too as dd is a bit funny about things in sauce - she likes each thing she's eating to be clearly identifiable - weird toddler thing I think. Only problem with finger foods is finding stuff that ds can eat too - he still only has 5 teeth.