Monday, April 25, 2016

5 healthy recipes for picky toddlers

recipes for picky toddlers
Feeding a Toddler is a daily exercise in patience, flexibility (both physically and mentally...as you are often dodging food being thrown or spilled) and creativity. There are weeks when Aiden could eat the same thing for lunch every day, but then there are days where yesterday's favorite is the most disgusting food in the universe. 

I really try to feed Aiden healthy things, but as I'm sure most Moms of toddlers have experienced, feeding a Toddler is no joke. I have my go-to foods for when Aiden just won't eat anything else, but these are a few tried and true "recipes" that are more healthy and are still some of Aiden's favorites...

1. Cucumber + Cream Cheese + Turkey Tortilla Wrap
  • Cucumber
  • Cream Cheese
  • Deli Turkey
  • Tortilla (corn or flour, I used corn this time because we had some leftover from Taco night)
Peel and thinly slice a cucumber (I also steamed it to make it even softer for my little one, but for older toddlers it'd be fine chopped up into small pieces.) Take a tortilla, spread cream cheese on it,  lay a piece of turkey on top and the cucumber pieces. Cut up and serve.

2. Chipotle style burrito bowl
  • Rice
  • Black Beans
  • Plain Greek Yogurt
  • Shredded Cheese
  • Assorted veggies (frozen corn, avocado, diced tomato...)
Combine cooked rice with black beans, top with cheese and non-fat plain greek yogurt. If you can get your toddler to eat vegetables (congratulations!) Add some corn, avocado or even a little diced tomato. For a simple addition to this meal, serve with a cheese quesadilla.

3. Honey, Almond Butter and Banana "Sushi" Roll-up
  • Almond butter
  • Honey
  • Banana
  • Flour Tortilla
Warm the flour tortilla in the microwave on a paper towel for 10 seconds to soften. Spread with almond butter (about 2 Tbsp.) and honey. Lay out a banana on the tortilla and roll tortilla up around the banana tightly. Cut like sushi and serve. Yum.

4. Sweet Potato Tacos

Aiden loves these almost as much as my husband and I do. Click here for the recipe! This one is for the whole family!

5. Butternut Squash Sandwich 
  • Butternut squash (peeled, cubed and steamed)
  • Cream Cheese
  • Deli Turkey or Ham
This recipe is an easy way to conceal veggies and it's really good! Peel and cube the squash then steam it. Puree it with cream cheese. Spread on your choice of  bread or tortilla and add your child's favorite deli meat and any other toppings you want. Cut up and serve.

What are your go-to healthy foods for the Toddler in your life?

3 comments:

Anne said...

These all sound like such great ideas - but the REALLY annoying thing about picky toddlers? They all have their own brand of picky-ness. Hendrik wouldn't touch lunchmeat with a 10-foot pole, so our lunch proteins get kind of limited. Also no way will he eat rice. What?! We end up with plenty of peanut butter sandwiches but also do english muffin pizzas sometimes. At dinner lasagna is my best bet right now to get multiple food groups in (but of course sometimes he just refuses it), and we do a lot of avocado, and huge handfuls of spinach in the morning smoothie to make sure to get some greens, in case he's going to be in a picky mood the rest of the day. Hendrik also loves the banana/egg pancakes, which I put some oats in, and recently he's even forgotten all about syrup and just gobbles them up, so that feels like a healthy win :)

Amy @ A Desert Girl said...

These all sound tasty! I'd eat them myself! :) Ava just turned 6 months, so I'm about to start trying solids with her. I think I'm going to go the baby led weaning route rather than purees....

Rach said...

Great ideas, friend! :)