Healthy Vegetables Side Dish That Your Toddler Will Eat

Sweet Potato Biscuits
[Weelicios.com]

This post makes me laugh.  I actually completely ruined this recipe.  I found it on my go-to web site for healthy recipes to try on my toddler.  It is on Weelicious.com.

I had some sweet potatoes waiting to be used and I wanted to try something different other than my go-to muffins.  So I went to Weelicious.com and simply typed in sweet potatoes.  My results were a ton of great things I need to try. 

I settled on the recipe Sweet Potato Biscuits.  Other than muffins, I don’t make many bread recipes.  I don’t have the patience for the yeast rising and up until recently I haven’t been able to do the whole floured surface and rolling thing.  I finally started using a pastry mat – what a dream come true. Before, I was using my counter which no matter how many times I washed it it was never clean enough and no amount of flour stopped things from sticking. But when using a pastry mat and not needing to use yeast and wait I thought this recipe might be doable.  I was wrong.

My first mistake was not really reading the instructions.  Now I normally forget an ingredient or two when I screw up a recipe but not this time.  This time I felt I knew better. Actually it was - I don’t have the patience to do it the way the recipe says.  So instead of pulsing the dry ingredients and then dough I just turned the food processor on.  Well over mixing my dough did one thing – it caused my biscuits not to rise.  They looked like pancakes.  I was hesitant to even try them out.  But if I expected my toddler to try them I had to do the same.  So my husband and I gave them a shot.  For the dense-ness of them not rising they were actually pretty good.  Will (our toddler) actually ate his too.  So surprisingly this was a success for the tasting just not for the chef.  Lesson learned to follow the instructions, well hopefully.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Biscuits [Weelicious.com]

Recipe result: Parents enjoyed them - SUCCESS! Toddler enjoyed them - SUCCESS!

How to Get Toddlers to Eat Vegetables

Broccoli Cheese Patties
for Picky Eaters

I find the process of getting my son to eat a vegetable a little difficult, to say the least.  The best I have ever managed was to hide nutrients in muffins (Healthy Fall Recipes for Picky Eaters). So far, we have not had any problems with carbohydrates or fruits. Meat is difficult to introduce due to lack of teeth.  But vegetables have been a problem for us based on the taste.  Since eating solid finger foods Will has turned his nose up at green beans, carrots, broccoli, etc.  It does not matter if I offer dips or sprinkle them with cheese he will immediately pick them up attempt to remove them from his tray.  Therefore I am determined to find a few recipes that will help me get more vegetable goodness into my son.  I decided that Weelicious.com would be a great place to start.
 
I found a recipe called Broccoli Cheese Patties.  It got quite a few thumbs up on the site and I thought maybe my husband and I might like it too.  After all, somebody in my house needs to eat these experiments so we are not wasting food.
 
The recipe was so simple I had everything I needed in the house and was not forced to run to the store.  I already liked it. The recipe also looked as though it might be fairly easy and it was!  I was able to make this and several other dinner items at the same time without feeling like this recipe was so demanding and particular that I could not finish it if I was multitasking.
 
The Broccoli Cheese Patties turned out beautifully.  They were easy to make, they looked as good as the picture and the best part is, everyone liked them.  Parents and toddler both ate them!
 
Recipe: Broccoli Cheese Patties [Weelicious.com]

Recipe result: Parents enjoyed them - SUCCESS! Toddler enjoyed them - SUCCESS!

Healthy Fall Recipes for Picky Toddlers

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
for Picky Eaters

With chilly weather and the holidays rapidly approaching I thought I should make something festive.  Pumpkin definitely has a fall feel to it so I wanted to make something with pumpkin in it. My little man has had pumpkin purees in baby food mixes but I have never let him experience the full deliciousness of the pumpkin flavor.  For this taste test I opted to make Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.  I know for me making muffins is a stretch for me – ha ha.  For those that have recently joined me you can view my successful with toddlers and adults catalog of muffin recipes and their variations (Healthy Breakfast Ideas for Toddlers, Healthy Muffin Recipe for Toddlers, More Mini-Muffin Madness.)

