kids food

rossit

4 year old girl eats very little , only certain foods.has gone off anything green and the thing is she is great with fruit.have tried a few thing but any suggestion would be great

Tabnabs

We have recently found noodles to be a big hit. He hates the taste of pasta, but can't get enough noodles into him

Oh and fish fingers.

rossit

yeah she likes them its the veg and meat that are the big problems,thanks

Cat Melodeon

Have you tried making veg & chicken nuggets? cook off the chicken, then chop it up finely/mince it. Chop up whatever veg you have - if it's soft veg like courgettes, chop them up raw, if it's harder like carrots, cook them first. Then mix the meat and veg together in a bowl, mix in a beaten raw egg, form the mix into nugget sized balls and roll them in breadcrumbs. Cook as you would normal nuggets. Tell her it's from McDonalds. Feeding lies to a child along with their food is a great way of getting them to eat.

If you haven't got one already, the Annabel Karmel books do great meal plans for kids of all ages, including some fun ones for fussy eaters. Here's her website:
http://www.annabelkarmel.com/ - you can find the books for cheaper on Amazon.

seabre

What about making a pot of veg soup then blending and mixing with mash. One of mine aren't mad about veg either but this way I def get all the veg goodness into them.

Also I find when I roast veg she'll eat more of them cos it leaves them very sweet - worth a try, but you're lucky they'll take the fruit - that a huge help in situations like this.

Good Luck!

rylie

Does she like cheesy pasta? Anabel Karmel does a great hidden veg pasta sauce, I'll post the recipe if you like?

rossit

thanks loads to all ill try out all ideas ,the advice is greatly recieved.its good to hear other voices

amiable

There's times when you are probably very frustrated. Trust me if she's eating just let her eat. She'll come around if she over hears you talking positively about veg without asking her to eat it.

CK2010

is there a sauce she likes? my one hates any sauce but loves butter and if she doesnt want something il just tell her she can put a little butter on it if she likes.

also tell her which veg is like which fruit, like if you're cooking carrots say 'these feel kind of like apple in your mouth but they dont taste the same, what fruit do you think they taste like? have a try' might work if she curious like my girl! usually shes telling me what its like cause shes very into comparisons right now! although shes that bit older so id say she'll cop what you're doing!

i used to get tuna, rice and sweetcorn mixed in with mayo when i was a kid even though id never dream of eating any of them seprately, and now i sometimes give it to my girl and she loves it too. so maybe try mixing things together in a pasta or rice for her. some veg is a bit overpowering as a full portion but mixed in with something it can just be a nice bit of flavour.

dont make a big deal about it because then it'll become a big deal for her. my girl loves fruit and veg and doesnt see it as different to chicken nuggets or chips becaue we havent treated it differently. obviously if a kid is picky then they're gonna be choosy regardless of how you treat food but making it a big deal can only make it worse.

Khannie

Dyflin wrote: »

We have recently found noodles to be a big hit.

Not many people seem to know this, so don't take it personally: Noodles are pure crap. They have basically zero nutrition in them.

Khannie

Some great suggestions on here for getting the veg in.

If she's eating fruit she'll be fine. Veg is better, but fruit is good.

We get veg in the sneaky way too (though our one eats broccoli and carrots without any trouble really). Soup is a great one. I'll bake home made scones (which she really likes) and we'll say she can have her scone when she's had a reasonable amount of soup.

Spag bol's a good way to hide veg too.

CK2010

I didnt know that about noodles, even the proper oriental ones? that sounds a bit stupid!

weird Khannie, mine loves brocolli and carrots in particular too! like she'll beg for them when im making dinner!

Khannie

CK2010 wrote: »

I didnt know that about noodles, even the proper oriental ones? that sounds a bit stupid!

Not at all. I'm just a bit of a nutrition freak because I'm a fighter.

Well....I was talking about koka noodles type noodles. Damn them for being so delicious. The other ones it's maybe worth reading the ingredients list on. Some on the plate is no harm for kids once they're getting a well balanced meal with it (veg, meat / fish). Or like with a stir fry I wouldn't sweat it in the slightest. I just mean like a bowl of noodles on its own is a bit of a disaster.

CK2010

im a bit of a sucker for the curry koka noodles myself! never knew that though!

deisemum

I blitz mushrooms and courgettes in a food processor then add them to minced beef to make meatballs, burgers, spaghetti bolognaise or lasagna.

Juices and smoothies are another option for using fruit and veg.

I make my own chicken/salmon nuggets and they're lovely and nutritious.

One of my lads is a finiky eater but things improved hugely when I figured out that he likes spicy food such as curries, mexican, thai etc and not bland food such as plain meat etc.

dubsgirl

We have a book by Jessica Seinfeld called Deceptively Delicious - lots of recipes hiding veg in everyday food and treats. The choc chip cookie recipe is a favourite, hidden ingredient chickpeas

rylie

Sorry I meant to come back and post that recipe, in work so I'm recalling from memory (which is not as good as it used to be!)

Steam chopped carrot and broccoli.
Melt 2oz butter and stir in 1 big tbsp of plain flour, add 500mls milk gradually until sauce is thickened. Then add a big handful of grated cheese and the steamed veg, blitz it all with a hand blender and voila! It tastes really yum, I reckon you could sneak in a load of different veggies, peppers, courgette etc.

Kimono-Girl

my 16 month old will eat most veg. her dad on the other hand will only eat carrots,

i got around it by hiding other vegetables in sauces!

spag bol is a good one to hide most colorful things like carrots/peppers/brocolli/mushrooms.

Lasagne is another one great for hiding coloured veg!

cheese sauce is another tasty sauce that will hide veg colour & meat and it tastes good and is made of milk!

faijita's also can be fun and because of the sauce will hide other veg, plus they are fun to make adding the cheese/lettuce/tomato..(avoid the spicy ones & salsa if you want while they're small)

metrovelvet

I got my son to eat carrots by telling it makes you be able to see in the daark.

rossit

ha,ha, some lines never grow old.:D