Toddler Foods

You can give the 2 year old pretty much anything that you would eat for lunch/dinner. I don't believe that there are any limits after the age of 2.

I have become burned out on food ideas for my kids too. Some things my kids love (3-1/2 year old girl and 21 month old boy): (1) cherios with yogurt (instead of milk), sometimes with blueberries or raspberries, (2) cottage cheese,(3) cut "grape" tomatoes with ranch dressing, (4) Individual Scoops nacho chips with taco meat, shredded cheese, and sour cream (they can be picked up individually and eaten), (5) cream cheese and jelly sandwiches (a twist on peanut butter and so creamy and yummy), (6) bagels with cream cheese, (7) Pizza rolls, cut in half, and served with ranch dressing, (8) Small flour tortilla with lunch meat (turkey or ham), shredded cheese, heat this up in microwave for a few seconds, then top with cream cheese or sour cream or just plain, then roll and eat, (9) butter noodles--just make macaroni noodles and stir in butter for flavor, (10) Oatmeal-flavored Teddy Grahams. These are about our top 10. Hope it helps.

I bought the individual 'lunch servings' for the microwave ( packaged for adults ),and Progresso soups thickened with a little mashed potatoes or served with extra pasta -finger food size, and soft cooked frozen veggies.
Sometimes a serving of last evenings meal when appropriate ( cut small etc.)

Family Fun Magazine is a great resource for food ideas that kids will love to eat, as well as some that he might even get into making with you, even at a young age. There are great books on snacks for kids at the library too...
Some of my kids favorites:
Humus and pita
garbanzo beans
frozen grapes, they love to suck on, and
frozen corn (might be too small for your son)
Cheddar cheese cubes
string cheese dipped in spaghetti sauce
Nilla wafers, they aren't too hard and dissolve really quickly
popcorn, might be too young again, my 2 year old does well
even pickles...
HTH...

Having raised two sons, I can tell you that lunches and dinners should be pretty much what you have to eat. Just make sure the foods are a little bit softer than what you would normally eat, and not as spicy. Foods with a lot of flavor from herbs is a good bet too.

When my sons (now 17 and 11) were toddlers, one of their favorite dinners was my own way of making lemon and garlic chicken. It's a very simple dish to make and I've always served it with brown rice. I can write out the recipe for you if you like. I won't be online again til tomorrow, but would be more than happy to get it to you.

Great snacks would be cubed melon, peeled apple slices, peeled pear slices and/or peach slices, cubed pineapple, bananas, baby carrots that have been softened, cheerios, rice chex, and cheese cubes.

Quick lunches would be a peanut butter & jelly (every kids fave) cut into smaller, more manageable sizes. Do NOT take off the crust. My boys have always loved the crust because I never cut them off ... LOL. Mac & cheese with a small ham sandwich is a great lunch too. My boys love mac & cheese to this day, though I dress mine up with extra cheeses, slices of ham or bacon bits, or even smokey links.

The main point is, go with what you like and try it out on your toddler. He'll pretty much come around, unless he truly hates it ... LOL. And don't stress about it. Kids were born to be picky and it's our job to unpick them ... hehe. Good luck.

K.

I am feeling the same as you! I am interested to read the responses. A few suggestions from me are:
-Cheese and Avacado Quesadillas with Rice
-Organic Mac and Cheese with Tomato slices
-Grilled Cheese and Tomato Sandwiches on Rye
-Parmesan Chicken Fingers with Baked French Fries
-Turkey Taco Salad with Avacado

Hi I have a 2 year old myself and he pretty much eats whatever we eat. Whatever I make for dinner for my husband and I he eats as well. Chicken, steak, fish, pasta it doesn't matter and he loves it. I tired to make him his own meal and that just seem like to much work and he would just eat what we had!

S.,
I make home made macaroni and cheese that is healthy and yummy.(Moosewood Lowfat cookbook). I have made a few of the recipes from Deceptively Delicious in order to get more veggies for my 19 Month old son and husband. My son is picky and will not eat meat no matter how many times I put it in front of him. I use veggie hotdogs (only the ones I can pronounce the ingredients), grilled ham and cheese (the ham is hidden so I believe that is why he eats it), we do a ton of fruit and good for you cereals. If you have a Trader Joe's by you - they sell great snacks that have no hydrogninated oils and are inexpensive!
I feel your pain because I get burnt out too. Some nights he eats a banana, yougurt and a piece of bread! LOL.

I do feed him one bad thing- chicken nuggets but only the ones made from chicken breasts. Being a full time working mom I have to cut corners some times.

Super Baby Foods is a great book that offers a lot of meal ideas that are healthy for your little ones from 6 months on...

Good Luck

Hello S.. My son is 17 months old and I shovel anything and everything into the growing boys body! He loves cukecumbers, frozen peas, hummus and pita chips, raw carrots (he has a total of 4 molars and does really well), pears/apples/peach chunks, he loves cooked broccoli and little bowls of cooked veggies, sometimes I give him sliced olives (watch out for the sodium)...

For meals he eats pizza, grilled chicken, pastas, cereal, french toast, scrambled eggs, sandwiches (still no peanutbutter though until 3 years old)and even roasts (I have a great EASY crockpot roast recipe if you want it, the meat falls apart!)

Honestly, I let your little one experiment and try a little of everything. You might be surprised how well he does with a carrot...haha.

Try exposing your son to soy. Morning Star has a wide variety of products. Although my husband and I aren't vegetarians, my son just wasn't into getting his protein from chicken/pork. I started feeding him the soy products around 12 mos. Two products that I buy the most are the ready seasoned "chicken" and "steak". I can't stand the smell or taste of them, but the boy still loves them. Just wait until your son will only focus on one food item for a week. It'll drive you nuts, but it's just what they do.

Hi S.
I am a nanny and lunch time can be the same old thing. Try making the lunch fun. We have "gourmet lunches" Which means everything is eaten with a toothpick. They think that is really cool. I roll up turkey, cut cheese, fruit, veggies. Also use yogurt as a dip.

We also have "container lunches" which means leftovers how many containers can we empty and stack up in a tower. (It works)

Usually once a week we make soup and they help me make it. You would be surprised what they will eat if they are the "gourmet chef" themselves.

Have fun...
~B.

My daughter is almost 15 months old and this is what I buy and she loves everything......Eggo french toast sticks, muffins pancakes. I buy the Tyson nuggets and dip them in ranch, hot dogs and mac n cheese...Whats good is the Hamburger Helper mini packets. Lunchmeat that's low in sodium, grill cheese, corn dogs, fruit cups, I sometimes buy the Gerber Graduate meals when I'm not cooking dinner, marshmellows is her favorite snack. At Target they have the cutest frozen Mickey Mouse hamburger patties. 10 for $4.99. Can't beat it. That's a great food to have. I hope I helped