Ah, feeding the twins.
The HIGHLIGHT of my days.
Second only to the cleaning up of the meals, of course.

I asked all of you for your meal ideas on instagram (thank you, thank you!) and you sent so many great EASY ideas! Many of you asked to share so I rounded them all up for you in today’s post.


pink pearl bibs // clip on high chair // suction place mats

I am the last person for tips about getting a baby or toddler to eat because it’s been a rollercoaster over here with the twins.  We’ve come a long way (hallelujah!!!) but some meals or days are definitely better than others.  And one is generally a far better eater than the other.

Not naming any names or anything……. but someone looks guilty…. 

First I’ll share what we’ve been “eating”… air quotes necessary because sometimes things are devoured and other times they are simply hurled to the floor.
One thing I always DO do is still put the food on the plate even if I know it’s not one that they necessarily gravitate towards.  Everything I’ve read always says never to stop introducing a food because your baby doesn’t like it.
(for example, Collins loves bananas and Hadley 85% of the time won’t touch them.  Then randomly she’ll eat an entire one.  So I always put three bites of everything onto their plate even if they won’t touch it.)

One thing that was a HUGE HIT lately was the
Baby Apple Banana Oat Muffins from Sally’s Baking Addiction.

Instead of blending all of the ingredients in the blender,
I just blended the oats to make “oat flour” and then mixed wet + dry ingredients like a normal recipe.
I have used organic coconut sugar as the sweetener and also maple syrup and it turned out great with either ingredient.
They shockingly really loved these (and more shockingly I gave up a banana for my banana bread to make them.
Quite the parental sacrifice these days.)
You can add any diced fruit you like to them too.

I also always try to put 3 things on the plate (think I read that in Moms on Call?).  At the end of lunch or dinner I’ll add in something else (or give them cheerios or puffs, their true love which has zero nutrients at all.)

Oh, a dust buster has become my best friend.  Next on my list is the steam mop OR the spin mop  OR this combo vacuum wet/dry mop. Reviews are very mixed so I am still debating!  Because the majority of food ends up on the floor or hurled completely across the room.

But the steam mop has been so popular from IG that it has sold out – although people have said it may damage floors so the spin mop may be the way to go?! The O Cedar brand is the one that Go Clean Co recommends (a super popular cleaning instagram account… I watched her videos about cleaning your gym clothes and I’m in awe slash terrified to do it myself.

BUT I DIGRESS……..

SO,
our most common meals/snacks/things on the plate :  
Avocado Toast/Peanut Butter Toast/Buttered Toast
Banana
Meatballs (beef or turkey)
Chickpea or Red Lentil (high protein) pasta – with pasta sauce or just butter and parmesan
Chicken Sausage
Ground turkey – seasoned or tossed with pasta sauce
Black Beans
Avocado – huge hit for both
Quesadillas
Protein Waffles + Pancakes
Peas
Blueberries
Sweet Potatoes – diced and roasted
Clementines/Cuties/Little Oranges diced up
Yogurt
Hummus
String Cheese
Cheerios/Puffs/Crackers all still happening….

I try to do a protein with a veggie and the third item is an odd ball
(I’ll do meat, sweet potato, peas or Chickpea pasta, broccoli, chicken sausage.)

Also, I know that there are MANY times they won’t eat their favorite foods or that they randomly eat a food they usually never eat BUT I always keep putting things on the plate even if I don’t think they’ll eat it and we start with a few pieces of each thing.
I’ll be honest that I end many meals where they haven’t eaten a damn thing and try to just spoon feed them some hummus or peanut butter or avocado to try to get something high calorie/fat/nutritious into their mouths.
It is what it is.
Ya know… if at first you don’t succeed

or Dust Bust it off the floor and try again.
BOOM.  Mom Jokes.

Now for all of YOUR recommendations!

Instagram/Blogs to follow :
Feeding Littles
Kids Eat in Color
Weelicious

And your meal ideas :

Hummus, Black beans, and rice

omelette with finely chopped spinach

Pancakes

Meatballs

Smaller noodles/shells

Grilled chicken tenders

Deconstructed tacos : ground meat, black beans, shredded cheese

Dr. Praegers veggie burgers / veggie tots

Turkey meatballs

Quesadillas – sneak veggies into it

Sweet potato pancakes

Banana with PB

Mac and cheese

Grilled cheese

Diced Deli meat, green beans, blueberries

Spinach muffins from Inspiralized

Quiche

Pancakes – oats, banana, egg

sweet potato tater tots

Protein pastas

Baked sweet potatoes

Roasted broccoli

Ham and cheese pinwheels

Rotisserie chicken

Cut up grapes

Taco seasoned beef with shredded cheese and avocado

On pinterest, “4 ingredient turkey meatballs”

Chicken pot pie

Smoothies

Chicken sausages

Turkey melt

Greek frozen yogurt drops

Egg scrambles

Banana pancakes : 1 egg, 1 banana, cinnamon – add chia seeds, sweet potato, etc

Edamame

Peanut butter toast / avocado toast

Kale Chicken Burgers from Costco

PB + J in strips

Anything with noodles

Mashed potatoes

The Defined Dish one pot hamburger helper  pasta

Egg muffins

Chicken meatballs

Toast with cream cheese and fruit

Fish sticks

Tuna/ chicken salad

Salmon, broccoli and rice

Overnight oats

Pulled pork

Frozen waffles and fruit

Shrimp, rice and avocado

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Thanks again for sending all of this in! 
Sorry for not arranging them in a prettier fashion, but to be honest, I feel like with kids it doesn’t really matter.  I’ll serve breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast if need be?!
YaknowhatImean?!

And if you’re kid(s) are like mine and mealtime is such a struggle, know you are not alone.  I got SO many messages about how this is a never ending battle.  Hang in there.  This (phase) too shall pass.
(and pouring some Costco Prosecco helps too…..)