We are slowly changing our eating habits to help LO1 with some health issues. She's pretty good about eating fruits and veggies (both girls are, actually) so that's great for snacks, but I struggle with actual meals. Can anyone share healthy meal ideas that your kids actually eat?
-
@Bao: To get a better idea of what you're looking for, what are things your LO likes/dislikes? What are you trying to get her to eat more of? If she is good with veggies and fruits, i would think that's a win right there.
-
@Freckles: she likes a lot of things, salads being one of them so that's what I've been doing this week. But for meals I struggle. So they like pizza, mac n cheese, kid stuff! But that's not really healthy. She's really not picky so I've got that going for me!
She struggles with severe constipation so aiming for meals that won't make things worse for her.
-
We do a lot of protein plus carb plus veggie. So my kids like
roasted chicken thighs (with skin and bone, with salt and garlic and thyme) or
pork chops or
turkey burgers or
pan seared swai
with
Sweet potatoes/rice/couscous/homemade biscuits
And
Steamed broccoli/sauteed cauliflower/sugar snap peas -
Following! We just started making one dinner instead of a dinner for DH and I and one for each kid, so we are looking for meal ideas too. So far I'm trying to do similar to @MrsSRS with a protein, carb, and then fruits / veggies to round it out. So we had pasta and spaghetti squash with red sauce, broccoli and meatballs, and tonight will do tacos with taco meat, tortillas, cheese and tons of veggie toppings.
-
@Bao: That's great she likes salad! How about roasted veggies? They love roasted yams (which are great for constipation), roasted carrots and acorn squash. If they like mac and cheese, have you tried a green mac and cheese? I used to steam baby kale or spinach, puree it with a little cream and pesto and it makes a nice creamy sauce for pasta. Also when i make meatballs, i mix in cooked red lentils to use less meat and they can't tell.
In general, we are a carb + meat + veggies household. We will either do brown rice or white rice + millet, meat and steamed or roasted veggies. If she is having major constipation issues (LO1 had this problem) i would avoid pastas and breads for a while.
-
Lo likes salmon, brown rice and bits of roasted broccoli. Wrap it in bite size nori -seaweed.
-
@Freckles: that's why I struggle she loves pasta and toast/PB sandwiches.
-
Salmon is a huge hit with my three year old the other day. We had salmon with quinoa and broccoli (another favorite). We had marniated pork chops with salad (uneaten by the girls)and pineapple smoothies that went over well too! My almost two year old loves anything with black beans. Black beans, corn, bell pepper, tomatoes and chips are a healthy and easy meal that I can everyone to eat.
-
Breakfast my son loves smoothies and you can pack all sorts of regulating foods into it like prunes and greens and yogurt.
Lunches and dinners my son actually really loves miso soup made with tofu and veggies (we have added everything from mung bean or soy bean sprouts, to thinly sliced bok choy or napa cabbage, shredded carrots and zucchini) to which we add a scoop of rice and he sorta shovels it in like oatmeal. We actually add rice to a lot of soups for the same reason - he can manage it with a spoon better than thin soups. We eat a multigrain rice mix.
He loves vegetable beef soup with rice in it. Italian wedding soup is another fave and you can put lots of greens in it and make it fun with stars or alphabet pasta.
We do stirfry noodles that are packed with shredded veg (they basically hide in the noodles) like mung bean sprouts, shredded carrots and zucchini, thinly sliced peppers, and shredded chicken or shrimp. When we make pasta with red sauce I usually make a pretty veggie packed chunky sauce with every veggie we have in the house and then purée it before mixing it with my son's pasta. If meat is desired in the pasta you can always add a little chopped cooked chicken or sausage on the side.
Kale chips are easy and fun. They're good dipped in ketchup! As are roasted green bean fries or butternut squash fries.
-
Great ideas everyone! Will try some of these out
-
You can also make pizza relatively healthy. I buy whole wheat English muffins at Trader Joes, split them in half, add a little tomato paste, some shredded mozzarella and then lots of veggies. They freeze well and my kids LOVE them.
Avocado and hummus are big hits in our house too. On "lazy" nights they'll have crackers with hummus and avocado with a Babybel cheese and some steamed veggies on the side. My 4 year old will actually tell you that's his favorite meal!
-
My kids almost always have granola and yogurt for breakfast, or baked oatmeal, which helps start off right. I think this alone keeps their digestion on the right track and I notice a difference when we start giving them waffles or toast instead.
Then for other meals we cook with a lot of beans and I think that helps too. So taco meat with a can of chopped beans mixed in with the meat. Chili made with beans (my toddler eats it over rice since he isn't big into soups). Hummus and wraps. Roasted squash or sweet potato.
Avoid things like too many carrots, rice, white bread.
-
She loves salmon, most fruit and veggies. A big hit is spaghetti squash, especially made like spaghetti. I mix it with ground turkey, some beans, and tomato sauce. Soup is another. I make vegetable soup with a little chicken and rice in it.
-
Following for ideas
-
My daughter LOVES homemade black beans, rice, and avocado for a meal. We always have it on hand in case for daycare lunches or in case she doesn't like dinner that night.
