Food For My Neice!

[Adelle]

So as of next month, my sis will be in school 3 days a week (I'm so proud of her!) during the day rather than in the evenings. I'm gonna be watching my neice katie. Right now, we watch her once or twice a month, and usually she'll only eat hotdogs (sans bun with ketchup) and popcorn. That's fine for an evening snack monthly, but not 3 full days a week! Any ideas for kid friendly lunches and dinners?

[miles2go]

Crockpot gluten-free mac 'n cheese!

Let me know if you need a recipe, I think there're some on the web.

Margaret

I'll try to think of some others, too.

[StrongerToday]

Grilled cheese! Soup! Pancakes!!

[sherylj]

So as of next month, my sis will be in school 3 days a week (I'm so proud of her!) during the day rather than in the evenings. I'm gonna be watching my neice katie. Right now, we watch her once or twice a month, and usually she'll only eat hotdogs (sans bun with ketchup) and popcorn. That's fine for an evening snack monthly, but not 3 full days a week! Any ideas for kid friendly lunches and dinners?

Tinkyada Pasta,,,make it into Maco and Cheese,,

Or add Ragu and Parmesan. She might like it with Plain butter,,,or cut up the hotdogs and put into the pasta with ketchup. Kids are sometimes not ready to experiment. Just introduce one new food every once in a while and you will find out what she likes.

Don't forget a few crunchy veg...small slices of carrot sticks etc... And a few grapes or apple slices..My kids used to eat apple slices with peanut butter. I found small servings were best so not to overwhelme them with new foods.

The tinkyada pasta cooks up easily,,,and refrigerates and reheats well. It has become a staple for me as I have pledged gluten-free.

[Guhlia]

How old is your niece? Perhaps peanut butter and crackers, raisins, fresh fruit wedges, and cheese for snacks. For meals I'd go with simple things like peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, homemade chicken nuggets, or hot dogs for lunch. For dinner I'd stick with plain chicken breast, fish, steak, or pork chop (boneless) with an array of dipping sauces. Kids love to dip. My daughter likes ranch dressing, BBQ sauce, ketchup, and honey for dipping. Sometimes she'll eat sweet and sour sauce too. Then serve the normal veggies (a veggie mix is good so she can pick through and eat the ones she likes) and maybe a baked potato or mashed potato, french fries once a week maybe. I've found that my daughter will eat virtually anything if I give her dipping sauces. She even dips her veggies into the sauces.

If you still can't get her to eat what you serve, try taking things outside and make a picnic out of it. Kids LOVE eating outside for some reason. That's the only way I can get Tori to eat uncooked veggies sometimes is if I take it outside and serve it like a picnic.

[Juliet]

And don't forget quesadillas made with corn tortillas - only 30 seconds in the microwave!

Yoplait or Yo Baby (but not the breakfast yogurt, just their regular flavored stuff) yogurt, peanut butter on Corn Thins (popped corn crackers) or rice crackers or even gluten-free sandwich meat or cheese on these larger crackers, Ian's gluten free chicken nuggets (a little expensive, but great for those times when you have less than 5 minutes to get everything read), Pirate's Booty, baked potatoes, Tater Tots or Tater Puffs from Whole Foods, rice, sticky rice balls, string cheese, applesauce, Bumble Bars, Almond House Nut & Rice crackers in any flavor, Fritos, Cheetos, some potato chips, most corn chips, popcorn (as you already mentioned), hamburgers without the bun or we did mini "Krabby Patties" with hamburgers on gluten-free frozen biscuits from Whole Foods. Although the biscuits are expensive, we only used two for our son while the adults just went without the bun. Our 3 year old loved them! There's also some gluten-free soups from Progresso, and A Taste of Thai has some instant microwave noodles that are gluten-free (Coconut Ginger & Thai Peanut) and Thai Kitchen has noodle bowls as well as noodle packages that are similar to Top Ramen (but tastier) that everyone in this house likes. You could even add a little cooked meat and veggies to it if you'd like. Annie's makes a decent typical orange gluten-free mac & cheese from the box, and DeBoles makes a "rice shells & white cheddar" mac & cheese that looks a little different that my son prefers over Annie's (and it's normally less expensive). I always add a little extra parmesan & cheddar cheese for the added protein & calcium.

This is, of course, in addition to everything else listed.

[Adelle]

Oh, my neice is 4 years old. She won't eat gluten-free bread, or corn tortillas.... She LOVED this gluten-free green pasta, but they changed the ingredients! Arg. She also hates yogurt. She will actually just NOT eat if there's nothing she likes. I might take her to lifesource (they have a huge gluten-free section) and let her pick stuff out. And she loves Dora so those Dora stars we'll have to keep in stock! How do u do the crock pot mac and cheese? That might be yummy..... I do lots of vegis and finger foods, dips and such. Hmmmmm

[miles2go]

Here's my killah crockpot mac-n-cheese recipe, courtesy of Beth Hensperger's Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook.

Definitely recommend to those challenged cooks out there...

Cooker: Medium round

Setting and cooking time: Low for 3 1/2 to 4 hours

1 1/2 cups skim or low fat milk

1 15-oz can evaporated skim milk

1 large egg, beaten

1/4 t. salt

large pinch of freshly ground pepper

1 1/2 c. shredded medium or sharp cheddar cheese, such as Oreegon Tillamook, Vermont colby, or Wisconsin longhorn

8 oz. elbow macaroni (about 2 cups)

2 T. freshly grated Parmesan

1. Coat the slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Combine the low-fat and evaporated milks, egg, salt and pepper in the cooker and whisk until smooth. Add the cheese and macaroni; gently stir with a rubber spatula to coat evenly with the milk and cheese mixture. Sprinkle wit the Parmesan on the top.

2 Cover and cook on low until the custard is set in the center and the pasta is tender, 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Do not cook more than 4 hours, as the sides will dry out and burn.

I think I added too much cheese to mine. Life is short. Enjoy it while you can.