Breakfast and Dinner Foods

my 4th child is 16months.... she eats whatever we are eating. Generally, breakfast is, waffles and sausage, pancakes and bacon, or cold cereal/milk and bannana. She eats whatever the rest of the family eat at every meal, her food just gets cut up way smaller.

My daughter-in-law gives my grandson sausage and hash browns for breakfast. He hasn't taken to eggs yet but he she tries from time to time. He loves it.

Hi E.,

Have you thought about popping amaranth grain in a pan and serving it with warm milk and berries. It is delicious!

Are you egg-eaters? There's always poached egg topped with grated zucchini/cheese.

Don't be afraid to eat dinner for breakfast...we've eaten left-overs before. If you eat meat, crock-potting a roast over night is a sure-fire way to make the house smell amazing when you wake up and get some much-needed protein into your belly!

If you can, check out the book "What's for Breakfast" by Joan Haynes/Lori Horan. I got my copy at NCFC for $9. It's helped us figure out our breakfast dilemma (gluten-free over here).

Good Luck!
Darci

eggs, waffles, veggie (or meat) sausage, toast with cheese melted, bagels with cream cheesem, pumpkin or blueberry muffins...

What about eggs?
They actually need the fat to develop healthy nerves and brains! :)

Kashi waffles are good, I used to get the strawberry with flaxseed at Costco my son loves them. I have also tried the banana ones from Trader Joes, my little guy eats those. I also make a big batch of pumpkin or applesauce pancakes and what we don't eat I freeze so I have easy meals. Scrambled eggs with cheese and toast, Every once in a while If I am in a hurry I give my son the Kids Cliff granola bars from Costco they have good protein and fiber or the organic pop tarts, and a banana. Yogurt with cereal or granola or with fruits and nuts. You could make a banana split with yogurt and berries and nuts. Okay that's all of the ideas I have this morning, hope I helped.

I like to give my man peaches apples, pears (gerber) they make small jars of the fruit. I sometime make him a small pacakes, i cut them up in small fingert size pieces for him. for dinner i give him chicken, noodles, they have finger size noodle dinners in different flavors, I really enjoy the gerber product, they have freeze dry food they are good, puff for them, check out the gerber items, wlamart makes a house brand.

My 14 months old just eats whatever we eat. In the morning we usually share my oatmeal :) unless we have warm breakfast on the weekend (eggs and such). I used to run her food through a mini processor, but I just cut it really small or mash it with a fork. Same with dinner, unless it get's too late or we cook something very spicy.

After my son turned a year old I just fed him what I ate. Meats fruits and vegetables. It also sound like, if those are the only things she is eating, you are feeding her way too much sugar. She needs protein. Eggs, meats, beans even. After a year old you can feed them just about anything. It's all in how easily they can chew it up and swallow it. Hamburger and sausage is easy for them to chew. Also tiny pieces of chicken and steak. Mac and cheese. Gerber makes meals for toddlers and they also have jars of whole pieces of fruit and veg's that young children can practice feeding them selves. My sons favorite meal for breakfast was either oatmeal (regular oats), or scrambles eggs. I don't suggest bacon. My son is 2.5 and he is just now able to chew it up good enough to swallow it. I hope this helps you.

E. -
Eggs, pasta, strawberries, grapes (cut up), cooked carrots, potatos, green beans, peas, zuchinni, cottage cheese, regular chedder cheese.....ect. The list goes on and on. You can give her what you eat as long as it is cut up nice and small.
L.

try really small cut up whole grain waffles with a little syrup on them for a treat :)

15m old here too and we have (in no particular order)

Trader joes turkey meatballs
breafast sausages
cheesy scrambled eggs
mini-pancakes w/ cream cheese
cut up chesadillas
all kinds of fruit cut up, fresh or canned/jarred
cut up chicken and rice/noodles (we make it for dinnera lot)
frozen thawed mixed veggies (she likes the ones with lima beans in them)
steamed broccli/carrots/corn
any kind of pastas with almost any kind of sauce.
most chinese food
hummus on tortilla
cheerios dipped in laughing cow cheese
string cheese, cut up
cottage cheese, large curd so she can eat it herself
chef-boy-r-D meat raviolis
Gerber graduates foods

I tend to leave the gerber and processed stuff for taking her to the sitter so its easier on her for feeding. i know I feed her more stuff than that but I'm coming up bank now...

