HELP for fussy 5 year old

[Bec@Brisbane]

My 5 year old thinks a staple diet consists of sausages and peanut butter sangers capped of with icecream and honey for desert, my 9.5 month old will eat anything not nailed down(1 out of 2 isn't bad i suppose). Has anyone got some meal ideas that could help (esp the ones with the vegys hidden).

Bec

[cuddles2000]

hi there i have the same problem with my 5 year old son but where as my 17 month old daughter will eat anything that is food. i tryed hyding it but it didnt work but u could try like zucchin slice or hide the vegies in the mash spuds.
anyway my names alice

[Bec@Brisbane]

Hi
I forgot about good old fashion zuccini slice, i'll give it a whirl.

Bec

[cwsmum]

I can't help much with the hidden veges, but I can tell you what my mum did to get us to eat more fruit when we were younger.
After we had finished diner she would ask who wanted desert...ice-cream, custard, pavlova, depending on her mood, anyway, after all 5 of us had said yes, she would put our desert into powls the before she gave them to us she would put fruit salad (sometimes bought others home made) over the top, she didn't give us a choice. If we wanted ice-cream or whatever then we had to have the fruit as well We always ate the fruit without complaining too

[kamckellar]

my twins and ds no.2 eat everything but ds no.1 who's nearly seven thinks scrambled eggs,nutri grain and cheese are fine foods to live on.so i now cook casseroles nearly every night.i change the vege and meat around.some are tomato based other gravy like.also i grate carrot and potato and add to rissoles.to make the rissoles more exciting i cut small cubes of cheese and place one inside each one.when ds cuts his rissole open melted cheese comes out and he forgets that there are vegies in there.

[mumto3]

My 5 year old eats meat, vegemite, bread and not much else. He detects all Vegies I grate into food so I am now pureeing vegies into rissoles, spag bolognaise and any other meat dish I can. I also puree fruit and mix it in with vanilla icecream when it's partially melted. He is getting better and will have 5 peas at every dinner. It's not much but it's a start. Good luck

[Ethereal]

As modern day mothers we are often competing with the flavours of highly processed foods. Some of these foods can be so delicious to the taste buds and yet at the same time have almost no nutritional value. What to do? What to do????
Here are some little secrets I've discovered.
When my five year old girl was three she wouldn't eat any vegetables, so I thought about it for a while and decided that the honest truth was a lack of flavour in the vegetables themselves.
So, out of desperation I made a little batch of potato/pumpkin mash and tried to make it taste as delicious as I possibly could. First I brought some organic potatoes & pumpkin then I steamed the veggies to retain the vitamins, then after draining the water I added 1/4 teaspoon of chicken stock powder, a teaspoon of butter and milk. It tasted scrumptious. She couldn't possibly refuse.
Convincing her to try it the first time was the biggest battle but after she had one taste, she wanted "more please mummy!"
We came to know this food as "dinosaur food" to make it sound more exiting.
Gradually, over time I added a new vegetable. Carrots this time.
I added a 1/4 teaspoon of sugar or honey to the carrots after they'd been drained from cooking and 1/2 a teaspoon of butter.
She's five now and will eat most veggies and I'm gradually putting less butter, sugar and flavours, so that eventually it'll be more natural tasting.
Patience and perseverance.
Hope this helps a little.

[Chickadee]

I made this last night. It's actually pretty simple.

Preheat oven to 200.
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thaw about 10 min (soft but still cold), cut into 16 squares.
On each square put a slice of tomato and top with cheese & herbs. I used crumbled feta and basil. You could use mozzarella or cheddar.
Bake about 20 minutes until the pastry is raised and golden around the edge.
Let cool a bit before eating.

Alternate toppings could be used, basically to make mini baked pizzas. Maybe thin slices of cooked sweet potato? The puff pastry is crammed full of butter, so not super healthy, but it offers a bit of variety and helps any veg on top go down easier. And they're tasty enough that if bub refuses them I don't mind eating them.



Sweet potato chips - slice them into thin rounds, toss in olive oil and seasoning (salt, pepper, etc) and spread them out on a cookie sheet. Bake at 180-200 for about 20 min. The thinner the slice the crispier the chip will be. For even crispier, preheat the cookie sheet. For my daughter (18 months) I slice about 0.5 cm thick so they stay a bit soft. Add potato wedges (toss in oil etc as above) to the sheet too, they will take a bit longer but will be more golden brown like restaurant wedges.

[Rell]

Making a vege garden and explaining how your body needs fruit and veges may help, I do this with my 3yr old and she loves it. She loves the add with the fruit and vege man telling us to eat 5 veges and 2 fruit a day and enjoys counting how many veges we have in each meal (She actualy wants to look like him but thats a little strange)
Her friend does not like many veges but will happly eat tomatoes, capsicum, carrots etc straight out of our garden.
Grateing zuchini, pumpkin or carrot into any mince dish is a good way to hide some veges. Also using potato gnocchi instead of pasta is another easy way to add veges, its also a great thing to get the kids to help make.