Balanced meals ideas

[StillMamamia]

Help!

I'm stuck in a rut meal-ideas wise. So, can you guys post what your toddlers eat for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner?

My kids have to have milk every morning and evening. They ask for it.
Breakfast is our most 'boring' meal. But I would like something not too heavy and not high GI wise. Oatmeal is out of the question. Ian especially hates it, along with any kind of cereal. He likes bread, cheese and occasionally cooked ham. I would like for him to eat fruit at breakfast too, but he won't. He'll eat it with other meals though.
For lunch, it's usually warm meals.
For dinner, it often is cold meals. Typical here to have just bread, cheeses, ham, salad. Nothing too heavy, but it gets redundant.
Oh, and my kids love vegies, so that's not a problem.

I know most of our meals have too many carbs in them, and that's what I'm trying to balance out with other foods.

Thanks for your ideas.

[iluvmhp]

Having the same problem here.... stuck in a rut. Looking for some great ideas!

[twodoor2]

Here's what Elizabeth ate today:

Breakfast: Blueberry kashi waffle with a light coating of cream cheese. Protein powder kefur shake (the protein powder is Jay-Rob brand sweetened with stevia). (18 carbs, vitamins included)

Lunch: Soy flour breaded nuggets (I fry in canola oil and bread them with soy flour mixed with poultry seasoning and salt - coat in egg first). Each nugget is 1 carb. These do not give her fat spikes. Applesauce, kiwi and water (28 carbs)

Snack: Two small pieces of chocolate (5 carbs)

Dinner: Huge turkey burger, 12 grain whole wheat bread (lots of fiber), blueberries, broccoli, water (she only likes water and kefur). (28 carbs)

Snack: Matt's natural chocolate chip cookie (17 carbs)

I also make flaxseed zuchhini muffins and seafood stew and other things low carb. It's not that I am against carbs, but I often find that very high carb can be difficult to manage BG's with. I like to have a balance of low carb and higher carb items. This tends to fill her up more as well, and again, this balance I feel is essential for managing BG's.

Right now she is starting to need another increase in basal. I am easily managing it with the pump on the fly. If she ate a ton of carbs today, this would be more challenging I'm sure.

This day's worth of meals is around 96 carbs. I try to limit her max intake to 140 carbs a day. It's been averaging around 120 carbs a day.

You should pm Karenwith4 about this. She's incredible when it comes to variety, especially balancing carbs with low carb.

[Gwyn]

When my kids were smaller, anything I wanted them to eat I put on a stick. For some reason they would eat anything I skewered and made into kabobs--pbj and j's, cherry tomatoes, steamed veggies, grapes, pears, etc.

My son still likes to eat things off of those little cocktail toothpicks that are shaped like swords. I put out lots of choices cut up into small pieces and we call it "mini buffet". For a "mini breakfast buffet" you could try hard boiled or scrambled eggs, and cut up fruits to spear. Dipping these in yogurt is fun too.

DD used to like an apple slice with one chocolate teddy graham "glued" on with peanut butter. You can even put it on top of a small cup of blueberries for the ocean. She used to love to pretend the bear was the captain of her apple boat. ---I hadn't thought about that in a long time, thanks for jogging my memory. I think that's what we'll have for breakfast tomorrow!

[Karenwith4]

Hi Paula

Here is our standard list. I don't have toddlers any more :( (I miss that age) but these have been on the menu for a while so my kids did eat them as toddlers. We rotate through these in no particular order. I do try to match our food with our activity - ie low carbs if we are going to have an inactive day (ie driving to a field trip), higher protein/carbs at lunch if we have a long bike ride planned, low carb dinners if she seems to be running high that day.

~ yogurt parfait - plain yogurt, fresh or frozen fruit, a bit of granola as a topping. You could make this a "desert" after some eggs or breakfast meats in order to get fruit in.
~ smoothies made with yogurt, frozen banana, fruit, protein powder,
~ eggs (often scrambled/omlet but sometimes other ways)
~ breakfast tortillas or pitas (scrambled eggs, grated cheese, veggies like tomatoes, onions and peppers)
~ fruit roll-ups - tortillia, cream cheese, diced fruit/berries rolled together
~ fruit salad and muffins/quick breads and cheese (here is a list (http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/breads/Low_Carbohydrate_Breads.htm) of quick bread and muffin recipes that are low(er) carb. I tend to just alter my regular recipes by lowering the sugar, using almond milk, using some almond meal with flour and adding lots of fibre - flax and wheat germ. I also add protein powder to baked goods.)
~ cottage cheese and fruit, sprouted grain toast with nut butter
~ sprouted grain bagels topped with cheese, tomato and avacado
~ breakfast pizzas (tortilla toasted, topped with either cream cheese/nut butter and fruit, or sauted veggies and melted cheese)
~ oatmeal with fruit and nuts/seeds, almond milk
~ low carb pancakes (http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/breakfast1/r/lowcarbpancakes.htm) that we make into fruit sandwiches for breakfasts on the run.