-
We do smoothies for breakfast
Lunch is usually "snack lunch"
Today it was peppers, strawberries, Gouda cheese, 3 crackers and half a pj and J. Yesterday it was soup and grilled cheese. Typically it's more of a "snack style"Dinner last night was shepards pie DH made
Tonight is chicken, mixed steamed veggies, brown rice
He also loves spaghetti and we've been using spaghetti squash which has been a hit and healthier option with home made sauce and meat balls -
Our meal templates look like this:
Breakfast- fruit + traditional breakfast food (steel cut oats, scrambled eggs and spinach, etc)
Lunch- fruit + veggie + protein + carb (I like to keep around "easy" veggies like baby carrots, persian cucumber, bell pepper, and if you couple it with hummus then you're already taking care of the protein too).
Dinner- protein + carb (usually) + cooked veg + salad. If you want I can come back with detailed suggestions. I'm currently cooking dairy/soy/gluten free for the house and it's been good for everyone. -
My son still has problems with combining foods (he's a little OCD and won't let foods touch on his plate haha). We've had good luck with taco meat and brown rice with a side of carrots. Since he's allergic to dairy, I usually give him deconstructed versions of our meals.
That said, there are some full meals that he's eaten successfully with us:
Homemade chili with biscuits (stinker ate around all the beans because he's a little carnivore)
Fajitas (this recipe: https://www.budgetbytes.com/2013/02/oven-fajitas/)
Fried Brown Rice (with double eggs)
Lasagna chill (http://www.food.com/recipe/mimis-lasagne-chili-soup-332650) -
Not sure if any of this would help/hurt constipation issues, but these are meals my kids like.
-Salmon + broccoli and Rice
-Pasta with butternut squash sauce and Italian sweet sausage
-broccoli cheese omelets
-grilled or roast chicken with broccoli and cauliflowerI know your LO has had constipation issues forever, so you've probably already tried this--but my 2nd LO also has severe constipation issues and things really loosen up if we give a probiotic every day (it takes a week or 2 before you notice a different), give the prune juice concentrate twice a day in a medicine dropper, and up her water and fruit intake. As soon as we start forgetting any of the above steps, she starts getting stopped up and having terribly painful BMs again.
-
And I recently made a slightly healther version of enchiladas that was a hit--the girls don't like spicy food at all, so I made their enchiladas with ground turkey, refried beans, and tiny diced sweet potatoes on the inside, with butternut squash sauce mixed with a couple of tablespoons of enchilada sauce on top, all sprinkled with cheese. Both girls loved it.
-
@Anagram: Thanks for the ideas, that last recipe *I* want to eat. We did start a probiotic!
-
@Bao: I like the idea from Jenny Rosenstrach from Dinner: A Love Story (in the book and the blog) of "deconstructed dinners." Instead of making kids their own meal, they get a deconstructed version. I made chili this week and I gave the kids ground turkey, corn, black beans, and tomatoes. I do the same concept when we do omelets, soup, tacos, enchiladas, etc.
As a backup for kids we always have turkey meatballs in the freezer and black beans in the pantry. That plus a veggie = dinner I feel fine about.
-
Quinoa casseroles stuffed full of veggies and sauce and cheese are a hit around here with adults and littles.
-
@Petitduck : I've never had Quinoa
@My Only Sunshine: oooh! That's very interesting, I like that idea.
-
I've switched from eating rice about 3x a week to doing califlower rice (buy the Green Giant steamer bags, so easy.) I usually serve this as a side of protein with a veggie (mixed, salad, sometimes potato.)
I follow a lot of 21 day fix recipes (I followed the program for awhile but now just enjoy the food and the portion size.) I feel like they are very clean I avoid boxed stuff as much as I can. Pizza I'll do but I make it on WW tortillas instead of carb heavy crusts and sugar free tomato sauce instead of pizza sauce. Little things to cut out unnecessary sugar/white flour. I try to just look for "healthy" versions of the foods they like and make them myself. And always in under 30 minutes...I don't have time to be in the kitchen all night
-
M likes avocado toast or toast with hummus and a side of fruit. Turkey burgers or meatloaf with shredded veggies inside - I usually do sweet potato and zucchini. Stew is also a big hit.
-
You can put a lot of random healthy stuff in quesadillas too. I've mashed sweet potato, avocado, black beans, etc and spread it on one side, chopped meat and/or veg, a sprinkle of cheese (can be omitted) and weirdly a drizzle of BBQ sauce. Fold in half and grill in a fry pan!
-
@My Only Sunshine: I just looked up that blog. Thanks for the rec!
@Bao: I do a lot of deconstructed dinners for LO too. He is hesitant to try things that are all mixed together or covered in sauce.
-
All sorts of soups. Plain tomato soup, chicken and rice with veggies. I love Skinnytaste for soup.
Egg casseroles - I bake shredded potatoes with veggies, eggs and cheese and LO loves it.
Oatmeal with different fruits/spices mixed in. I've heard of savory oatmeal too.
-
@Oliviapope: savory oatmeal huh? Never heard of that!
-
@Bao: This is one of those hidden veggie meals that went shockingly well: http://www.skinnytaste.com/sloppy-joe-baked-sweet-potatoes/
My kids also really liked zoodles swapped for regular noodles last time I made spaghetti. I served it with a salad and steamed broccoli.
@My Only Sunshine: oooh! That's very interesting, I like that idea.
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
31 comments