I Need Some Advice on What I Should Be Feeding My Son

Hi H.,

Think simple! Take his favorites and make them more healthy. ie - pancakes - or waffles - use whole grain instead of buttermilk etc, then dress them up. Use fruit to make funny faces and things like that. Make is fun for him! Good luck.

My kids always like anything they can "dip". Our daughter decided to to get picky once and I told her that was all there was to eat. Your son won't starve himself, he'll eat when he's hungry, even if it is healthy food. with most kids it's a matter of who will give in first, and they can be surprisingly tough. I do love the website www.recipezaar.com. You can look ANYTHING up. Good luck

I'm an expert on 30 min or less healthy meals. I have a full time job and 4 kids. There all time favorite quick and easy meal is spagetti. Then there is a rice and chicken dish. Use a 9x13 pan as long as you don't mind leftovers, otherwise half size this. 4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts rice and 2 cans cream of chicken or cream of mushroons.
I put about a half inch of uncooked rice on the bottom of pan then mix in the cream of whatever soup you use and enough water to barely cover the top. You can sneek in some vegetables here without notice. If you use broccoli don't keep for leftovers. Mix well. Put the chicken on top and season to tast. Bake at 400 for 30 min.

Pancakes are great for breakfast especially if you use the just add water and a fruit topping. Take some fresh or froxen fruit cut into little pieces and put in a small bowl. Smash with water and a teaspoon of sugar or less. But leave a few pieces large. If your son likes to dip things then make silverdollar pancakes and give him a spot of the sauce on his plate.

For lunch my children love quesadillas. Its just 2 tortillas with cheese and whatever else you like to add. I always use salsa with it. You can bake it at 350 for about 10 min. or microwave for 1-2 min. They are always better baked. Cut into bite sixe pieces and serve.

If you don't own one I highly recommend a crockpot. You can start dinner before you go to work and it will cook while your there.When you come home dinner's ready.

It great for homemade soups and stews.

If you need a great tasting dessert try slicing some apples into a baking dish and adding cinnamon and sugar. Bake for about 20-30 min at 350. Its sort of like applesauce. You can also use the sliced apples add a white cake mix put about 5 pats of butter on it and add cinnamon on top. Bake 350 for 30-40min.

You can use the chicken rice dish with pork chops.
My children where not big meat eaters until about 2 years or so. Lots of pasta dishes are great for his age. Lipton makes a really good packet pasta. Alfredo has always been a favorite here.

Eggplant parmagian is also quick and easy. I made it for my family and the neighborhood children came over and also liked it. I served it with some spaggetti squash.

My favorite recipe site is allrecipes.com you can look up one ingredient and it will give you a long list of recipe choices.

Most Importantly, don't forget that he needs more fat in his diet than you or I.

Try frozen peas and corn and actually give them to him frozen. My kids loved them and still do. What about mac and cheese? My kids also adore small sea shell noodles mixed with tuna and miracle whip. Let him dunk chicken in ranch dressing. I always have cut up carrots, celery, cucumbers and cooked green beans that my kids dip in ranch. What about pb&j? Try yogurt, my kids love the colors of trix yogurt.
You don't need to get fancy. Most kids like plain better anyway. Raost a chicken or turkey, that will last for several days and it's easy enough to give him a small piece and let him eat it while he walks around. Hope this helps. By the way, there is nothing wrong with mac and cheese or chicken for breakfast. My kids go through phases that, that's all they will eat. I figure this, it's a phase, and it's not bad for them. Sometimes they even want toasted cheese for breakfast!

my kids love veggies with dip for a snack and it's super easy, i precut enough for a week, trail mix is another family fav, they make thier own, using cereal, raisins, the yougurt covered ones are yummy, pretzels and fruit snacks and maybe some chocolate chips, we use things like pop tarts and breakfast bars for quick snacks and not for breakfast, they may not be a balanced meal for say breakfast but they do have added vitamins and such since they are sold as a breakfast food and make a decent snack if you are comparing them to cheetos. also ants on a log, it's celery with peanut butter and raisins are a big hit. i even have went so far as to put sprinkles on a sliced banana, what's a little surgar gonna hurt i it gets them to eat it right?

as for recipes i'm having trouble thinking of an right now but a big trisk to eating better and getting more fruits and veggies is to hide them in the things you are making anywyas, onions peppers garlic tomatoes and the like can easily be chopped sper small and hid in jsut about anything without even you knowing they are there, it's the only way i get my veggies myself. good luck.

