What are you 2.5 to 3 year olds eating these days?

[gbailey]

DD is a little over 2.5 and is all of a sudden completely bored by what she's eating including her stand by favorites like grilled cheese and pasta. Would you please tell me what your little  one is eating for meals including snacks? Trying to get a shopping list together so we can go pick her out some new items this week and I can try some new things for her.

She used to love plain yo baby yogurt and I'd add fresh fruit but she doesn't care for it anymore.

[Courtney-Ostaff]

My 38 month old pretty much eats what we eat, with some exceptions. I don't make her try food (I do ask her to smell it), and I generally add in a carb for her.

Right now, she's eating lunch, which consists of about 1/2 cup sliced pot roast, sans gravy, 1/2 cup of wagon-wheel pasta, 1/2 cup of baby carrots, and 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce.  She has 1 cup of water with 1 teaspoon of apple cider in it to drink.  (wagon wheel pasta is the added carb)

For breakfast, she had a handful of animal crackers, a fresh mandarin orange, and 1 cup of non-caffeinated herbal tea.  (animal crackers were the added carb)

For morning snack, she had 1 cup of lukewarm hot chocolate, made with whole milk.

For dinner I'm planning on making enchiladas, casserole style, with red beans, brown rice, salsa, frozen sweet corn, shredded colby jack cheese, and ground beef.  I don't expect her to eat much, if any of it, but she will like the tortillas the enchiladas are wrapped in, especially with gooey cheese on top from baking.  

[gbailey]

Thanks for sharing what your little one eats. You've given me some great ideas. I think I need to come up with some more meal ideas for all of us and that would help. Lately, she seems like "whatever" to mostly everything. She will try more things if I let her eat off of my plate which is how we eat dinner now. Would love your recipe for enchilada casserole :)

[mommariffic]

My DD is 3 

Breakfasts; 

We normally do a mash up of the following over the course of a week; dried cereal (we have granola or something hearty), yogurt, french toast or pancakes, eggs, toast with almond butter or jam. 

Lunch; 

DD is really into sandwiches! I normally do a cheese sandwich with sliced apple, quesidillas with some sliced tomatoes, or just a little bit of everything like some carrots & dip, sliced cheese, turkey roll ups etc. 

Snacks; 

Cheese, crackers, yogurts, homemade applesauce

Dinner; 

Whatever we eat 

[not_telling]

DS is usually a fan of cottage cheese and applesauce mixed together with cinnamon.  Yogurt with frozen blueberries (still frozen) and a little maple syrup, sometimes with granola sprinkled on top.  Bagels with cream cheese or butter (but was not a fan of today's cranberry cream cheese).  Loves virtually all kinds of cheese, including blue, chevre, pepper jack...on crackers or not.  PB&J.  Turkey and cheese sandwiches (with a little mustard).  Flour tortillas with a little refried bean, cheese and guacamole.  Scrambled eggs.  Smoothies (today was a bottled fruit juice blend, banana, froz strawberries, froz spinach, and a little agave).  Raisins, dried cherries, dried apricots.  Various nuts (which I typically try to break up a bit because of choking paranoia).  Most kinds of fresh fruit.  Oatmeal (steel cut or rolled) with various mix-ins.  Bits of cooked chicken, beef, pork or fish (sometimes really into these, sometimes not, sometimes only if he can dip them in ketchup or applesauce).

[~cassie]

My 2 1/2 yr old eats any and everything, not picky at all.

Today he has had:

Breakfast-biscuits and sausage

snack-crackers

lunch-strawberries, grapes, rice, and grilled chicken

snack-yogurt

dinner-Haven't gotten here yet but last night he had breakfast for dinner(eggs, pancakes, sausage)

I do popcorn 1-2 times a week for a treat and they love it!

[Courtney-Ostaff]

semi-tex-mex enchilada casserole

Preheat oven to 350F

2 cans of kidney beans, or 1.5 cups pre-pressure cooked beans (I'm avoiding canned goods cause of the plastic)

1 quart +/- of salsa (we use mild, 'cause my husband & mother have acid reflux)

1 cup +/- frozen corn (my dad grows it, so I'm lucky that way :)

2 cups cooked ground beef/TSP/chicken -- or not

2 cups cooked rice, or 1.5 cups instant brown rice (I like to get an extra quart when I do Chinese takeout and save it for this later in the week)

1 cup shredded yellow cheese, plus another cup for topping

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground chipotle powder

Plus enchilada sauce

1. Mix above ingredients thoroughly in a large bowl.
2. Grease a 9x13" casserole pan
3. You can use corn tortillas or flour tortillas, and I suspect you could even get away with corn chips if you layer like lasagna.  Most frequently I use wholewheat flour tortillas, b/c my mom hates corn tortillas. For a flour tortilla, I'd lay it out flat and then add about 3/4 cup of  mix in a line down the middle.  Wrap it up, and place against the short side of the pan.  Repeat until you run out of tortillas or fill the pan.
4. Then, you can either make your own enchilada sauce, or buy a couple of cans of enchilada sauce to pour over the casserole dish.
5. Top with shredded yellow cheese.
6. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Enchilada Sauce:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

• 2 tb flour
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 2 tb chili powder
• 2 tb tomato paste, or a cup of pureed tomatoes
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• salt to taste

 

Directions

1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Quickly saute onions, and then very quickly add minced garlic.
2. Add 1/2 cup water, and chili powder. 
3. Make a paste of the flour with 1/2 cup water.
4. Reduce heat to medium, mixing thoroughly.
5. Gradually stir in flour paste, tomato sauce, 1 1/2 cups water, and cumin until smooth, and continue cooking over medium heat approximately 10 minutes, or until thickened slightly. Season to taste with salt.