What about poached eggs, toast and fruit?

there are mini pancakes that are already cooked, you just heat them up and they are really good and tasty! they are in the freezer section : )

yogurt with fresh tiny pieces of any kind of fruit (try experimenting with bananas, peaches, etc).
toast with cinnamon and sugar.
scrambled eggs are always good.

You know, I just realized, my youngest child is almost 5 now and I can't remember at what ages it's advised to offer babies certain new foods anymore. Do you have the book, "What to expect the first year"? I seem to recall they had good suggestions in there on what to feed children.
Good luck. And I wouldn't worry too much about tremendous variety. In this country we are very spoiled with all the food choices we have.

E.,

I have had lots of success with scrambled eggs and toast. Cut up some bananas or mandarin oranges and yum! I add cheese, fresh spinach, cubed ham, mushrooms, onions and fresh tomatos (on top) and it is delicious, all my kids love it!My middle kid loves just plain scrambled eggs and ketchup!

My lil' kids also love french toast and waffles. I have to say that scrambled eggs are my "go to" breakfast, its easy to make and easy for lil' guys to eat.

K.

Pancakes and waffles are great finger foods. She is also older than 1 year so scrambled eggs work well.

My daughter is 18 months and since I'm vegetarian, she eats a vegetarian diet as well at this point. I normally have about 4-6 parts of any meal and she eats what she wants of each. I try to make sure every meal is balanced or that over the course of the day we're balanced. Sometimes we are, sometimes not! I also usually give her the same things for all meals. She may have waffles for dinner and lasagna for breakfast. I like the Earth's Best organic waffles. We have the blueberry minis and I think they're great because my daughter won't eat a whole waffle, but she'll eat two minis. I just cook the two she'll eat and leave the rest frozen for another time.

Monday: lasagna, tofu, frozen peas and corn, applesauce/yogurt, panini
Tuesday: black bean soup, persimmon, tofu spears, slice of bread
Wednesday: lasagna, "chicken" nuggets, strawberry/yogurt, broccoli
Thursday: quinoa made with veggie broth, tofu spears, strawberry/yogurt/flax, cow milk
Friday: "chicken" nugget, frozen corn, dried pluot, mixed berry oatmeal

In general, her entree is whatever I'm making anyway (lasagna, soup, quinoa, leftovers, etc) and then I add protein, veggies, carbs, and/or fruit to make a balanced meal.

I used to make french toast with Texas Toast, cut into 3rds (3 long rectangles), dip in egg/milk mixture, cook on the griddle, sprinkle with cinnamon, and then let cool on a rack then freeze the extra in freezer bags. I always made 2 or 3 dozen so that we'd have enough for other days to just reheat. They are the perfect size for little hands to hold. I think I better make those again!

How about a berry smoothie? I use my overripe bananas by slicing them into 1 inch chunks, place on plate and freeze. When they are as hard as an ice cube, place in freezer bag.
Smoothie: In a blender, mix 1 can pineapple chunks in it's own juice, 5 or 8 frozen banana chunks, 1 cup frozen fruit (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries or peaches) and 1/4 cup vanilla yogurt. Blend and enjoy!

Try turkey sausage,canadian bacon, bananas, waffles, whole grain pancakes. My daughter loves sausage and waffles. I get the Kashi waffles so there is some good nutrients in them.

My kids loved cottage cheese and diced peaches mixed together. You can do some of the regular cereals now too. Like rice crispies or grape nut flakes are small and soft once they are in the milk.

Hi E.,

I really clicked on this post to try to get some ideas for myself, but thought I'd post this since it is so easy and cheap to make. Tofu is a great toddler food, try it like this - I even have my meat-loving husband complaining that I don't make it often enough!

1 lb extra firm tofu (low fat)
soy sauce
nutritional yeast
butter

Dice tofu into tiny cubes (1/4 - 1/2") and sprinkle enough soysauce on it to fully cover and have a little left in the bottom of the bowl.

Heat non-stick pan and add a little butter to coat bottom. Pour in tofu and shake a generous layer of yeast over it (I have never measured, but maybe 1-2 T)

Stir occasionally until sides start to get a little crispyness to them (won't be like deep-fried crispy)

Sample a piece and add more soysauce or yeast if needed. If you have never bought yeast I usually find it in the bulk foods/health foods section of the store.

Eat with toast for breakfast or rice and veggies for dinner - or anything else you want it with.

This is perfect soft finger food and great to snack on cold or warm the next day. I send it to daycare with my 20 month and almost 3 year old.