Lunch/dinner Ideas

When we have spicy dishes I cut up some chicken, meat or veggies once it is cooked and before the spices are added.

Homemade meatballs.

Chicken and rice (bake 2 chicken breast with i can cream of chicken soup 1 can cream of celery soup, 1 can water and 2 cups rice). YOu can add frozen veggies.

HI K. I had done the same thing, and my now 5 yo will not try anything new. I'd suggest taking out a kids portion before spicing it up.
If you want to be cute, chicken sausage and mashed potatoes, lump the potatoes above the sausage to make it look like a snail. Give it peas for eyes.
Anyway you can find a ton of stuff like that in Annabel Karmel"s first meals.
A. H

It's great that you are able to make meals that your LO will eat, however, if you continue to cater to his likes/dislikes, you will end up with a picky eater. I would try to get him to eat some of what you have in addition to maybe adding fruit, veggies, whatever, in w/the meal. My kids always are fed whatever everyone else is eating. If you are making something spicy, set some aside before you add all the spice. That's still accomodating w/out catering. GL :)

I do a lot of cooking with recipes from Kraftfoods.com. Most of their recipes are quick, easy, or just a few ingredients. I make SO much stuff from there that all 3 of us eat. My daughter eats what we eat 80% of the time...maybe more than that, I just make her something of her own if we are eating finger foods that are too messy for her like tacos or sloppy joes.

I highly recommend making an effort to feed your son what you & your husband are eating, even if it isn't the bland stuff he usually eats. It's better to teach him while he is young...you don't want to still be cooking him separate food in 3 or 4 years. Sadly I have a friend whose 4, almost 5 yr old daughter will not eat anything but mac & cheese, hot dogs and chicken nuggets. And I remember when her daughter was 1-2 years old, she very rarely had her daughter eating what she cooked for her & her husband.

How about pasta dishes like spagetti bolognese? You could make a batch and freeze into smaller meals. Also try shepherds pie, another one that can be frozen into smaller portions. Have you thought of giving him the same foods as yourself but taking out a small amount for him before you add the spice or salt, that's what I used to do for mine. Mine also like chicken and mushroom pie, another one which can be frozen into smaller portions. Or roast a chicken and use it over a few days with different accompaniments like potatoes (mashed, boiled, roasted etc), rice and different veggies each day.

My dsaughter is 9 months old and eats pretty much what we eat. The other night she had Zatarans red beans and rice. It was a bit spicy but she loved it. The only thing that I do different is I but low sodium and cook with less salt.

Hi K.,

It sounds like you have already received a ton of great suggestions!

Some things I do for my 2 & 4 year olds is involve them in our meals. You can even start now with your little one.

We will sometimes make pizza's on whole wheat pita bread or tortilla's. I spread the sauce on, and I let them sprinkle the cheese and put the toppings on. For Mommy's and Daddy's, we will add peppercini peppers, etc....things they won't eat, but at least that way we all have the same meal, but create it the way we want it!

I also buy frozen already shelled edamame from organic freezer section. They are high in protein, and have a great flavor. My kids love them as the ones I buy are in individual Dora or Sponge Bob packs. They eat these either frozen, thawed in the refrigerator, or steamed. This is a simple addition to add to a meal that they get excited about.

When I make broccoli, we pretend we are dinosaurs eating trees. Ok...kinda hoakey, but they love it!

If you make taco's, you can set aside some plain meat for the baby's meal, but still make a little taco roll up for him but melt the cheese in the microwave so it stays rolled shut for him. That way you and your husband can still make your meat spicy and add the things you want to your tacos.

I hope this helps! They are all things that have worked for me. My rule of thumb is they eat what we prepare for dinner. I don't make them seperate meals - but if they truly don't like something, I will compromise.

Good luck!

S.

Try a subscription to Taste of Home magazine for a variety of easy and tasty dishes. I love this magazine it has so many really good receipes in every issue. It doesn't cost that much and it has a section for cooking with kids so when your son gets a little older you can do some fun things in the kitchen with him too. Here is a main dish idea that my kids liked and it was pretty easy to put together. Make a package of stove top stuffing, buy some shaved deli turkey, not too thin, put a tablespoon or so stuffing on a slice of the deli meat, spread it to the edge and roll up jelly roll style. Warm meat bundles in the oven about 20 minutes and top with warmed gravey from a jar (optional). I think this one is kid friendly. Enjoy!

S.

