Suggestions for Dinner by a Toddler

My kids are weird, they love salad with chicken cut up into it. They also love broccoli. They love pork chops and steak, and pizza. I can also say from the get go, dinner has always been take it or leave it at my house. They eat what is made or they can go hungry. We have never catered to them and they are not picky eaters now. I love the face the waitress gives when my boys ask for a dinner salad with their meal or broccoli instead of french fries and such. It is like what did he just say?? LOL.

D. P.

My kids love "Spanish Rice". We make it with browned ground beef (with chopped onions and green bell pepper), rice and a jar of spaghetti sauce with a little bit of chili powder. I know it's only another version of spaghetti, but it's easier to eat with the spoon, and the peppers and chili powder help them experiment with different flavors.

Another favorite is the tortilla soup (Bear Creek tortilla soup mix) with black beans, corn, and chicken. I make it in the crock pot so it's REALLY easy.

My kids love bean and cheese burritos, and they're such a cinch to make. I take one can of Rosarita's refried beans, throw it in a bowl and add maybe a half bag of shredded cheese (we like the "Taco Blend Cheese" that Walmart sells....I think it's made by Kraft as well, but the Walmart brand is just as good.)

Then I simply microwave it for a couple of minutes until the cheese is thoroughly melted, at which point I use a fork to stir it into the beans until it's all mixed nicely. I lightly heat up some tortillas in the microwave with a damp papertowel over them (this helps prevent splits and tears in the burritos) and spread the bean/cheese mixture into a section on each tortilla. Then I roll them into burritos, which is surprisingly easy to master with a tiny amount of practice. For the kids, I close both ends and cut it in half for two mini-burritos.

Afterwards, I like to lightly brown them in the toaster oven (or conventional oven) just to get that slight crispness. The kids love to dip theirs in sour cream and guacamole. Yum! Makes about 4 good sized burritos.

My kids eat mostly everything I cook.
My Son is picky.
My daughter is not.
But they do eat what I make.

My kids/Husband's favorites are:
BBQ, grilled anything
Thai Green Curry
Teriyaki anything
Lasagna
Spaghetti w/Marinara sauce and caramelized onions
Artichokes
Asparagus
Tomato & Mozzarella salad
Meatloaf
Taco Salad
Pulled-Beef in crock pot on buns (which I just made the other night and they love)
Corn Chowder
Salmon (poached or baked). They like fish, but I don't. But when I make fish, I will eat something else. I make it because they like it.
Toasted Sandwiches (in which I use whole grain bread, chicken breast, Sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Russian Dressing).
Chinese Chicken Salad
Nishime (Which is a Japanese dish)
Chicken Cassoulet

What they 'hate' or cannot stand that I cook:
nothing. :)

all the best,
Susan

- take pillsbury cressent rolls and roll cheese and ham or turkey in it, cook just a few minutes longer than suggested time and you get awesome lunch or dinner
- mac n cheese mixed with chicken or tuna and 1 or 2 of her favorite veggies, my daughter likes peas and corn or carrots
- grilled cheese with thin sliced tomatoes
- this is a good one :) if you have a crock pot, put 2lbs of pork tenderloin in with a 12 oz can of rootbeer, cook on low for 6 hours, take tenderloin out and empty entire bottle of 18 oz bbq sauce, mix while you pull it apart and you got pulled pork! Kids usually like it because they see you put soda in it. Its delicious.

my 18mnth old will eat easy mac for every meal if I let him, but is has to be the regular noodles. god forbid you serve him mac n cheese that is with elbow noodles, or worse shell shapes

My boys loved most every fruit but weren't so keen on veggies as toddlers (except corn). I tried getting frozen veggies of different kinds and just letting them thaw, not cooking them. Peas & carrots became a fave overnight! Add italian green beans, sugar snap peas, etc. Crunchy cucumbers, carrots, celery (careful of the strings) were all welcomed. Probably a texture thing. They are teens now and rarely picky (one doesn't do fish/seafood). The mom who talked about shell macaroni made me laugh. They would tell me it 'tasted different', lol. Just wait till she goes to school, she will be influenced by the other kids. :-)

She'll eat noodles, but put sauce on them and it's iffy. She LOVES Ramen but I limit her. She's not keen on anything that's mixed up most of the time. If we do a stir fry, we put the foods separated on her plate so she'll eat them.

My girls absolutely love chicken spaghetti and will eat it every night if that's all we had. On the other hand they don't really like when I make salsbury steak. They thinks it weird that it looks almost like a hamburger without the bun - but they still eat it.

Vegetable Soup. They get so tired of it. And yet, they eat it because I make it so much :)

We try really hard to eat whole foods and very little boxed or processed foods. I work outside the home, so it does take some time to make up meals and grocery shop, but I enjoy it and the kids and hubby and I eat better and stay healthy. I worry about teaching my kids to eat well and not grow up on junk and processed foods.
My kiddos love homemade pizza. I put spinach in my crust mix and in my pizza sauce. It makes a cool dinosaur green crust! I have also used beets and made a pink heart shaped crust for Valentine's Day. Another favorite is grilled tofu, and they can eat it with their fingers. Homemade noodles can be made using my pizza crust recipes and the colors are fun that way too. My kids like to help in the kitchen, so getting them involved in meal prep is a great way to get them thinking about healthy food choices and talking about what and why we eat the things we do. We eat a lot of raw veggie finger foods, anything they can eat with their fingers is a fave.

Dislikes: sauce on noodles, even if it is the same sauce from the pizza...
They also do not like milk! We use soy or almond milk. They do not like beef or pork, so we eat tofu in those kinds of dishes.

Grilled fish with rice and steamed veggies that are in baby sizes.
Our daughter always loved salmon.

Grilled Pork chops with little red potatoes, boiled or you can make them into tiny "baked potatoes".. Dilled steamed baby carrots.

Tacos, but use a round cookie cutter to make her tortillas small and easy for her to hold..Use ground turkey meat seasoned like taco meat. Guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes..

My kids love baked potato soup ( cooking light), taco salad, stir fry ( they love the snap peas, water chestnuts, broccoli, carrots, chicken, and some mandarin oranges,etc), they'll eat turkey/chicken tetrazzini, chili w/ corn bread, just about any casserole... Not much they don't like. I really can't complain.

My daughters (9 and 5 yrs old) love my chicken, broccoli and rice casserole. My husband loves it too. It is SO easy to make. The girls ask for it often and only refer to it as "casserole" and I know exactly what they are talking about.

Chicken, Broccoli & Rice Casserole

2 cups uncooked rice
2 cans chicken broth
1 cup cooked chicken, chopped
1 cup broccoli flouretts
1 can cream of chicken OR cream of mushroom soup
1 cup milk
2 T. butter
1 - 2 cups cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350*
In a medium sauce pan, cook rice according to directions in chicken broth.
Meanwhile chop broccoli and steam (I steam it for a few minutes in the microwave) in a large bowl. Mix in chicken, cream of soup and milk. Add hot cooked rice and melt in butter. Pour mixture into a baking dish and top with cheese. Bake 30 - 35 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Serves 4

My son is not "picky" by any means but his standard answer to "what do you want for dinner?" has been the same for at least 3 years.....tacos.

know what my four year old LOVES? making mini-pizzas out of canned biscuits (texas style or buttermilk). spread them out onto cookie sheets, put some sauce on, and let her go nuts. sausage, pepperoni, cheese, veggies, whatever you like. my son adores pizza nights. anything she can get involved in will probably be a hit! even better if it was "her" idea - ask her!