So lately Cinderella doesn't eat lunch. Not really. I make her a sandwich or some other kind of food and she barely touches it. I think the snack she gets at preschool is maybe filling her up quite a bit. But I'm not really impressed with how healthy (or maybe I should say not healthy) those snacks tend to be. She won't eat veggies raw, and she pretty much just licks the topping off any sandwich I make, regardless of what kind of bread or grain I use. Bagels, bread, tortillas, pitas, English muffins, etc. She will maybe eat the fruit I give her. And usually she drinks her milk.
So I have been thinking lately, I don't want put so much effort into making food for her that is just going to stay on the table. But I don't want her to be hungry if she is, and I would like for her to get some nutrition in what she eats, not just empty calories, or lots of sodium, fat and sugar. You know what I mean? So I was thinking maybe snack sized portions, but I need some more ideas. I was wondering if anyone has any snack or light meal ideas, that kids tend to eat well, that are nutritious? Preferably something that doesn't take a ton of work, because it just isn't worth it, if she isn't going to eat it. And Guy is following her example a lot of the time, so I guess it applies to him too.
6 comments:
Well, sometimes my kids skip meals too, or hardly touch them. It could be that Cinderella is just slowing down in her growth and doesn't need as much food to grow as she used to... so yes, the child-sized portions are a good idea. If you're concerned about nutrition, there are a few things you can do to the sandwiches. If she'll only eat the filling of a tuna sandwich, add a little bit of white bean puree and some oat bran in with the topping. She probably won't notice it. If she does, then you overdid it and need to cut back. For grilled cheese, you can use low-fat cheese, and spread pureed carrots and/or sweet potatos on the bread before adding the cheese and grilling it. You can also mix a little bit of pureed carrots into ketchup, white beans into ranch dressing (if she likes to dip stuff). Sometimes dips help kids to want to eat their vegetables. You can also do a cheese fondue with some pureed vegetables in it. If she likes guacomole... avocados are PACKED with nutrition, and you can add green beans, spinach, and peas as well... it just takes a little experimentation. Also... maybe cut the sandwich into fun shapes like a heart or the first letter of her name... (you could use cookie cutters). You could make a special loaf of bread with food coloring in it too, if that appeals to her... she might like to eat purple bread... :) Well... those are my ideas anyway... :)
One more thing... if she will drink smoothies... you can throw just about any fruit you want in there (and sneak in a couple of vegetables). You could also make your own strawberry milk by juicing strawberries and adding them to her milk.
I've had veggi and dried apple chips that are pretty good. Will she eat cottage cheese? There are also some cookie recipes that have lots of different fruit, oats and grains in them that she might like.
Like pumpkin, applesauce etc.
Here are some things my kids love: string cheese or cheese cubes, pretzels, grapes, apple slices with yogurt dip, carrots sticks with Ranch dressing dip, Teddy Grahams with applesauce, yogurt with granola, grilled cheese sandwich cut into strips with spaghetti sauce to dunk it in, frozen corn, tuna on crackers, chicken nuggets (you can make your own quite easily) with dunking sauces, seasoned baked potato wedges or bite-size chunks, edamame, avocado or guacamole, chicken or plain quesadilla with salsa, pasta with either shredded chicken and cream of chicken or tuna with cream of celery, rice with cheese sauce and mixed veggies (or you can cook the rice with chicken bouillon and sprinkle cheese on top instead of using sauce), pasta cooked in chicken broth and mixed with peas and shredded cheese, tortilla roll ups with any kind of meat and cheese and shredded vegetable. Is that enough? And yes, snack size portions would probably be best.
Oh, yeah! I used to make smoothies for Benjamin with orange juice, vanilla yogurt, and 1/2 banana.
My boys also like waffles and French toast with applesauce or yogurt.
My kids do the less eating thing when their growing slows down. I have a hard time with lunches as well. I bake chicken nuggets or cut up sandwiches with cookie cutters for a variety. I let Jenna suck up yogurt through a straw as well. Go check out books at the library in the food section. They usually have books with fun ideas.
One of my favorite things to do is take pieces of cheese and tuck them inside of cresent rolls (I used reduced fat ones) and bake them. The kids always love those and are really excited when they find pepperoni inside as well. Not really less fat, but it gets them to eat.
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