As the toddler twosome are getting older i am trying to incorporate more of our family meals into their nightly meals rather than having to make separate dinners for everyone (because really that was wearing thin!!).
Even though they are twins they have progressed at very different rates when it comes to food and eating. Tara has eaten well from 4 months but Ruby has yet to really enjoy and embrace food. I think this has to do with the awful reflux and projectile vomiting she experienced for the first year of life. She was, and still is, a very easy gagger which can lead to a huge vomit if you aren't quick with a drink of water or distraction techniques! So the poor thing is understandly cautious of food she doesn't know and large lumps!
This presents a dilemma as Tara pretty much eats everything and prefers to try and feed herself now with chunky cut up morsels (loves a good steak or lamb chop!)…Ruby still prefers blended food for the most part although she is much better with lumps and chunks now. Apple mixed into everything seems to help her at least try things!
So i have had to be organised and give up on having them both at the same stage! Tara usally eats what we are having for dinner that night chopped up with a few spoonfuls of whatever Ruby is having mashed up! If i could get Ruby to have more finger food i would be a very happy mumma indeed!!
Something i have found that helps (as dinner was becoming rather a stressful event!) is to do a day of cooking some family favourites and then freeze toddler size portions to use over the next month…i just take them out to defrost in the fridge the day before i want to use them! Now i just add extras from whatever we are eating that night for Tara (i do keep offering to Ruby and at least she touches new things now…just rarely puts them all the way to her mouth, lol!)
I don't like to use the packet seasonings/mixes for our family….i prefer to cook the old fashioned recipes like Mum used to and i have fun sharing recipes when people ask what ‘packet' did i use to make that! So, i thought i would share some of our family favourites that i have been adapting to also suit toddler tastes and hide extra vegetables!
Here are 2 recent hits with the family….
Sausage casserole is one of ginger’s favourites too! She also likes spaghetti bolognaise (only with penne not spaghetti). Curried mince is another one she likes – notice a theme. She does not do unminced meat. She will try to eat it but always ends up spitting it back out. Our child health nurse has said just to keep peservering.
That said, flavourwise she will eat just about anything as long as it is what we are eating – do not try to fob her off with a different meal:) Now if I cook a curry that I think will be too hot (spicy) for her, I just rinse off the vegetables and meat and she has the same meal as us.
One of my sets of twins were very different, too, when it came to the stages of eating. One had a very sensitive gag reflex and would gag on anything that had texture to it. I’m pretty sure I pureed his food until he was a toddler…LOL!! Even now, he’s very particular about textures!
The girls are so adorable!!!!!
I love the idea of spending a day of cooking and then freezing the meals. I have never really done this, but we just bought a new freezer and that’s my plan!
You’re such an organised Mum:) I like the idea of those devilled sausages, I don’t like the packet mixes at all either and why would you when it’s so easy to make from scratch anyway. Thank you for the creamy rice recipe, I like the sound of it in the slow cooker:) x