no-cook foods that little kids like

[Anonymous]

My child is 3, and doesn't yet "get" salad. She likes various salad components, but won't eat enough of a big meal-salad to fill up. Sure, she would be happy with PB&J while her dad and I eat a big chef's salad, but I really try to have the same stuff on everyone's plates.

So for the days that are so hot you don't want to get within two feet of the stove, what do you make that your kids like? The closest I've found is egg salad, which she will eat with gusto. But the eggs need to be boiled. Sometimes I get it together enough to do that the night before, but generally, I'm not great at advance meal planning.

[Anonymous]

My toddler loves 7-layer Mexican dip. I skip the sourcream, so really for us it's six layers. Refried beans, guacamole, salsa, diced tomatoes, olives and shredded cheese. She eats it up.

It requires the oven or the grill, but late summer we'll just make a huge pile of corn on the cob together with big fresh tomatoes, either on their own or with basil and mozzarella.

If you're making a chef's salad, can't you do it deconstructed on her plate? You get the meats, egg, cheese, veggies on top of your lettuce. She gets them on her plate with a little bowl of dressing to dip into. You're all eating the same thing, just different presentations.

[Anonymous]

How about hummus with veggies to dip in it? Or babaganouj and toasts? Asparagus spears, red peppers, and other crudite and dressing" My nephew is a toddler and loves those.

[Anonymous]

1.Hummus and carrots
2. Ants on a log (celery with pb and raisins...kids usually love)
3. make your own tacos with store bought shells (let her put in her own things...lettuce, chopped tomatoes, cheese, pre-cooked corn that you keep in fridge)
4. thin spaghetti noodles (pre-cooked that you keep in fridge with her choice of veges and peanut butter)
5. california style pita sandwich with avacodo, tomato and lettuce
6. we keep a tub of pre-cut veges and pre-cut lettuce in air tight containers in fridge... your daughter will enjoy making her own creations.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes I don't think my DD likes anything cooked, so we have the opposite problem.

She loves:
Hummus and pita chips
A variety of fresh veggies (cucumbers and tomatoes are her favorites, also chilled leftover broccoli and frozen peas right out of the freezer)
Black beans
Pretty much any type of fruit you can come up with

We "deconstruct" a lot of meals for her. If we are having bean burritos, I put a pile of black beans on DD's plate along with some tomato and whatever other veggies are going in the burrito. I roll up a piece of tortilla on the side. I have found that she is a lot more likely to eat stuff if it is not all mixed together. She often also asks for a piece of fruit (or some sliced strawberries or melons or something like that) with dinner, which is OK with us too.

[Anonymous]

I would also suggest deconstructing things like the salad, my 2.5 year old would eat many o the ingredients in the chef salad but not the lettuce
He also likes
Hummas and chips or pita
I make a big batch of hard boiled eggs each week and keep them in the fridge
Grill a bunch if chicken it steak one night and have the left overs in the fridge
Mexican type food/dips like PPs suggested

[Anonymous]

Echo the suggestions to deconstruct meals into parts she can/will eat (my children are a bit older but we still do this, esp with spicy meals). If she will eat parts of salads, then have her eat those parts, plus make sure there is a protein source in there like cold cooked chicken, black beans, hardboiled egg, cheese cubes, etc. I am not above tossing some croutons on the salad as incentive to eat the lettuce (which tends to be my kids least favorite part of the salad). Also my kids love pasta salad, so I'll often throw together cold pasta tossed with evoo and a splash of balsamic vinegar with some veggies like broccoli, tomatoes, whatever is on hand and I'll make sure to add cubed cheese or meat to the pasta salad and it's a complete meal IMO so long as there are enough veggies in everyone's serving. We also love cold sesame noodles, and I'll serve fruit on the side. You could try cold soups (my kids won't eat any soups but some kids love them, esp the cold ones which often are fruit based). We often grill on Sunday nights, and I'll throw extra chicken breasts on the grill so I can refrigerate them afterwards to use in salads or cold pasta dishes during the week. Oh, another goodie in our house is cold shrimp - the kids have fun peeling them. (I did ease them into shrimp by starting with fried shrimp poppers). Check out the Six O Clock Scramble cookbook. IMO lots of good, easy, simple/low ingredient ideas for meals, incl some cold meals plus tips for livening up salads.

[Anonymous]

summer rolls! you can put noodles or meat or vegetables inside with lettuce.