Need Recipes for 2 Year Old Who Won't Eat Meat/veggies

L.,

I have to agree with a post from Christy on this one, I have 5 kids all grown now, but have 8 grankids and not one of them are fed a special meal! I think that when you fix dinner that is the meal for the night! Fix her plate and put it in front of her and sit and have dinner. If she doesn't eat, then put it in the fridge when she is hungry, take it out, warm it up and let her eat what you had for dinner. I know that kids go through spells where they don't like things, but to fix them special meals is not necessary. My kids all ate what we had for dinner, they didn't always like it, but they ate it because they knew that if they didn't there was no dessert and I was not fixing them something else. I have one son who didn't like meat very much, but he ate some at least.

I think that many moms today think that they have to give the kids what they want to eat, which isn't always healthy. But you have to remember who is the adult? Kids learn very quickly how to get their way, but it won't be that way at daycare or at school, so get her used to eating foods now that are good for her.

My kids all grew up with lots of fruits, vegetables and meat for all meals. My grandkids are the same way! They call broccoli trees, and want if often. They eat brussel sprouts, cauliflower,etc.... The thing is if we didn't offer theses foods to them they wouldn't eat them!

Just stand firm, if she skips a meal or two but finds out that you are not going to make her a "special meal" she will eat!

Good luck to you, I know it is easier to say then to do!
L.

Log onto www.thesneakychef.com and get some neat recipes for kid-friendly foods. You can hide all kinds of veggies and fruits and the recipes I've tried are really good. Now the meat is another thing...she'll probably warm back up to meat after this phase is over.

Cheese, My daughter won't eat meat she's 27 and still won't eat meat. Now she love veggies and my step children weren't raised to get veggies just potato but put cheese on it they'll eat it. White sauces and gravy also. I also have a rule if I'm nice enough to make it you have to eat a thank you helping a way to say thank you for making it might have to be only 2 bites but sometimes that enough to find they like it. My daughter still says alright I'll eat a thank you portion.

Try the Deceptively Delicious cookbook...my two year old daughter has loved almost everything I've made from it. You'll have to puree some veggies, so plan ahead, but it's worth it. Keep putting regular meat and veggies in front of your daughter, but this will help you "sneak" some of the healthy things into items she'll probably eat. Good luck!

Just a few other ideas to add to the mix - if you're worried about protein, you can buy powdered protein and mix it with milk. This is usually available in the health/vitamin aisle or at a nutrition/exercise store. Muscle Milk is a common one. Body builders often use it to help add protein and bulk up in size. I couldn't stand the smell or taste of meat while I was pregnant, so my husband suggested adding a scope to my milk. It comes in all sorts of flavors (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, etc.).

Also, if your daughter will eat chips and salsa, that's a great way to sneak in veggies. There's even a "garden vegetable" salsa out there that includes carrots and a few other veggeis besides just tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Or you can make your own and sneak in what you need to!

And try veggies prepared different ways - I was no-green veggie person for awhile, but it's because I was only offered veggies that were boiled as a kid. I later realzed that raw and steamed broccoli tasted different than mushy boiled broccoli. I only like carrots raw and green beans steamed or mixed in stir fry. Boil them and they taste totally different to me.

OK, when our sons wouldn't eat...we tried to accommodate some of their wishes into each menu. This included having them help with choosing the groceries. By giving them this autonomy, we allowed them the freedom to grow & to learn to make choices. It's so easy to say, "OK, we need a vegie for our dinner. Here's carrots & here's green beans.... which would you like to pick for our dinner?"

Allow your daughter to help make the shopping list: let her look in the cabinet/frig for what you know you need... as in, "do we have any cheese? Do we have any carrots?".

While at the store, let her help find the food. Give her the coupon & help locate the item. Let her help put the groceries away....as in let her pull it from the bag & you put it where you want it.

When it's mealtime, let her make the decision between two food choices. & then let her help prepare the food. The more involved she is.....the happier she'll be & the greater her life skills will also be!

