Menu Plan Monday...late again, and getting a toddler to eat what we eat

Posted by Erin Fugal Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:02:00 GMT

I was going to paste this yesterday- but just as I was going to publish my internet froze up and I had to force quit. Bleh! It was a good post too. I'm going to try and duplicate it.

So I haven't posted on MPM in a while- not that we haven't planned or eaten anything- I've just been making some adjustments and experimenting and reworking things.

I've been working on getting my toddler to eat what we eat, so as to avoid becoming a short order cook, and also to hopefully get some healthier things in to him. If I let him, he would live off of milk, noodles and fruit. At least until he got bored of it.

He does eat other good things, we were just getting into a really bad habit of having those convenience foods more often then not and also me giving him separate foods because I thought "oh he won't eat that". But really I was doing him a disservice.

In all my contemplation I've come up with a few strategies that have helped. During lunch, instead of being on the computer or doing something else while eating, I've sat down with him and eaten together and told him what new vegetable or food we are eating and how good it is for us.

Also, I've decided to start planning out breakfasts and lunches. Because I've found that when he is hungry and I am rushed, if I don't have a plan, I cave in to the quick convenience things.

We are slowly using up all the mac and cheese and chicken nuggets I'm not planning on buying them any more- instead we'll make them homemade and eat them all together as a family, every once in a while. Homemade is always better anyways.

So without further adieu here is our breakfast, lunch and dinner menu for this week. Breakfast and Lunch will pretty much remain the same with the occasional change here or there. Snacks will be fresh fruit or veggies, toast and peanut butter, etc, and for me my daily green smoothie. Hans is the only one that drinks regular milk around here- so when I refer to milk in my menus I am referring to either soy, goat or nut milk- whichever we have that week.

BREAKFASTS

• Steel cut oatmeal w/blueberries and milk (2 times a week)
• Raisin rice w/milk
• Pancakes or Waffles(I do the whole wheat pastry flour version) w/ bananas and milk
• Cereal(or some other healthy cereal) OR homemade granola w/fruit, milk
• Eggs, Toast (Homemade Whole Wheat) Oranges or other fruit
• Homemade muffins, fruit, milk

LUNCHES

• Huge Salad w/Almonds and Feta (spring mix lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, snap peas, green pepper, radishes, frozen peas (slightly thawed), sprouts, fresh pineapple, kidney beans or lentils, and any other veggies we have on hand) w/ some store bought dressing. I'm working on transitioning to making homemade dressing soon.

• PB & J (with an all fruit spread), w/ raw veggies and dip/dressing (same kind as for salad) (2 times per week)

• Homemade Burritos (Homemade WW tortillas w/ Homemade mashed pinto beans) w/ raw veggies and dip/dressing (up to 2 times a week)
• Leftovers w/ raw veggies and dip/dressing (up to 2 times a week)
• Boca Burger w/ raw veggies and dip/dressing
• Yummy Veggie Wrap (on these sprouted grain tortillas) (w/ avocado, TONS of veggies, dressing) lentils, more raw veggies and dip on the side (YUM!)

So this will require some advance planning as I have to make sure that I have all the homemade items available. My plan is to try and do any baking for the week on Saturdays. I'm sure we'll mess up some- but we've got our whole lives to "perfect" the art of healthy eating.

And now for dinner this week

• Bean and Cheese Burritos, Salad, Fresh Corn
• Homemade Pizza, Veggies and dip or salad
• Steak, baked potatoes, salad
• Spaghetti, w/ homemade veggie sauce (mushrooms, olives, diced tomatoes, garlic, onions,squash, italian seasoning), salad w/dressing
• Spanakopita Burgers (these are a Rachel Ray recipes and they are most definitely YUM-O!, we do the turkey version), veggies and dip
• Baked Potatoes (chili, broccoli, stew tomatoes, cheese, sour cream)
• Omelets (green peppers, onions, tomatoes, cheese, broccoli, any other toppings) toast (on homemade ww bread) oranges

As you can tell we try and eat pretty healthy around here. We need to, to have the energy and vitality we need to deal with life and kids.

so what are you eating this week? Check out Laura's for more great ideas. bon appetit!