This reminds me of my poor mom when she was trying to feed my brother growing up. I ate and loved everything (still a problem for me, lol!) and she thought she was the best mom who was really good at getting her kid to try and like things. Then along came my brother, who was pathologically stubborn and also very picky. As we found out later, he has many food sensitivities so there are certain foods that cause him just not to feel well after eating them. I have several friends who were chronically "picky" eaters as children but have since discovered food allergies or sensitivities, (such as gluten intolerance, etc.) I know my brother is sensitive to soy and vinegar, so that was why so many foods and dressings bothered him. He eats very plain and what might be described as "paleo" today. That's what I'd advise--scrambled eggs, noodle pudding, cut up raw or steamed veggies instead of ones with sauces and dressings. Have fruit on hand and cut it up for him. Plain meats, mashed potatoes. I'd actually steer away from recipes and instead focus on plain whole foods. My mom actually took my brother to the pediatrician she was so worried about him. She said, "All he will eat is hotdogs, applesauce, milk, cottage cheese and green peppers." And the doctor replied, "Well that's almost a complete balanced diet." Add some toast and maybe oatmeal cookies, and you're good to go. I wouldn't sweat it with recipes. To this day my brother just eats plain, plain foods and he's never liked any single recipe I have made for him, other than smoothies and chocolate chip cookies. You might have the most luck with baked goods, although my brother also didn't like sweets. Homeade applesauce and homeade noodles if you must cook! There are tons of noodle dishes, like chicken soup with noodles, wontons, noodle dumplings, noodle pudding, ravioli, lasagne, canelonni. Stuff something into a noodle, see if he likes it that way! It might be fun for the two of you to make noodles together. Kids often eat better when they have some say in the shopping and prep. My friends' picky eater child has actually gone on to adulthood and a career in community food service! All is not lost, picky eaters still eat some things, so look at it as a glass half full! Also teach him how to prepare the foods he likes himself. That's ultimately what my brother does, he just cooks and eats his own food most of the time, either after everyone else is done eating, or before, or alongside. The rest of us may be eating some elaborate casserole or salad and he is just eating some carrot sticks and peanut butter on toast with a glass of milk.

I'm a former picky eater. As a kid, it was hard for me to explain why I seemed to like things sometimes but not other times (and people were more likely to try to talk me into eating it than ask why I didn't like it). But, to me, slow-cooked chicken where the meat was falling off the bone seemed like a totally different food than fast-cooked chicken, where there were stringy pieces of gristle and connective tissue that I couldn't avoid. I knew that I hated onions, unless they were well sauteed, but I didn't understand until later that there's a chemical reaction that happens between onion and oil that doesn't happen between oil and watery liquid. In general, I think kids are often sensitive to food textures. So, it might help to ask him what he likes or doesn't like about different foods. Even if he can't explain in detail, he might be able to point at the part that's gross, or tell you it's too slimy or too sour. If you can get get some idea what he doesn't like about different foods, involve him in the process, and stay neutral about whether he likes or doesn't like something, you may be able to expand his palate a little. Sometimes raw fruits and veggies with dip work well. You could make dulce de leche from the can of sweetened, condensed milk, or make a ranch type of thing from sour cream and dry spices (I think garlic powder, salt, and dill are key). I'm also linking to a blog post that I think is really good (and there are lots of cute ideas on that blog for making food fun!)

Here is a link that might be useful: How to feed a picky eater

As a child I was a picky eater, primarily to being an avid reader and the way something was labeled was enough to make me despise it, along with taste, of course. The slightest phrase from a book would stick in my mind as to why a food was undesirable and vice versa.
So, cream cheese- yuck! cream AND cheese ? no. Italian bread- Italian meant meatballs not bread- so, again - no.
Wheat bread- no,
Mortadella, isn't that like mort- death? no.

So at least for me, finickiness had nothing to do with anything anyone could understand!

Chemical laden doritoes, ice cream, sub sandwiches were all fine. So were all salads but never eggs.
Casseroles, never ever.
I turned out fine and eat everything I once despised except liver.

The age of your grandson was left off your post so it's hard to say what's appropriate. The good thing about pasta is that you can buy healthier pasta (some better than white flour and water) and if he'll eat any sauce with it, you can also sneak in veggies. You can do the same with muffins; use less sugar (or gradually reduce it) use oats, applesauce, finely grated carrots, etc. to get some healthier foods into him.

