Hi - for entrees, I used to make all kinds of pancakes for my son when he was @ the finger food stage - esp. savory ones using cottage cheese or jarred toddler meats. You can make the batter ahead & keep it refrigerated for a day or so. Alternately, there are plenty of directions online for make-ahead pancakes that can be frozen & reheated. I found that silver dollar size worked perfectly for little fingers & cooked in just a few minutes.

Fish sticks(fingers) were another quick go-to - they heat up fast in a toaster oven.

Sides were the usual veggies & fruits: carrot sticks - cooked or un-, broccoli, green beans, peas, apple or banana slices, grapes.

Another quickie was pita pizzas - using whole mini pitas, sauce & cheese in a toaster oven or broiler.

& there's nothing wrong w/ scrambling some eggs for dinner - they're a wonderful food for little kids....

JM, my toddlers are now parents who have children, but I have a couple of granddaughters who are still toddlers. Like Carol, we scramble eggs, and they love grilled cheese sandwiches or grilled ham and cheese. We have a Panini press and use it often, letting the kids choose the sandwich ingredients. We make pizza using English muffins or tortillas too. They like tacos and pasta of all kinds and wouldn't you know, all the grandkids LOVE shrimp. Fried, broiled, baked, covered with coconut, whatever, they love those very expensive little wigglers, so that's a treat at Grandma's house sometimes. Meatloaf is a winner with both of the little ones, as are meatballs, which can be prepared in advance and frozen. Potatoes in all forms are favorites, with oven fries and scalloped being the big winners. They all like link sausages and not a single one will turn down bacon.

Vegetables are a bit harder, they will all eat green beans and corn. Two will eat carrots and sweet potatoes, one will eat greens. We serve a lot of green beans...

Fruit? They'll eat it all and love "kabobs" made of strawberry, banana, mandarin orange, slices of apple and pear, chunks of pineapple, whatever is fresh and good and in season.

None of them will eat lettuce and I don't blame them one bit.

Annie

My grandson is 5 now and I remember asking here a few years ago about food ideas. I care for him 4-5 days a week (when not at school) and provide either a breakfast or dinner meal each day and lunch once a week. His parents do NOT cook and feed him only processed foods. MAKES ME CRAZY! No fresh fruit or veggies (veggie fries chips in a bag are what they count as a veggie). Apple juice they call a fruit, which would be fine if he got other things that were fresh, but he doesn't.

I make a big batch of meatballs, no sauce, mildly spiced, that I brown and cover in a skillet until done. I freeze those in freezer bags so that I can grab 2 or 3 for a meal. I try to give him beef (always organic) often because I'm sure he is iron deprived, but you could make with ground turkey if you prefer. I thaw at a low power in the microwave so they don't get tough. I only have to make a batch once a month or so.

One of my go to meals for him when in a rush that he loves is Amy's Organic Black Bean Chili. It's not spicy and I will either add some cooked ground beef from the freezer, or a meatball or two and mash it in. The chili is vegetarian, which is healthy, but he needs meat, imo.

I buy organic cheese tortellini and put it in the freezer, then cook a serving for him and add frozen pesto that I put up every year in serving size portions. It surprises me how much kids like pesto! You can even sneak some fresh spinach into it.

Baked yams are another favorite. You can do them in the micro or in a steamer, but my grandson LOVES the oven baked ones. I poke them and cook for about an hour at 375c. They get mushier that way and some brown, sugary bits that make them taste better.

He loves broccoli and I've been buying fresh romanesco cauliflower and I tell him it's broccoli from outer space, which is a big hit. He'll eat regular cauli, too, along with steamed asparagus, green beans, corn, and peas. He prefers raw carrots over cooked and I've been buying the organic rainbow carrots at Trader joe's. Nothing like a purple carrot!

He won't eat anything with tomato sauce, but he LOVES spaghetti ( I cook it in chicken broth) with butter and fresh Parmesan. He's underweight, because of his abysmal diet, so I put butter on all I can.

I cook a batch of organic boneless, skinless chicken thighs and freeze them individually. I can pull one out for dinner with broccoli and a yam. I roll them in greek yogurt, then in whole grain flaked cereal and bake on parchment. He loves them. Again, I micro on a low power setting so they don't get tough and overcooked. I cook fresh salmon for him and feed him fresh avocado every meal. I keep organic blueberries in the freezer and fresh when I can get the organic ones.

For breakfast, or another meal, I buy organic chicken/turkey sausages - I found a spinach - feta one he likes from Applegate Farms. I keep them in the freezer individually frozen. Because I don't have time to make waffles or pancakes when I have him, I buy the frozen organic whole grain ones...some from TJ's and others from my food co-op.

Olychick, you gladden my heart. I don't know when toy food became the rage, because toddlers love flavor and texture and real food. In general, they just don't like things that are too acid or bitter, some don't like hot (peppers) while others love it, and most don't like mushy wet, like overcooked squash, or scratchy, like crumbly (old) broccoli florets. Some don't like the sponginess of mushrooms, and others don't like the stringiness of asparagus or celery. If you ask why they don't like things, you'll often find it's the texture, which you can usually fix by cutting differently and/or cooking by a different method.

J M, there are a lot of foods you can prepare ahead of time and chill or freeze to reheat during your golden hour. Most chicken is like that. If you try for just barely cooked, it shouldn't get overcooked when you reheat. Use a little moisture on reheating, and a lower temperature than you'd cook at. Most of Olychick's list will also reheat well, and the meatballs and tortellini should freeze well. If you plan some time on a weekend, or after his bedtime to cook and package up several meals worth of meat/poultry--for the whole family--you can make your vegetables while you're reheating the meat, with a lot less stress. If he's not used to eating what you eat, start by offering him tastes off of your plate and start to learn what he likes. Also start with things that don't take a lot of chewing (not steak) if he's not used to it, and make sure to cut it small enough. Otherwise, just feed him food.

This is also a good time to assess what you eat. If your meals don't pass muster for the nutrition you want for your child, they're probably not that good for you either. This is the perfect age to start modelling family dinners, well balanced meals, and good table manners.

Little ones need to eat the same food as their parents as soon as they can. If you mean an 18 month old, then they can eat like their parents - less spicy, less salty, but basically the same so they learn to eat a proper diet. It's not good for them to live off fish fingers and tinned goods.