Hi there! So, my 1 yr old son barely has any teeth and has an easy gag reflex. I still have to puree or risotto-fy his grains and steam his veggies until they can be very easily mashed with his gums. I make all of his meals and use some indian, middle eastern, and latin spices and some herbs (ie - chana masala, tagines, cuban black beans), but never anything spicy as he can't tolerate that yet. ANYWAY :) - I want to start expanding his palette even more and think it's time to venture to a restaurant that isn't Mexican or American, so tonight we're going with Chinese. Plus, I want a break from cooking! Is there any Chinese dish with some flavor (I want to stay away from plain, steamed veggies as well as soups) that I could feed my barely-toothed, non-spicy-eating toddler? I was thinking of asking for Hunan Chicken w/ no spice and bringing my own bits of steamed veggies and pureed rice, but I am not sure the restaurant will be albe to make it not-spicy. They don't open until this evening.
Thanks for any advice on Chinese (or other ethnic) dining ideas!
Great ideas, everyone!! I feel so supported :). So because he still has issues with eating non-puréed rice, I took rice porridge. I also took tiny, steamed pieces of green beans and carrots. He ate the insides of a spring roll, the rice & veggies in non-spicy hunan chicken sauce, and then I gave him cut up grapes that I brought for dessert. Can't wait to try all the other ideas listed here! Thank you!
In my experience Chinese food is more salty than spicy, and the menu has those little "hot pepper" symbols next to the spicier items, so just avoid those.
We LOVE Chinese in our house! My kids love Lo Mein noodles and both of them starting eating them before 1. They do get a little messy, as the noodles are sometimes a little greasy, but I get the chicken kind and cut up the chicken and the noodles into small pieces and they just shovel them in! Both my kids also love edamame. A lot of Chinese places have this too. When they were littler I would just take them out of the pod and they gobbled them up, but now (they are 3 and 5) they like to do it themselves. I think that pretty much everything on the menu at a Chinese place will be ok for your 1 year old. Just cut it up! My kids were late teethers and they managed to eat it all! They also love crab rangoon!
Both of my children have been eatting Chinese, Japanese, Cuban, Polish, Swedish, Spanish and Venezuelan food since they were eatting solids. Have fun and make it an adventure.
Tofu is super easy to eat, as long as he has no issues with soy. My kids like it in a sweet and sour sauce. Stir-fried rice is easy. I know you said no soups, but egg drop soup is flavorful and not spicy, and can be scooped over rice for a heartier meal. Congee (rice porridge, usually in a chicken broth with some vegetables or well-cooked tender meat) is tasty and easy to eat.
How about tofu in a non-spicy brown sauce?
A Chinese restaurant sounds like a great choice. The dishes that are spicy should be noted on the menu, so just don't pick those. And you can chop anything up to feed to him. If he can handle regular sticky rice, you can order that there too. If they have Lo Mein dishes, that would be my choice. They're never spicy, and have pretty mushy noodles along with vegetables (and meat if you choose). You can chop the noodles up into little bits and he'll get the flavor.
something with noodles! If all else fails, egg drop soup. I just brought my babies their own food. That way if they didn't go for the food at the restaurant they still had enough to eat.
My son ate ALL Chinese food from probably 9 months on. We pureed or chopped into small pieces. At a year we were just cutting into pieces. Toddlers do fine with or without teeth. When you say he can't tolerate spicy - what do you mean? LOTS of little ones LOVE spicy - I would try it. My son had no problem trying anything on the menu. Of course we picked out any actual chilies. My son's favorites at that age were steamed dumplings, Szechuan green beans and mu shu anything.
I'm worried about peanut allergy-do you carry an EpiPen with you?