Addressing this from another angle, allowing autonomy & choices like this, creates a dynamic where you are actually in charge & your child is actually following your lead...without the head-butting & drama that comes from control issues. & what's fascinating to me.....is that most young children will choose your 2nd choice, not the 1st!! It's sooo consistent that it's almost freaky!!

Now for the toughie part, if not eating continues to be an issue.....then start setting consequences. Make the rule be that she has to eat 2 bites (based on age) of each food item on her plate. Set the consequence beforehand & clearly state it. (bonus here: she'll learn to count!) If she does not comply with YOUR rules, then follow thru on the consequence....whether it be time-out or no snack or ?? You are in charge....

You just described my 4 year old daughter. The only meat I can get her to eat is banquet chicken nuggets (she doesnt like Tyson) and McDonalds cheese burgers. We have to get our protein different ways. Milk, Cottage Cheese, peanut butter, yogart, peanuts. I will make give her peanut butter on graham crackers and make her yogart and put kashi go lean crunch cereal in it with fresh strawberries. My husband walked by her one day and said "thats lunch?". I said "YES" its healthier than chicken nuggets and Mac & Cheese. So you just have to get creative. I have a zucchni bread recipe that I also shred up carrots and put nuts in, sub the oil for applesauce, and use whole wheat flour. I will give you the recipe if you want it. She loves it! I also shred up carrots and put it in speghetti sauce. I use whole wheat speghetti noodles too, its like 1/2 the carbs as white noodles. Will she eat Speghetti with meat in it? As far as anything green, Im still at a lose. Sometimes she will eat raw broccoli with ranch. OH! Salads, I buy spinach leaves and hide it in her salad! But green beans, forget about it! My daughter smells them from a mile away!! Luckily she likes her flinstone vitamans! I hope some of this helps! But it she sounds pretty typical!

*** Hi! I wanted to update this with the Zucchini Bread Recipe-

3 eggs
1 cup applesauce
2 cups shredded Zucchini
1 cup shredded carrots (about 2 medium/small organic carrots)
2 cups sugar
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp vanilla
1 tbls cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup walnuts if desired, if I put more that 1/2 cup walnuts, my picky daughter says its too nutty and wont eat it!

Mix together in a bowl. This makes 3 jumbo loaves. Fill loaf pans half way and bake @ 350 for about 35 minutes. Near the end I stick a knife in the middle to make sure nothing sticks, if it doesnt your good to go!

**I shred the zucchini and carrots with a cheese shredder in case anyone needs to know that!

Its fun and my daughter loves making it with me. AND she actually eats it!

****Also I want to add more thoughts! Go figure! But I used to refuse to make my daughter something other than what we eat for dinner too. It was a fight everynight, she got sent to her room with no dinner countless times because she wouldnt eat it. And if I could get her to try things that she didnt want, she would gag and sometimes throw up at the dinner table. She was punished in every way I could possibly think to punish her. I promise, Im not just raising a spoiled kid that eats whatever she wants. She has a very healthy diet and I have to get creative with it. And you know why I did this???? Because she IS underweight. So the people that say your child wont starve if you dont make them what they want, YES they will or they will get very sick. There was one night we were fighting about dinner, and I looked down at my food and had a revelation, I JUST started liking that food like two years ago myself! Kids have different tastes than grown adults do. So BIG kudos to you moms that can get your kids to digest the right amount of fruits and veggies that little food table suggests. But some kids WONT!! Trust me Iv tried!!! So to you moms that have to get creative....KUDOS to you too for making sure your child is getting a proper diet. THE END =)

You can also puree white beans (navy beans, garbanzo, other kinds), and mix them in with mac and cheese or other light pasta sauces. And there are a couple recipe books out there all about pureeing veggies and mixing them in with kid-friendly foods -- one is by Jessica Seinfeld, and I don't know the other author, but you could google it or look it up on Amazon.

