Cookbooks for Toddlers

I have the Disneys Magic Kitchen Cookbook. It has recipes for kids they will love and that they can help make. They are very easy and fuss-free. Plus every recipe is done by a different disney character, so it makes it fun!

I found this website helpful - also has link to cookbook for toddlers. www.thishealthyhome.com/cookingwithkids.php

My 2 girls usually eat anything my husband and I eat too including veggies. I do vary at times because I know what they will and will not eat. Good luck!

S.

I have a couple of ideas but am in the same boat as you. If you get any good responses,please let me know. Here are some quick meals my toddlers like...

I take rice, cream of chicken, whatever veggies you want and shredded chicken breast. I mix it all together and we eat that as a meal.

The second is "bubble pizza." I use 3 rolls of premade bicscuts and tear each into 4 pieces in a large bowl. I use any pizza sauce, ground turkey, and any other pizza topping you like. (mushrooms, other meats, etc)and I mix in any kind of cheese, I use mozzerella (sorry if I misspelled that). All of the ingredients go into the same bowl and mix it together. In a baking dish (a long glass dish works best in my oven) I spray Pam and line the bottom with Jiffy corn meal mix. It takes a small amount. I put the mixture in the pan and spread it out evenly. I then bake for about 30 min or until the middle bottom is cooked at 350 degress.

And the third I use a lot...

I use two loaves of French bread, 1lb of sausage, Mrs. Dash original, mozzerella cheese, and 1 egg. I combine the cheese, egg, Mrs. Dash to your taste, and cooked meat in one bowl. I cut the bread into quarters and hollow out the centers. I add the bread crumbs to the mixture. Restuff the bread with the new mixture and butter the tops of the bread. I sprinkle garlic powder on the tops too. Cook for about 15-20 min at 350 degress. My kids love this one!! Best of luck!

Hi S., if your child eats everything, I would look into making something like spaghetti or beef stew or lasagna or anything that usually has leftovers that are easy. As for the pacifier... I use to watch the Super Nanny religiously, LOL!! She would tell the child about the other babies that need them and then would make it a game to collect all of them in an envelope. Then they would seal it together and put it in the mail for the paci-fairy to pick up. Don't forget to address it from your child to the paci-fairy. Then the next day, put a surprise in the mail box from the paci-fairy to your child as a thank you from the paci-fairy. Don't forget to throw in some confetti and stuff like that and just put whatever present you want in it. The super nanny would put a bunch of little things in one of those yellow envelopes. The parents say that the child would cry the first night but would stop when reminded about where they are. The biggest key to the whole thing is to NOT give in and give your child another pacifier. Good Luck!!

Glad you asked the question. I'm having some of the same issues. Some one mentioned Dinner Affair. You might want to try the book Don't Panic Dinner's in the Freezer it is the same concept expect you do it yourself.

Hi S.!
My 3yr old & I absolutely love "Pretend Soup" by Mollie Katzen & Ann Henderson. The recipes have fun names, ie. Noodle Pudding, Green Spaghetti, Bagel Faces, etc. The directions are not only written out but illustrated step by step making it easy & fun for little kids.
As far as the pacifier, good luck!!! We thought for sure our daughter would be walking down the aisle with 1 in her mouth & 2 in each hand : ). Finally I "lost" it & even though the first night was rough she was just fine after that.
Hope this helps!
S.

advice for the paci. We have a dog so i cut the end of my daughters paci off and told her the dog ate it. she would try to suck on it but, because it did not fit witht the tip gone she tossed it aside and would yell at the dog for eating her paci. I also have a friend who used a ballon to send the paci away on a trip and it got lost. Hope these help.

Try "The Toddler Cafe". Cute recipes and lots of different flavors. Also, try to make single servings for your daughter ahead of time (maybe on the weekend), and freeze them, take one out in the afternoon, and it'll be ready to go at dinner time. Thats one less meal to cook that night.
For the pacifier, my son gave all his "paci's" to Santa Clause for the babies who needed them more than he did, since he was a big boy now. He gathered them up, wrapped them, and put them under the tree on Christmas eve for Santa to take with him. He may have asked for his paci once or twice after that, but he seemed quite satisfied that babies had them now!

I am not sure about the cookbook thing. It is a good question and I am interested to hear what other moms have to say about that.
As for the pacifier, it is really good that she only uses it for naps and bed and I think that is a big sign that she may be read to give it up. We used the Passy fairy method we saw on super nanny and it worked like a charm. We took all my sons passys and put them in a little basket and I let him go out side with me and put it in the back yard (under a tree or something) and tell him that the passy fairy was going to come and take the passys to little babies that need them because he was not a little baby anymore. You can sprinkle some feathers and sparkles (confetti) or something like that and in the morning you can run out there to see if the passy fairy came. I prepared our son for a couple weeks by telling him the passy fairy was going to come soon just to see what he thought about it. We did it one night and he never asked for his passy again!!

