healthy lunch and dinner inspirations for a very picky family?

[lulu_grbt]

i have 2 young boys and myself who are picky.... i would love quick and easy ideas for alifestyle change in the kitchen please? and thank you!

[LCHFmom]

What is everyone "picky" about? 

[lulu_grbt]

hi there, myself and the kids have never been introduced to proper eating... and cooking with anything real. We are picky to veggies, and each kid has certain things that hits the gag reflex (mashed pottos, corn,  ground meat, peas, carrots, basicly any veggie i dont know how to hide them but if it is cut up finely they cant tell what it is and imght be able to toss it in some dishes right? they need to be introduced soon before they HATE them for life and i want to broden our menu. any ideas

[Vicki-Z]

I too had not done a very good job of making my kids eat  veggies and I myself didn't make them often because my husband and kids wouldn't eat them. Eventually I started making things over and over and over and finally they got used to eating them. I wouldn't make it the main dish but like a very small salad on the side. I didn't force anyone to eat it but I'd make sure it was on their plate and ready before the rest of the meal. I didn't insist they eat it a certain way like with a fork and before you know it, everyone is sitting there nibbling on raw fruits and veggies with their fingers while waitng for the real meal to arrive at the table. A little sneaky but they never caught on. Now all of them eat salad whenever I serve it. None are great with cooked veggies but are much better with soups than before.  I've also found that they like fruit better than veggies and I don't care where they get theri nutrients so often I have a fresh fruit salad or just cut up apples and oranges or serve grapes along side the main dish. I also quit having bread, rice, noodles, potatoes etc. at the table so if they wanted more than the meat they had to eat the healthy stuff.  I believe the trick is lots of variety at each meal, no nagging from you, and try and try again and again and again. Don't force them to try things but give them the option to have what you're having.

[Kittybenn]

Here's a great recipe from Skinny Kitchen that gets good reviews from moms trying to fix healthy meals: Thai Chicken and Peanut Noodles. I just made it last night, and thought it was terrific. I used natural peanut butter and felt like it needed a little sweetening so added just a teeny bit of Splenda, maybe 1 teaspoon. You may want to adjust the taste a bit like that to appeal to kids. Guess I'm just a big kid. But very delicious and healthy. You could add more veggies if you thought you could get that past your family.

[Natalie]

I have a couple of fussy eaters in my family too, but have decided not to let that be the reason I fall off the healthy lifestyle wagon.  I want my kids growing up understanding we have to eat things we don't like.

What I do is cook the same protein for everyone, then a couple of side dishes.  I let everyone serve themselves but with the rule they must take at least 2 options of the side dishes.  they may grumble but they still eat it and it gives the kids a bit of control over what they are eating (within reason) and the amount.

An example is last night I cooked Chicken pieces with corn cobs, potato, sweet potato, onion and carrots. Plenty of choice for everyone.  Also a had a couple of pieces of corn cobs left over which I added the corn to my salad for lunch.

I think if we give out kids choices, within certain boundaries, they are more likely to give it a try

[LCHFmom]

Check out this site http://www.thesneakychef.com/free_sneaky_chef_recipes.php

There are about 5 or 6 free recipes with hidden veggies.   Might bew a good start!

[steff]

"Muffin Tin" cooking is a great way to get kids to try vegetables.  You can find cookbooks, some more geared to children than others.  Essentially, you make the dish in a muffin tin.  Kids love the small portion sizes.  You can make meat pies, lasagna, breakfast items, etc in muffin tins.  To really make it economical, you can get some silicone cupcake liners that will stand alone on a cookie sheet or you can place in the tin.