Meal Suggestions for 15 Month Old

For quick, easy finger-food type things, try fish sticks or chicken nuggets. Also, if you cook over the weekend, make extra so you have leftovers during the week.

Here's flexible formula we've had good luck with. It consists of a vegetable, meat and grain.
Keep plenty of frozen vegetables on-hand, and microwavable bowls that you can cover and store in the fridge.

- Heat up the veggie (peas, green beans, broccoli, mixed veg, etc.) and flavor it with butter or olive oil and a little salt and pepper.
- bite-size pieces of chicken or turkey (or cow or whatever, lunch meat, or homemade), or cheddar cheese.
- A cut-up piece of toast, whole-grain pancake, rotini, etc. The toast can be drizzled with some chicken broth (store it in a sippy container in the fridge) which keeps it from being dry and adds a great 'stuffing' flavor.

Mix the three ingredients on a plate and serve warm or cold.

The variety is endless. He can eat everything with his fingers without too much mess (spaghetti sauce in his hair, etc.) and you can sit and have some too, because it's real food.

Try peas, rotini and cheddar squares with olive oil, salt and pepper, served chilled.

Try roasted chicken with broth, green beans and whole-grain toast, served hot.

Good Luck!

If you email me, I will give you a handout I have for moms on meal/snack ideas for toddlers. The key thing is to be giving them good essential fats. 75% of the brain develops the first two years of life. So avocados, flax seed oil, hummus should be part of their diets (and ours too of course!) Many parents miss this, giving too many goldfish, and cheerios as snacks. Be careful too of the hot dogs and deli meats, buy ones that do not contain sodium nitrates, if they eat too much of it, it can cause anemia under the age of two. Remember it takes up to 10 or more tries for them to attempt a new food, I gave mine zucchini everyday for 2wks straight before she finally swallowed a piece of it. :) You just have to stay persistant when you are exposing them to new foods. Once they develop their palate by 3yrs, it will be hard to get them to try new things...

J. W. MPH
Wellness Educator
(I do specialize in maternal and child health)

Hi A.!

My son is almost 17 months and is a fairly picky eater. We try to give him whatever we are having for dinner (as long as it's something I know he can manage). But I think we all know that toddlers have a mind of their own when it comes to food and won't always eat what you give them. We continue to try, but in the meantime you have to feed them something.

So, my trick is to make a little extra when I'm cooking things he likes so that I can freeze it for him to eat on those "picky" nights. I always have cooked ground turkey, cooked shredded or cubed chicken breast, cooked spaghetti with sauce, mini-meatloafs (made in muffin tins are perfect size for little ones!), etc in my freezer so I can grab something for him to eat. It's really taken the stress out of those "I don't want to eat" nights.

Ours loved fish sticks,corn, broccoli, chicken nuggets. My friend used to just puree whatever they were having for dinner.

English muffin pizzas are great and easy to do. I buy the bottled pizza sauce and grated cheese. Cook it either in the microwave or with a toaster oven. My daughter loves it and it is easy to eat! I've also tried vegi burgers (which my daughter enjoys more than regular burgers). I have found gardenburgers to be the best. Again, just cook in the microwave and it is ready to serve. Good luck.

Even if you don't cook every night or very well, I would get him use to eating what you eat. You eat something right? This will help him be exposed to many foods and encourage you to sit down and eat together. My kids eat what we eat most of the time - even if it's cereal for dinner. Good easy things for everyone on non cook days are:
cottage cheese with banana
frozen pancakes
cheese and crackers
quesadillas (easy cooking)

I would just add some frozen veggies and a fruit and you are set. If he doesn't eat it right away, keep trying. Make sure there is one thing he likes and only introduce one new food at a meal. It will be so much easier in the long run, and healthier for both of you.

check out these healthy frozen foods for baby: http://www.happybabyfood.com/PressReleases.html

microwave and serve with veggies.

they are sold at target -- my 17 month old loves the the salmon sticks, fish bites, breakfast pockets -- and they are full of nutrition.

hope this helps!

How about:
Oatmeal
chicken (baked or nuggets)
veggies from soup (softer and have more taste)
dry cereal
hamburger
tortilla w/ cheese
yogurt
canned fruit (peaches, pears, etc.)

Hit your local library! There are lots of "cookbooks" out there that support ideas for quick to fix menu ideas for children. I applaud your thoughts about expanding your son's food choices. Without exposure to new things many children eat just a few items over and over and refuse to try anything different.
Prepared foods are handy in a pinch (frozen entrees,etc) but are usually very high in sodium. Just like for yourself....simple foods (steamed veggies, broiled meats, whole grains) are best.

Meat items were always the trickiest since chewing it takes a bit of skill along with sufficient teeth!

My children loved ground meat items. We would fry up hamburger (beef) add hash brown potatoes to the skillet season with salt and pepper and serve this potato/meat mixture along side a veggie. Sometimes I would roll ground meat ( any variety...beef, pork, turkey) with a bit of onion powder and strained( jars of baby food that were left over) or shredded vegetables (carrots and/or zucchini work great)and a few bread crumbs into little meat balls, place them on cookie sheet and bake until done (about 15 minutes) and use them a few at a time. The older kids thought they made great "appetizers" with sauce for dipping and the baby had no trouble chewing the meatballs. Sometimes my kids ask for the meatballs!

One of my son's favorites is cottage cheese and fruit. Some other ideas are

Baked beans (I mix bits of hotdog in the baked beans) Steamed veggies (I find it's easiest to always have frozen veggies on hand, then just steam 'em for 5-10 min.)
Chicken tenders
Yogurt (sometimes I mix baby cereal in the yogurt)
Canned fruit
Fresh fruit (my son usually loves bananas, and they are easy to do)
French toast or regular toast
Baked sweet potatos are always a favorite w/ us.

