Need Recipes for Toddler

J., from Utah
Have you tried applesauce either home made, organic, or store bought? Unless he gets diarreah with fruit, try that with some of his foods and or alone.

My daughter is a picky eater with a sweet tooth and I found that she loves soy milk! I usually buy Silk Vanilla and she loves it.

I give my 2 year old a product called Isafruits. It has all the fruits & vegetables you need for one day in a serving. It tastes a lot like cherries. It is a powder you mix with water. I liked it so much I started to sell the product. If you go to my website which is www.slrindlisbaker.isagenix.com. Then click on nutritionals. You can read all about it. If you have any questions or would like to order it give me a call. ###-###-####.

A few things I always make lots of and just reheat at meal time are baked sweet potatoes & apples. For the SP I chop them into little bite sized chunks or into "fries" & drizzle a bit of olive oil & toss them in little cinnamon and bake at 350. DS LOVES them. Apples, I core and wedge them, sprinkle with cinnamon and bake.

Another thing I make a bunch of is different kinds of veggie pancakes.

Squash Pancakes - (this one has more veggies than the other)
1c - flour
1t - baking powder
1/2t - salt
2c squash puree
cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. to taste
dash vanilla
small pieces of fruit (optional)
mix above ingredients, then add water to mixture to reach desired consistency, cook like regular pancakes.
***so far I've tried butternut & acorn squash, pumpkin & bananas. I think you could probably try this recipe with almost any veggie. I also usually double the batch and freeze them into little dollar sized pancakes between wax paper. You can probably use pancake mix in place of the first 3 ingredients, but I haven't tried yet.

Pink Pancakes (this is from Deceptively Delicious)
3/4 c water
1/2 c ricotta
1/4 c beet puree
1 t vanilla
1/2 t cinnamon
1 cup pancake mix
1/4 cup grated apple
Add water, ricotta, beet, vanilla, cinnamon in blender or food processor and blend. Dump into medium bowl, add pancake mix & apple and stir until just combined. Do not over mix. Cook like regular pancakes. I used an oat bran pancake mix for the last batch and they turned out good.

If I think of more I'll add them, but these are a favorite.

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Okay so I thought of a couple more. I also noticed lots of people also recommended Deceptively Delicious, I just wanted to comment that I find alot of the recipes require a decent amount of kitchen/cook time. I think that the recipes in the book are better for family meals rather than me making them just for my son. I suggest first checking it out from the library and trying the recipes out for 7-10 days & see how you like it.

So back to more suggestions. Steamed baby carrots are so easy and just the right size. If you have a pressure cooker, you can cook some beans, which are also the perfect size, I just cook and rinse them, they also make an easy portable snack (rather than endless Cheerios) and are so healthy, I like black, pinto & kidney beans. Deviled eggs & scrambled eggs are good too, you can hide stuff in them like wheat germ or flax & pureed cauliflower & spinach. We eat frozen or fresh blueberries & peas. I'm sure you've gotten great advice from other moms so I'll stop here. I have a 17 month old boy too I know how important health eating is. :)

I have started making green smoothies for my whole family. A green smoothie is your choice of fresh/frozen fruits and dark leafy greens blended together with enough juice or water to make it a smoothie consistency.

I know a lot of people think that putting spinach or kale or collards in a fruit smoothie sounds weird or gross, but try it! Depending on the balance of fruit to greens, you may not even taste it. If you don't want to drink something green, then add frozen mixed berries for a purple smoothie.

My daughter is 11 months old, and this is about the only way I can get her to eat vegetables. I don't think that most americans, adults or children, get enough dark leafy greens, and this is the perfect way to remedy that.

Here's one of my favorites:

1 pear
1 granny smith apple
1 cup frozen mango
1 cup oj or water (or just enough to get the blender going)
1 cup raw spinach
1 cup raw collards
1 cup raw kale
splash of lemon or lime juice

Put the fruit and the juice/water in a blender and puree. Once that is smooth, add the greens and puree again.

I like a ratio of about 40% fruit 60% greens, but if that tastes too green to you, reverse it and then slowly add more greens as you get used to the flavor. You don't need sugar or anything, the fruit is sweet enough.

This is also great with pineapple, frozen berries, just about anything that sounds good to you. I make a huge blenderful in the morning and it gives me and my daughter all the fruits and veggies we need for the day! (Even so, I still offer her regular veggies consistently just to get her to try them.) Hope this helps!

