TTT - Toddler Eating

A friend recently wrote me an email asking about kid-friendly food advice.  Her email was something to the effect of: So my kiddo is starting to eat more and more table food, and I am tired of making the same old thing for dinner each night.  Do you have anything that you make for Lukas that you freeze or make on Sunday and have for the week?  Anything that he really likes?  Could I have the recipe? 

 

Great question.  And one I don't have a great answer for in my actual life, but I do have some thoughts on what I would do if I were doing everything I thought of doing.  Do you follow?  If not, keep reading. (And if you followed that then welcome to my world!)

 

So my typical evening goes something like this:

 

5pm leave work
5:15ish get to daycare
5:30ish leave daycare
6ish arrive home
6:30ish Mr. Cob arrives home
7:45/8 Lukas to bed
8:01 at the latest, full glass of wine in my hand

 

Lukas gets fed somewhere between the time we arrive home and the time he goes to bed.  This is helpful to you not at all, I know.  (Bear with me. I hope to have a tip in here somewhere.) Mr. Cob and I eat either with him (but usually not) or after he goes to bed.  I'd love it if we all always ate together, but we don't.  It is what it is.  If we are all eating together, I usually throw dinner together while Lukas reads books or plays with his dinosaurs, trains or a puzzle.  I attempt to keep the TV watching to the weekends.  He is old enough now to entertain himself for the 10 minutes it takes me to throw a meal togehter.  So if something takes longer than 10 minutes prep time, I tend to not make it.

 

So that's the when.  But I think the question was more tailored to the what.

 

With toddler picky eat habits starting early, Lukas' likes and dislikes seem to change daily.  So I don't worry too much about what he's eating or how well rounded his diet is.  I focus more on making sure he is eating something decent by not giving him the option of any "bad" food.  I don't cook fried food or offer him sugary treats at night.  I offer him at least one fruit or veggie with every meal and hope for the best. I also always give Lukas at least one thing on his plate that I know he will eat.  For a while I thought I needed to give him real meals - you know, meatloaf or tacos or lasagna, but I let that go rather quickly because he hardly ever eats my "hard-cooked meals" and I realized that he's just as content to eat a banana, some black beans, string cheese and peas.  He eats really odd combinations of food, but he seems to like it.

 

Last night, for example, he ate nearly a cup of cut up strawberries, some bread, corn and one bite of turkey burger. 

 

If I have made dinner and it's ready when it's time for Lukas to eat, I give him a little bit of what we are eating and try to convince him to try it.  This doesn't always work.  What typically does work for us is to "cheers" food with him (strange, but effective).  (Imagine clinking wine glasses in a toast, we toast with food and "then we eat" and yes, we say it aloud).

 

As far as recipes go, I keep it pretty simple if I am cooking something for Lukas.  Here are some meals I'll make for him:

 

• Quesadillas (cheese or chicken) with a side of black beans.
• English muffin pizzas - you can hide some veggies under the cheese!
• Grilled cheese with a side of grapes and peas.
• Rolled deli turkey, slices of cheese and bread with cut up fruit (and yes, one would think that is just a turkey and cheese sandwich, but my little guy likes his sandwich deconstructed, so I skip the step of actually constructing it).
• Mac n cheese made with pureed sweet butternut squash (see Jessica Seinfeld's book on sneaking veggies into your kids meals).
• Breakfast for dinner - scrambled eggs (can add pureed cauliflower) and cheese, with bacon and pancakes made with pureed sweet potatoes and a side of fruit.
• Spaghetti and meatballs - you can cut up veggies into the sauce.
• Don't underestimate a good ole PB&J.
• Cheese and spinach or meat tortellinis with tomato sauce.

 

I try to plan out our meals for the upcoming week every Sunday and then we do our grocery shopping as a family Sunday afternoons or evening.  That way we have food on hand in the house, which really can make or break any good intentions I have for eating in.  In the winter I'm a fan of the crock pot and I also keep a few prepared meals from Trader Joe's on hand in the freezer as a last resort.  Though we tend to go out to eat or pick up takeout before turning to the freezer.  I'd say we eat out 1-2 times per week because we just can't get our act together at the end of the work day.  Maybe sad, but true.

 

I hope this is helpful!  What do you feed your little ones for dinner?  Do you eat dinner as a family?