I don't know about anyone else but I sometimes feel like I feed Blakely the same things, over and over. Not because she won't eat anything else but because I run out of ideas! And, let's be honest, I'm not cooking gourmet meals three times a day...or ever.
Anyway, I feel like it is important to give her a variety of foods while she will still try them. I know we will probably run into some toddler pickiness soon and I am hoping the more things she has tried and liked the easier that stage will be, right??
Also, sometimes I hear (or read on a blog) something that their toddler eats and I'm like "Duh! Goldfish! Why didn't I think of that?" So, I thought I would jot down what Blakely eats at *almost* 14 months old. Maybe it will help you get out of your toddler feeding rut or maybe you want to share what you feed your toddler (please!). Also, when I say toddler I, of course, mean babytoddler....very big difference. ;) She is growing up WAY too fast...
I am going to break it all down into breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks but I change it up often. For example, I give her scrambled eggs for lunch or dinner, not just for breakfast.
Breakfast
oatmeal-usually I give her the plain oatmeal but occasionally I will give her a flavored one.
banana
blueberries
kiwi
strawberries
watemelon
toast
greek yogurt-I get the flavored ones and we share
sausage patties
scrambled eggs
cottage cheese (usually with a fruit)
peanut butter on toast-we just started introducing PB and so far it is a hit.
fruit cup-I get the Dole cups in 100% juice. They are the perfect snack size and also good for on the go. Our staples are mandarin oranges, pears, and peaches.
Lunch
deli ham or turkey
bread
sliced american cheese or shredded cheddar
vegetable-I mostly buy the canned vegetables with no salt added. She gets a fresh veggie if I cooked the night before or something. Our staples are cut green beans, sweet peas, corn, and mixed vegetables.
club crackers with cheese
grilled cheese
beans-any kind of canned bean. Usually pinto beans or black beans.
Dinner
For dinner I try to have her eat what we eat if I have cooked, which we all know is not every night. So, some of the time, I end up just throwing something together for her.
pasta noodles-usually rotini or mini bow ties. I will either put butter, alfredo sauce, spaghetti sauce (RARE! too messy), or cottage cheese on the noodles.
scrambled eggs/omelet/frittata or whatever you want to call it! This has become my go-to meal for her. I can scramble some eggs and add whatever I find in the fridge or pantry in and BOOM! great babytoddler meal. Some things I throw in are cheese, black olives, ham, turkey, leftover chicken, or peas (or any veggie). Sometimes I put a little bit of salsa on the eggs too.
macaroni and cheese-I will usually add peas to this because she loves her peas.
waffles or pancakes. We are big fans of brinner, aka breakfast for dinner, in this house. I made pumpkin pancakes for all of us the other night and they were awesome!
Sometimes I just put a bunch of veggies on her tray and she will eat that for dinner. Other times she throws them all on the floor. You never know.
If I don't feel like throwing something together or she HAS TO EAT RIGHT NOW, I always have a few of those Ger.ber toddler meals around.
Snacks
fruit cups
pouches
cheerios
baby mum-mums
applesauce
I feel like I am just feeding her and not really putting together "meals" for her, know what I mean? I did so good at giving her lots of variety from about 6-10 months. I made all of her baby food and she loved everything. Once she started eating mostly table food things have gotten more difficult. Also, until recently, she didn't like to eat from a spoon. She wanted to be able to pick it up, so that narrowed things down a bit. Now she is better about the spoon if I let her put it in her own mouth.
I like easy...super easy. If I cook dinner for all of us, then she will eat it. She is still willing to try most anything. She may throw it down after a few bites and demand something else but she will at least try. What do you feed your babytoddler? Do you have something really easy that is your "go-to" meal? Is there something that your child just loves that I am missing? Or is there an easy meal you make for your whole family that your kids love? I feel like I do pretty good with breakfast and lunch but then when dinner time rolls around I am scrambling around throwing stuff on her tray at the last minute. I am not a good meal planner (oh how I wish I was!). Help a girl out! I am getting bored with what she eats so I know she is too.