I too was extremely worried about my daughters diet. My wife and I did some research and found that for a toddler the age of your boy (the same age as our beautiful little girl) daily diet isn't as big of a concern as what your child is eating over the course of a week. THough I do get concerned every once in a while about what my daughter is eating on a daily basis, I try and worry more about what her intake over the course of a week is. She loves veggies and fruits, we never give her full strength juice, we always mix with water, and she rarely gets sweets. In order to do this we had to change our diet habits too. We found that our daughter really likes to follow mom and dads habits. I know this isn't a recipe but hopefully it gives you encouragement. Good luck.

I understand the challenges you're experiencing both personally and professionally. I am a nutritionist that focuses on pre thru post pregnancy and family nutrition. There are simple ways get a varied diet and for his age it's better to look what he gets over a multiple days or a week, not a day. Reducing the sugar can be simple if you're willing to bake a little and as far as juice is concerned, it really offers nothing (except lots of sugar) compared to the whole fruit. I'd be happy to help you and the whole family if necessary make some easy, healthy changes. Remember your family is his main and most important role model--he'll learn his habits (healthy or otherwise) from you. My number is ###-###-####.
To your health,
A.

two words: Deciptively Delicious. Great recipe book by Jessica Sienfeld on hiding extra servings of vegetables in your kids foods. 17 months may be a little young, but if he's mostly eating table foods should work great. Good luck!

Hello Sweet MaMa!!
I love nutrition and babies!!
Wondering if you have ever gave him Goji Berries!! Or Inca berries!If they are a little to hard for him to chew you could soak them in a little water or tea!!
I wish more than life that all that his sweet little mouth is having is ALL ORGANIC!!!
I am a part of a company that supplies wonderful super foods that may have a few things he may love!!!

I bless you and your wonderful life with your baby!! There are so many wonderful Organic low sugar treats at health food markets...Im not sure where you shop but staying a way from regular super markets is so helpful!!!

If you wish to go to check out my web site....
www.noblelifeelements.com/passion

I hope this is helpful for you!!!
Namaste K. Sanders
If you have any questions please call me ###-###-####

Hi Cindy, one idea I saw was to fill a muffin tin with different foods in each section like carrot sticks, raisins, crackers etc then leave it where the child can get to it and "graze or snack" it is then easy for you to see what has been eaten and how much. It is also a good way to introduce new choices so the child can try it slowly. Another way to help is to make food "child size", fun or more appealing for example put sandwiches or bar-b-q on a biscuit instead of bread or cut the sandwich (or cheese, or meat or veggie or fruit...)into fun shapes with cookie cutters, give foods fun names. I remember as a child I would not eat pears unless they were "pretty", my mom would put food coloring into them when she bottled them so I had pink, purple, blue...pears and loved them - try an idea like this to make food more fun and I bet you will be surprised what he eats! If you need specific recipes, I have a great kids cookbook look for one that is made just for kids but basically the ideas are just make it fun and simple

Hi Cindy,

I have a very picky eater too. I wish I would have started the healthy varieties earlier for her. She is ten and still picky. I try to sneak things like almond milk and flax seed into the waffle mix and give her brown rice noodles instead of white flour (which, like sugar, lowers your immune system and contains bleach). There are more ideas like this in my new book, Shopper's Guide to Healthy Living. It only takes 4 hours to read and have lots of ideas for moms.

God bless!

I love Jessica Seinfeld's new book called Deceptively Delicious. Not all of the recipes are delicious, but the idea of "slipping in" vegies and fruits to any recipe is awesome. I RARELY give my kids juice and our dessert is typically fruit.

Have you heard of the cook book by Jerry Seingfeld with. I just got it and it's great it's called Deceptive Delicious I think. Anyways you just puree fruits and vegtables and add them to your kids food like squash to your Mac and cheese about about half a cup and you can't even taste it. P. Mills

Cindy

It can be a big task to try to get all the servings of fruits and veggies into a little one each day. My personal research shows that with green harvesting, we are actually not even getting all that we need from what we can buy. I am a firm believer in good nutrional supplementation - for myself and my son. I found a great chewy "gummy type" supplement that gives my son all his daily requirements of fruits and veggies and he likes it . It is produced by a very solid company. I want to know what I put in my body so I checked them out thoroughly. They are not sold in stores, but through a network marketing system. If you are interested in knowing more about them, please contact me. I can give you to the web address and you can check it out for yourself.

As far as recipes, I would feed him what the rest of the family is eating. I made the mistake of becoming a short order cook and fixing what everyone wanted for a while. I had to break that pattern and it took some time. I hope this is helpful to you.