I want to offer a different perspective. Have you talked to your pediatrician about your concerns? My 3 year old daughter would not eat meat or veggies. She had low muscle tone so had a hard time biting and chewing. She also had a speech delay. So I would be sneaky and cook food with hidden veggies and emphasize other proteins like eggs, beans and nuts. Then our family went gluten free because my son was diagnosed with celiac disease. Two weeks after going gluten free, my daughter started eating meat and veggies. I have no idea how or why the two may be related and it was certainly a pleasant surprise but when we took the rest of the family (except my son) off the gluten free diet, my daughter once again refused meat and veggies.

For your daughter, I hope you would never need to be gluten free because it is not an easy thing to do. However, it may be worth asking the doctor about.

Good morning! Can you cut vegetables (either cooked or fresh) into "strips" like french fries and tell her they are "colored french fries?" This worked for my friend's daughter. They dipped sweet potatoes (cooked and cut into strips), carrots, green beans, peppers, etc. in ketchup and ate them as if they were french fries. As for meat, does she eat spaghetti? You can put ground turkey, beef, etc in the sauce. She can also get lots of protein from beans, peanut butter, eggs and cheese.

My daugher was the exact same way. She is getting better now, but it is still a struggle to get her to eat what she needs. To give her veggies I would make her a special yogurt. I would put yogurt, fresh fruit, and several containers of different kinds of baby food vegetables in the blender. I also added a few boiled egg whites, and a couple tablespoons of ground flax seed (which adds Omega-3 fatty acid that she was missing out on from refusing fish). The flavor of the yogurt and fruit would mask the veggie taste, and she would eat it.

Try the Deceptively Delicious cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld (yes, Jerry Seinfeld's wife). I don't have a whole lot of time to puree food, but out of what I have made, my daughter LOVES! Continue to offer her veggies in their realy form (the cookbook also states this) so she will get used to the food, but if she doesn't eat it..don't worry b/c you've hidden it in the food. Seriously, you should check out this cookbook!!!!!!! Good luck!

Holy cow. I didn't read one post from a parent whose advice would mirror my own...in all twenty-something posts!

I am shocked by how many parents are willing to basically cook an entire second meal just to placate their toddler. Amazing.

OF COURSE a child will choose the unhealthy, tastier, fattier, sweeter foods if you allow them to. They are CHILDREN. It is your job to choose until they are old enough to make healthy choices on their own. JUST SAY NO to hiding healthy foods or making every meal into a "treat" just so they will eat it. You are teaching your child that they don't have to be flexible or try new things...that the world will always bend over backwards to meet their needs.

You are setting your child up for a bigger disappointment than I think you realize.

Here's an interesting idea: Offer her exactly what you are eating (in bite-size peices of course). If she doesn't want it, don't offer her anything else. No desserts, no snacks, no treats, no sippy cups full of juice or milk to fill her belly because you feel guilty. If she needs a drink after the refused meal, give her some water. I PROMISE...she WILL NOT starve if she misses a meal or two. Eventually (if you stick to your guns and remain consistent) she will eat what she is given without complaint. You will shocked at how quickly she will adapt to the new, no-nonsense rules at mealtime when she knows that she has no other choice other than the healthy foods you offer.

She's picky because you allow her to be. She knows that she doesn't have to eat anything that looks or tastes different or "funny" because you will make her something else. She will always behave this way unless you put a stop to it.

Seriously...do you want to be making separate meals when she's 8? Or 10? This will spill over into other areas as well...when she goes to school or a relative's house she'll expect special treatment because "mommy doesn't make me eat that."

I hope I don't sound too mean...but I promise: this is a habit to nip in the bud as early as you can.

Good luck!
C.

