Sneaky recipe tips that boost nutrition

[AustinsMom]

I once saw a segment on the Today Show (years ago when I didn't care enough to listen well) about ways to boost nutrition in foods you cook. I think one was using tofu in brownies if I remember correctly.

Does anyone have any good tips like this? My ds is slowly eliminating all sources of healthy goods for breakfast in particular. He has always been an instant oatmeal lover and loves cereals. Since Feingold took most of those from us (he refuses to eat regular oatmeal, on principal I think), I am looking for protein oriented breakfast foods. I think he would eat muffins or pumpkin or banana bread if I could make it tasty and nutritious. Does anyone add tofu to baked things? What proportions do you use, and what do you substitute it for?

I have been looking for recipes like that, and found a good one for "Green Potatoes" which is essentially mashed potatoes with spinach that everyone actually enjoyed this week. If anyone is interested, I can post it. If you have good tricks and tips for boosting intake of protein and vegetables, please share!

[catatonic]

Three things have helped get protein into my boy at breakfast.

1.) Feed him a hamburger patty. He thinks this is cool and it doesn't take any longer to cook than aitof oatmeal.

2.) Make a protein shake. I cut bananas into quarters and freeze them to add to the shake for thicker texture. I also slip in lecithin and a carton of yogurt.

3.) Homemade granola with pecans, cashews, sesame seeds, coconut, dried fruits. I can keep the sugar content down and the protein content high this way and it's very filling.

I also have a recipe for bean muffins, which are very high protein (also a little weird, but good). As long as I don't make these more than once a week, the kids enjoy them. You can also put tofu through the blender until it's smooth and turn it into dip for chips or veggies. If you don't tell them, they don't know they're eating healthy stuff instead of good old sour cream.

[AustinsMom]

I found a great book on Amazon called Stealth Nutrition (or someting like that.) I think it is the book the author was plugging on the today show long ago. The description talks about putting black beans in brownies for increased protein, and I believe it was that instead of tofu as I remembered. I bought it used for $2, so I'm sure if I just get a few tips I'll get my moneys worth.

[lisle]

Ausin's Mom:
Pfeiffer told us to avoid all soy as it depletes zinc and thus raises copper. Turns out my son is allergic to soy protein anyway. It's in so many things these days--this is a challenge when you are looking for more protein options (and my son has high cholesterol). I like the idea of giving unusual breakfasts. My guess is Pfeiffer is going to discourage the whey protein too, though. Have to wait and see. They want us dairy free and usually do if people have gut prob. We can't do that though. So in part it's our noncompliance that may perpetuate what is going on. We tried dairy free for two months and didn't see any differences in behavior at all.
lisle

[Madison]

HI,

I just wish I could get my child to eat something else besides CHCOLATE BALL CEREAL every morning!! She just won't eat anything else! I've tried it all! I wanted her on less sugar and more high protein if all possible and she just won't eat anything else. I'll be checking this site too for receipts. She doesn't like nuts, peanut butter, eggs, most dinners I make...lololol!! It's like "Mom, I don't like this or don't want this!" Well, that's my input for the day...take care...Madison

[AustinsMom]

madison, my son is a picky eater too. He wants to eat the same things over and over. But I have found that if I just make different things, I am gradually opening his boundaries, but it is time consuming. He is really competitive, so we have been counting at dinner how many fruits/vegetables we each ate that day. He hates to lose, so he is upping his count to try to "win". I have been trying sneaking stuff in too. He likes mashed potatoes, so tonight I could cauliflower with the potatoes and mashed them, and he never knew the difference. It was probably at least 1/3 cauliflower too. I also found a recipe for "green potatoes" that puts spinach, sour cream and a little cheese in mashed potatoes. He initially rejected it, but they really are good, so once he tasted them, he ate them. Breakfast is still my hard thing too. I am settling for him eating a small amount of a good thing. It is less than I think he needs, but I figure it's better than more of a not so good thing. Good luck.

[lisle]

Hi, Madison and Austin's Mom:
My son goes in spurts eating one thing and then never wants to see that again, has always been this way.
I try whenever possible to get him to eat what we do, but we eat a lot of good thing and he wants, well, junkier things, no veggies and hardly any fruit. Pfeiffer suggested Juice Plus, but I don't know. I want him to do the real thing eventually. In Chinese food he will eat some veggies, but he is allergic to soy so we can't have him doing that often and it's so oily and salty (why it's good to him probably). He won't eat eggs except french toast or waffles occasionally. I make them from scratch so they are good for you. He likes pizza for breakfast.
If you want a healthful one you can try Amy's or even Tony's at theregular market or Walmart isn't too too bad. I have also made him grilled cheese sandwiches.
Of course, Pfeiffer would prefer him off all dairy so that would count out about everything he is willing to eat. Good luck and keep sharing ideas. I personally am bad at hiding things in the food he regularly eats--Sherlock Holmes figures it right out that it's different.
lisle

[catatonic]

Madison, one of my boys is a horrible eater. Consuming vegetables is against his personal philosophy of life and if allowed to would subsist entirely on honey nut cheerios and munster cheese with cookies and pringles thrown in for variety. I gave up on trying to overcome him with logic, abandoned any attempt at coaxing, and simply stopped buying all junk. Once there were no cheerios in the house, he discovered that oatmeal or scrambled eggs or homemade granola were just great. But as long as those stupid cheerios were in the house, that was all he'd eat, morning noon and night. My mother thought I was the cruellest person in the universe and was convinced my son would starve or get scurvy or something. But, miraculously, he started eating other foods instead. He'll still snarf a sno-cone whenever the school bus is late and the ice cream truck is around, and would happily eat caramel corn for dinner instead of beef stew, but we're making progress!

