[name]Hi[/name] Mums and Dads I want to start Nameberries own ‘go to’ thread for those of us who are desperate to find a failsafe recipe/s that kids especially those who are picky eaters will gobble up and enjoy time and time again.
So to all the Mums who have picked their way through the minefield of toddler eating and come out the other side with some great ideas for feeding kids I am sure that your expertise will be worth more than gold to the het up, frustrated mothers of the world who are desperate to find food that their kids will enjoy.
So please line up and share your recipes and listen to the hearty shouts of grateful mothers all around the world.
In addition to RECIPES If you have some TIPS please put it under a TIPS heading.
THANK YOU to all the generous people who share their successful recipes!
PS If an ingredient is a name brand can you let us know what it is as brands are not always known around the world eg Instead of saying add Oreos say add chocolate biscuits.
Well I have no children yet, but as a former picky eater and with much babysitting experience under my belt, I have several recipes that I think would pass the Toddler Test. I haven’t made this one for a child yet, but you moms can read the ingredients and decide if your kids would eat it. It may not be the most nutritional option, but my husband and I enjoy it once in a while. I think it can’t go wrong. Recipe is copied from the Taste of Home website:
Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the chicken, 1 cup cheese, soup, milk, pimientos if desired, salt and pepper. Drain spaghetti; add to the chicken mixture and toss to coat.
Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350° (Fahrenheit; temp may be different in the UK--180° Celsius) for 20-25 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 6-8 servings.
(Nutritional Facts 1 serving (1 each) equals 311 calories, 14 g fat (8 g saturated fat), 68 mg cholesterol, 579 mg sodium, 23 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 21 g protein.)
[name]Just[/name] so my helpful nameberries don’t miss this thread I am bumping it up. I do hope that we can get this resource started so that in the future lots of people can access its information.
My kids are ridiculously adventurous eaters (their favorites right now are stuffed mushrooms with crabmeat, and beef empanadas!) but tonight my husband cooked a delicious and easy dinner using ground turkey. Literally all you do is buy a pack of lean ground turkey meat, and cook it in a skillet or a wok with some garlic and onions. We added some marinara sauce and ate it over whole-wheat shell pasta. Broccoli on the side, which my kids love but I guess most don’t. [name]One[/name] pack of turkey meat easily feeds our family of four, and my kids and their friends love it. It’s pretty healthy too. We also sometimes melt American or cheddar cheese over ground turkey, which is less healthy but just as good.
Ooh, look forward to cooking some of these (and posting when it isn’t so late here), but my friend’s mother used to to blend/process handfuls of spinach down and add it to spaghetti/tomato sauce in order to sneak veggies onto the kids’ plates. She never mentioned if it much altered the color, but they ate it down on pasta none the wiser…
My almost 4 year old’s favourite meal for the last 2+ years has been lentils and rice: I don’t have a precise recipe but this is roughly what I cook:
Saute 1 x finely chopped onion in olive oil. When softened, add finely diced carrot (and/or celery, capsicum or other vegies of choice).
[name]Add[/name] 1-2 cups red lentils (depending on quantity of vegies and personal preference for proportions), 1-2 tablespoons of tomato paste and water and low salt stock. You can just keep checking and adding water as needed. I ususally season with cumin, ginger and pepper, then cover and simmer until lentils are soft.
Serve with boiled rice. I often make up a big batch and then freeze individual portions (including rice) in the freezer, It defrosts and microwaves well.
My 10 month old’s fave meal is cheesy pasta: again I don’t have a precise recipe but roughly this:
Saute 1/2 a chopped onion in olive oil, add 4 medium carrots chopped in thick coins and 2 cans of tomatoes (or cook, peel etc your own toms if you are a purist). [name]Season[/name] with basil, oregano and pepper then cover and simmer until the carrots are soft. Allow to cool a little, puree then stir through a few handfuls of grated cheese; cheddar, colby etc or split half/half with mascarpone or cream cheese etc.