Someone just told me about the Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious. They are recipe books that include vegetables (Puree) in every one. It's supposed to be a way to get kids their vegetables without them knowing it.

hi H.! My son just started solids and I was gifted a book called the Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron, and have found it to be pretty helpful. I was a bit confused and overwhelmed by it at first, but after flipping through it sevral times, I am starting to get it. It is fun to make his food, too! One good way to sneak 'super green' veggies into his diet is to dice foods (like kale or broccoli) REALLY fine and just add it to whatever he is eating. I put kale in David's yogurt, and he has no idea. As to your mom giving him junk food, I understand that battle too. I am sure you've tried to lay down the law with your mom, and it sounds like that didn't work. I guess ultimately, so long as he sees good nutritional habits in his OWN home, that is the best favor you can do him. It is a hard battle, but he does the vast majority of his learning from you, so I wouldn't worry TOO much about the bits of junk he gets elsewhere. anyways, I just looked up the book on Amazon, and they have it for less than $8. Good luck to you, and keep trying!!
Cheers
P.

My DD is very picky, but she loves anything chicken. Campbells has a good recipe I put rice, cream of chicken and cheese in a disha nd bake it she loves it. I also put chicken in italian dresing and bake it. Another is larosas sauce with mozzerella and parmesian (SP) and cut up chicken and bake it. you can pour it over noodles.

I am right there with you on the good eating habits! Its hard to feed picky eaters! I think my 3 got together and decided to get picky all at the same time just to make me crazy. My 17 month old used to be great and now Im lucky if she doesnt just throw her plate at me the minute I put it in front of her. I told my husband a few months ago that I needed some help! He got me the new cookbook by Jessica Sienfeld. Deceptively Delicious. I LOVE IT. In fact I made the chocolate cake tonight for our little family New Years Eve party and it was a big hit!!! It has beets in it!!! My kids loved it. I also made a pasta dish that they all loved! It was whole wheat pasta, and then I baked a sweet potato in the oven then took the insides out and blended it together with milk and trans fat free butter and poured it over the pasta. They all ate it. Even the baby! I would invest in that cookbook if I were you. Im not a very creative person, so this book really helped me. Some of the things in there Im sure wont be liked, but if you can find a few recipes that your little one will eat and its good for him, I say its worth it!!

I have a 17 month old daughter who eats everything--some of her favorites are all colors of peppers, onions, broccoli, corn, strawberries, grapes, apples, raisins, all kinds of noodles with or without shredded cheese and butter (whole wheat is better), organic tortilla chips, healthy cheeses (not American!), frozen peas and corn (still frozen, feels good on the gums), Annie's cheddar bunnies, Annie's cereals, Snyder's pretzel's (they have healthy ingredients compared to other brands), and baked chicken and pork. She also likes tortillas with cheese melted in them, or grilled cheeses. Yogurt can be used as a healthy dip for almost everything, or hummus.

The way we got her to eat so many foods was by eating them ourselves. We don't make a big deal of eating fruits and veggies, she just sees us enjoying them. We offer her a selection and let her eat what she likes. If she doesn't eat something we don't try and coax her to--that makes it a power struggle. If she doesn't like a food, we take it away with out a word (or maybe eat it in front of her and enjoy it openly!) then offer it again another time. It's funny how sometimes she loves peas, and other times she spits them out like they're horrid.

Sneaking veggies into your child's food is one way to get them eaten, but it doesn't really teach healthy eating in the long run. When the child is older, no one will be there to puree spinach in their food! Children eat what their parents eat, so as long as the child sees you enjoying foods he'll eventually want to try them too. It may take some time, but he'll come around eventually if you stop fixing him special kid meals and instead give him kid friendly versions of whatever you're eating.

Check out the book "Super Baby Food" By Ruth Yaron. It has great recipes for health and easy recipes for all the recipe ideas you need, Good Luck.

Parents magazine has a website and email about kid friendly dishes. I have heard great things about Jerry Seinfeld's wife's book (not sure of the name) - I haven't looked at it my self yet. I know that Help Me Grow has some sample menu ideas on it, as well as wholesomebabyfoods.com
Good luck

Hi H.:
Congrats on your new years resolution! Some of the best advice I was given about healthy eating is to shop only on the outskirts of the grocery store and ignore the boxed and frozen food isles in the middle. Easier said than done of course. :)
Check out www.Cuisinart.com -- they have a great baby section that has simple and healthy recipes for all stages. Also, one more quick piece of advice...I read that toddlers get up to 80% of their nutrition from snacking. We've noticed this with our 17mo. old, who has always been a great eater with scheduled mealtime (her daddy is a chef so we're very lucky!) but she now prefers to graze throughout the day...so we only really sit down for one big meal and then I make sure she's got plenty of healthy snacks throughout the day. Good luck!