High calorie/high fat nutritious toddler foods -need ideas!

[Vicku]

I have a TINY little girl, 17mos, who needs fattening up after the Rotavirus and would appreciate ANY ideas of good foods and snacks for her (recepies too). I feel like I'm stuck giving the same things all the time
I know avodacoes are great, but she doesn't like them as they are, so any ideas of how to 'hide' them, if that's possible, would be good too.

TIA

[Aly Mac]

does she like yoghurt? I remember Lilly loving yoghurt mixed with avocado. 

[lilisuze]

smoothies made with full fat yogurt and fruit. if you have a good blender you can add oats too.
pasta with olive oil/tomatoes/tomato puree/ham and mushroom is always a winner here!

[LisaK1]

Put olive oil in her foods, chock full of fat, good ones too.

[LisaK1]

What is her weight? I'm sure she will pick up over the course of a month.

[Mom to M&M]

I blend avocado into fruit juice drinks for DS. He doesn't like milk based smoothies but LOVES juice so I make him a "smoothie" from a bit of apple juice, lots of water, fresh fruit (todays is strawberries and banana) and avocado. He LOVES it. I tell him it's juice. Coconut milk is GREAT for adding good fats too. Coconut oil can be used for cooking. Make french toast with double egg yolk and "fry" it up in a mixture of butter and coconut oil. I used challah french toast for this and it works great. What does she like to eat?

[deb]

Dark meat chicken. And don't go for the super-lean portions of meats.

Coconut milk and oil are great! Adding some fish oil and/or flaxseed oil to yogurt or to smoothies works well. I have a friend who can't abide avocado but is able to deal with it in smoothies - it has THE best texture! My kids will dip veg in guacamole. Oooh, sour cream as a dip! And of course the old stand-by, BUTTER!

[Shdef]

Smoothies made with a little full cream in it. Really good are:

Banana/vanilla icecream/ sugar / full cream

Strawberries/ natural yoghurt / full cream


Have a little carton of cream ready and add it to her mash, her gravies and smoothies, only ever a table spoon full or so, it works great. And good fats like butter, flaxseed oil and coconut oil like Deb said.

We had those issues with Sam, too. He worked out at the same time as really adding fats and good protein to his very healthy diet and all he gained was muscle.

He actually loses weight when he eats processed food or junk, it does have to be 'good stuff' to stick.

Make sure she gets LOTS of exercise, that will help her gain and will help her appetite and overall health.

[Vicku]

Thanks so much!
Great ideas! Will get making those smoothies, and never thought about mixing avocado in yoghurt (just realised I'd written avodacoes LOL) She does love yoghurt and I've been giving her Greek Yoghurt which is 10% fat, so will try mixing avocado with that. Never thought of using coconut milk and oil, and totally forgot about French toast which is a great way of getting eggs in her, she won't eat them otherwise. Will also try the dips and flaxseed oil (Lois loves flaxseed oil and eats it by the spoon!) Been adding butter and cream and rapeseed oil so far. She isn't very keen on fruit and veg, so milkbased smoothies are probably liked better but I'll try both. Her favourite food is Spaghetti Bolognese. She likes things in sauces and mixed together with lots of flavours, even garlic (opposite to DD1 who wants everything bland, dry and separate LOL) She also likes bread and cake. Was thinking of baking her some special healthy muffins but don't have a recipe yet so suggestions on how to make them would be appreciated I'm not a very experienced baker.
Her weight is around 8kgs/18lbs. She is very short too though, so usually not that skinny, but very tiny, and now both tiny AND skinny! LOL

[Mom to M&M]

I make these "breakfast" cookies from Sneaky Chef all the time. I make as is in the link except I use full-fat ricotta cheese and double the amount of egg. My kids both like them and they are super healthy!

http://www.cooksrecipes.com/articles/lapine_sneaky_chef_breakfast_cookies_1.html

[Vicku]

Thanks Karen

[Mom to M&M]

No problem - hope they go down well! And with the spag bol - of course you can add some grated cheese and butter or oil to her portion - even more tasty and will add a calorie punch!

[mum101]

Almond meal added to cooking, olive oil added to dinner meals, grate cheese into meals,

Snack on cheese, peanut butter (my DS used to eat it off the spoon - win!), there are also the almond butter, and we've got one here which is a mix of almond and cashew. 

Full fat milk added to weetbix, then let is soak in for a minute or two and add more milk 

Ground flaxseed or almond meal can be hidden on top of cereal.  I added these and cheese to DS's spag bol. Also a touch of cream.

[Vicku]

Thanks Char

I bought peanut butter and tried it on toast but she didn't like it Will try again in a few days.
This morning I made our oats porridge like normal but instead of adding milk to hers I mixed in lots of full fat cream (40% fat) and just a tad of brown sugar and she loved it and had loads! Good news is that she really has a good appetite now, better than ever before, and the other day when I changed her nappy I could tell her thighs are getting chunkier again She has been having many biscuits too lately as I bought some butter Teddy Bear biscuits that she just adores and will ask for all day long "Biddi! Biddiiiii!!!" and I've let her have loads just to put weight on Seems to be working, but will have to make sure she starts having more healthy things too.

Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions! It's helping

[mum101]

cool

I was once in tears over DS's skinny thighs when he was unwell, it's so nice to hear a reference to some good chunky thighs