Cooking for toddlers is always fun and exciting and humbling.  You can cook for a friend, partner… – and you might get some gentle criticism for what you’ve made.  But your little toddler will take out the big hammer and shatter any illusion that you made something that they want to eat.  So what I’ve found with my little two and a half year old girl is that she will eat the following:

1. Mashed Potatoes

2. Chicken Soup, potato soup, homemade broccoli soup (mine is pretty damn good), chili (although I end up blending it up and she’ll eat it with tortilla chips as a dip, but won’t eat the pre-blended chili)

3. Chicken (pretty much cooked any way)

4. Pasta (as long as it’s not too fancy and god forbid you add something like capers, sun dried tomatoes…)

5. Steak (pretty much cooked anyways)

6. Sometimes celery or carrots and blue cheese (but you have to be careful with celery – it has a high sulfur content – and toddlers can’t ingest too much sulfur without hurting their stomachs)

7. Any kind of bread (bagel, english muffin…)

8. Any cheese centered dish (mac and cheese, nachos, just a big block of cheese)

9. Eggs (that’s iffy – sometimes she picks a little, but most of the time no)

10. Pizza (my god she loves pizza)

As far as getting vegetables into her, it’s all about hiding, and that’s easier with some dishes than others.  I like to make pizza from scratch, because I can add fresh ingredients to the pizza sauce, and she won’t know. The soups are nice, because they have vegetables in them.

What about you other parents out there.  What have you found that works with your little ones?