At 17-months, he can pretty much eat whatever you're eating as long as it's cut up well enough. I would suggest shying away from making him his own meals otherwise your in for a very long life as a short-order cook of a picky eater. I would only make an exception if your eating something he cannot have because he's too young or if he has an allergy.

As for getting in a balanced diet every single day, I doubt many people do that. But if you look at everything he's eating over the course of a week, I bet you'll find he's getting plenty of each of the food groups. You've made a great start limiting treats and offering more fruits and veggies. Experts say it can take up to 10 times of being offered a new food for a child to actually have an interest, so just keep trying. He will come around and he won't starve himself.

There are little snacks that you can buy that are 100% fruit. Some of them are a little spendy, but I think it's worth it for the nutrition. Instead of fruit snacks (which are just expensive gummy bears) I give my little one raisins and Craisins or other dried berries. He also loves freeze dried apple slices and other freeze dried fruit and Stretch Island fruit leather (made from 100% fruit with no sugar). You can get the freeze dried fruit and fruit leather at Costco for a really good price. You can also buy whole grain Goldfish crackers now. You can get a big carton of those at Walmart for the same price as the regular goldfish.

I don't know how much you like to cook, but it is easier to slip in all sorts of good stuff if you cook from scratch. I make homemade past with whole wheat flour and whole wheat rolls. My kids won't eat the whole wheat stuff from the store, but they will eat it if I make it.

Alot of moms suggested Deceptively Delicious, but I have the Sneaky Chef book and I personally think it is the best!! You should try some of her recipes too in addition to Deceptively Delicious if you go that route. I have found the recipes to be great for my husband and I too - it has helped us to get our extra boosts of nutrition while we feed our daughter what she won't otherwise eat (cauliflower, broccoli, etc.). Her recipes are truly very good!

There is a wonderful book called Deceptively Delicious which shows you how to sneak in pureed fruits and veggies. It's got a slew of really good, kid friendly recipes and is also loaded with great tips on helping them eat healthy throughout the day. It's by Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry's wife) and it's pretty much the way she gets her 3 kids to eat...and they don't even know that it's healthy. You just whip up a whole bunch of purees at the beginning of the week and freeze them and pull them out as needed. When I was nannying I had to do this because Mom didn't know what a vegetable was and the kids were constantly constipated. Another tip she has is putting out a plate of cut up veggies about 30 minutes before dinner to let the kids snack on. She also suggests that you still serve their meals with fruits and vegetables so they become accustomed to seeing them on their plate, but if they don't eat it, not a big deal (they're still getting it in the main dish) If you'd like to try a few of her recipes, one of my favorites is her French toast:

4 large eggs
2T of banana or pineapple or sweet potato or carrot or butternut squash puree, or canned pumpkin
1/4 t cinnamon
4 slices whole wheat bread
nonstick cooking spray
2t trans fat free margarine
pure maple syrup, powdered sugar, or fresh fruit
flaxseed meal (optional)

In a shallow bowl, whisk the eggs, puree, and cinnamon. Add the bread slices and turn them in the mixture to soak for 30 seconds to 1 minute (any longer and the bread will get soggy).

Coat a nonstick griddle or a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the margarine. When the margarine sizzles, add the soaked bread slices (sprinkle with flaxseed if you like) and cook until golden brown on the outside, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Serve warm with syrup, powdered sugar, or fresh fruit.

I have 4 very healthy kids that like almost everything. I have always introduced a variety of foods to them since about 9 months old and they are not terribly picky. I have a 9 month old right now and he will eat anything I put in front of him. I bought this amazing book about baby and kid's nutrition and I can't remember the name of it. I gave it away, which I regret. Anyway, I remember it saying that you have to introduce each food at least 13 times to get them used to it. I also heard Dr. Oz on Oprah once say that babies naturally like sweet things and have a harder time w/ the tart veggies. But keep trying. I give my baby yogurt and cottage cheese, lots of fruits and veggies, chicken and beef prepared dinners in the jars, etc. My 4 yr. old daughter loves avocados, broccoli, yogurt, salmon, etc. She is my healthiest eater. Make sure you are getting a healthy diet and give your kids what you are eating. My daughter always eats like I do. She also loves tomatoes! My older two, 8 and 9 1/2 are a little more picky because they are learning to develop their own tastes, but not as bad as their friends! I think kids get picky because their parents think there are only a few foods kids will eat. They don't even think to try and give kids what I've mentioned above. You could also try the puree method like Jessica Seinfeld suggests in her book, "Deceptively Delicious." There are some great recipes in there my family likes. Good luck!