[Kimmers]

lisle:
My son does the same thing as yours-loves something one day then the next he won't even look at it because miraculously overnight it turned "gross."

Madison and Austinsmom:
My son is the pickiest eat ever! He bases what he wants to eat by the way it looks, many times if you do manage to get him to take a bite he will actually like it very much. And if I try and mask something he will immediately know it is different and won't touch it. I wish I could get him to eat healthy but all he wants to eat is junk. Even if I buy healthy things the kid would rather starve than eat it.

Cat:
I don't know how you get your kids to eat the way that they do. You must have a magic wand or something! The only veggies my son will eat is corn and pickled beets. That is why I have been reluctant to take corn away from him because there's nothing else to replace it with!

It's no wonder our kids are so deficient in this vitamin and this mineral etc. etc...because they won't eat anything!

Kimmers

[catatonic]

Kimmers, if you can get the boy to eat pickled beets, you can get him to eat ANYTHING!!!! My boy catches on to "disguised" food pretty quickly, too, and avoids eating anything with "those icky green things in there"...those unfamiliar icky green things, by the way, are VEGETABLES!!!!! He's always been like that, even though all the other kids (even the 3-year-old) eat salad or tofu-with-broccoli or spinach casserole with every appearance of actually enjoying it. Mr. Picky will eat these things, too, but only if he's completely junk-food-deprived. Hunger is the best teacher, my grandmother used to tell me.

I have the opposite problem with the baby because she only wants to eat fruits and vegetables. So I sneak protein powder in her juice, put nuts or seeds in her salad, make veggie dip with tofu run through the blender, make lots of vegetable casseroles with brown rice and eggs in them, and boil chicken breasts once a week, since boiled chicken breast is the only actual meat she seems to enjoy.

AustinsMom, if you liked the green potatoes, try orange potatoes. Boil carrots until soft and mash them in with the potatoes (I normally do about 3 pounds potatoes and a pound of carrots).

[AustinsMom]

I am also impressed by the beet eating! And will try the orange potato thing. Sounds like good Halloween fare ;D

Things are slowly getting better with ds and eating foods, and I think the thing that has helped is persistence. Like last night, I made chicken salad with grapes, sprouts, and almonds in whole wheat pita bread. He at first proclaimed he couldn't eat that--without taking a bite. Then tasted the pita, said it was awful. So I told him to go ahead and scoop out the filling and eat it. He proceeded to eat the chicken and grapes while picking out the almonds and sprouts. But I know he ate some, because it is very hard to pick sprouts out of chicken salad. I say that's improved, because even one month ago, he would have simply refused. And next time I serve something similar, I'll make a concession to him--like put in shredded carrots instead of sprouts, and he'll most likely eat it.

The only problem is this all takes time, which I have only recently (like the last 3 weeks) committed to the the process. It means I have to do a detailed menu, focusing on vegetables in new and different ways, and lots of them. Then grocery shopping cannot be haphazard or put off. And meal prep may take up to an hour--which is not my favorite thing. But I have definitely seen him try more foods and start to change. This week we have even made the change to wheat bread--a change he has protested and resisted for quite awhile. So the moral of this story is meant to be: if you beat your head against this brick wall long enough an hard enough, it eventually will crack. At least a little.

[Kimmers]

Well the pickled beets are something we have given him since he was a baby so I think he just developed a taste for them! He ate EVERYTHING as a baby, every single vegetable we gave him he ate. But for some reason he no longer likes any of them and I am at a loss as to what to do because now my daughter is doing the exact same thing. She also ate anything and everything as a baby and suddenly she takes one look at something and bursts into tears. Her poor baby-sitter has to make 3-4 meals a day for her before she will accept something and eat.

I really wish I had the time and effort to devote to meals like you are trying to do Austinsmom. Way to go! I really think if I tried doing these things as well, my son just MIGHT turn over a new leaf but I know it would take ALOT of convincing and hard work on my part. Motivation sometimes isn't my strong point though...( and I wonder why my son lacks in that department! ) Where are you getting your ideas from Austinsmom?

Cat-what is the name of the protein powder you buy? You get it at the health food store, right? Both of my kids refuse meat but my son LOVES peanut butter so I guess he is at least getting some protein that way!

If anyone comes up with a fool-proof way to get your kids to eat better, let me know so I can try too!

Kimmers

[lisle]

Austin's Mom:
Did Pfeiffer tell you soy protein is a no no if he has a zinc deficiency? This is really a problem since so many things that are good for you, especially as treats, have soy in them. I let him have a little, like soy sauce because it is fermented and lecithin, but not the soy protein isolate itself. I don't know what Pfeiffer says about my infractions, though.
lisle

[AustinsMom]

lisle, it's only been 2 weeks since our Pfeiffer appt.., so we have no feedback from them yet. So I'm just going along with the vitamins, etc. they said were ok, and trying the healthy eating focus. Hope we don't end up with too many new food restrictions.....can't wait to hear from them.

[catatonic]

There's another good reason not to overdo the soy products. (We eat tofu, alternate whey protein powder with soy, buy soy nuts occasionally, but try not to consume it too frequently.) Soy is a naturally occuring hormonally active agent which mimicks estrogen -- great for menopausal women to consume daily, but the rest of us ought to use soy less frequently.

Anyway, forgive my soapbox (I seem to have lots of soap boxes). Kimmers, the protein powder I buy is the bulk generic at our health food store. It is derived from whey (so wouldn't be ideal for anyone who is dairy sensitive). It is flavored with natural vanilla and sugar. It simply dissolves in a glass of milk.

I also buy their bulk soy protein powder, which I believe has a better amino acid profile, but I don't want to use it every day for my son because of the estrogen thing. When I use the soy powder, it has to be made into a shake in the blender, since it doesn't dissolve but simply forms nasty clumps.