I found this recipe through Pintrest.com but it led me to the recipe owner’s site which is AllRecipes.com.  I have actually found a lot of healthy toddler recipes for picky eaters there.  I will definitely be re-using this resource in posts to come.

These muffins were delicious!  I made them in about 20+ minutes total.   Other than the can of pumpkin I keep my pantry stocked with every other ingredient I needed to make them. I took them to a neighborhood party with several adults, toddlers and small kids.  Every single person loved them.  I even brought the three remaining muffins to my day care lady the next day and she loved them.  I highly recommend giving this recipe a try.

My only variation to the recipe was replacing with sugar with brown and making them into mini-muffins.  Mini muffins should be cooked for about 11 minutes.  I may experiment with this recipe and try raisins or a touch more spice next time too just to see what happens.

Recipe: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins [allrecipes.com]

Recipe result:  Parents enjoyed them - SUCCESS! Toddler enjoyed them - SUCCESS!

Healthy Breakfast Ideas for Toddlers

Healthy Toddler Breakfast Muffins

As my readers may know I am a big fan of Healthy Muffins for Toddlers.  I find that it is a really easy way to get a lot of nutrition and taste into each bite my child consumes in the morning.  Therefore, I have made several different kinds of muffins and have been experimenting with ways to make the tastier while balancing the healthy ingredients.  I usually will double or triple the amount of bananas in a recipe.  I will add oats to a recipe.  I will substitute whole wheat flour over white and see the results.  This week, I have taken my tried and true muffin recipe and attempted to go a little fancier with my add-ins.  I want my son to have a varied palette and to have tried many foods when he gets out in the world and starts tasting on his own.

For this round of taste testing I made two variations on my former list of Healthy Toddler Muffins Varieties.  My first attempt was to try something a little gourmet.  I would like my little man to be ready for the challenge of eating grandpa’s fancy meals someday. Therefore, I made my banana oatmeal recipe with white chocolate chips and cranberries.  I wasn’t sure if those flavors would go well with the bananas and oats but it worked surprisingly well.  My second variety was butterscotch chips.  I was not worried that the butterscotch flavor might not meld with the bananas and I was completely right.  They went together perfectly.

Recipe: Healthy Toddler Breakfast Muffins [Healthy Muffin Recipe for Toddlers]

Recipe result - Banana Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Muffins:
Parents enjoyed them - SUCCESS!
Toddler enjoyed them - SUCCESS!

Recipe result – Banana Oatmeal Butterscotch Muffins:
Parents enjoyed them - SUCCESS!
Toddler enjoyed them - SUCCESS! 

Toddler Teething Biscuits Using Left Over Rice Cereal

Homemade Teething Biscuits

One of my favorite hobbies is to look for and create the recipes that I find.  I especially enjoy recipes with pictures. Therefore, I am especially fond of Pintrest.com.  Whoever invented that site is a true genius.

Like thousands of other Pintrest.com fans I find myself constantly perusing the site for craft, recipe and household ideas.  I have tried many of the recipes I find on my family.  My husband used to roll his eyes every time he saw me on the site. However, so many have turned out well he seems not mind anymore. The other day I came across one that offered a suggestion as to what to do with your left over baby rice and oatmeal cereals once your children have out grown them.  I have a surplus of both and thought this recipe should be tested.

The recipe was beyond easy, which I loved.  I also had everything on hand.  There are loads of variations possible so you can actually use up your surplus of cereals and baby food in one recipe.  I used rice cereal and banana for this batch.

Personally, I thought they were super bland.  I did not even try and force my picky husband to eat one. They smelled nice and cinnamon-y but the flavor was just not there.  Will (my 16 month old) thought they were great.  They were chewer than I expected but I read a few reviews and that seemed normal.  I have given them to Will several times now and he really likes them.  They take very few ingredients, are fun to make because of the ability to use cookie cutters and my little one liked them.  So I am thrilled!

Recipe: Homemade Teething Biscuits [ImprintALish.blogspot.co.uk]

Recipe result: Parents enjoyed them - FAIL! Toddler enjoyed them - SUCCESS!