I hope this helps. It's so easy to get stuck in a rut and it helps me to read other people's ideas too. Take care!

I try to make sure I give my kids something green at every meal: broccoli, peas, asparagus, fresh spinach.

Here's a site for quick and easy meals. It's good to cook so that everyone in the house is eating healthy. If you choose recipes and then create a shopping list, you'll be more likely to cook.

http://thescramble.com/

Your child is almost old enough for you to follow the new food pyramid:

http://www.pyramid.gov/preschoolers/index.html

I've been thinking about creating a checklist to make sure my toddler gets all the veggies/fruits/whole grains he should. And add a row for me and my husband to make sure we're eating what we should.

Chicken sticks, nuggets, fish sticks/ tarter sauce to dip. Grilled ham & cheese cut in strips/soup to dunk in. Carrot & celery sticks/blue cheese dip or ranch with chopped veggies. French toast sticks he can dip in syrup. Make it fun for little ones; they'll eat. Cocktail or hot dogs cut in half to look like finger ood. No bun required, just some ketchup to dip. Same thing when you have the french toast sticks, serve sausage links with them so he's getting some meat. If you make homemade meatballs, you can shape them like small hot dogs. Use your imagination. You'll have fun watching him. Dipping broccoli is fun and healthy also; cauliflower too. Good luck mom.

I have a 5 week rotating menu on daycare website http://www.freewebs.com/tarastoyland I feed everything on there to kids starting at about 11 mos old. I may steam the carrots and apples, but they eat the same as the older kids.

On the menu I just say fruit or veggie usually so I will list those that we eat most - mango, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, watermelon, apple, pear, pineapple (but be careful when you first give them, lots of kids get BAD diaper rashes the first few times), oranges, grapefruit, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, canned fruit cocktail or mixed fruit, dried cranberries, raisins (choking hazard so judge according to your child), grapes (cut into 1/4's)
veggies - carrots, cucumber (steam at first or cut into small strips), peas (they like these still semi frozen), corn, corn on the cob, green beans (canned are nice and soft), potatoes in different forms, spinach (I prepare it like a salad, by 15 mos most kids can eat it just fine), beans like kidney, black and navy, tomatoes, broccolli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts

Cottage cheese
block cheese cut into little cubes
scrambled eggs
yogurt
any kind of bread
crackers of any kind
cheerios
fruit cut into pieces
applesauce
oatmeal
grits
creme of wheat
veggies steamed slightly
meat cut into little pieces
fish sticks
baked french fries
chicken nuggets cut into pieces
rice
smoothies made from frozen fruit (use straw cup)

I am the same way. And my d at almost 10 months does not like to eat anything mushy or squishy. Sometimes you get home or at the end of the day you are just too tired to do a full meal cooking. What I started to do is cook veggies at the beginning of the week-carrots, potatoes, green beans, broccoli, etc and then during the week all I have to do is flavor them up a little or just heat them up. I will also take a variety and quickly saute them together to heat them. My kids like this. I might buy a chicken and roast it (or even cheat and buy a chicken from Jewel) and then during the week I heat the meat up for dinner. We have had eggs for dinner with a side of veggies and beans. I will also cook rice with frozen veggies and then 2 days later use what is left to make fried rice (heat up the rice, make a hole in the center of the pan and add whisked eggs with a little soy sauce added and then as the eggs are cooked, mix it all together). I sometimes make a big pot of soup on the weekend and that takes care of the first few days of the week. And I know it is supposed to be absolutely horrible to feed your kids processed foods but having a bag of chicken nuggets or other meals in the freezer can sometimes be a lifesaver. I think it is most important to have a balacned meal than worry about the few times they eat a higher fat item.

Hi Angie,
There is a wonderfull website:
www.wholesomebabyfood.com
It gives u all kinds of healthy recepies and menus for ur little one-A. ;-)

For my daughter, I fix her rice (which she loves), but I sneak in various vegetables. She loves it! Especially, when it is fried rice with veggies.

I have this copy from parent magazine of all kinds of finger foods, maybe you could look it up in their archives--I have loaned it to someone in my building, but if you need it I can copy it & mail or scan & e-mail it to you. They have all kinds of finger foods, remember fruit can be grated--apples pears etc, different types of cheese cubes grated/small, eggs hard boiled & chopped if allowed by ped., rasins, crackers (whole wheat) ALL DIFFERENT WHOLE GRAIN PASTA SHAPES, spaghetti w/unsalted butter & cheese garted--I can go on & on, this is the time you want to get you child used to different foods, cut up grapes (monitored--these have a high choking hazard) never whole--some people take the skins off---I think the fiber is good & good from apples & pears grated w/ skin. I have a great book suggestion for you called Babies First Meals by Annabel karmel----she goes over purees which your somn is past---unless he doesnt eat veggies, then you could puree them & hide them in various sauces for nutritional value...please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

Hi A.. :) I totally am in the same boat. I love to cook but rarely have the time. Here are a few things that I didn't read in other posts that I do with my 15 month old.
-Tofu: firm cut into cubes. Sometimes I melt cheese on top in the microwave.
-avocado
-Earth's Best cheese ravioli: I make a few servings, cut then into 1/4s and add various baby foods as the sauce
-open faced sandwich (ham and cheese)
-wild caught salmon in the can
-canned sardines
-steamed pumpkin or squash
-steamed swiss chard or spinach
-frozen Amy's organic pot pies - chicken or veggie
-organic lunch meats (ham, turkey, chicken, roast beef) My son loves the roast beef cut up with melted cheese. I sometimes mix a little pasta in.

Hope that helps. :) Enjoy! :)
K.