Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Toddler Chef


We tried some new things this month and they were toddler approved so I thought I'd share a few of our meals with you.  Olive eats mostly the same things we eat now and I still cut things up for her.  I try to separate each of the ingredients and she eat the food better.  If I built her a mini burger, she wouldn't know what to do with it.  So I give her all the same ingredients cut in manageable sizes (bun, meat, cheese, pickles, lettuce and tomato) and she will wolf it down. 

My biggest thing right now is to offer food to Olive even if it's not something that I love.  She has really started loving meat - sausage and meat balls - and I'm not a huge meat eater.  So I've been buying things specifically for her to try and giving it to her several times before I decide if she likes it or not.  I'm also trying to make her plates colorful and tell her the names of the foods she's eating.  She currently calls strawberries (dar dars) and can easily say cheese, fishies and will usually just say yummmmmmmmm if she seems something she loves.

FAVORITE FOODS:
meat
edamame
strawberries
breakfast bars
cheese
anything crunchy
all bread

1. Mama + Me Meals
I try to make the same food for Olive and I as often as I can.  Here are some examples of mama + me meals.  She prefers hers deconstructed (all the ingredients in a spot on her plate rather than assembled)
Black bean burgers:

2. Smoothies
Chia seeds in mine and just fruit/yogurt in hers
I need to work on my green smoothie recipes because I rarely make them.  They kind of gross me out so I've just done fruit and other berry ones.

3. Shared Snacks
Apple slices w/ extra crunchy PB

 4. Hummus
Olive loves cucumbers & carrot sticks dipped in hummus.
She'll often dip and lick because she loves the hummus so much.
She loves the roasted garlic and the red pepper hummus.  I've never tried making our own and always just buy the store bought kind.

5. A new purchase this month - Applesauce CUPS
Olive loves applesauce, but those pouches are expensive.
So I purchased some cups and she's a big fan.
We've tried mixed berry applesauce and cinnamon.
They are much cheaper than the pouches.

6. Cheese quesadillas are always a hit

7. Olive loves turkey sausage and has it often.
It's fully cooked and really easy.
It comes in a pouch by the breakfast sausage and is less than $5 for a ton of it.

What are your toddler's favorite meals??

3 comments:

  1. I can tell that you put a lot of time and care when planning Olive's meals. I see she gets a lot of variety. I need to be better at giving Jack many different foods on his plate. I just hate seeing food go to waste and Jack can be such a picky eater at times. I hate opening something I know he loves and then he throws it in the floor like I gave him something yucky. Toddlers can be such difficult eaters at times.

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  2. That's so smart to break it down for her! She is so cute and I love that you have Duck Dynasty on in the background. ;)

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  3. I think it's great you're introducing her to foods that you don't eat. I've thought about if we have kids, how we'll introduce foods (like seafood) that neither of us eat.

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