Creating Toddler Friendly Dinners

When your little one starts eating table food, its important to make sure its healthy choices! Remember "Monkey see, Monkey do" so if this hasn't been you lifestyle, you may want to look at adapting new healthy meals. This will encourage your child to eat their whole grains, protein, fruits and veggies! We had always ate fairly healthy - of course we ate McDonalds! but that didn't stop us from cooking real meals. We don't buy much junk food (i.e. chocolate chip cookies are a treat, chips are limited, freezies when required). Adriana's deserts consist of fruit and/or 1 chocolate chip cookie if she's good. Its not like we don't give her candy, we teach her moderation. I kept track of her meals for 1 week to give you an idea of balanced meals. We do have a pizza night which consists of meat and mushrooms as toppings.

SUNDAY - 1/2 striploin steak (medium rare), Asian medley mix (baby corn, peppers, zucchini, and snow peas), roasted potatoes. For desert: a bowl of strawberries and pineapples
MONDAY - 3/4 chicken breast (boneless, skinless), Italian medley (broccoli, carrots), cucumber slices. For desert: blueberries and raspberries
TUESDAY - Smart KD (veggie), Italian medley (broccoli, carrots), celery pieces. For desert: strawberries and pineapple
WEDNESDAY - sliced beef cooked in butter with pepper, lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber. For desert: blueberries
THURSDAY - Pizza night. bacon, pepperoni and mushrooms with drinkable yogurt. For desert: sliced Grapefruit (a first for Adriana!)
FRIDAY -Smart Catelli pasta with meat sauce. I use Extra Lean ground beef and Ragu sauce (good serving of veggies!). For desert: 1 chocolate chip cookie with drinkable yogurt.

We make sure to give Adriana what we have for dinner. She is more inclined to eating it if she sees we all have the same thing. This includes all her veggies! Actually on Thursday night, I gave her a chocolate chip cookie after her grapefruit but she didn't even take one bite. It was a treat but she didn't want it so I will use that treat for the next night. She's a pretty good eater so when she doesn't want to finish her entire meal - that's ok. We do NOT give her something else!! This is a common mistake parents make but it really does more harm than good. This will only teach the child that if they don't want something they can refuse it and be given something they do want - this is how you create a picky eater! Adriana will have choices but more like would you want more veggies or more meat!

She is at the perfect age to start figuring out what she does and does not like. That's perfectly okay too! Adriana has pushed away her plate but I just put it to the side and wait. Sometimes she just needs some time to realize this is dinner and you're not getting anything else. We don't believe in catering to their every needs - Who's the boss anyways? The Parents should be. So teach them to be thankful for the food they have and enjoy a different variety of foods too!

Although, I don't like certain foods - I still make a point to give them to Adriana. For example, I absolutely despise cucumber, seafood, and grapefruit. However, Adriana loves all of them! We never made a big deal of what she was eating, just gave it to her and acted like it was a normal meal. After she ate it I would explain what it was and asked if she liked it. So far so good with everything! There are things she just doesn't care for too, like melons (cantaloupe, honey dew and watermelon) or bananas.....seriously - bananas. I am going to try a different way of giving them to her though. I found a recipe to fry the bananas in honey and add cinnamon. They make them crunchy and a bit sweet!

I hope Adriana stays a good eater for awhile. Not for the nutritional value but the experience. The ability to explore new foods is a talent in my eyes. I wish I was adventurous but where I lack the boyfriend makes up for it! He has a great appetite for new foods and I envy that. Clearly, Adriana is on the same path as him - Good Job!

We also had our family pictures done over the weekend. I can't wait to share them with you!! Adriana is such a photogenic little girl which makes our family pictures turn out amazing!! Thank you Sears Canada :)