My daughter, age 2, has become very picky with food and seems to only eat the same foods constantly. I need some ideas to get a picky eater to eat more than just carbs. She loves her cereal, pizza and any kind of cracker or goldfish. Alyssa does eat some vegetables and enjoys soup. Would appreciate some new ideas. Thank you!
Soups are great! Veggies and dip, all steamed (soft) veggies, peanut butter or apple butter or jams on crackers, toast or bread, tender chicken pieces, meatballs.....
some of my 2.5 year old daughters favorite snacks: Bannana chips, banannas, snap pea crisps, dried mango, sesame chips (from whole foods, don't exactly know what they are called). Meals: turkey and cheese wraps with whole wheat tortilla and avacado on the side. Broccoli quiche. Lentil pasta sauce, pizza with grilled veggies on top. spinach triangles. black eye peas and celery (look online for recipe) Broccoli and mac and cheese and soy chick nuggets....
Anyway, I figure she wont eat junk if you don't serve it to her, or don't keep it in the house. I just had to start buying all healthy stuff, besides a few treats every once in a while of course... just so I know even when she is being super picky she is getting good nourishment.
good luck, its a tough age :)
Wheres the fruit??You can have a healthy picky eater just need to think outside the box & make new things in small batches for her to try.Stop doing the pizza change the cereal to oatmeal & add in fruits fresh, frozen or dried,yogurt with granola mixed in,fruit & yougurt parfaits with granola & add in tiny kisses in the baking isle (just a sprinkle),crackers add a cheese spread we really like The laughing cow spread on many things pretzels,crackers,apples,carrots,eggs hard boiled,peanut butter & jelly on whole wheat bread.
Remember-she can't eat it if it isn't in the house. That said-try to stay away from the pre packaged, starchy, salty, sugery, snacky food-have a lot of fruits and veggies on hand. For breakfast-I know it's a bit sweet-but you can make your own granola-with yogurt and berries-the children love it-they also like fruit and juice with banana mixed in the blender. Try to stick to whole grains, lean meats, fresh produce, etc-their little kidneys still have trouble with all the salt that the lunchmeats and snacks contain.
It all goes down hill at 2!! ;) Smoothies are a great idea. Will she eat veggies on her pizza? My daughter would eat pizza, still does, really well and we could always get some veggies in her that way. Also, you can buy pasta that is made of sweet potatoes or artichoke flour, it's small, but it's something. Soup was another way that my daughter would eat veggies...if your daughter likes it, capitalize on it! I think my daughter started eating raw carrots in dip around then, you could try that too. What about yogurt? Most kids like that. Greek yogurt has lots of protein in it and at that age my daughter ate it up, my son is 18 mos and really likes it too. My last suggestion is edamame. It's a pretty fun food and if she likes to dip she can dip it in a little salt. Good luck! Food is a hard one and you will go through lots of stages!
One word... smoothie.
Throw a bunch of veggies in the blender with her favorite fruit... some ice and Voilà!
It's amazing what you can "hide" in a smoothie.