I would suggest Jessica Seinfeld's book Deceptively Delicious, only because she is able to use vegetables in the recipes. It doesn't sound like your toddler is too terribly picky, but a little added nutrition sure wouldn't hurt her! I think that most of the recipes yield quite a bit, so maybe you could make a couple of dishes and have them on hand all week for her to eat, if she's not eating at the same time you and your husband are.
On the other question, I was not able to take my son's pacifier away from him; couldn't decide when a good time was. My ex-husband (even at the time) took him on a family vacation to Florida and they took it away from him. He said that he never wanted it again. I guess because there was so much other excitement going on, it was an "out of sight, out of mind" kind of thing.
Good luck to you!

Just give her whatever you're eating-- much easier than trying to fix things just for her! We've given our son whatever we eat since he could eat food (pureed at first) and now he's almost three and eats everything, including salad with almost every meal, raw veggies, you name it. We've never made different meals for him, and I think he's had chicken nuggets twice in his life, and he doesn't miss them. The only thing you have to do is cut things up carefully and watch for choking hazards. So as long as you're preparing quick healthy things for yourself, you should be set. My favorite cookbook is "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman, because it gives the "basics" on every kind of food and gives simple recipes with tons of practical variations. Good luck!

i use deceptively delicious by jessica seinfeld and it's done wonders for my kids, the whole family has started eating healthier.
In the book, the author describes ways to include vegetables and other healthy ingredients without the obvious reaction from kids (I am glad your baby eats anything though mine wouldnt), the recipes are easy on the mom too, hope this helps..

I like The Sneaky Chef by Missy Lapine (similar to the Jessica Seinfeld Book). My whole family eats recipes from it and they are really healthy. Pureeing the veggies is time consuming, but I do it once a month and then freeze them in individual portions. I also make dishes that my daughter likes (examples: spaghetti and meatballs, beef stew, chicken parmesan)and freeze them in Mason jars--that way, I can pull one out and defrost it and it's dinner for the week--just add some steamed veggies or something easy. That way you're not cooking several meals every night. As for the pacifier, I just took it away. After 3 rough nights (which got easier each night), she was over it. I'm such a meanie:)!! Hope this helps!

Good books:
- Annabel Karmel's 'First Meals' or 'Superfoods'
- 'Naturally Healthy First Foods for Baby: The Best Nutrition for the First Year and Beyond' by Jacqueline Rubin
- 'Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense' by Ellyn Satter

I like the sneaky chef and as for the pacie here's what I did for our 2 1/2 yr old at the time I said there are some babies that have none and they need some of your clothes and these(pacie's) and bottles...so I go some bags and said let's help the babies that have no clothes and he did he picked them up put them in a bag, etc. It was pretty easy he understood I had a naked baby doll and told him what would help it but there's reals babies that need help...he followed along. I guess I was pretty lucky he asked a few times and I said we gave them to babies that had none and needed them.

Hi S.! I have no suggestions for things to feed a toddler, as mine has become the pickiest eater in the world (chicken strips, rice, cheese, go-gurt, etc.). However, I was extremely successful with getting rid of the paci when my daughter was about 26 months old. The paci fairy came and took all the pacis to the babies in the world that needed them. We didn't do anything special, like sending them on a trip via baloon. They just all disappeared one Friday. We took her to the beach, told her the paci fairy had come while she was at school (day care) and she had taken all the pacis from the house. We also told her that the paci fairy promised to send her a present from the babies. She did cry for a lot of the weekend, which was hard for me, but it worked. On Sunday, Elaina woke from her nap and the paci fairy had sent her a present in the mailbox. Actually, I dialed our phone number, then hung up (makes the phone ring at our house). I pretended to talk to the paci fairy, who of course told me to take Elaina to the mailbox for a present from the babies. I had wrapped a Cinderella doll in Cinderella paper and shoved her in the mailbox during her nap (also wrote notes in Sharpie on the outside of the package-"The Babies Thank You" and "You're the Best"). Elaina's eyes lit up and she smiled (had not seen much of that all weekend), then ran to the mailbox for her present. I told her that the paci fairy brought her a Cinderella (she now says "paci rella" to let me know her Cinderella came from the paci fairy). It was a success! She mentioned the paci a few times after that, but I just needed to reminder her about "paci rella" and she was fine. Just don't give in and give it back...also, make sure you scour the house for pacis...no need to ruin your success by having one pop up somewhere unexpectedly. Hope you're successful too! D. H.