**Edit: I love the idea of having her help make dinner...but don't feel the need to cook a special meal in order to do this...include her in your regular, healthy meal preparation. It really does make a difference and she will be more inclined to eat it because she helped make it.***

Keep in mind, nobody needs meat to be healthy. We all need protein, though! Protein that my kids eat includes:
eggs (whole is good at this age)
tofu (cut in cubes and steamed, or sauteed, barbecue sauce might be helpful, but a super-picky kid might prefer blander/plain foods)
beans, try whole as a finger food, or slighly mashed for utensil practice, or pureed. All three have different textures, at different ages mine have preferred them differently. Besides garbanzos, pintos, kidneys, navy beans, there are split peas and lentils, both of which make good soup which might be to her taste.
Or a bean or tofu salad, mashed with some mayo (I use Vegenaise) and little chopped carrots or celery or pepper if she will take it, maybe a bit of pickle relish, spread on bread or crackers.
The only animal we eat is fish a couple times/week, we don't do dairy but we do soy milk a lot. But there is plenty of protein in these foods. Hope she likes something from this list!

I use the food processor a lot. Zuccini (sp?) is easy to hide. I puree it and put it in spaghetti sauce, quesadillas, spanish rice... And you can use veggies other than zuccini. My kids love everything I make w/ hidden veggies in it. Oh, spinach is another good one to puree and hide in things. Of course, I prefer they see the veggie on their plate and choose to eat it, but I gave up on that a long time ago. Hope that helps.

at that age her tastes can change daily. I would just fix what you fix for dinner and if she won't eat any of it then she will have to wait until the next meal to eat. When my kids were little I would put a teaspoon of each item on their plate and they had to try a little of it because I told them that everyone cooks things differently and they may like something they didn't like before if it is cooked differently. Have you tried frozen or fresh veggies? My kids won't eat any canned veggies and I don't blame them.. They are full of sodium and preservatives that are not healthy but they will eat frozen veggies or fresh veggies and have also noticed that if I have everything chopped up and peeled ahead of time in seperate containers in the fridge they will snack on them more than chips or other junk food. They also eat fruit well if they don't have to work at cleaning them or peeling. If I put a plate of cut up apples or peeled oranges on the table after school they will clear off that plate very quickly but if they have to prepare it themselves the fruit will sit in the fridge forever and rot.
Just have her try a bite everyday of whatever you cook. She may like it the next time around.

Put chicken or chopped up hamburger in mac-n-cheese or other foods she really likes. You can also put corn or other veggies in these foods. Peas and corn are great to mix in other foods. Broccoli is good in anything with cheese.

I know that she is only 2 but have you tried having her help make what ever it is that you are making? My daughter who is almost 6 is also picky. When she helps me cook it then she is more likly to eat it. One of her favorites to make and her 2 year old brother's is pizza. Only I cheat and we use biscuits. I buy just a can of biscuits and give each of the kids their own cookie sheet. Then I give them each a couple of biscuits and tell them to flaten them. They can flaten them by pushing them, punching them, or however they want as long as they are flat. I then put Ragoo Pizza Sauce on the "Pizza" I give them a bowl with cheese and let them put as much cheese as they want on their pizza. I also give each of them a bowl with pepperoni, black olives, green or red peppers and pineapple. I know that it sounds gross but they only put on it what they like. We even do this when my daughter has friends over and then their parents call me about what kind of pizza did you have my kid make for the meal when they were there? It is amazing as to what I have been told about what the child will and will not eat at home when I tell the parent what all the child had on their pizza. I have even done Turkey pepperoni but I do not like the taste of it so I do not expect my kids to eat it.
At our house we call this Biscuit Pizza.

