Sunday, November 13, 2011

Week of Toddler Meals (17 months old)

My daughter has been eating real food and full meals for a while now (she's currently 17 months old).  But when she turned 12 months and we started transitioning off of formula, it was overwhelming.  Formula use to be her 100% nutrition.  Now I had to make sure:  Is she getting everything she needs?  I bought books, I researched, and finally, I calmed down.  I realized, as long as she eats healthy foods, most of the time, most of the week, she'll be fine.  But it took me a few months to get to that point.  I always wish that I had had a mom just say, "Here are some meal ideas to get you started."  So, with that in mind, I thought that I'd record everything Olive ate for a full week: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and some snacks.

A few notes:
  1. Olive still gets whole milk twice a day: 12 oz when she wakes up and 8 oz before she goes to bed.  (I just didn't take pictures of it!)  She also gets water throughout the day when she wants it.
  2. This actually took me about 10 days to complete because:  Some days were leftovers of the day before - not that interesting - and some days we were out and about and I didn't have my camera.
  3. These are the meals I made for my daughter, not necessarily the meals she ate.  Truthfully, she has a good appetite and usually eats what I give her, but she's a toddler so she likes to be difficult sometimes! 
  4. Sometimes she eats what we eat and sometimes I make her a different meal.
  5. Yes, we eat a lot of bananas, flax meal, and sweet potatoes.  Hey, they're easy to make and healthy!  Also, you caught me on a week that I had a lot of grapes and pears.  On another week, you might see a lot of cantaloupe and peas or apple and green beans.  It just depends on what we bought that week! :)
Breakfasts

Bananas and Homemade Waffles (the waffles are made with flax meal, blackberries, and peaches)

Applesauce with Flax Meal & Potato Pancakes (made by Grandpa)
Bananas, toast sticks, scrambled egg

Egg, Cheese & Hash brown Burrito 
Greek Yogurt with Banana, Flax Meal, & Applesauce mixed in

Oatmeal with Banana, Flax Meal, Blueberries, and Applesauce

Diced Pears with Whole Wheat Pancake Sticks

Lunches

Peanut Butter Pita Triangles, String Cheese, Grapes

Greek Yogurt with Bananas and Garbanzo Beans 
Slurry (our name for smoothies in our house).  This one has:  spinach, carrots, sweet potato, kidney beans, cantaloupe, bananas, almond milk, flax meal, blueberries, mango, green beans, strawberries, applesauce, peas, and blackberries.  If you want to see me making a similar one, click here.

String Cheese, Diced Pears, Toast Sticks

Scrambled Eggs with Shredded Cheese & Peas

Almond Butter and Banana Sandwich with Organic Cheddar Cheese 

Kidney Beans and Dried Mixed Fruit

                                                Dinners

Pearl Couscous Mixed with Garbanzo Beans, Peas, Corn, Tomatoes & Spices

Sweet Potato and Turkey/Chicken Burger Patty

Sweet Potato, Cheese Quesadilla, Grapes

Turkey/Chicken Meatloaf, Sweet Potato, Roasted Cauliflower & Carrots

Grilled Polenta, Sauteed Spinach, Baked Pork

Taco Bake:  Ground Chicken/Turkey, Pinto Beans, Tomatoes, Crushed Tortilla Chips

Burrito:  Chicken/Turkey Mix, Cheese, Tomatoes, Flour Tortilla
Snacks (these aren't all the snacks she ate - just the ones I photographed)

Baba Ganoush & Pita (shared with Grandma) 
Grapes and Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwich (shared with Mama)

Hummus & Pita
For all the parents about to transition into full-fledged meals with their little ones, I hope this can help!  For all the parents with toddlers that are already transitioned, I hope this helps give you some fresh ideas.  And to all parents who choose to offer their little ones healthy choices, even if they don't always eat them...high five to you! :)






16 comments:

  1. WOW! Totally impressed. This is exactly the type of post I was looking for ... totally going to use this ... :)

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  2. Awesome! I'm thinking about doing it again in a while to see a different week's foods, because depending on what we have in the kitchen, the variety would be different.

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  3. Thanks for the healthy ideas!!! Really helpful-I tend to do the same things over and over for our little one. Thanks for sharing :)

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  4. YUM! I wish my 22month old would be more experimental when it comes to meal time... shes so picky!!

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  5. Hi, Im a mother of a 23 year old anda grandmother of a 3 yr. Old. I applaud the time and effort you put in to keeping your daughter healthy. I did it for my son and he grew up to be a naturally healthy eater. Why so much flax meal? Why not more quinoa? Just curious. Keep up the good work. It's totally worth it.

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  6. This is a great help. The fact that all the food is separated gives me piece of mind.

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  7. thank you for this website!! I was going blank trying to figure out things to make for my 14 month old lol Thank you again!!

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  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    Replies
    1. Oh my blog is pjmomblog.com :)

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  9. Love this post. I have a daycare and can use a lot of these meals.

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  10. Do you have a recipe for the breakfast fruit waffle, the one with flax meal, blueberries, peaches?

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  12. Thanks a ton Olive for the amazing blog. Makes my life easy to plan my son's lunch box.

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  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  14. Preparing homemade baby food puree is a great idea for the health of your baby, and it is very simple to do.

    One important rule is that salt and sugar are never needed when making baby food.

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  15. Hi my daughter is 21 she made me the proud mom-mom of my grandson Legend. It's been a while since I had to feed a baby and we don't eat to healthy ourselves so this was very helpful. I'm not sure how to use and cook with flax meal, any tips?

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