Pretty much every day I face the dilemma of what to feed Max for lunch. For dinner he almost always has what we had for supper the night before, so that one is easier. If by some fluke we don't have leftovers I have a few things stashed in the freezer. Breakfast tends to a rotation of egg, oatmeal, or pancakes with various fruits/meats as sides. That one I pretty much have covered, though the choice tends to depend on how awake I am at the time.
In my mind lunch is the domain of sandwiches and salads. Neither of which Max really knows what to do with yet. Add to the mess that I don't know a whole hell of a lot about cooking and you leave us up a bit of a creek, with no picnic. When he was a baby it was easy, lunch was yogurt time, with a side of some other almost liquid food. Once he found the joy of picking up food to feed himself those days were gone.
He will still eat some foods from a spoon, thank goodness. For instance lunch today was fresh strawberries and blueberries that he could pick up and eat, then some yogurt and applesauce that he let me feed him with a spoon. It's going to be fun* when he masters this spoon thing better and won't let me help him at all, but for now he is only interested in trying it as he starts to get full. When hunger is in full force he knows that it's more efficient just to let an adult handle that part for him.
My other issue is trying to get vegetables into him. Yes, that's already started. He has begun to reject even the green beans and broccoli that he used to eat with gusto. So far he will still consume large quantities of peas, but I worry that even that well might dry up. He hardly ever gets veggies at lunch, since he can't eat them raw yet, and breakfast veggies tend toward tomatoes and onions and such that I stash inside his eggs. We've been pretty good at making sure there is green on his plate at least once a day, usually at dinner, but we can't force him to eat them.
If anyone has some early toddler lunch ideas I'd love to hear them. Keep in mind that I'm kind of lazy, don't want to waste any of my time off cooking (unless it's cookies), and I'm not incredibly skilled in the kitchen. I will google how to do new things though, so hit me with your best shot!
*By fun I mean horrifying, as he becomes determined to do it himself a good bit before he has actually mastered getting food from bowl to mouth.
1 comment:
Tim used to make slaw which Stella loved and which could be refrigerated and just doled out daily. It has lots of good green stuff stashed in it (kale and some other stuff). But it made Stella's poop so nasty I made him stop.
Etta's favorite veggie is also peas, what's with that? You might try non-green veggies. Stella seems to hate green veggies on principal.
Our faves around here since Etta has turned a year old are: grilled cheese, pita pizza (shredded cheese, pepperonis, veggies, NO sauce on pita), quesadillas (tortilla, cheese, chicken, lots of veggies). I give her frozen veggies on the side or fresh veggies. Also, Etta loves fruit, so I often just let her have a go at that, I figure it's the same family, right?
Obviously, we are not the healthiest lunch eaters, but we try!
Oh, I have some recipes for quinoa with lots of veggies and also couscous with lots of veggies. Etta loved those. Let me know if you want them.
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