I wanted my son to eat meat to get protein, but he flat-out refused. So we got him protein in different ways. We would still offer him meat, but if he didn't eat it, I wasn't as upset. Same with veggies.
My husband purees veggies and puts them in smoothies. My son thinks he's getting a treat, and he is, but it makes us all happy.
You may want to try "unusual" veggies. Whole-grain tortilla chips with mild salsa (all veggies), black olives (fun to put on fingers), artichoke hearts (I know, but my son loves them!), etc. I've found that the stranger they are, the more he likes them. He won't touch carrots or broccoli or green beans.
As far as meat goes, keep offering, but don't stress. At this age, texture is a really big issue for them. Our son likes meat on pizzas, he likes steak, and chicken nuggets. That's it. We give him cheese, yogurt, kiddie protein powder, and hummus (if he decides that day that he likes it). He also recently started dipping tortilla chips in refried beans (YAY). Keep trying. Things will change as she gets older.

try other things that have protein. nuts, cottage cheese, cheese sticks, tofu, tempeh, peanut butter, even yoghurt if all else fails but try low sugar if can find. there are ways to get the nutrition in. try frozen vegies my child went through period where she loved them. I was astonished but happy. baby food mixed in with spaghetti sauce is an easy way to hide, I am told sweet potato and I can't recall the other one is a good choice.

all else fails, it very likely will pass and she will be back on track. i think I read somewhere that at around age two they get fussy about food...taste buds developing? when before would eat anything? this happened in one of our two kids

they both tend to like different vegies and fruits too which is curious

my child does not like most animal protein either and we have done ok. she likes almonds, cottage cheese a few other things. I don't push it. just remind them both it is good to try new things.

I agree to adding pureed veggies to anything you can! Another option for adding protien to her diet is bean curd. Puree beans and you can add it to ANYTHING. I have put it into cupcakes, cookies, cake, and spagetti sauce (my entire family won't eat beans)! Here is a good site. I just googled it: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/sneaky-chef-simple-strateg... Good luck and I hope this helps!!

I can't really suggest new ideas but it always helps to hear that your child is completely normal and not the pickiest. I think they all go through that stage. Just keep trying and it will get better. My oldest was the same way and now she asked to try new stuff all the time, including meat and veggies.

L. have you tried making your own chicken nuggets? Will she eat marinara sauce? Very easy to puree veggies and add to spaghetti sauce w/o compromising the taste and texture. Will she eat jello? easy to puree fruit and add to jello. Does she drink juice? Remember she is young and she will eat what you give her...I wish I had taken a firmer stand with my now 8 year old picky eater...trust me it gets old very quickly...unless you want to feel like a short order cook the rest of your life and constantly worry about her nutrition do everything in your power to get her to not be picky now...I have thought my picky eater would out grow it for 5 years now...losing hope, my picky eater may be serving nuggets and cheese pizza at her wedding reception at this point...lots of luck
B.

I have a son that hates veggies- but if you bread them and fry them, he can't get enough... just a thought. When my kids have struggled with eating, I just get some pediasure- it has all of the essential vitamins and then keep trying with the foods. There are tons of great kid cookbooks out there- just google it! Food Network has some tips for feeding picky eaters... http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes-and-cooking/top-five-t...

Good luck!!

Have you tried making shake & bake chicken nuggets? I buy the Great Value (wal-mart) chicken breast chunks b/c they are not as processed (they are not ground & pressed chicken)as the Tyson nuggets.
Could she help you make the lunch meat sandwich or other meat meal? May be that would make her more interested in eating it.

God bless!

My son loves nuggets too, but I get the "fake meat" ones from Morningstar Farms or Boca. Much, much healthier. You might consider trying that, or you can blend tofu into just about anything. It absorbs the flavor of whatever you're making it with, so she probably won't even notice. If she'll eat pasta, you can sneak just about anything into the sauce. My son is also much more likely to eat things if he helps me make them or feels like he has some say in what he's eating.
Just keep in mind, she'll get over this too. Next week she may decide broccoli is the best thing ever!

I got the book from Dr. Sears website called "Eat Healthy, Feel Great" Desiged for kids. I read it to my son when he was 2 and it made a difference.
I also use morning star Chick'n Nuggets...They are veggie. Also, I use the veggie burgers.
My son also takes Juice Plus. I know that he gets part of his servings of fruits and veggies with this product. They have gummies that are fabulous. For more info go to www.drjenjuiceplus.com. I look it as an extra insurance policy for health. Let me know if you need more info.