And I keep meaning to try this but haven't yet - Fruit bread pudding (http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/breakfast1/r/bluberrypudding.htm)


Lunches
~ I use some variation of lower carb breads (sprouted grain bread or bagels, tortillas etc) for sandwiches which are usually veggie based, sometimes pbandj, and sometimes with sandwich meats although I try to stay away from things with nitrates if I can.
~ salads - greens, bean and pasta, couscous, quinoa, bulgher, rice etc. These we make with a variety of veggies and top with nuts, grilled chicken, cheeses etc. The grain part is usually about 1/2 to 3/4 a cup and we fill up on the veggies.
~ tortillas with veggies (grated carrots, diced peppers, diced tomatoes, avacado, green onion, cucumber etc) with cream cheese or grated cheese.
My kids also like these with just garlic cream cheese and diced peppers lightly warmed/toasted in the oven.
~ plowman's lunch - meat (usually chicken skewers here), cheese, nuts, veggies and dip, crackers etc. all set out and pick what you want. This is often our picnic meal.
~ tuna salad or chicken salad served with crackers - we like these (http://www.amazon.com/Suzies-Spelt-Flatbread-Multiseed-4-5-Ounce/dp/B000FDKUWU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1219197992&sr=1-3#nutrition-facts) but I don't know if you can get them there. The tuna salad or chicken salad have mixed veggies in them.
~ cold chicken (bbq wings) and marinated veggie salad
~ soups (favourites are chunky tomato and cheese- (super fast and easy), cream of veggie or potato, italian or mexican soups, chili or stews. I serve chili with a few nacho chips and sour cream, and depending on the type and the day, I serve soups with fritters, or small scones, or crackers. Stew has potatoes, carrots etc so I don't add extra carbs.
~ english muffin melts - usually ham and cheese with veggies
~ stuffed baked potatoes (usually with a combo of cheeese, beans, brocolli, sauted peppers and sour cream)

Any sandwiches or soups are served with a plate of raw veggies, pickles and olives, fruit for desert etc.


Dinners
I tend to rotate through about 15 - 20 standard meals. For dinners I try to keep at least half to low/no carb and use those on days which haven't been active or when she has had a day of higher numbers fo some reason and her system needs a rest. Lots of lunch meals above also double as dinner meals.

~ dinner salads - things like this taco salad (http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=0fe4f88fb0984110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCR D&autonomy_kw=taco%20salad&rsc=header_4) or this chicken one (http://www.marthastewart.com/mango-chicken-salad). My kids also like a sausage, apple and walnut salad with maple syrup dressing.
~ grilled meats/fish (or crockpot meats in the winter) and salad or grilled/sauted veggies (and rice, potato, quinoa if it isn't a no carb night)
~ sausage and peppers - served over rice couscous or a grain if it isn't a low carb night, with a salad if it is a low carb night
~ mexican - often enchilladas and green salad
~ meatloaf/meat balls - I use ground turkey
~ stir fry (with chicken or veggie). I usually add nuts and seeds as a topping.
~ casseroles - I have a few that my kids like, a lemon dill chicken one, a sauage and potato one, a cheesey chicken brocolli and cauliflower one, and a couple of pasta based ones that we don't eat as often anymore.

hth
Karen

[StillMamamia]

Thank you Marsha, Karen and Gwyn:) Those are great ideas.

[twodoor2]

After Karen's thread, I think I need to go to cooking school!!! What a great variety. Thanks Karen for that!!!! You should post your turkey meatloaf recipie, I've made that before, but I'm not so sure it's edible. :p

[yiya2t]

My son is 3 w/ type I just found out 3 weeks ago and he's a picky eater and sugar counts are high and I am just having a difficult time but I am new. Will it get easier and please give me any suggestions possible, I can use all the help and a friend. Thank. Kathleen