Toddlers and Parents Love Cheesy Chicken and Rice

Cheesy Chicken and Rice

I am so excited I could pee my pants!  After finishing my midterm, I found a crock pot recipe on Pintrest.com and decided to give it a whirl.  I normally don't do a lot of crockpot cooking becasue I am just not organized enough to know what I want to make hours in advance.  However, I was giddy with my success at turning in my test and thought, why not? As far as recipes go, it was so easy!  It had everything a dinner would want; chicken, cheese, rice, corn.  The best part, my family loved it!  Both my husband who is super picky and my 16 month old gobbled it up.  My toddler enjoyed trying to use his spoon but ultimately used his hands more to scoop up the bits that kept falling off.  My toddler even wanted seconds.  He then ate it for lunch the next day and wanted seconds again too.  I was shocked!  This is definitely going in my regular recipe rotation for ease of making it, the items are always on hand and everybody loved it.

Recipe: Cheesy Chicken and Rice [southernplate.com]

Recipe result: Parents enjoyed them - SUCCESS! Toddler enjoyed them - SUCCESS!

Toddler Recipe Posting Delay

My Apologies, I had originally planned to have at least one recipe post a week.  However, I had a midterm last week and was all consumed with it.  Sadly, I had not even realized I had a midterm to do until it arrived.  It was ten questions that required research and several paragraph answers.  Therefore, I didn't get anything other than it and my regular house, work and mom stuff done.

But this week will be better.  (Cackles with insane glee)

Sweet Potato Cakes

Sweet Potato Cakes

After going through the Weelicios.com site I decided that there are many recipes that my family and I needed to try.  Tonight with dinner I attempted the Sweet Potato Cakes. The recipe was simple though it takes a long time to make.  The first step is to roast a sweet potato in the oven for an hour.  This is a large chunk of time to have to account for when you get home from work and have lots of things to do.  However, I decided it was worth it if I could find another vegetable recipe my family would like.  So, I through the potato in the oven and took my little man for a walk.  When I got back my house had the weird roasted sweet potato smell.  Maybe I am just not used to it but to me it smelled weird.  I took the skin off and through everything in the Kitchen Aid to save time and effort.  To make the pattys you have to get your hands pretty gross.  Though the mix is very moist it does work out just fine with the bread crumbs and works well on the pan as a patty.  They didn't crisp up as much as I expected and I had to substitute plain breadcumbs with Italian seasoned but in the end the whole thing looked and tasted just fine.  But the big question, did the family eat it?  My son had one bite eagerly and then proceeded to disasemble the rest without eatting them.  My husband and I ate every scrap of ours.

Recipe result: Parents enjoyed them - SUCCESS! Toddler enjoyed them - FAIL! 

Weelicious.com

In my research to find new and exciting ways to incorporate healthy meals for my son and family I stumbled upon a great new site.  I found weelicious.com!  I think I am love.  This site is exactly what I hope to become someday. It has great recipes for the entire family, tutorials videos, contests, it is fun and dynamic.

This great site has lot of age ranged recipes for me to try and experiment with.  This week, I plan to try the Cottage Chees Pancakes.  I will write back soon with how the preparation went and whether my little picky eater and big picky eater aka: Daddy liked them. Stay tuned.

Exploring the toddler sense of touch - sticky!

I am always torn between whether or not to allow my child to get sticky and disgusting when trying foods or to try and minimize the damage.  For example today we have waffles.  I gave him a small container of syrup to learn about the dipping process.  My husband was horrified, he hates sticky!  Will loved to dip with the waffles and then later with his fingers.  He got his syrup everywhere simply playing with this new texture taste and experience.  I love to watch him explore new things but ugh why does it have to be so messy?  He got it on his face, armpit, chest and in his hair.  We went straight from the high-chair to the bath tub. So I'm torn whether or not to seek out a product that has the syrup already in it for the sweetness or grin and bear it with the sticky. 