For my little one I mix through cooked star or alphabet pasta (any little pasta, that you would put in sooup) but for bigger kids I would use bigger pasta like penne or shells.
My little boy loves it when we make faces with his vegetables. So for lunch most days he has cruskits or multi-grain with cream cheese and capsicums, cucumber, olives, tomato, celery, avocado and carrots, all made to look like a person. He enjoys making lunch with me and designing different faces…it takes a while but he loves his veggies this way and he is incorporated in the “cooking” process.
Another thing I have been giving him during the summer is frozen fruit pops. I make different juices, orange, apple, berry, carrot etc. (I’m a huge fan of my juicer but obviously you can use store brought juice as well) and pour them into moulds (I use silicon cake molds in all different shapes) and put grapes and berries and chopped apple, mango, kiwi and melons into the juice. I then just stick a icy pole stick in the top and freeze. I have use icy pole molds before but my 2 year old never seems to get through the whole thing and we end up in a mess so the cake molds are much smaller, but not too small and easier to eat. The juice doesn’t go as hard as frozen water so it mushes quite easily. Frozen fruit pops are enjoyed by me and my husband as well
They are both pretty basic and not really what I’d call recipes but they seem to work a treat for us, and our little boy has always been disinterested when it comes to eating! I have some others but I’ll have to dig up the recipes!
I am not a mother either but this was a huge hit in our house growing up, it’s kind of like a healthier version of nachos. To make it slightly healthier you can use ground turkey instead of ground beef.
[name]Nacho[/name] Beef Dinner
1 Cup rice
½ Lb ground beef
1 Cup corn
1 Chopped tomato
1 Cup shredded cheese
Sour cream
2 Cups water
1 Cup canned black beans (drained/rinsed)
Tortilla chips
In large skillet, sauté rice with ground beef until beef is browned. Stir in water, corn, beans, and seasonings. Bring to boil. Reduce Heat to low. Cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in tomato. Sprinkle with cheese and top with sour cream. Serve with tortilla chips. Serves 4.
My youngest brother is 12 years younger than me and when he was little his favourite food was grilled mashed potatoes.
Basically it was mashed potatoes mixed with some fried bacon and onion and whatever other vegies we were having. Sometimes it was grated zucchini, or peas and corn, grated carrot etc. Then mum would scoop it out with the ice cream scoop to make a nice shape, sprinkle a bit of tasty cheese over the top and put under the grill until golden.
I’m a picky eater and a teenager, here are some things my family enjoy. I like home-cooked meals best. These are not specific ‘recipies’ just more like ideas.
Soup. I love homemade soup. My dad will make a big pot of it, and it will last my family of 4 about a week. We enjoy chicken or turkey most, but my other favorite is beef vegetable, which also includes barley. The vegetables used for both soups are chosen by you, but I reccomend potato, carrots, and turnip. Onion adds flavor to everything.
Salad. I like salad, so does my mom, not my father and sister. I have been fed vegetables from a young age so now I enjoy them. I don’t like salad dressing, so I make my own. (recipe included) I like to have meat in my salad as well, chicken is my favorite. I use lettuce, (any kind), carrots chopped, celery chopped, cherry tomatoes, and broccoli. For the salad dressing, for a small salad:
soya sauce, about 3 teaspoons full.
vinegar, about 2 teaspoons full.
a little bit of pepper ( as in salt and pepper)
It’s a not too healthy, but you’re already eating salad soooo… Haha
BBQ. I love BBQ, my family and I live off it in the summer season. I like barbecued wieners, with microwaved/baked potato, (you could add butter, though I don’t) and steak on the BBQ. You can add a side of vegetables such as broccoli, colliflower, celery and or carrots. Serve with cold water or lemonade is best!