Hi. My son is 16 months old and when we have spicy things, like tacos or something else with spices, I just try to sit a little to the side with out the seasoning or if it's roasted chicken with seaoning, I just blot the chicken off. I have a son that is 14 years old and I did a lot of what you are doing, and let me tell ya, he wasn't picky as a 14 month old, but as he got into the two and three year stage, he started to get pickier and now he STILL is a picky eater and it is miserable for me as the cook in the house. LOL I would definately say give him what you are eating, whether it's chinese or mexican or italian or american, just remedy it so there isn't so much sodium and etc. My little one LOVES the flavor on our food. The tastier the better. He is a wonderful little eater! Good Luck

I am anxious to see responses, as I have this same question...my daughter is a little picky...doesn't like textures more than tastes...HATES things that are spicy! She doesn't eat meat well either... so, sometimes she has scrambled eggs with cheese, or french toast, to get some grains in...she loves mashed potatoes, especially with pureed meat mixed in. we do turkey dogs occasionally, mac and cheese of all varieties (homemade, kraft, etc.), refrigerated ravioli or tortellini, tortillas folded up with cheese or cream cheese (could throw in some fruit too). We also try to modify a bit of our meals for her, like take out some chicken and cook it a little more plain, and shred it up. Good Luck!

My son loves pasta with chopped chicken and veggies, chicken and rice, brocolli dipped in ranch, quesadillas. If you need some good recipes you can email me at ____@____.com

We've done a chicken and veggie stir fry that our daughter loves. The way we do it is that we cook it with very few spices and then remove her portion and add more spices at the end to my and my husbands portions. This way, she's not getting too many spicy foods but my husband and I still get to enjoy the extra flavor

My 18 month old usually get's his own breakfast and lunch but he eats whatever we eat for dinner ( or at least we set it in front of him, we take the no kid ever starved with food infront of him attitude). Grilled cheese is great, we do that alot also. Soup is good for dunking the grilled cheese in. We do also give him chicken nuggets and hotdogs and mac and cheese. But then he also loves sweet potato's and cereal and toast and scrambled eggs. Last night we had tacos and since he is too young to hold a taco we crushed up a shell and put meat and cheese and refried beans in a bowl and mixed it all together. He loved it. He loves chicken of any kind and he has eaten fish before with us. Spaghetti or anything pasta is also good. I've gotten a bag of frozen ravioli from Costco that you just take out what you need and boil it for 7 minutes then toss it with extra virgin olive oil and made some garlic bread to go with it. Also try and remember that kids sometimes need to see something new 10-15 times before they are willing to try it!!

Great thing about babies is that they don't need a traditional meal, like meat, starch, veggie. As long as you are getting a good variety of foods in him, just mix it up a bit. Whole grain bread and real cheese is a very healthy meal for a baby...add in some veggies and fruits and it's a well balanced meal. I think it's more in how you prepare the 'basics', such as grilled cheese, and it sounds like you have a good grasp on that!

~L.

My husband and I from the time our girls were eating table food always gave our girls what we ate (starting around 11 months or so). We don't eat a lot of salt because of my husbands high blood pressure and cholesteral. However, we eat a lot of spice. We talked to our doctor to make sure there weren't any negatives in the medical realm for not giving it to them. His comment was better to start them early, where their mouths will naturally adjust and accept the spice then when they are much older and they just won't eat it. We started out with small doses, and always had something that was mild to go with it (a spicy Chinese dish with rice for example). Now, at 3.5 and almost 5, they can actually tolerate foods spicier than what I can tolerate. I would say - introduce your son to it slowly if you want him to join you and you husband in what you eat some day. Otherwise, you may be making different meals for the rest of his life!!

If we are in the run I make cream cheese and jelly sandwiches cut into bite sized squares.

We eat a lot of frozen peas (still frozen)

I buy a large jar of mixed beans and rinse and warm them - the kids love them

I serve them cooked baby carrots

we also make quasodilla(sp?) it is basically a grilled cheese with flour tortilla, shredded canned chicken (or diced chicken), shredded cheese and a splash of mild salsa. They can dip it in ranch dressing.

They also love any casserolle dish like tuna noodle casserole.

Have fun - I know it can get borning to us but if you are feeding the same things and they are still eating it be happy.

I will be checking your responses so I can get some fresh ideas too.

I make my daughter Mac & Cheese. I cook a hot dot and slice it 4 0r 5 times (not all the way) to make it look like an octopus and put it on top of the mac & cheese. I make eyes out of ketchup. She loves it.

HI, I have recently stumbled upon kid's cookbooks by Annabel Karmel. She has a ton for every stage and the food is good and there is a variety. Amazon has most of them. Good luck.

My kids always ate what we ate at this age unless they hated it, then I supplemented with stuff they'd like better. My grandkids all do the same. The spicy, more exotic foods won't hurt and it's great for toddlers to expand their tastes according to what their families eat. I say to go for it!