Some kids love fries and will switch to sweet potato fries pretty easily. I make my own by brushing sliced yams with olive oil and a tiny bit of salt and roasting in a hot oven so they are slightly crunchy. You can try that with other veggies, too, zucchini, eggplant, carrots, etc. Especially those that can be made to look like potato fries.

Sometimes kids will eat things they've helped prepare. Like little individual pies (pumpkin or apple or berry). Or healthier cookies like oatmeal or pumpkin or carrot cookies.

I'd be worried about his iron intake. My grandson has a crummy diet at home because everything he is fed is processed and high in sodium. they'll even give him dehydrated commercially packaged (from China, sold at Costco)apples instead of just slicing a fresh one, or some kind of packaged veggie "chips" instead of a carrot). So I always try to give him something high in iron when I cook for him - either red meat or spanikopita and always broccoli. He gobbles them all up. He's almost 3 and I'm dreading it if he acquires a taste for only salted, processed food. Hasn't happened so far.

I hope you'll find some other foods he'll try. Most kids love grapes; in the winter be sure to by organic because so many are imported from places with toxic pesticide usage. Most kids also like pizza - you can start out plain and gradually expand the choicesm, or hide veggies in the sauce.

If you do pinterest, look there for some great ideas about creating fun food creatures that he might enjoy (if he's a toddler or young child). Probably not as effective if he's a teen.

Thanks for your ideas, my grandson is nearly 4 years old, sorry I left that out in my original post.

My 13 year old son has finally finally chosen to eat differently. But I waited until he was ready. While waiting, I let him eat chicken nuggets and fish sticks at dinner and peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. Every day for years. I admit he does eat vegetables and fruits, but put a buger in front of him, it may as well be excrement. He found it that vile. It took his curiosity and open mind to be there for it to begin.

Once his curiosity was fully piqued, I knew he'd eat any kind of chicken (as long as it came out of the oven), so I made "myself" some baked wings with cajun spices (he loves hot things). I let him try "mine" and then he loved them! When he was fully in love with that I suggested he try pork ribs with the same seasonings, when we were out one night, and it turns out, he also loves them.

This has been in the past six months. As of the past month, he's chosen to try grilled pork chops, grilled cod (which he wasn't wild about, but made it more than one bite and ick! He ate 2/3 of it, his choice), fried pork chop... the list is increasing. Because he's ready to. As long as the child isn't living on cakes and candies, let him go and not worry. He'll get there.

The newest awful typo, HA! I made myself laugh.

A BURGER in front of him.

My daughter tried and liked almost everything. My son was Mr. Picky. When they were small I was told to look at their diet from a weekly perspective rather than a daily one. In that way I saw that they did eat a fairly balanced diet.

Neither of them are at all fussy now. I never made a big deal about eating things they obviously didn't want. I did try to present new foods in a positive light. Eventually it all worked out. I still remember how delighted my 6 year old daughter was when I took her to have gelato for the first time. :)

Eileen

He must be eating more than just chicken & pasta so we're all going blind here. But I guess you can also start sneaking things into the pasta or chicken dishes. Grind/puree the vegetables and add to the sauce. How about some chicken fried other meats, then ween him off it? Or just use the old you can have that when you eat this.

I was a fussy eater growing up, compounded by the fact my dad was pretty fussy too so there weren't a lot of different things tried.

How about getting him used to what he likes in different forms? Then add things to it and vary it? Pasta casseroles, then salads. Chicken done in various ways, then mix in beef, pork, etc.

I was not a picky eater as a child, but now I am. I don't like certain textures, things like Jello will make me fight to swallow instead of gag.

Neither of my kids were very picky, but Ashley liked (and still likes) more sweet stuff and processed food than her sister. She'd do things like sit down with a can of cream of mushroom soup and eat it right out of the can. She still prefers white bread and would be as happy living on fast food as she would be with filet.

My granddaughter first ate everything, then became very picky, now she's becoming more adventurous again. I told her to try new things, if she didn't like it she could spit it out, she didn't even have to swallow. That got a lot of new foods into her mouth and she liked some of them. She just wanted to know that she had the option, I guess. She is also funny about texture, even when she was a baby things like pudding and mashed potatoes would make her gag. She still won't eat mashed potatoes.

My grandson is an eating machine. He'll eat anything except green beans, he hates those. His problem is that he will eat until he gets sick, if it's one of his favorites.

