What meat dishes do your toddlers eat?

[Erin M]

Katie will be two in March, up until a few months ago I could get her to eat any variety of ground beef dishes, chicken in various forms, and fish.  Now she eats chicken nuggets and that's about it.  To her credit, she'll eat any type of chicken nuggets (homemade ones, Tyson, any type of fast food).  She gets lots of protein from other sources - yogurt, cheese, beans - so I'm not too terrible worried about that, just wondering if anyone has any thoughts about other dishes she may like.

[NikiJ]

Is it just that she has become abit fussy recently?

Madi loves meat.  It's the veg I have problems with.

Since she loves the chicken nuggets, how about fish goujons?  They look the same.

Niki

[Mom to M&M]

Marisa likes tuna noodle casserole (well will have a few bites). I use a really basic recipe: http://www.recipezaar.com/172893

She also likes my homemade spaghetti and meatballs and will usually have at least one meatball about the size of a golf ball or little smaller. I take kosher lean ground beef (1 pound) and mix with one egg, 1/2 cup of seasoned bread crumbs, garlic powder, salt and pepper and a little water. Form the meatballs and simmer for two hours in sauce (I saute a very small onion half a stick of margarine and add 16 ounces Del Monte tomato sauce and 8 ounces Contandina tomato paste and 12 ounces water).

She likes this boiled chicken my sister makes too - she basically just boils boneless/skinless chicken breasts in a stock made from chicken broth, water, lots of garlic, rosemary and other spices - let it boil for a long time to get super soft/shredded...

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Home made meatballs, burgers and chicken burgers are a big hit here too. You could make your own fish burgers or fish fingers, just cod or whatever dipped in egg and breadcrumbs. DD likes fish baked in the oven with passata( tomato sauce) and at the end I just add a bit of cream cheese or cream. Have also discovered that she will eat beef if cooked slowly in passata too, so I get a ribeye steak which is quite tender, cut into small pieces and cook very slowly, you can do chicken the same way and she loves both.

[Carter'sMama]

Carter will eat any and all meat ... it's the green and orange things (any vegetable to be exact) that he won't touch with a ten foot pole!  How do you get them to eat that??

Have you tried mini meatloaves?  You make them in muffin tins and can do different "add-ins".  I usually put salsa in the middle and cheese on top but I know I have a recipe for ones with bbq sauce, or a Italian one with olives and tomato sauce.  I can find the recipe of you are interested.

Or what about trying to bread other meats so that they look like chicken fingers.  You can do a really easy coating with bread crumbs and do pork or even steak to try and trick her (that sounds mean but you know that's not how I meant it!) 

[Two mummies]

Riley eats sausages, chicken patties, beef patties and tuna patties....the odd slice of ham and smiley face fritz (very hard to explain what this is to non-aussies without grossing you out!).

She'll eat them as long as they don't under any circumstances have any sort of liquid sauce anywhere near them unless it is tomato sauce (ketchup).....like lumps in her yoghurt and all variety of pasta....sauce (other than tomato) and gravy are creations of the devil and must be avoided at all costs *sigh*


Soph

[binxyboo]

I will lurk here to get ideas if you don't mind. Riley is not big on meat at all, I think it may be that I am vegetarian and he mostly eats with just me. He does like tofu, quorn, veggie products like that. He adores evgetables in general, and especially brussels sprouts!

[Carter'sMama]

Yummmm brussles sprouts are my favorite!  Now why couldn't I have passed that on to my DS?? 

Carter won't eat anything green, which surprises me because I ate broccoli every night of my third trimester ... hmmm maybe he got sick of it??

[binxyboo]

I ate peaches my last trimester, and Riley cannot get enough of these!

[Two mummies]

I ate McDonalds cheeseburgers and Subway Cookies.....Riley hasn't had a chance to taste the McDonalds but has rejected the Subway Cookies!!!!!

All very strange...

[Katet]

Carter will eat any and all meat ... it's the green and orange things (any vegetable to be exact) that he won't touch with a ten foot pole!  How do you get them to eat that??

Sounds like my boys... both will easily eat 2 lamb cutlets each but at AUD$28/kg (about US$18/lb) they don't get them often. & Anything green or orange is no go.

I make my meat balls & Hamburger patties in bulk 1kg (2.2lb meat) with 2cups of puree veg in them & freeze to use at other times. Or if I make spag bol/lasagne meat sauce (also in bulk) the puree veg goes in too.

Mash Potato tends to go down well here & it has a frozen ice cube of zuchinni (corgette) puree & one of puree yellow lentils to 2-3 big potatos (even dh can't taste the extra in it- he does know it is added though)

I will list the meat they (pretty much the same) don't eat as it is far shorter.
- tuna (Liam will Aiden won't)
- red fish eg salmon
- cold sandwich cuts of meat
- meat in a stew type (Aiden won't, Liam sometimes will)
- meatballs if covered in sauce (Aiden... Liam loves the sauce)... but both eat them.
- Aiden has gone off bolognaise sauce recently.

Top Favourites are
- crumbed cutlets
- chicken shish kebabs
- sausages
- chicken bites/nuggets/snitzle (home made or commercial)

[Erin M]

Thanks ladies, I appreciate the ideas

Cathy, if you get a chance, send that recipe my way, sounds like something she might eat, as we'd had some success with ground beef dishes in the past.  She'll eat pretty much everything in the fruit/vegetable world -- dh makes a mean smoothie out of yogurt, milk, bananas, and any other fruit we've got laying around so if she's not into any other fruit she'll always have that.  We got her eating broccoli by giving it to her with cheese sauce on it and now she eats plain broccoli too. 

If this whole babies eating what mom ate during pregnancy theory (or babies being sick of what mom ate during prengnacy) theory pans out, Allie is either going to love or hate cheeseburgers with just ketchup and pickles b/c I ate nothing but them for weeks on end. 

[Carter'sMama]

 Erin - I will pm you the recipe as soon as I dig it out! 

[calebs mommy]

I am lurking too to get ideas. 

Cathy, would you mind posting the recipe here?  I am interested too. Thanks!

[Carter'sMama]

Sure!  Here it is:

Marvellous Mini Meatloaves

                     Seasoning                 Add-in Choices               Cheese (1/2 cup)

Italian           -1 tsp Italian              - 1/2 cup pasta sauce      - shredded
                      seasoning         

Fiesta           - 2 tsp chili powder      - 1/2 chunky salsa           - shredded

Mediterranean  - 1 tsp oregano         - 1/2 cup chopped           - crumbled feta
                                                         roasted red peppers

BarBQ            - 1 tsp garlic powder      - 1/2 cup BarBQ sauce     - Cheez Whiz


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F.  Mix 1lb ground beef, 1 pkg stuffing mix, water and seasoning choice until well blended.  Press evenly into 8 muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray.  Make an indentation in centre of each with the back of  a spoon.

Spoon Add-ins evenly into indentations in meatloaves

Bake 30 min or until meatloaves are cooked through.  Top with cheese choice and continue baking for 5 mins or until cheese is melted.  Let stand 10 mins before serving.

Also can be frozen!!  Let cool and freeze in single layer on baking sheet until firm.  Transfer to airtight container and freeze for up to 4 weeks.  To serve, defrost, then reheat in microwave or 375F oven for 20 mins.

Enjoy!!