How adventurous are you when it comes to introducing food to your little ones? Last week I started off Monday with a chicken, leek & cream dish and a potato dauphinoise (I’m always a little sad when it’s Monday and comfort food seemed right).
Tuesday I made a fabulous taco recipe (which I will eventually put up on the blog).
Wednesday… I made a lentil dish with sausages and egg noodles. As I was making it I thought… what the hell am I doing? Are my kids really going to eat this? But I was already too into the recipe and there was no turning back. In all truth, we both agreed that the dish was better than Monday’s chicken, leek and cream dish (which I clearly had under-seasoned) but my son didn’t touch it.
I took it in stride and gave him a banana instead but it made me think…
Is it worth introducing these dishes that may stretch your kids palates or is it better off to stick to tried and true basics?
Personally, I just get bored with making the same things over and over but sometimes it’s so annoying trying to feed it to my little ones I feel like giving up and having spaghetti bolognese every night. Plus, I love seeing our kids discover new food. Our son keeps asking for ‘machawi’ which we get from our favourite Lebanese joint and that alone makes me want to keep battling the battle.
What do you think? Do you try to introduce new foods regularly or stick to the tried and true? Plus I’d LOVE it if you guys would tell me any more challenging flavours or dishes you introduced to your children that they loved.
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Michelle Little
Writer & Photographer
Our 13mo eats a combination of whatever we eat and the vegetables we prepare for him. He eats most of what we give him, which this week included miso-glazed eggplant. He did however draw the line at spicy kimchi.
Interesting – is whatever you eat on the more basic side or do you try and stretch the palate a bit more? Do you find it frustrating or do you look positively whenever he eats something like the miso-glazed eggplant? I find our 13 month old will eat one thing one day and the very next day refuse it… it’s a little frustrating but I try and go with the flow.
Thanks for the insight!
Eek – I have one at each end: JK-er eats like a bird, and totally avoids fruit (fruit!) of all kinds. Toddler eats everything, even if she doesn’t know what it is, but avoids meat like the plague. I started to give up and go the spaghetti-a-day route, but then tried this: every day one family member gets to choose the main dish. (At the beginning of the week!). Within reason, I make someone’s fave meal one night a week. We order in on day 5. Weekends are wild cards. Works well enough – I stay (relatively) sane, kids do try new foods but also get their faves, me and the husband get “grownup” flavours often.
Anyway, love this post, Michelle! Can’t wait to read more ideas!!
Oooooh my… Wow. I’m glad you found something that works for you because that sounds like your kids are all over the place!
I like the idea of everyone choosing their favourite meal one day of the week. Is everyone generally pretty game when it’s not their favourite meal or the meal they chose, or do you put up with a bit of a fight those days?
I’m curious to know what your favourite meals are – what are the meals that your kids like to choose? Which ones are the biggest winners? Also, what do you order in? Do you go basic like pizza or something else?
Sorry – so many questions but it sounds like you’ve got a system that works and I’d love to know more!
Michelle
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