Easy meals for a 1yr old?
I've get a daughter who's approaching one year old, and we're still looking for good, healthy, and easy to cook dinners for her. We usually try to give her some of whatever we're eating, but sometimes it's just not what she's looking for.
She absolutely loves anything bready, like pizza crust, toast, waffles, bagels, etc. But obviously, that's not a complete meal for her. It's gotten so bad that we can't even have bread at the table, because she won't eat anything else if she can see it.
5 Answers
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I worry about this too. Specifically about creating toddler-like taste preferences in our baby who's not even 1.
What we're trying to do now is make sure at least one thing she eats each meal is a vegetable or fruit, preferably the first thing she eats, and then have only whole grains carbs as her "bread" or "cereal" option if she's being fussy or once a good dent has been made in the veggies.
We've also taken to sweetening veggies with applesauce - which totally works! - but again, I wonder if it's the best thing for training taste buds.
Right now, until she's one, most of her nutrition is (safely & happily) coming from the breastmilk and formula she drinks, so I see food as an opportunity to join as at the table, practice fine motor skills and test drive her taste buds.
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Meh, don't worry about training taste buds. Just go look at what's ground into the car seats and sofas of your friends with kids, and feed your kids the same thing.
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Scrambled eggs. Easy to pick up, goes nice with toast, lots of protein. French toast might work well for her, too :)
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I'll expand on the scrambled egg theme.... An old " family" favorite: " roll ups" ! Scramble eggs with a dollop ( a small spoonful) of flour; a dollop of cottage cheese, and cook like an omelet. Sprinkle with a little butter and sugar, jam, bacon, applesauce ( or other food of her taste) and eat rolled up or flat like a pancake. Rollups are easy to handle and with the hidden protein she'll never know the difference!
" cheesy eggs" might work .... mix a little cheese in with the eggs, scramble and serve! " Cheesy eggs" can go mexican, italian, or any direction you might want to go with flavors. Chinese Egg foo young/ scallion pancake with veggies might work too -- if she will eat hidden bits of veggies in eggs.
Great suggestions, Suzanne. Can't wait until we've introduced eggs. Then both of these will be on our son's menu.
- Alana, Jan 7, 2010