Mine ate what we ate, homemade food, often international - just cut into smaller bits for serving. Let's see - Teriyaki (chicken or beef), brown rice, broccoli, asparagus, corn, or green beans. spinach salad. quiche. Chicken curry with homemade Korma sauce. lasagna. Indonesian pork sate. stroganoff (not the hamburger with cream soup glop - the real thing with sirloin, mushrooms, onions, and sour cream). beef burgundy. pot roast. steak. soups. Ham and fried green tomatoes. Spaghetti with marinara sauce. scalloped potatoes. meatloaf. sautéed zucchini. Baked sweet potatoes. kielbasa. stewed tomatoes We didn't make bland "kid food".
Thank you for all your suggestions. This will help me break out of the mashed potato, egg salad, risotto rut. A savory veggie pie or bread pudding sounds like a great use for some fresh summer veggies. Keep the ideas coming...
My boys ate everything we ate, except that I cut it into teeny, tiny pieces. Meatloaf was a favorite. Beef burgundy was another favorite. Stir fried curry rice with peas, miniscule carrot dice, minced onion and tiny pieces of whatever meat we had also appeared regularly on the menu. Meat pies -- cornish pasties, in particular -- that I made with tiny meatballs instead of chunks of stewed meat, were popular. We gave them every savory sauce that passed through my kitchen, usually mixed with rice or diced potato, from the time they were old enough to handle slightly chunky but soft food. Quiche Lorraine was always eaten with gusto. (I minced the bacon, and none of the grownups eating it noticed or, if they did, nobody ever mentioned it.) Both boys are adventurous food lovers, and have been their whole lives. ;o)
Polenta would be an alternative to risotto. You can serve it topped with a ragu (or ragout in French) made from just about anything from mushrooms to poultry to meat.
When my son was one and was just starting to experiment with foods, he would eat ANYTHING I put in front of him as long as it was soft enough to mush up and small enough to not choke on. I used this as a chance to familiarize him with exotic foods. He ate mild curries, fruits cut into small pieces, all sorts of grains, etc. You really can give them almost anything. Then and now the only thing my son consistently refuses is potatoes. I love having the kid who won't eat a french fry!!!!
Anything with ground meat? Meatloaf, lasagna, meatballs. Not too much chewing for them, and you can find some pretty sophisticated meatloaves just by varying the spices. Bread puddings (had a yummy savory version last night with butternut squash + sage)? Roasted sweet potatoes with pasta? My younger son also loves the savory pies (even the veggie ones; if you make a double crust that's not too runny they can hold them and eat them like a "sandwich" but since the veggies are chopped up inside they are easy to chew) and he's 16m with very few teeth!
I remember that pot roast was a favourite. Roasted potatoes very popular. Cauliflower was good too. Chicken a la king - in fact any chickening with a lightly seasoned sauce. Important imho to keep the spicing like nutmeg, cinnamon, clove in the dishes - unless they really turn their noses up. We also kept the dishes separate on the plate just as for the adults, so their food was ours just for people without teeth.
Sounds like you and I have the same ideas, but I've been using a stick blender. Were there dishes that you remember your kid(s) and you really liked? Chicken pot pie has been the recent favorite at our house.
We bought a mouli food mill and ground adult meals through it to get the texture right. Then we pretty much fed them everything we ate. Overly spicy not, of course. We tended towards more veg than meat - and just experimented realizing that the dangers of poisoning and harm were low. We did also tend to under salt and definitely didn't add a whole lot of sweetening unles it was very clear it was dessert. Even then, plain yogurt/honey/lemon juice/banana was very popular and not overly sweet.
As the children grow you can puree less and less..
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As the children grow you can puree less and less..