Meal and Snack Ideas - Albuquerque,NM

I have a 3 and 1 year old so I have come up with some pretty creative ways to get them to eat and snack. I use the good ole celery and peanut butter with rasin on it my son loves putting the "ants" on the log another great snack is crackers with cheese and grapes on the side both my boys love it I also make muffins and instead of using lard or crisco I use applesauce then I let my son choose a mix in like blueberries or cinnamon I have noticed that if I have him help me cook he'll eat whatever we make a fun cookbook is the william sonomma kids cookbook it shows step by step pictures my son loves trying to fallow them. have fun.

Hi T.! My kiddos are about the same age and they absolutley LOVE fresh fruit. My girl is 15 months so she needs it to be cut up into small pieces but it's worth the effort. I also leave out Cheerios or some other small finger foods for them to graze on during the day. I put it away about an hour before meals so I know they'll be hungry enough for a good meal when the time comes. Another tip: don't shape their tastes with junk food. If they never have it then they won't be as picky about healthy food. Fish and fruit and veggies are the best immune boosting foods out there. Just try to follow the "food pyramid." Hope this helps!
C.

Hi T.. It's so hard to get little ones to eat! My son is turning 3 next month, so we've been struggling to get him to eat healthy food for a year now. He's finally starting to eat pretty well though. He loves to dip things in "sauce." So, that's how I got him to eat veggies. He would either dip it in ketchup or fat free ranch dressing. Or sometimes if we sprinkle Parmesean Cheese and call it "snow," then he'll eat his veggies too. He likes mandarine oranges and apples a lot. Sometimes he'll only eat apples or other fruit if he can dip it in yogurt. He also likes to have apples or bananas with cinnamon sprinkled on it. Just try having her dip her food in different things even like hummus or mild salsa, and she'll probably like it. I even had him dipping his wholegrain waffles in lite syrup for a while just to get him to eat something. Hope this helps!
M.

Mandy is right about the "dipping". Also, cut veggies into long sticks, then circles. You can use cookie cutters to cut out P&J sandwiches. My daughter likes olives, cucumbers cut long ways, raisins, graham crackers, fig newtons, cheese sticks, and peanut butter crackers.