I too would love to know if there are any cookbooks or websites for toddlers. I have a very hard time trying to figure out what my son is going to eat for dinner. He's somewhat picky and if it doesnt look right, he won't eat it. As for the pacifier...he stopped using it maybe 3-4months ago and he's 2 years old. He would only use it when we were home. He would never take it to daycare and had sense enough to leave it on the counter when we left the house. So I figured if knows to do that, then he doesnt need it. I was worried about my sleep too, because he would whine for it but I just quit cold turkey and it worked. I wouldn't let him see it and eventually, he forgot about it. Hope that will be helpful. But if you find out any ideas about meals for toodlers, please let me know.

Hi, my friend has 'The Toddler Cafe' by Jennifer and Mathew Carden and she loves it.
MEanwhile, here are few ideas to help. I have a 16 mo. old and a 7 yr. old who will eat most anything as well.
I usually roast a chicken on Sundays and then I use the leftover chicken for other meals. You can add it to pasta with a little butter and veggies of your choice. You can add cream of chicken soup to it and veggies and add to a pie crust and have chicken pot pie. You can add it to quesadillas.
Quesadillas with spinach and cheese: (can add chicken if you like) Just add fresh spinach leaves, shredded cheese ( I use montery jack) and a sprinkle of garlic powder, lemon juice and salt and pepper.
Spaghetti with grated carrots in the sauce
Also, I feed my kids alot of couscous. ITs super quick and easy and I just serve it with veg sometimes. I suppose you could do something else too.
Quiche is great but you would need to make ahead. You can always warm each slice up as you want. Both of my kids love these and you can add anything you want. My sister did one the other day with potatoes, ham and cheddar....it was very good. I w ould have never thought to add potatoes to a quiche. MAke sure you cook the potatoes first. I use 4-5 eggs, 1c. milk, 5-8 oz swiss cheese, thawed spinach, salt and pepper, garlic powder and a jar of pimentos. Pour into pie crust BAke 325 1 hour.
Hope it helps.

The Sneak chef it's awesome and they are yummy for us too. Also check out www.menus4moms.com they email you a menu each week and you print out and can also print out a shopping list.

also on the paci-

For my daughter, cutting the tips worked. However, we had one that was not cut just in case. Once she realized that one was ok, she wanted it obviously, but what I did was placed in on the dresser instead of giving it to her. Everyday, I moved it a little further out of her reach. She would reach for it in the beginning, but after a few days, she couldn't reach it anymore and just gave up. She actually did all of this without pitching a fit or asking for it. She was about 14 months old and so independent that she did not want it if she couldn't get it for herself. Everyone I know though has either cut the tips and/or given them away with the child being involved in that process. Hope this helps!

I was just going to respond about the pacifier. There are a couple of things that you can do...ours happened by luck, but you can make this happen too. Our 2yo couldn't find her paci and we were all looking for it, so she didn't get it that night. She was restless for a couple of nights, but then all went well. She probably asked about once a day (she took it all day long) for about a week and that was it. We just said, it's gone gone. It was too easy. Another thing you can do is something we did with bottles (although I breastfed her, we used bottles for a few months at the end of her first year...I had her put the few bottles we had in a bag and put them on the front door knob and had a neighbor (already arranged) come and pick them up. I showed my daughter what was in them so she could remember what was in the bag and I had her give it to the neighbor. That was it. Hope this helps some!

Hi there S.. I've found that my two children's (ages 3 and 9) latest favorite cookbook is "Coming to America Cookbook" by Joan D'amico and Karen Eich Drummond. The subtitle is "Delicious Recipes and Fascinating Stories from America's Many Cultures". I was first drawn to it because it's very kid-friendly and it also exposes my children to the food of many cultures (which we've found to be good across the scale). It's fun and we all learn from it and the variety has softened my three-year old's pickiness...

I really like "Cooking Light SuperFast Suppers" Cookbook. It's not specifically for toddlers, but if your daughter eats everything, then she should like the meals, and then you and your husband can eat the same meal later (and save you from making multiple meals each night). All of the meals in the book can be prepared in 30 minutes or less, and they are all very healthy. My husband and I really like all of the meals, and my boys do as well (5 and 2 years old). Hope that helps!

My favorite cookbook is "beyond Macaroni and Cheese". It has great ideas to help get the little ones to eat. I am also a working mom and the best thing to ever come into our life was Dinner Affair. One night or weekend morning every 2 weeks or so you go and prepare 12 meals. You freeze them all. The night before you pull a meal out of the freezer for the next day. All meals take about 20-30 min. to prepare, so easy. No chopping or mixing it is ready to cook. You don't waste food. Our family loves it. It may seem pricey, but if you look at time as money and better spent evenings enjoying family instead cooking it is worth every penny. You also spend less time in the store. The menus change every month so you get lots of variety as well. It is worth checking out at least once I promise. Hope that helps. Good luck.

I am no help with the pacifier. My son was tongue tied and had surgery. After the clipped his tongue he did not want his pacifier anymore. I lucked out.