Please recommend new foods for my toddler

[bethanymama]

Hi all, I'm looking for suggestions on new foods to introduce into my son's diet - he's 22 months. Currently, his diet is not terrible - I think he is a typical picky eater for a toddler, but it could be much, much worse. My nephew pretty much subsisted on crackers at this age - they couldn't get him to eat anything. So, I'm thrilled that DS eats what he does. He doesn't eat anything that he doesn't know. It all must be prepared just the right way. It doesn't matter if he sees me or DH eating it, he doesn't care to try it. However, I have been successful introducing a few new things recently, but it takes a while. I gave a hard-boiled egg for lunch for about a week before he took a bite, and it was another week before he would eat even half of it. But now, he likes them! I also got him to try broccoli after offering it a bunch of times. So it is possible, but not without some effort and wasted food, so I want to be careful about what we work on, and choose foods that enhance his diet the most.

Here's the complete list of what he eats now:

cow's milk
oatmeal & applesauce (for breakfast every day)
lots of fruits - banana, grape, apple, pear, strawberry, peach, melon, orange
vegetables - peas, carrots, green beans (occasionally, although it's been a while), broccoli
sunflower seeds
hard boiled egg
black beans
cheese (regular cheddar cheese, string cheese, cream cheese)
bread - whole wheat toast, whole wheat english muffin, sprouted wheat + onion bagel (with cream cheese), asiago cheese bagel, frozen blueberry waffles
whole wheat pasta with red pepper & tomato pasta sauce (with olive oil added)
cheese pizza
yobaby yogurt
and he sometimes eats a lentil curry I make with onion, sweet potato, red lentils and black beans

He has a peanut allergy, so we don't do any tree nuts at all right now.

Oh, and I'm a vegetarian (but my husband is not) so we don't really eat any meat at home. I have offered high quality chicken nuggets and hot dogs to DS, but he didn't seem to like them much (so I didn't push it!!)

I give DS almost all organic but have been using canned beans and frozen veggies.

Okay, open to suggestions! Avocado (kind of expensive to waste), cottage cheese, other veggies, other proteins? Thanks!

[ammiga]

My dd thinks that garbanzo beans are the best finger foods. She also loves a spoonful of hummus, but sometimes I wrap it into a whole wheat tortilla for her.

Dd loves soup (especially tomato), grilled cheese (dunks it in her soup), egg salad, eggs over hard, and bean burritos. I'll see if I can think of anymore vegetarian protein things she enjoys.

[peaceful_mama]

My babe (13 months) ate a couple new-ish things today. He loved the stir-fried carrots out of my homemade Thai (so stir-fried carrots with whatever coconut milk sauce clung to them, I put barely any chili-curry paste in it, I actually screwed up and put way less than the minimum the recipe wanted. So basically some carrot simmered in a coconut-milk-ginger-garlic sauce)

And he sampled some grated raw carrot tonight.

So...my suggestions include new veggies cut up really thin/small and stir fried, and raw veggies you might think are "unmanageable", grated.

My guy also loves raw tomatoes. And sometimes he likes cucumber. He will also pretty much always eat these as his dad's yogurt-raw veggie salad. (Diced tomato and cucumber are a must, can also put onion, garlic, bell peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, carrot--the key is diced VERY FINE. Stir into yogurt. Put some cumin and salt, to taste. Stir again. Enjoy.)
(I do pick out the cauliflower and carrot chunks for mine as he's only 13 months. But DD is almost 3 and she has been eating this salad with whatever's in it for a *long* time now.)

[KatWrangler]

Sweet Potato Fries?

I second the hummus. My kids really like it.

[BetsyS]

My kids like hummus.

My second child likes eggs fried hard. I don't eat them this way (blech!), so it was a fluke that I figured it out, but hey, whatever works, I guess. It's the only way he eats eggs.

They both like grits and LOVE oatmeal. I stir in frozen blueberries to cool it off, and they like those.

My older one likes cucumbers, and he likes tossed salad with Italian salad dressing. The little one likes to dip things in ranch.

They love tacos and bean burritos (just beans and cheese on a small flour tortilla). I think they like the salsa and sour cream on top the best.

My little one likes any soupy, stewy sorts of things (gumbo, any skillet meal, stew, etc). My big one HATES this. He likes all his food separate. So, sometimes, it takes some experimenting.

[Addy's Mom]

Hummus
Baba ganoush (like hummus, but eggplant)
Mild guacamole

We do those with whole wheat toasted pita chips. (Toddlers love to dip, don't they)?

I do homemade waffles and pancakes using whole wheat flour. I put some canned pumpkin in them on occasion to up the Vitamin A and my son LOVES them.

Whole wheat pita pizzas are also a hit. I either make the tomato sauce (and add some pureed eggplant, carrots, or both), or buy Giant Food's Nature Promises brand of veggie tomato sauce. Top with cheese. Sometimes hide some olives, onions, or mushrooms, but if son sees them, he won't eat them.

[doubledutch]

i was also going to say hummus! other than that, what about falafel, lentils, quinoa? i see the red lentil curry, but normal (brown/green?) lentils are good in a cold salad too - lentils, cucumbers, olives, tomatoes, feta and/or tzatziki.

another cold beany salad my kids love is super simple: canned cannelini (i've tried organic brands but i like progresso the best for this salad), a little chopped onion, a little lemon juice, fresh cilantro, and salt. it's so yummy.

mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, zucchini, eggplant . . . does he like soup? you can usually get kids to eat lots of veggies (and beans and whole grains) in a soup or stew.

[Addy's Mom]

Falafel is a good one! Super high in fiber.

And ful, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ful_medames

[bethanymama]

Thank you!! I love the falafel idea, and bean burritos could be a possibility too, because he already likes cheese, tortillas, and salsa (sort of). I will work on those.

My DS does better with separate foods too, so doing soups and stews and such would probably be hard work and might be a losing battle. I have no clue why he eats that one lentil curry. It's always been that way. Every time I try to sneak spinach into it, he refuses it. I'm trying to avoid sneaking food, anyway.

We haven't done hummus yet either because he has a slight sesame allergy along with the peanut. Bummer, because I think that would also be a great choice.

I also thought toddlers like to dip, so we've had several variations of dippable items, but none have taken yet. He does like to dip, but just doesn't want to eat it afterwards. Silly!

Thanks again!!!

[bethanymama]

I was thinking of sweet potato fries too, but so far he hasn't touched them. Since he gets sweet potato in the lentil curry, I decided to try something else.

[Anna's Lovey]

have you tried buckwheat cereal? my lo loves that.
Also, lentils, whole wheat pasta(I just got her to try it with sauce), quinoa, brown rice... my lo likes thing separate too, but sometimes I can add chopped carrots and some crumbled meat(sausage or ground beef) before boiling and it gets kind of hidden in the mixture.
Other things that my lo loves are boiled meats, any kind, and whitefish or salmon baked in the oven with mayonnaise.
Also, she'll usually eat beans when I make them (great finger food).