1 lb (more or less depending on how many you are feeding) chicken tenders or chicken breast, cut into bite sized chunks
1/4 cup [name]Olive[/name] oil - in a medium sized mixing bowl
1/2 cup Italian style breadcrumbs - in a medium sized bowl or spread on a plate
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese - or more if you like
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Mix the breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese in a medium bowl or on a plate suitable for dredging the chicken.
After cutting up the chicken into “nugget” sized pieces, place chicken into the bowl with olive oil to coat.
[name]Roll[/name] the chicken a a few pieces at a time in the breadcrumb mizture to coat. (You could also put the breadcrumb mixture in a big ziplock bag, place the chicken in and then shake it to coat
Place coated chicken on a baking sheet in a single layer.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 5-7 minutes. Turn chicken over and bake for another 5-8 minutes, until golden brown and cripsy.
Serve with celery sticks, carrots and ranch, or ketchup or BBQ sauce.
I am not a parent either, but I cook regularly at home. My Dad has recently started detesting spaghetti, it’s just one of those meals that’s easy and affordable, but often the processed spaghetti sauce is incredibly fatty. So I started making my own
Ingredients:
1 can of crushed tomatoes
1 small tub of tomato paste
1 white onion
1 carrot
2 garlic cloves
Chevapchichi (non-spicy) - I don’t know if you have these in the US or the UK.
Steps:
Cut and roll the Chevapchichi into balls.
[name]Add[/name] some vegetable oil to a pan and add the Chevapchichi balls, the crushed tomatoes and the tomato paste.
Continue to simmer.
Cut up one white onion and add that to the pan.
Followed by one carrot.
Begin boiling your pasta on the stove.
[name]Add[/name] garlic to pasta sauce.
Take the pasta of heat and remove the excess liquid.
Combine the pasta sauce and the pasta.
[name]Add[/name] a dash of salt and pepper - and enjoy!
The upside is spaghetti is one of those meals you can add anything to and kids can’t often see it. But this version tastes so much fresher then the store bought one. Plus kids love meatballs and these are quick and easy!
I can add my cheesecake ice-cream cake or cream of tomato soup recipes if anyone is interested?
My kids haven’t been picky so they have typically just eaten whatever me and my husband are eating. My kids are all under 5 so my experience is limited, but they seem to particularly enjoy anything that includes a sensory experience. They love long noodles, assembling pizzas, and anything that involves dipping and dunking.
Some of our kids’ favorite meals are:
Taco Soup (Allrecipes.com “Slow Cooker Taco Soup” is a easy, standard form but is easy to adjust).
Shish kabobs (Allrecipes.com “Beef Marinade I” is great for any meat, mushrooms, zucchini/yellow squash, cherry tomatoes, onions, whatever)
Chickpea [name]Curry[/name] - Costco sells little pouches that you just drop in boiling water for 5 min. I keep these on hand for when I make [name]Indian[/name] food that is too spicy for my kids to eat.
For lunch I keep things really, really simple. A dietitian friend of mine swears that kids behave better if they have eaten a fruit and a protein (she despises the goldfish/pretzel/graham cracker diet) so that is what I almost always do for lunch.
Example:
Strawberries and Cheese Cubes
Sliced apples with a peanut butter sandwich
Grapes (if you freeze them they are mini slushies) and turkey cubes
Kind of, they can be hot, but also are available in mild - which are great for kids. They are a great alternate to plain old sausages as well, they have a much better flavor.
Here’s a recipe for it, I found online:
Chevapchichi Recipe
Ingredients:
1 kilogram ground meat
4 Garlic cloves; finally chopped
1 ts salt
1 ts baking soda
2 ts freshly ground black pepper
1 ts cayenne pepper; or more seasoned pepper and garlic pepper
1 egg white; beaten
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients; blend well. Form into finger shaped sausages about 3/4" thick and 4" long.
Cook slowly until well browned on a charcoal grill.
Turn sausages often.
Sausages should be brown on the outside. According to tradition, these sausages are served on a bed of chopped onions, with tiny hot pebbers, mixed vegetabl
