What we did with Josie (and now Natalie) is to put on the bottom shelf of the fridge a day's worth of snacks. Carrot sticks, guacamole, cucumber slices, yogurt, berries, raw beans or peas, slices of sweet pepper, maybe cheese slices or sticks or cubes, and a small pitcher (IKEA has some good ones small enough to fit in a fridge door or a narrow bit of fridge shelf that kids can pour their own from if not too full.). Set it up the night before, show it to her in the morning and show her how to get things, or have her ask you and then make her selection while you're there with her.
The fish oil we get Nordic Naturals that comes in yummy fruit flavors - orange, lemon, peach, strawberry - and we can give it to the girls either by the spoonful (it tastes NOTHING like fish!
- or put some in yogurt (which is ALWAYS full-fat - Stoneyfield Farms and Whole Fields and Brown Cow are some good whole yogurts that aren't flavored or sweetened) with a drop or two of stevia to sweeten. Flaxseed oil you can give by the spoonful or hide in yogurt too; it's an oil that shouldn't be heated to high temps. Oh, I've been known to add some to salad dressing.
Coconut oit you can cook in or you can eat by the spoonful if she'll take it. Coconut in general has its own bits of good fat; I've been known to buy unsweetened shredded coconut and coat chicken and salmon with it and grill or bake them - YUM YUM YUM!!!!
Oh, yeah, butter - I'd cook veggies and then slather them in butter (ghee/clarified butter is supposed to be best but I'm lazy
) and pour a bit of olive oil in with it before adding salt and garlic and whatever other seasonings would spice up (pun intended
) the veggies. For a while, Josie was ASKING for mixed vegetables for breakfast!
Good grains are of course whole grains; millet is yummy and can be cooked and served like brown rice or seetened like oatmeal, and barley is tasty too.
Maybe you can bake your own little muffins to use for snacks; mini-cupcake trays are perfect for banana bread muffins! You can have her help you slice a banana and arrange the rounds on a plate. Can she pour poporn into a pot and wait for it to pop? (We pop our corn in coconut oil, but make sure you have a lid on it 'cause it can splatter!) Having her be part of the food prep from time to time is always a good idea in any case; it'll come in handy when you need in the kitchen sometime! (Voice of experience here!
We're pretty much perpetual grazers here, especially in the summer. I've never myself held to a 3-meal-a-day schedule, and with DH getting home late-ish and still wanting to grill, we often have more like 4 meals (dinner AND supper, or maybe more like what the Brits would consider "tea" and "supper") and 2 or 3 snacks.
