Meals for Me and My Toddler

my daughter and I like to eat smoothies, grilled cheese (multigrain bread with cheddar with extra virgin olive oil) and veggies to dip. anything pasta... soups... At that age kids will eat almost anything if they think it is fun... my daughter likes "ants on a log" (celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins) or broccoli "little trees"

For great ideas get a cute kids cookbook, the recipes are geared towards kids so they are usually quick, easy and fairly healthy- great for lunches- plus they would be a great way to start getting her involves in basic cooking. We have "Chicken soup for the soul, kids in the kitchen" by jack canfield and "the Green princess cookbook" by barbara beery, and I also plan to get "the toddler cookbook" by annabel karmel (I have her first meals food diary" which I loved for making baby food.

Good Luck!
-M.

try any of Bittman's cookbooks, or look him up on the NYT webpage. He is awesome, no nonsense and easy. No reason why she shouldn't eat anything that you do. My MIL notoriously served hubs the same plate of scrambled eggs for two days, until he relented and ate it. Never again was food a battle of wills. We hope our sone won't be a picky eater, but if he happens to be, I think I will follow suit.

Sounds like you'll be making alot of salads w/fruit or crumbled meat for toppings.

I really never had this problem. By the time my kid could digest big people food, he ate what we ate. When we were in New Orleans for a month, we ate nothing but Cajun food...my kid was only 17 mos back then. But he ate what we ordered (sometimes even the spicy dishes!).

gl

- homemade chicken tenders
- turkey meatballs with wheat pasta
- meatloaf is a huge hit with our 3 yr old
- grilled/sliced chicken
- yogurt
- eggs (scrambled or egg salad)
- any frozen veggies
- tacos
- soups
- chicken hot dogs
- popcorn shrimp
- grilled fish

Ditto Krista P!

You can make things healthier by making them yourself and, when appropriate, substituting ground turkey for ground beef. We have turkey taco night, which everyone loves at our house, including the two toddlers.

Make your own mac and cheese with whole wheat pasta, and a recipe that includes fat free cottage cheese. Add some tomatoes, or peas.

My kids LOVE TO EAT frozen peas. Seriously. When they beg for a snack before dinner, I scoop them out little bowls full and they chomp happily away.

We also have make your own pizza night with some sort of whole wheat crust and then sauce, light cheese, and veggies, ham or pineapple on top.

I make home made chicken strips/nuggets. You can make extra and feeze them. I coat chicken in baby food sweet potato, and dredge in a mixture of panko, flax meal, salt, pepper and a little garlic salt. You can fry or bake and freeze the rest.

Homemade spaghetti sauce - make on the weekend - chop carrots, celery and onion saute in a little olive oil, cover until soft, brown turkey and then combine with canned tomatos, can sauce, and tomato paste. Season as you like, simmer at least 30 minutes but more is better, and serve with whole wheat pasta. Freeze extra sauce for a quick weekday meal later on.

Scrambled eggs with chopped summer squash (they never know its there!), grilled ham, wheat toast, and fruit for a quick dinner. Just saute the squash a little before you add the eggs, so it is soft.

For desert, i serve "yogurt treat" with lowfat vanilla yougrt, fresh fruit, cin/sugar and sometimes a little wheat germ sprinkled on top.

And sometimes we eat mcdonalds or order out pizza! :)

My son (4) and I love Tostatas! I get the fat free refried beans and heat up, put some tostata shells in the oven, spread the beans and put shreaded cheese on top! THIN layer of beans for him so it is not as messy...he thinks it is fun to eat!

Also, he loves raw carrot sticks and ranch! I make the ranch with low fat sour cream and the dry ranch mix...I get alot of carrots in him with the ranch!

Apples and peanut butter are also a favorite. Or just an apple but he doeesn't want me to cut it up...likes to eat it just like it is.

When my oldest was about your daughter's age I used to make a lot of fish sticks, broccoli & tater tots for the 2 of us for dinner on night's when my husband was working. Another one I made a lot was homemade macaroni & cheese with a can of diced tomatoes in it & then I would either just make a can of corn or sometimes a ring of kielbasa to go with it. Ooh, and meatloaf with a tomato gravy instead of brown gravy, instant mashed taters & a veggie. He's always been such a good little eater & I was only 22 years old when I had him so I had limited cooking experience back then, lol!

Sometimes I cook up some pasta in chicken broth, add frozen broccoli (or other frozen veggies) and when it's all done, I top it with some cheese. He loves it (so do I!) We also make little quesadillas to share. Take a tortilla shell and cook it on stove top with some shredded cheese and black beans inside. Oh, sometimes we also make mini pizzas! Either little mini pizza crusts or even just english muffins with a little pizza sauce (squeezable bottle kind), shredded cheese, ground beef (we just have a bunch cooked up in the freezer and I can just grab a handful), chopped tomato or anything else you like and bake!

Quesadillas and homemade pizza-- quick and easy and an EXCELLENT way to A) use up leftovers and B) add veggies