Toddler Meals

Toddlers are tricky for many reasons.  

Figuring out their eating habits/likes & dislikes is a mystery.  My daughter will devour something one day and refuse it the next.  Textures and food temperature are important... not too hot, not too cold, but just right.  I guess it's the Goldilocks eating method she's trying to achieve.  She is just starting to want to use a fork and will still let me spoon feed her at times.  Olive loves to help me fix meals and wants to be a part of everything I'm doing in the kitchen.

 

Right now Olive's favorite foods (ones she'll pretty consistently eat) are:

cheese

yogurt 

ice cream

bread/toast

pretzels

crackers

dry cereal

raisins

cucumbers

bananas

fruit

smoothies

pureed pouches of fruits+veggies

oh and anything I happen to be eating :)

I try to introduce meats to her and she rarely eats them.  She'll have a bite or two but never eats it all.  I offer her a variety of things and try to mix her favorites in with new things.  This girl knows what she likes and is not easily fooled.  She'll pick out her favorites and ignore new things.  I sometimes have luck introducing her to new things when she wants to try what I'm eating.  She loves sharing fruits and thinks it's really cool to eat off of my fork.  She's lucky that I'm good at sharing :)

I love that she can eat what we eat now so I rarely fix her special meals.  The exception to this is when we have something spicy or something she can't chew yet.

These are some lunch/breakfast foods I've fixed for her lately:

 This girls loves her cheese... my husband asked what was wrong with our new cheese sticks.  I told him that Olive decided to sample each of them.  The moral of the story is that teething toddlers will chew on e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. in sight!

I know that meal time is supposed to be fun and an intro to new foods.  We do plenty of that and a lot of the time I feel like I clean up as much food as she actually eats.  Olive hates having her hands dirty so we always keep a wet washcloth close by.

I love this graphic to help me plan out healthy meal options for Olive.  I'm hoping to work in more avocado, eggs, humus, oatmeal and steamed veggies.

via citymomsblog

What types of food do you fix for your little ones?

Any recommendations or favorites to share?