Re: I'M IN SUCH A DINNER RUT

RacerGirl · ‎03-09-2010

What types of foods does your daughter enjoy? Does she like to help cook? My girls have vastly different tastes, so about a year ago I started asking them for dinner ideas on the way to school in the morning. Granted, we don't always utilize them but the feedback lets me know what's on their mind. If they say something that isn't possible for that night, I tell them it's a good ideas, we should pick up xyz ingredients, and aim for ____ day. I also tell them some of my dinner thoughts. By the end, my girls usually are excited about the possibilities for the next few days.

A few resources that we love for healthy kid friendly foods are Weelicious and 100 Days of Real Food.

http://weelicious.com/all-recipes/

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/

Last night, we settled on tacos. In order to make everyone happy, I used 1/2 beef and 1/2 refried beans for the meat (one girl is going through a no meat phase and the other isn't)...chips instead of tacos (a rare treat), and everyone picked thier own toppings from all kinds of veggies, cheese, sour cream, etc on the table. I turned mine into a salad with a few chips on top.

Another big hit, is rice bowls like you find at Chipolte. I make a flavored rice (cilanto-lime or another combo), a meat, some beans, cooked veggies, diced tomatoes, salsa, cheese, avacado, sour cream, etc. If you set out only healthy options and each person selects thier own toppings all is usually well.

The same might work with a pasta meal and a variety of toppings too.

Sweet potato with brown sugar and butter. Side of veggies

Hard boiled egg with a side salad.

Hard boiled egg with a fruit and yogurt parfait

Breakfast for dinner could be any of the following...scrambled eggs, pancakes, french toast, bacon, sausage. Sometimes I make pancakes for my girls in a long thin pencil type shape and put the syrup in a little cup for dipping.

Food presentation is a big thing for kids.

nun ya · ‎03-09-2010

On 2/18/2014 grannykimmy said:
Sometimes we can be our own enemies when it comes to our kids and it's hard to break habits we allow to happen. You said there was 3 of y'all? How about each family member get meals they like 2 nights a week and the others have to eat it? The 7th night is a free for all in which everyone gets their favorite food but they have to help prepare it and clean up. Get your daughter involved with cooking meals, she may be more willing to try different things if she helps cook Good luck.

I think this is a good compromise. My daughter was really picky, had one bite of a hot dog in 20 years, no mayo and the list goes on. Although, once they get older, they will try new things. She eats very healthy now. I never made it a point to make anyone eat anything.