There is a book on sale at Target and Barnes and Nobles (among other places I am sure) by Seinfelds wife with a ton of healthy yet kid friendly recipes you might want to try.

Just a note about the juice:
At 17 o old, he really shouldn't be drinking straight juice. It will, as you see, give them diarrhea, but dentists will tell you they don't want them drinking the straight juice either, and not as a "regular" drink... and it should always be 100% juice without added HFCS.
Mine are now 2 1/2 and I STILL water down their juice, but of course it's more important to get enough water in them more so than juice. They don't notice either. I water down iced tea for them too, like 1/4 tea, rest water. They think they're drinking tea!

I picked up this wonderful cookbook the other day called Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. It is fabulous! All of the recipes include vegi and fruit purees that you simply add to quick easy recipes. My 18 month loves everything that I have thrown at him so far!

Have you heard of that cookbook written by Jessica Sienfeld (Jerry's wife) called "Deceptively Delicous"? It has recipes for every meal. The premise is that she adds vegetable purees to each mean. Ex. Sweet potato pancakes. There are a few things that you'd need to substitute to keep it all natural, but that's the easy part. Now, you really don't get a ton of veggies out of it, but it really is a good way to increase veggies fruits in an already "veggified" diet. Good job...my daugther is the pickies eater on earth:)

Dear Cindy,

I can so understand your dilemma regarding getting your son the nutrition his bodies needs to stay healthy. I would love to get you on the phone with some moms who have had the same concerns and have resolved them with a simple patented food product that is safe and so easy to provide. Let me know when is a good time to reach you and provide a phone number and I will do that.
Nutrition can be simple and so rewarding when you see the results.

Sincerely,
T. ###-###-####

Hi Cindy.. I have 2 yr old twins and have (still) been through the same old eating routine as well. My kids struggle with veggies- so I bought Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook, Deceptively Delicious- great ideas on how to sneak in additional nutritional
foods to their diet. There are even great sweet tooth recipes that have veggies in them! Also- Apple juice always gives my daughter the runs so we stick to watered down grape juice. Hope
any of this helps- meal time can be stressful, I know!

I watch my 2 year old niece everyday and am trying to do my best to make sure she gets good food when she's with me. She makes it challenging some days because, like your son she has a sweet tooth and will also get stuck on the same foods for periods. I just found this great cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld called deceptively delicious. She uses different fruit and veggie purees that are "hidden" in all your kids favs. I don't believe in lying to my kids and if they ask I will certainly tell them what's in it, but if they don't then I guess they don't care as long as they like it. I made green eggs last week which I thought noone would like them because they were green,(a great tie in would be green eggs and ham) but I happened to have fresh spinach. My niece asked for seconds!! My 2nd and 6th graders also enjoyed them. She is on a nugget kick so my next experiment is going to be the nuggets that are dipped in squash before breaded.The author wangts you to puree fresh of course, but Iam also going to try some canned. I bought organic canned pumkin for the nuggets. My sister tells me she is also into hotdogs right now and she is buying the veegie and soy variety. I got the book at the library if you want to check it out, it is also at costco for $13.

Hi Cindy,

I am done with my copy of Super Baby Food and (I think I also have) Feed Me I'm Yours. You are welcome to these books. Please send me a private note if you'd like to come pick them up (in Superior).

Here's some food for thought as you are going thru this process: We don't have mac n cheese, chicken fingers, or soda in our home. The kids can get that at restaurants if they wish (usually they don't). The result is that our kids have a rather wide palette. Just my 2 extra cents.

Be well,
..J.

Editor of GreatIdeasForKids.com
Free weekly newsletter of events, activities and ideas for kids 8 and under in the Boulder/Denver area

I like the book "The Sneaky Chef" (similar to Deceptively Delicious). Both books have great recipes for sneaking veggies into other foods. Good luck!

A cookbook that I love is called "the Healthy Baby Meal Planner" by Annabel Karmel. It has a section on toddler recipes that also works for the rest of the family.
Good Luck! C.

try this recipe for quiche...my kids eat it up (age 5 and almost 3)

1 refrigerated pie crust shell
2 c broccoli (fresh or frozen)
1 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 small can ham
4 eggs
1 1/2 c half and half

Put everything into a food processor and pulse until mixed well and broccoli is chopped pretty fine

put into pie shell and bake at 375 for one hour or until knife inserted into middle comes out clean

let stand 10 minutes

slice and enjoy!

i think i got this online at kraftfoods.com, but i am not sure.

Here are few suggestions things my daughter eats.