Zucchini Tots

Zucchini Tots

I attempted to do something a bit different this experiment.  I have the most difficulty gettting my little man eat vegetables and meats.  For this recipe I decided to see if I could get him to eat zuchini outside of a bread product.  I hoped that this zucchini tot recipe would do the trick.  Boy, was I wrong.  Will would not even try this recipe.  Though it resembled a muffin, which he loves, he was not willing to eat even a bit of it no matter how many times I offered.  However, my husband and I thought they were awesome and would happily eat this healthy side dish again and again.

Recipe result: Parents enjoyed them - SUCCESS! Toddler enjoyed them - FAIL! 

This recipe was found on Pintrest.com and the blog that was pinned was from TheCuriousCountryCook.com

More Mini-Muffin Madness

You may be curious, what is that magical recipe for mini-muffins?  Well here it is:

The original recipe is found in the Favorite Brand Name Bake Sale Cookbook.  It is available on Amazon.com.

(Insert your additional flavor(s) here) 

Banana Oatmeal Mini-Muffins

 

1 mushy ripe banana (I have used up to 3 bananas)

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 milk

1/4 vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats (Regular oats work)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2+ cup of your flavor choice (strawberries, blueberries, nuts, chips, dried fruit, etc.)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Blend the banana(s) in a mixer. Add egg, sugar, milk, oil and vanilla.
3. In a seperate bowl combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Add dry mixed ingredients to the wet ingredients in the mixer.
5. Blend in your flavor choice
6. In a GREASED (I use liberal amounts of cooking spray) mini muffin tin fill the cups to almost full.  A Large Pampered Chef Scoop for Cupcakes & Muffins about half full works awesome! 
7. Bake for 8+ minutes depending upon how hot your oven runs. 

Yields: 24 muffins

Muffins once cooled can be placed in a ziplock bag and frozen.  They are perfect when reheated for 30 secs.

Healthy Muffin Recipe for Toddlers

My latest obsession to get my son to eat a nutritious meal starts at breakfast.  I am delirious with muffin fever. Or I have simply caught the bug my son picked up from day care too.

We attempt to get little Will to eat his fruits and healthy grains for breakfast but as he is growing he is getting more independent and pushing the spoon away.  He wants to be a big boy and feed himself.

I am currently working and reworking a muffin recipe I have found.  It allows me to use the bananas Will won't eat fast enough, oatmeal and various other ingredients to make different flavors.  Will and I cannot get enough of them. 

So far I have made:

• Banana Oatmeal
• Blueberry Banana Oatmeal
• Chocolate Chip Banana Oatmeal
• Cinnamon Raisin Banana Oatmeal
• Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal
• Strawberry Banana Oatmeal

The recipe calls for only 1/2 cup of sugar and a 1/4 cup of oil.  I am planning to start playing around with applesauce to see if I can reduce those ingredients even further.

The best part is - he is eats them!

Recipe result: Parents enjoyed them - SUCCESS! Toddler enjoyed them - SUCCESS!

Tasty Toddler - healthy recipes for picky kids

My Picky Toddler, Will

Hello and welcome to Tasty Toddler, recipes for picky eaters!

This is a blog that was created to test and share delicious and healthy recipes that I have modified to get my discerning toddler (and let’s be honest - picky husband) to eat.

My name is Jo. I am a first time mother of a beautiful 15 month old. He is a happy, active, healthy child who is unbelievably selective when it comes to meal time. I find it very challenging to get my little Will to eat new let alone nutritious foods.

In this blog, I will share my failures and successes as I attempt to try recipes I have found in cookbooks, gotten from family and friends and have found on the Internet. Some recipes will be attempted "as is" and I will document whether my son and the adults in the family enjoyed the dish. Other recipes may be modified based on my family's tastes and to increase their nutritional value.

My promise to my readers is that I will be honest, available and I will listen. I will be honest about where I found my recipes and honest in how the creation and taste testing went. I will do my best to be a resource to others. I promise to be approachable. Please feel free to ask questions or to offer suggestions on recipes to try, recipe modifications to be made or even to offer ideas on how to improve the format of this site. I want to get to know you and your families so that we can work together to feed all of our families wholesome nutritious meals that they look forward to eating. Because after all, what mom doesn’t want to hear her family asking for second helpings of a home cooked meal?