picky eaters

well homemade pizza and burgers are a good start - it's something they will eat. You can also eat it - way easier to control the content by making things yourself.

There are lots of recipes out there for "sneaking" veggies into things, like putting shredded carrots or peas into mac & cheese, putting a bit of spinach into a lasagna, etc. Have you tried that kind of thing? With enough peanut butter carrots are delicious, homemade baked sweet potato fries are super yummy, and so on.

Take advantage of the sweet tooth that all kids have, and make them a "green smoothie" made with spinach and fruit. Or you can make a banana and medjool date smoothie, with a little almond milk and a drip of vanilla extract. Add a few crushed walnuts or fresh cherries for texture and it's just like ice cream.

I had one of the pickiest eaters on the planet for a long time. - until he was about 6 he would eat these things only (maybe a few others, but this was the jist of it.

Mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, Black forest ham (yes only that kind), bacon, fries, PB, corn, bread, and eggs. That is it.

We did not make him separate meals once he started school.

slowly he started trying things, because I would not make another meal, however, I would save it and reheat it if he got hungry later or he'd eat a piece of PB toast before bed.

We found out that he likes to cook. His dad (my hubby) is a trained chef - slowly daddy started helping him cook things and shop for things. Now the kid will try about anything. - even if only one bite. The other day I made egg whites with onion, mushrooms and spinach on toast. He asked for a bite - and said That is my breakfast on Saturday mommy - except I'm leaving out the spinach!: - hey at least he tried it.

At 8 years old he asked Santa for pots and pans and knives so he could cook like daddy - and Santa sure had fun picking those out for him! Now he makes his own eggs for breakfast and cooks things for himself (with supervision) and loves to try new things.

We also sneak things into other stuff. Lasagna the other night was ground turkey, spinach, mushrooms and peppers - they loved it and got seconds. (I have raised 7 kids (2 not my own) and

Well, I can tell you what I do with my 3 year old. She's not exactly picky, more she's just not particularly interested in eating. Or she didn't used to be, but she's getting better. My husband is the same way, and underweight, so I worry about it with both of them.

What I do is 'deconstruct' most of our meals. It works out well for us because we can all get portions of whatever we like. We very rarely have a meal that is 100% new things she hasn't tried before. All of our meals have several components, at least one of which she likes. I work full time, am doing additional coursework, and I don't have a ton of time to cook, but its easy enough to cook up a few extra portions and rotate leftovers. Not all the things even have to be cooked. Cheese, olives, hummus, various vegetable dips, stuffed grape leaves, salsas, fresh bread, all these things can be bought premade.

She must also try one very small bite of everything on her plate. The bite is about the size of one bean. This is something that I struggled with because I've heard so many picky eaters say their parents made them eat and it just made things worse. She seems to respond to it fine. She knows its only small bite and then she can move onto the part of the meal she likes. She normally says 'no I don't like this', but sometimes at the next meal she will eat whatever the offending food particle was.

From the very beginning I have refused to cook separate meals, and I never will. I think that is the worst thing anyone can do, excepting cases of food allergies or maybe something like food aversions from illness or autism. Like I said, there is always something on the table she likes. She is also allowed only 1 snack in the afternoon, and only because her lunch is so early. There is a HUGE difference in her eating habits when she is allowed snacks and when she isn't.

One thing that I also really focus on is manners. She does not have to like everything she is given, but she must try a bite and isn't allowed to complain, whine, or make faces. If she does she can skip dinner and go sit in her room. I don't mind picky people so much, but I do mind picky people that are RUDE about it. If someone comes over for dinner or a bbq or whatever and sits around and whines and/or makes faces at food they are unlikely to be invited back over. Its also important because my husband is from North Africa, so when we visit his family or other families she will often be seeing very unfamiliar food.

I used to be more into getting her involved in cooking, but I'm pregnant and just don't have the patience right now. What I did was have her put things from the cutting board into the pot/bowl. Last night she 'helped' me grill, choose the vegetables, we talked about the colors and the shapes.

We also try to make meal times enjoyable. We talk about our days and I involve her in talks about food. What are the colors? Do you like x,y,z? Is it crunchy, soft? Salty, sweet? She has her own 'special' plate that is only for her. She helps me set and clear the table. She helps me choose the serving dishes, which are nice and colorful and rarely match.