First of all, 14 months, no.
ReplyDeleteI just made what we call tuna noodle in our house and E loves it. It's just elbow mac cooked, drained, with tuna and miracle whip mixed all together. Sometimes I add corn or peas to hers oh and shredded cheese. It doesn't sound great but we all like it. Otherwise, E eats all the same stuff as B. sometimes Steve shares his bowl of cereal with her and she loves that too.
I will have to try tuna! Seeeeee...I never even thought of that but I love tuna so hopefully she will too!
DeleteEggs are our go to meal too! Eggs are so easy, healthy & we have chickens so we always have eggs. I will be checking back at your comments because I feel like I am feeding him the same stuff too. Shane likes to feed himself so I am always looking for ideas. We are BIG fruit eaters too.
ReplyDeletefruit=awesome!
DeleteMy kids eat a lot of quesadillas or tortilla roll up of some sort. I can generally sneak some chicken and black beans in the quesadillas (I cheat and use the canned, shredded chicken for this). Other popular lunches are soup of some kind-- chicken noodle, veggie, and kid friendly gumbo are the favorites-- with oyster crackers. They freaking love oyster crackers. Graham crakers are very popular as well. Sometimes I get frisky and make little pizzas on English muffins and they like those, but I rarely have all the ingredients in the house at the same time. For breakfasts I've been making a lot of muffins. Lunch tomorrow is going to include soft pretzels. . .we'll see how they like that. Oh, this might be a regional thing, but have y'all ever had pierogies? Those are always very popular with sliced sausage.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this. I always find it so useful to see what others are feeding their little ones in order to give me some new ideas. We have been doing a lot of egg things lately like you mentioned.. eggs with things thrown in them... cheese, veggies, salsa, etc. The only thing I can think of that you didn't mention is homemade pizza, which Alidia loves and is easy to eat on their own. Just a simple crust with a bit of sauce, cheese and whatever other toppings she might enjoy. Alidia has also started to like canned tuna and even sardines (which I dislike) with toast at lunch.
ReplyDeleteAt dinner, like you, we usually just give her what we are having.. and actually often do this for lunch time too.
- Fiona
I definitely need to try pizza. I could do it like the eggs and just throw whatever I have on it. Thank you!
DeleteBreakfasts: We do blueberry pancakes that I've made into babytoddler size with a dab of syrup or super healthy banana muffins I've frozen/made ahead of time.
ReplyDeleteLunch: couscous, quinoa, shredded chicken, cheese quesadillas with veggies stuffed inside, "mini corndogs" (pinterest), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, grape pieces, raisins, string cheese, cottage cheese, salmon
Snacks: toddler snack mix we talked about today with cheerios, puffs, yogurt bites and raisins, goldfish, string cheese
We are in the same boat you are. I am going to be checking back on this point to see what others suggest too!
I need you to come cook for our family. Lonnie agrees. Ok?
DeleteI do need to do more potatoes...that would be easy. I am going to make some of that toddler mix we talked about too!
I will have to check that out. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteKelly! Thank you for posting this. I, too, am in a rut with Tay's food. And it's a bit harder b/c Tay is pretty picky. (no eggs, no noodles).
ReplyDeleteMost of the things you listed are our go tos.
A few we do that I didn't see on your list...french toast, rice, soup and hummus.
The suggestions in the comments are great too. Taking notes now...
Oh and Alexia makes all natural sweet potato fries. Taylor loooooves them!
DeleteI think that sounds like a good variety of things actually. I feel the same way though, like we feed Chloe the same things over and over, especially for breakfast. Chloe likes fish too, so JJ will cook her some for lunch on occasion.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome because believe it or not, I read this and said, Eggs! Duh! I haven't even thought about eggs :-) Thanks for the idea.
ReplyDelete