Looking for New Recipes/foods for My 2 Year Old to Try..

Have you tried joining a local MOPS group? MOPS is Mothers Of Pre-Schoolers a support group for mothers of kids from infancy to kindergarten... mops.org is their website. :o)

Butternut squash soup
1- med butternut squash peeled and chopped
1- med onion diced
2- cans stewed tomatoes
2 cloves garlic diced
1.5-2 cups orange juice
2 cubes vegetable broth
water
black pepper to taste

Place onion and garlic in pan with small amount of oil to saute. Add squash cooked 10 mins to lightly brown.
then add enough water to cover squash. Boil until squash is soft. add tomatoes and broth cubes. boil 15-20 mins. Use hand mixer/puree machine and puree to your liking. Add orange juice and pepper. Let simmer 20 mins. Serve with toast, can add grated parmesean cheese.

have you heard of Annabel Karmel's cookbook 'First Meals'?

i use it all the time. the recipes are fun and easy. and i still freeze portions, so that i can feed him good stuff on the run.

R.

www.kraftfoods.com
Good ideas for fun meals for kids. Quarterly magazine with recipes as well!

try wholesometoddlerfood.com

I have a book called "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron...it is written for making your own baby food, but she also gives recipes that are healthy and EASY for toddlers, too...not to mention ways to save money and time!

Take a look at it and see if there's anything in there that can help.

Try

www.allrecipes.com

It's free but you have to put in some info and has an area just for kid's food and recipes. When your child gets older, there is also a part of the website that has simple recipes the kids can help you make.

We have used the site for a couple of years and it's great. It has a ranking system for the recipes. That will help you know if it's good or not. We personally have never gone wrong with a 4-5 star recipe.

Hi K.,
Maybe you already got this website, but I sent it to all my friends, we love it. Check it out. http://www.menus4moms.com/

Hi K.,
I have a 3-year old and a 5-year old. For dinners, they always eat what we do, but there are certain things that they definately request. One is "Green Tortellini"- I take either frozen or fresh tortellini and boil it. Then I add a jar of alfredo sauce and some frozen chopped spinach(thawed). Mix it up until heated through. Very, very yummy! And they eat their spinach!

We love creative snacks in our house! One book that I would recommend to you is called Cooking Art by MaryAnn F Kohl and Jean Potter. They are fun, creative projects for kids that they can eat. A couple of favorites...."Sandwich faces"- When you cut their sandwich in half for lunch, you make eyes and nose on one slice and a mouth on the other. You can use all kinds of things for the features, like raisins, blueberries, carrot slices, apple slice makes a good mouth, olives, cheese shapes or ketchup and mustard squiggles can all be used on different sandwiches. Then they can put the halves together on their plate to make the faces. A favorite snack is "Bugs on a Log"- take a banana and slice it to make it easier to eat but keep the slices together in the log shape. Drizzle the log with peanut butter and sprinkle with chocolate chip and walnut bugs. Or the "Banana Tree"- Place one or two pineapple rings on a plate. Cut a banana in half and stand the cut end in the center of the pineapple to resemble a tree trunk. Take toothpicks and stick them through assorted fruits(strawberries, grapes, cherries, cut up pears, peaches or apples) and then stick them into the banana for branches on the tree. My kids love it when I make "Eyeballs"- which is just deviled eggs with an olive slice on top so that it looks like an eye. A favorite in the morning is "Dinosaur Claws"- When you make refrigerator biscuits, cook them according to directions. After you take them out of the oven, brush them with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Then carefully stick five almonds into one edge to resemble claws. Very cute! Boys love ANYTHING dinosaur!

The biggest thing with kids is to treat food with fun. They will eat anything healthy if you make it fun. Stick broccoli "trees" into their mashed potato "hills". Spaghetti becomes "worms in mud". Boys especially love pretending their food is something totally disgusting! And if they can get a fun reaction out of mom then it is so much better!
Have Fun!!!
T.

I say if he isn't picky, feed him whatever you are feeding yourself. Its a great way to keep him from getting picky.

Hi K.! My daycare provider just told me about a couple of easy recipes that I can't wait to try - one is using the pre-made rolled up tacos(or taquitos, maybe?) that you find in the freezer section, putting them in the bottom of a casserole dish, pour a can of enchilada sauce over the top, then add some cheese, bake in the oven at 350 until cheese is melted, and you have enchiladas! (sort of!) Then another is to buy the ravioli's that are in the cold case pre-made (any flavor you and your family like)Put those in the bottom of a casserole dish, pour spaghetti sauce over the top, add mozzerella cheese, bake at 350 for 20-30 min, and you have lasagna (sort of, again!) Not only are they easy to make, but they should be a hit with the kids and are on the healthy side (if you don't use a ton of cheese that is.) I know, I'm always trying to find new things to make for my 2 year old daughter and it's not an easy thing to do!
Hope that helps! :)
--A.