Whole wheat pita bread dipped in hummas. My kids like lots of things dipped in hummas. Steamed baby carrots, crackers etc.

Apple pieces dipped in peanut butter.

Plain yogurt with no sweetener apple butter.

Guacamole: Dip steamed veggies, crackers etc.

Dates rolled in coconut.(At vitamen cottage)Good sweet snack

Cottage cheese with canned pineapple.

Quesdilla with bean, cheese and mild salsa. (My 2 year old loves these.)

Canned salmon mixed with mayo on crackers or bread.(my daughter has had fish and thinned nut butters since she was 10 months)

A good variety is important. Our bodies can become sensitive to food that we eat over and over for a long period of time. A good book to pick up at the library is Super Baby Food By: Ruth Yaron It has lots of great ideas for babies, toddlers and families. I don't agree with everything in the book but for the most part its a good reference. Hope this is helpful.
T. :o)

I could write a few if you want, but I would check out the book "Super Baby Food". It has all kinds of recipes for food for toddlers..Great book!

Go to Kraft.com for recipes, they send me bi monthly reminders and it is an awesome website for yummy kid friendly healthy recipes. Here is a link to get to the site http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/recipedetail.htm?rec...

Sorry I don't have any recipes but definitely try the Minute Maid Kids+ Orange Juice. My kids couldn't handle the other orange juices either and I didn't like giving them so much sugar. The Minute Maid is not as acidic and also has extra vitamins. You can also rename the veggies...my kids love eating trees aka broccoli.

We crush cereal and roll fruit in it to add calories. Also adds fiber. The funny thing is, he eats the same amount of fruit with or without cereal. We switch the kinds of cereal, and use only the healthy ones (low sugar, etc.). It's worked great. Another plus, is that the kids isn't as sticky after eating fruit! We also let our son eat frozen veggies or fresh veggies. He doesn't eat them cooked. He's 19 months, so only little pieces, but they thaw fast enough. He will eat a ton of fresh veggies. We go through several bags of sweet snap peas a week. We get them in the fresh veggie section, along with other prefixed veggie. He likes getting them out of the bags. GL

I'm a personal wellness coach with Herbalife. There's these really yummy kids nutritional shakes: chocolate, strawberry, vanilla flavors, and kids love them. You can blend them with milk,soy milk, or 100% juice. These shakes have protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, ginger, chamomile, and all sorts of natural nutrients. Call me 888-236-4453 for more info.

Hello Cindy,
Don't worry about the juice. Fresh whole fruit is much better for kids than juice as the fruit also has the fiber that is much needed especially if there is a diarrhea problem, my son has that problem and getting as much whole grain, no white bread, fresh fruit and veggies is really important for him. As far as variety goes there are so many easy, fun cook books that are geared towards kids, generally they like things simple. My son started helping me in the kitchen when he was about 14 months old, doing the hand mixing or helping me crack eggs, rinsing off the fruits and veggies... it made him want to try the new foods since he was a part of the process. He is 9 now and tells his picky friends that if they had never tried pizza they would never have known they like it! He still loves to help cook and likes to invent his own recipes also. On the sweet tooth, when I make cookies I do the chocolate chip oatmeal and use whole wheat flour so at least there is some healthy stuff in it for him.
Have fun!
S.

I sneak fruits & veggies into just about everything! I make homemade mac & cheese and add broccoli - we call it mac & cheese & trees, and he loves to eat the "trees". I grate carrots into spaghetti sauce, I put applesauce and raisins into oatmeal, etc. Check out http://www.thesneakychef.com/ for more ideas - it's a good cookbook to use with kiddos!
- S. :-)

Would love to keep in touch. My daughter was born Sept 23, 2006. She is the same way so if you could share ways that you get the veggies in your son I'd love it!
Thanks,
____@____.com

Hi Cindy!

I have a couple great cookbooks that I've found. The first is a Pampered Chef cookbook called Let's Eat. The recipes are kid friendly and fun. You son might even be able to help a little with some of the recipes. I've found that with my 2 children if they can help prepare the food they are a little more likely to eat it. The book is no longer available so if you are interested in any of the recipes let me know, I'd be happy to share with you.

The second cookbook has been around forever. My mom had it when I was small. It's called Feed Me, I'm Yours. Same kind of food ideas, just a little different style.

Have you heard of Deceptively Delicious? That's the cookbook Jerry Seinfeld's wife created and she hides healthy foods in wonderful recipes that kids wouldn't normally eat! Once my 7 month old is old enough, I'll be using this book.

p.s.- just saw someone else mentioned this too. Good luck!