Help me feed my children more interesting food

[EVye]

They are 6 and 3.

They are Ok with vegetables - carrots, peas, sweetcorn, brocccoli, courgettes etc as long as they are plain veg and not mixed with other things.

They like fishfingers, sausages, bolognaise, yorkshire puddings, baked beans, pasta & sauce (dolmio)...

They will not eat any kind of cottage pie, lasagne, normal pie, pizza, fish pie the list goes on...

I want to be a bit more creative. They do get a varied diet with lots of veg but it is all very 'easy' and 'young' food iykwim.

Any ideas?

hmmm. so the problem is more that they won't eat stuff mixed together?

would getting them to help make it (time consuming I know) help, as they can see the ingredients going in?

I just made these for dinner and dc loved them. There are some good suggestions on there I thought.

I just present things as a fait accompli. I don't mention what's in it, I just ask them to try it, and they eat it (well, usually) I know it can be tricky.

MMM - yes, that's it. They wont eat 'mixed up' food. They sometimes help but it doesnt seem to make any difference to whether they'll eat it.

Bendybob - Often they will try food and then spit it out straight away. I give some things repeatedly and it doesnt make much difference - they just eat the bits they like and leave the bits they dont.

My two wont eat beans (neither do I tbh ) but they do eat wraps with chicken and grated cheese - but no sour cream, or salsa, or tomatoes.

I've got loads of interesting seasonal recipes that my kids (1 &3) eat on my blog. Look under recipes or by ingredient. I've managed to get mine eating more interesting things by giving them something they like that is boring and eating something else myself that looks fun/smells really tasty.

Have you tried them with soup? Eg pea soup, carrot soup, broccoli soup. With dippy fingers. Mine will eat soup with dippy wholemeal pitta fingers, even if they don't spoon in the soup itself. Then when they eat it you can start adding extra veg.

There are a few soups as well as a simple courgette risotto and an easy chard and ricotta pasta recipe.

Thnks 120. I'll check the blog later. My kids would be mortified if you put soup in front of them. sigh.

What about a thing that they put together themselves? Like fajitas or crispy duck?

I find sometimes if mine are going through fussy phases then if they put it together themselves they will try more than if I had done it on their behalf.

At the moment DS(6) changes which vegetables he finds offensive weekly. I can't keep up and hate the whining, so shall soon be teaching him to cook and he can make his own, from a selection provided a la Masterchef.

Thanks taffetacat. They like wraps with chicken in. May go for duck. Am tempted to go to an allyoucan eat chinese and see how they fare. They like prawn crackers so wouldnt starve

Have you tried serving meals in bowls on the table and allowing them to help themselves? It's amazing what kids will put away once they feel in control. You have to be relaxed about it though, forgiving of mess and trusting them on portions.

I think you're right lionstar - they eat well at PILs when we have a roast dinner (and get to choose) but then they choose just veg and ignore the meat/potatoes.

I used to have same problem with DC until I came up with a recipe for a butternut squash curry (he loved squash) but you could pick out any single veg you think they'd like.

Just brown the diced squash, add tsp balti paste, then stir in 6 tbsp of reduced fat coconut milk then 1/4 pint chicken/veg stock and cook until thickened.

LO LOVED it because it was sweet and he loved dipping naan bread sliced into fingers into the sauce. Then as I got him hooked on the curry, I gradually started adding a new vegetable each time. So now he has it with B/S, peppers, peas etc. I've recommended this to lots of mums who say it worked. They seem to love the sauce more than they love their foibles wrt food

ElleBing - that sounds like a great idea. Only problem is that I cant stand any kind of Indian spices. Indian/Thai food is the one thing I really dont eat. I may however suggest DH cooks it

I've just made turkey-burger things with minced turkey and various herbs/spices and served with HFW's flatbreads and some coleslaw made with white cabbage, carrot and vinaigrette instead of mayo.

They have eaten the lot!

oooh! please post link to flat breads... have been wanting to try making those, and pitta's for a while.

Have no link - but here you go:

Start 30 mins before you want to eat:

300g plain flour
tsp salt
tbsp oil
about 150ml lukewarm water.

Mix flour, salt, oil and sufficient water to make dough, turn out, knead 5 mins till it is smooth.(add more flour if too sticky)

Leave to rest in a ball on your floured worksurface, with the bowl over th top of it, for 30 mins. (now prepare the burgers, coleslaw, etc)

Heat large DRY frying pan on med-hot. NO OIL!

Cut dough into large walnut-sized pieces (makes about 8 or 10). Roll one very thinly, then shake off all excess flour (too much flour makes them chewy), pop onto frying pan and cook a minute or two until it bubbles, turn over, cook the other side for even less time, till nicely browned on the bubbles, then throw onto first person's plate without burning your fingers.

Start rolling the second while the first is cooking, but the thing is to get a production line without the flatbreads lying around getting cold and dry and stiff. I think if you have to make ahead, then wrap in a tea-towel and put in a warm oven.

Enjoy!

Pitta's use yeast and yogurt in the mix, I think they are a leavened bread?

thanks MM, they sound easy and delicious! Not sure about pittas, but we go through 5 packs a week so probably worth learning them too.

I have 3 DC aged 4, 5 and 7. If you ask them what they want to eat they will invariably say spag bol (groan) but they are actually given lots of different things. Sometimes I do lie pretend, for example cous cous was "teeny tiny pasta" for a long time (which wasn't strictly a lie) and the noodles in the stir fry were spaghetti (again, not too far from the truth).

Things which my three enjoy include:

Pasta with a bacon, mushroom and cream sauce
Pasta with chicken and tomato sauce
Pasta with a tuna and tomato sauce
Spaghetti Bolognese (of course)
Spaghetti and meatballs
Lasagne
Pizza (especially if they help make it, they love kneading the dough)
Moroccan chicken and couscous
Chicken tagine and couscous
Chilli con carne and baked potatoes
Sausage and bean chilli and baked potatoes
Salmon risotto
Chicken risotto
Thai chicken curry (obviously made quite mild)and rice
Sweet and Sour chicken and rice
Frittata
Tortilla
Falafel

They also love roast dinners.

Sometimes the younger two can be fussy, especially if they are tired by supper time. But during term time all three have school dinners so I know that they have had a healthy hot lunch (and they all clear their plates there), so if they don't eat everything at night it's not the end of the world.

Instead of buying Dolmio etc sauces why not try making your own? That way you can put ingredients thay you want them to try into them. A basic tomato sauce is really easy to make, and tastes much nicer than one from a jar.

grilled salmon, grilled chicken (chicken nuggets even).

Plain noodles, rice.

I would just keep to the theme of separate food for now. No rush. It is normal at this age. They are having a varied diet already. I think you are doing very well.

Thanks guys for the advice and recipe, and especially blueshoes for thinking I am doing well anyway

We had a chinese takeaway the other night and the girls ate rice, crispy duck, prawn crackers, chicken balls (no s&s sauce) and the older one even tried seaweed, but the chow mein was too much for them