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There’s no one definition of a picky eater, but I think we can safely agree that plain wins the day. These simple recipes tend to go over well and can be customized.
Do you have picky eaters?
If so then you, like me, are skeptical of lists that claim to be “kid friendly”. It’s especially offensive to click a link promising “10 recipes your picky eaters will devour” only to find it full of recipes with ingredients many adults I know wouldn’t even eat.
Chickpeas, really?
No Picky Eater I’ve Ever Met
To be fair, there is no one definition of a picky eater. My eldest would eat any variety of seafood you brought him. But reacts like a vampire to sunlight at the sight of cereal or (God forbid) peanut butter. We even went through a phase where he thought he didn’t like caramel.
Still, I think we can agree that, in general, picky eaters tend to prefer things on the plain side. Nothing weird or experimental. Nothing like, say…
Baked Polenta Fries
Asparagus and Gruyere Pizza
Cheesy Spinach Squares
Chopped Salad For Kids
Why is it that recipe creators think that adding the words “for kids” means that picky eaters will want it? Do they really think that a mom of a picky eating child will read their recipe for “Chopped Salad for Kids” (which looked exactly like every ‘adult’ salad I’ve ever seen, by the way) and think,
Finally! A salad recipe for kids. NOW he’ll eat all of these vegetables he hates. Why didn’t I think of telling him it’s for kids?!
That list of recipes (titled, Dinner Recipes for Picky Eaters) came from a parenting website of all places. Another site suggests their Mediterranean Chickpea and Feta Wraps or Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza recipes as things your picky eating kids might love.
Because what child, picky or not, doesn’t wish for more chickpeas and arugula in their life?
What really got me thinking on this topic was a Tweet I saw recently:
There are so many things wrong with this, not the least of which is the fact that every picky eater knows that “dish” is code for “all-mixed-together”.
Not Fooling Anyone
A search for recipes for picky eaters yielded this gem,
Crispy Kale Chips. For an after-school snack, try swapping bagged chips for Melissa’s better-for-you baked kale chips….
Perfect! No kid can tell the difference between dried out leaves and tasty deep fried chips. Have you met children, Melissa?
TV chefs are fond of saying that as long as you give kids something to dip they’ll love it. “Kids love my salmon-veggie patties because they get to dip them in the blue cheese dressing!!”
And don’t tell me that cutting things into “fun shapes” is going to help either. A hated food in the shape of a star is just as hated.
Of all places to actually get it, Food & Wine published a list of recipes for picky eaters that included things like,
Macaroni and Cheese
Penne with Tomato Sauce
Seasoned Chicken Breasts
Mashed Potatoes
Did you just sigh? I actually audibly sighed when I read that list after the ridiculous concoctions I’d been seeing on so-called parenting sites. As every mom of a picky eater knows, plain wins the game.
Recipes for Picky Eaters
You have probably become an expert, like me, at deconstructing meals. When we eat casseroles, the picky ones eat plain rice and ground beef (not touching, of course). My boys both now eat jambalaya, but for a long time one of them didn’t and I’d just keep out a sausage link for him and that’s what he had on jambalaya nights.
Think: how can I deconstruct this?
Or maybe you get sneaky and hide things. Here are a couple of my favorite ways to do that:
Because there isn’t one kind of “picky”, what pleases my troops may not fit with what your kids eat. These are some fairly plain recipes that tend to go over well on the scale of pickiness and can be customized:
Chicken Parmesan Bites
(Crispy chicken-nugget-like bites that taste great plain or sauced)
Ground Beef in the Crock Pot
(This easy method lets you prepare a lot of ground beef that you can freeze in small batches to pull out as you need)
Sweet Chili Grilled Chicken
(This marinade adds flavor without an offending sauce)
Easy Gyros
(A perfect example of deconstructing a meal..everyone eats the parts they like)
Roasted Vegetables
(I’m including this one because most picky eaters have at least one vegetable they’ll eat. But it can get a little tiresome for everyone else. This recipe allows you to roast all different kinds so you get a variety and they get their one and only.)
Breakfast for dinner can be a good way to have a peaceful dinnertime. Cinnamon rolls, pancakes, waffles, muffins, or scones, along with bacon and some fruit makes everyone happy at my house.
Some other easy side dishes that have become old standbys for me include:
What are some of your go-to meals to please a picky eater?
This is funny, and so true. I don’t have kids but I frequently deconstruct meals for my picky husband!
hahaha… I know the feeling! My husband used to be really picky too. I cried more than once when we first got married. The funny thing is, our kids’ pickiness bothers him more than it does me. He always says, “I’m picky–and if I like it, you should like it.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. 🙂
Yes! I laugh at so many of these; lately I really find that Parenting magazine has just started combining weird foods and they assure me if I ask my kids to help prepare it they will eat it… um.. no, they will not. They’re more than happy to help out with anything in the kitchen but will not eat any new foods just because they helped. I have one kid that hates melted cheese… one that hates all veggies… and one that complains chicken is gross… it’s never easy but I’ll admit that your picky eater recipes are much more like those that my kids will actually eat.
hahaha– I forgot that one–that if they help make it they’ll eat it. Boo! Sounds like you have a tricky bunch. Here’s to meals everyone eats. 🙂
This is so very true! I can’t wait to try some of these recipes with my picky eaters!
I hope they go over well at your house!
Ha! So funny… I found the MOST ridiculous meals a few weeks ago when I was searching high and low for kid-friendly freezer meals on Pinterest. It was a fruitless search… so I bought a few bags of dinosaur chicken nuggets and deemed that to be good enough for our post-baby meals!
Love it. I picked up some dino nuggets a few weeks ago and was asked why I ever stopped buying them. “They taste better than other nuggets.” I was told. 🙂
I laughed out loud! So true!
Thank you for writing this! I’m trying to break my picky eater of their picky-ness, but all of the Pinterest pins with “kid-friendly” meals (meals that include vegetables that are expensive and I know they won’t eat) are tiring. Thanks for this breath of fresh air!
So glad you enjoyed it. I know exactly what you mean about seeing all of the ‘kid friendly’ pins that I KNOW my kids wouldn’t touch.