So what to feed picky eaters? I'd start with what they like, and try to branch out. He likes chicken? How about some BBQ sauce? I ground Doritos in the food processor and made chicken nuggets, those Doritos became seasoned bread crumbs. He likes pasta? What does he like on it? If it's plain, could you get away with some cheese? That cheese could eventually include some seasonings, maybe some bacon. I never met a kid who didn't like bacon, for some reason.

Many kids like things they can dunk. My granddaughter still won't dunk a french fry in catsup, she hates sauces. My grandson dunks everything in catsup, BBQ sauce or ranch dressing.

I think it depends on the child. I wouldn't fight over it, but if you can ease some new things into his diet, he might not even notice.

Or, you might get lucky like I did on Halloween. I made some butternut squash bread, which both the grandkids love. There was some squash left over. Amanda came in, added some butter and brown sugar and heated it in the microwave, then ate a bowl of it. Bud suspiciously eyed what was left and asked me what it was. I told him that it was so good that his mother didn't share it, she was being selfish. He took me very seriously and quietly finished off the bowl, then told his mother that he'd eaten the rest of "her" squash. She told him that was OK, she'd make more for HERSELF tomorrow. He promptly announced that he'd eat that too, LOL.

Sometimes a kid just wants to be obnoxious. (grin)

Annie

Lokshen Kugel means "noodle pudding" in Yiddish. This item falls into the category of "grandma's dishes."

8 oz. broad noodles (or thin ones, it doesn't really matter)
1 cup pot cheese (or cottage or ricotta)
1/2 cup raisins
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. sugar (you might need to use more for the modern palate, like maybe 2 TBLSP)
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup margarine or butter, melted

Cook noodles as directed on the package; drain well. Stir in remaining ingredients and half of the melted margarine. Place in a greased casserole and pour over the remaining melted margarine. Bake uncovered at 350 deg F (180 deg C) for 1 hour.

Note: you can sub regular old milk for the sour cream, just use slightyl less. The noodles will soak up the milk as it bakes. Can also use cottage cheese in place of ricotta. My bubbe just made it with the noodles, butter, cinnamon sugar and cottage cheese, since my picky dad wouldn't eat raisins! She didn't bake it either. I prefer the baked version with raisins myself! We use soy milk in ours instead of sour cream, we are lactose sensitive. You could probably sneak some grated carrots or sweet potato into this too, for some vitamin A.

Here's another recipe for something that I make called "Greek Spaghetti." It is a big hit with the kids. You could add any type of vegetable to this--shredded carrots, mushrooms (use cremini or shitake for nutrition), red onions, broccoli or cauliflower, cabbage, shredded zuchinni or yellow squash, diced sauteed butternut squash, etc.

Baked Greek Pasta and Cheese

1 lb. spaghetti broken into thirds (use whole wheat if you're grandson will tolerate it)
1 lb. feta cheese (can sub ricotta if feta is a no no. Add about 1/2-1 tsp. salt to this if you don't use feta cheese)
4 TBLSP melted butter
3 eggs beaten
1 TBLSP minced parsley leaves
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
(You could add onion and garlic to this if you want, kids seem to be mostly OK with those tasts if done lightly. I hated onions as a kid though, which is odd since I wasn't generally picky. But I was OK with them if I couldn't make them out in a dish)

Cook spaghetti in 2 quarts boiling water for 8 minutes (until al dente, might be longer with whole wheat)
Mix all other ingredients together in a bowl. At this point you could also add some sauteed vegetables of choice. Might want to start out with something like shredded zuchinni or summer squash or butternut squash, something you wouldn't notice that much due to having a similar color.
Combine cheese-egg mixture with cooked spaghetti. Place in a greased casserole dish and bake in a 300 degree oven for 20 min. until the top becomes golden brown. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Note: this gets dry for reheating, so you can add some milk to it to reheat.

My daughter had a terrible diet as a child. She would only eat chocolate and bacon!!! Now, she eats an excellent diet and is very fit and healthy. Don't worry too much. At least chicken is nice, lean protein. Sticky chicken with rice is fun. Cut the chick into bite-sized pieces. Mix a tablespoon each of balsamic vinegar, soy sau!ce ad honey. Cook in a pan til the chick is cooked and the sauce is thick and sticky, you could add some garlic too. Adults likethis too!