What Were Some of Your Great....

My oldest LOVED chopped avocados. He doesn't like them any more, unfortunately, and the youngest has never touched them, but they were great, soft and nutritious!

thick sliced carrots (or baby carrots) that have been boiled soft in chicken stock!

mashed potato balls (you can add a whole bunch'o'stuff to them as well)

scrambled eggs (w/ or w/out things added to them)

japanese scrambled egg (sweet)

gyoza

Dim Sum
- Palace Tofu (steamed silken tofu -almost like a custard you can pick up w/ steamed shrimp on top)

- Turnip Cake

French toast strips and just plain toast strips.
For the French Toast Strips I would take Wheat Bread (w/out the 'stuff' not whole grain) and dip it in a mixture of eggwhites, breast milk (no cow's milk yet) but I imagine rice milk might not be bad, maple and vanilla extract (NOT a lot, just a touch!) then place on griddle or a pan on the stove and brown. My son seemed to like a touch of cinnamon too. I would cut into strips with a pizza cutter and give him a few strips (think french fry size) and a small cup/bowl of applesauce with a spoon. I think he was more like 10 months when I added the applesauce but eitherway he did not give up the treat until he was 3! Now he likes FROZEN chocolate chip waffles - what will they ask for next?

Our daughter LOVED sliced up veggies: steamed green beans, peas, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes. Now, she's picked up some of her big brother's pickiness, so she's more into cut up noodles, chicken, cheese, pancakes, french toast, eggs.

My daughter ate anything we put in front of her.

Toast with cream cheese or cheese toast/grilled cheese

Bananas - if you slice them into round, they will naturally break apart into thirds if you pick them up and try to break them. Perfect size, but can be slippery to grasp.

Guacamole/mashed avocado - also slippery if not mashed

Beans - I live in Texas, so she got charro beans a fair amount

Green beans

Peas

Baby carrots cooked

Diced peaches/pears (fruit cup)

Cheerios (couldn't fathom paying for the puffs or toddler-specific foods)

Graham crackers, vanilla wafer (grandparents...), or animal crackers

Other types of crackers

Small bits of avocados and bananas were favorites ...

At 8 months, we were on baby food with some textural, but not many. Around 10 months or so:

- Gerber "puffs" and other products like it!
- Pancakes cut up
- Penne with butter (cut into finger sized portions)
- Toast (lightly toasted) with butter
- Quesadillas and grilled cheese

My kids ate just about everything already listed, but one tip I wanted to pass along was the brilliance of the Ulu knife - it is a knife with a semi-circular blade that the Native Alaskans used. It's perfect for quickly cutting up any foods in to kid-sized bites. I still use it for my 2 boys, ages 5 1/2 and 2.

My kids really liked the graham cracker sticks. They were kinda messy, but they kept them quiet and entertained for a while. They are also a lot cheaper than some of the stuff in the baby food isle.

our 11mo seems to really like those veggie corn dogs (cut up bit sized of course).

cut up grilled cheese

banana slices

UPDATE: credit the nanny with this one - tortilla shells (small pieces)