Fussy eaters – meals that work

I thought I was getting away lightly, son number one will always try anything put in front of him and apart from crusts (something he learnt at creche) I think he likes everything. At anyone’s house or in a restaurant he’s great to try new things.

Not so his younger brother. If it’s any kind of different texture than he’s expecting he’ll spit it out. This is probably typical toddler behaviour. However he refuses most vegetables, especially greens, won’t eat rice, cous cous or pasta. He is dairy free and has tummy issues with white bread, pasta, citrus fruits, grapes, generally things that are difficult to digest. He can take or leave meat, some evenings I can only get him to eat potatoes nothing else. It leaves very few options to get the good fruit and vegetables into him.

So at the moment I’m on a mission to find good meals for all the family that he will also eat for me.

Here’s some simple meals that have worked:

• One pot beef (or lamb/chicken) stew with potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes.

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• Pasta Bolognese –  containing carrots, peppers, courgette, mushrooms. I chop the vegetables very small and this is fine. If you like you could blend the bolognese once it’s ready so you have completely hidden vegetables.
• Bacon and cabbage – believe it or not this one worked, I got very tricky by mashing the potatoes with the cabbage and mixing it real well. A drop of soy milk to make it soft. He loves ham of any sort so this was a winner.
• Anything on a stick! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, kids love food on a stick! This evening we had chicken skewers done in the oven and the little man devoured them. Recipe for barbeque ones here.

On days when I can’t get him to eat properly he ends up with plenty of fruit throughout the day and a big bowl of porridge going to bed.

I hope to do some recipes for these over the coming weeks. I would love to hear from other parent’s who have fussy eaters. What works for your little one?