Toddler Foods - mmm, now I am hungry!!!!!

Recently someone asked what I feed the kids so I thought I would do a post about it so I can remember...

For breakfast we give them fruit, oatmeal, yogurt, cheese, a hard boiled egg, banana, bagel with cream cheese, toast with jelly, cherrios. I have tried french toast and pancakes and they are just not that into it yet.

For lunch they usually have a bean and cheese burrito, egg salad sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly, quesadilla, or leftovers from the night before. Sometimes I will make them chicken noodle soup or beef raviolis. For so long I have been worried about them getting enough iron. Most times I will put the chicken or beans on their tray first and wait till they eat it until I put the other stuff. I refrain from giving them processed lunch meats and hot dogs as often as possible. Everything in moderation though and if we are at a party and they are serving hot dogs well, then thats what they eat! :)

For snacks we do the graduates oatmeal bars, ritz crackers, graham crackers, cheese, yogurt, puffs, popcorn, vanilla wafers, FRUIT, hummus for dip, cookies, etc.

For drinks, other than milk, I mostly give apple juice with added water, plain water, and sometimes I make them hot chocolate if its cold outside. When we are on the run I give capri-suns which they love bec it is has a straw!

For dinners they eat what we eat. I refuse to make different meals. They love pasta so we do spaghetti, lasagne, and fettichine alfredo, enchiladas, chicken & rice casserole, cheeseburgers, they LOVE macaroni & cheese... we do lots of chicken and green beans - their fav! We just recently switched from regular hamburger meat to turkey burger. They love plain ole pinto beans too so once a week I make a pot of those for them to eat all week for iron/protein. I try to feed them relatively healthy and at home vs eating mcdonalds! I also serve them brown rice, wheat tortillas, and wheat bread. I buy the mickey mouse chicken nuggets from costco - they are supposed to be healthier. I give them ranch or ketchup to dip them in. they love to dip stuff. Keeping in mind I still cut things up to make everything kid friendly. I often ask friends what they feed their kids bec I run out of ideas but I try to be creative and have them try new things all the time to learn their likes and dislikes. Its hard when they dont like something but I have heard it takes a few times for things to adjust with their pallate. If anyone has any ideas please shoot them my way! I do realize how lucky I am to be able to be home with them and take the time to make homemade foods and really be in control of what they are eating and I do know that once they are in school that will prob change but for now I am trying to make sure my babies get the best nutrition possible. :)

If they had their way, they would eat cheese, green beans, cookies, chocolate, and strawberries all day long!