[Halfasianmomma]

My DD loves to eat and right now, she eats constantly. Must be a growth spurt.

Morning: a variety of these things...

Cereal with soy milk

Apple sauce

Raisin bread

Turkey bacon

Multi-grain toast with honey, or liverwurst, or "creton" (it's a quebecer thing!)

Banana

Dairy-free crepes or pancakes

Eggo (soooo bad, I know!)

Snacks:

Slices of apple, pear, banana, orange and yellow peppers

Lichees, longans, mangos, grapes

Soda crackers

Breadsticks

Apple sauce

Chocolate soy milk

Coconut water + coconut meat

Dairy-free muffins or cookies mama makes

Raisins

Meals:

Meat meat meat...DD loves meat. BBQed drumsticks, pork roast dipped in apple sauce, filet mignon, whatever stirfried stuff my dad makes..

Vietnamese salmon rolls (rice noodles, cooked salmon, wrapped in a softened rice leaf)

Fried onions (weird, I know)

Any type of steamed veggie

Pasta of any kind

Shepperd's pie

[JudiAU]

We always have a plain yobaby in the bath. Have you tried SPRINKLES? Our 3.5 LOVES to eat it know that it has SPRINKLES. (like little sugar ones...far less added sugar than flavored).

My kids aren't picky and love food.

Yesterday:

DS had steel cut oats, yogurt, and berries

DD had smoked mackerel, pear sauce, and cheerios.

DS Small pb&J, beans and rice, fruit

DD Small jack cheese quesadilla, beans and rice, fruit

Roast chicken, potatoes au gratin, asparagus with butter and soy sauce

yogurt in the tub

Today:

Scrambled eggs and ham, bagel, fruit

Lamb burger mixed into quinoa with chickepeas and tomatoes, fruit

Halibut, rice pilaf with spinach, fruit

yogurt in the tub

[crunchy_mommy]

We do lots of leftovers (even dinner for breakfast)... and DS always eats what we eat (vegan) plus extra snacks. Some of his favorites:

Breakfast: muffins (he LOVES carrot banana muffins!), cereal with coconut milk, pancakes with blueberries or bananas

Lunch/Dinner: pasta with veggies & sauce (tomato sauce, peanut sauce, 'cheeze' sauce, olive oil & garlic, etc.)... coconut-ginger rice... bean or veggie quesadillas... sauteed mushrooms, beans, & potatoes... soup with GF bread

Snacks: kiwi, frozen (defrosted!) strawberries, peanut butter or almond butter on a banana, tortilla chips with hummus or guacamole, piece of dark chocolate, dehydrated veggie crisps, whole wheat pretzels, avocado slices, pears

[rightkindofme]

I don't do 'kid food' in the main.  This is far from a complete list but here are some things we do (Oh, kiddo is closer to 3 than 2.5):

breakfast mostly varies between:

steel cut oats (often with fruit added in though not always) a dab of honey, and milk

cream of wheat (sometimes with added cinnamon toast cause I love it) with a dab of honey and milk

eggs with or without cheese and/or sausage

breakfast burritos (tortillas, salsa, beans, cheese, meat, guacamole, sour cream, tapatio, tomatoes)

french toast

pancakes

very very rarely cold cereal

lunch is much more variable because we often have leftovers but if I'm making from scratch:

sandwiches (she likes standard 'grown up' sandwiches with meat/veggies/cheese as well as pbj)

a humongous variety of soups (tomato is her favorite, ramen is mine)

finger food selection with some combination of--salami slices, cheese, raw veggies (with or without peanut butter for dipping), cut up fruit, maybe some crackers but I try to not go there if I don't have to

For dinner the sky is the limit.  We eat a wide variety of ethnic foods and we eat omnivorously.  Because our breakfasts are so carb heavy I try to aim in the direction of a couple of veggies and protein and don't always include a starch.  Although on days when we have eggs we are more inclined to have pasta for dinner, usually with a homemade sauce of some kind.  The sauces I make tend to have a wide variety of veggies in them.

She alternates between picking at food and only eating a few bites at a time all day and eating substantially more than me.  I tend to always start her off with ~1/2 a cup of food on her plate and she can have as many servings as she wants.  Sometimes that is 7 or 8 servings.  I really dislike wasting food and if I give her too much she plays in it then I don't want to save it.