Nutritious Finger Foods

I feed my 2 yr old pieces of fruit (bananas, apples...) and whole grain crackers or whole grain goldfish snacks. He also likes cheese and the healthier version of wieners. The best part is none of these have to be cooked.

trail mix-cheerios/yogurt covered raisins, and anything else you'd like to add
fruits-all kinds, peeled and dices or sliced
apples, peeled and sliced with peanut butter
cheesesticks
banana chips
sweet potatoes, cooked until tender but not falling apart, and sliced into circles
carrots, steamed and sliced
I buy the Go-gurt yogurts in the stick type pouches and put them in the freezer, and my kids eat them in place of ice creams.
Baked cheeto's
Tortillas (2) with cheese placed in between, melt in microwave, let cool and cut into slices like a pizza(quesadilla)(can even add cooked-diced chicken breast)
my daughter just turned 3, and loves prunes(reg. cherry or orange essence) of all things, so I buy the singles and she thinks of getting one like a treat in place of candy. This really is great for her because of her irregularity. She also LOVES blueberries. Fish sticks are one of her fav's as well. All things she's been feeding herself since 2.

I used a great book called First Meals by Annabel Karmel. She has some great ideas for making finger foods fun. Simple things like cutting cheese with small shaped cookie cutters, etc. I always kept the food simple, cheeses, cut fresh fruit, fresh veggies, even thawed frozen versions work well like frozen berries, also all natural products like Veggie Booty, whole grain crackers, etc. This age group really loves to dip, so try offering flavored yogurt (like strawberry) to dip with fruit or plain yogurt with cucumbers. Try to avoid too much processed foods like pre-packaged granola bars or gummy fruit snacks. These are filled with sugar and empty calories, those gummy style fruit snacks are basically candy. My kids are 6, 4 and 3 and will never refuse healthy offerings.

I noticed you mentioned 3 kids. I recently bought a cookbook called The Magic Kitchen Cookbook from Disney. It has some great ideas for afterschool snacks. I found my kids were more willing to experiment with some of the foods they wouldn't normally eat just because it has a picture of a Disney character on it. Hey, what ever works. Some of the recipes are more involved, but some are easy enough for my 6 year old to make with very little supervision.

I hope this helps!

K. C

I have a two year old that is a picky eater. It's not that he doesn't like the food, but it has to look good, or he has to be in the mood for it. He is not a pasta eater, which leaves out ravioli and spaghetti and even mac-n cheese. But he loves steamed veggies, luckily. I think his favorite is making and eating pizza. You and he can put all the stuff he loves on it, and if you make a personal pan, he can eat it like you do with the smaller slices. My son also likes quesadillas, which is simple to make in a frying pan, with chicken and cheese and you can sneak veggies in there too for when my son is "not in the mood." WE also make baked chicken fingers with goldfish or some kind of rice cereal on them. I roll the chicken tenders in ranch or honey mustard, then roll them in the crackers. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until chicken is done. You can also make zucchini "fries" the same way. We like to dip it all in ranch. AS for snacks we love manderin oranges, pear slices, apple slices, graham crackers, goldfish, yogurt, and nutra grain bars. Hope this helps!

I always gave mine Gerber Pasta pickups and other Gerber Graduate snacks. THey don't have added salt and sugar. :) C.

I would love some more of these ideas too. She gets cherrios, Graduates puffs (not too much sugar), and low sugar natural cinnamon grahams. I tend to steam broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, snap peas, and sometimes watercress. She loves them and can eat them herself. She loves when we have pasta because she gets whatever noodles we are having plopped on her high chair table. We also tend to give her bread and breadsticks when we are having them. We give her apples without the peel, oranges, bananas, and pears cut up too.

My son loved cheese toast cut into small squares, which is just a piece of toasted bread with slice of cheese melted on top.

Also-string cheese and yogurt were favorites, as well as diced ham and macaroni

Baked Chicken Fingers...
I slice skinned chicken breast and roll then in Shake N Bake “Oven Fry” (NOT Extra Crispy, the Oven Fry is the Key) and bake for 15 minutes. They are Great with a little Ranch or Ketchup.

Good Luck!
E.

When my daughter was around that age, I used to make her sandwiches and used different shaped cookie cutters to make them look more interesting. I used all sorts of things for sandwiches ... peanut butter, apple sauce, stuff that came in the jarred baby food (like the carrots, turkey, green beans, etc.). Her favorite "shape" was the dog bone. It's kind of a waste of bread. But she ate it up! I also used to decorate her plate with bits of fruit. I cut up everything because I was so paranoid about choking. We never did do anything with raisins. I have really bad teeth, and raisins were a nightmare for me as a kid. I think it was a subconscious thing on my part.

When my DD#1 was that age I worked FT and we depended on Gerber Graduates 3 nights a week. Pasta pickups, meat sticks, diced fruit and veggies. But most of the time I cooked a lot of one pot meals for the whole family and I would always serve her a bowl with her own spoon. Spaghetti and meat sauce was always cut up super well, hamburger goulash with tons of veggies and beans was served like a chili with cheese or sour cream depending on what spices I used. I found top anything with shredded cheese and kiddos will eat it! lol Progresso's low sodium chicken noodle soup were also a favorite. I shredded chicken breast instead of cut into cubes and she loved nachos night b/c she could touch her food and make a mess. I gave my kid all kinds of foods for dinner, lightly salted of course and now she is a great eater. Popcorn, yogurts, dried fruit, TLC crackers with laughing cow cheese, string cheese cut into circles, athenos hummus with veggies, mini ice cream cones, Popsicles, morningstar veggie products, teddy grahams, kashi cereals were all loved snacks/treats! HTH!