On occassion, my son has been spotted eating tofu. It's especially good mixed in with cottage cheese, of course.
And many have been shocked with my proclamation that this kid can't resist mango, papaya, zuchini and squash. Lemons and pickles? The more the merrier!
Granted, now that my son has graduated to toddler-hood, he is much more picky about what he eats. He now refuses all meat, most vegetables and melons. I have been reassured that this is just a phase and he will soon be eating his greens again.
His tastes as a baby were entirely different. He ate all vegetables I gave him, with the exception of avocado (which is really a fruit, so it doesn't count). He absolutely loved brocolli and peas. Now he spits them out and makes faces at me.
But the one consistent has been cottage cheese. He has a bowl everyday and absolutely adores it. My family is baffled. So am I. I'm not complaining, though. Cottage cheese is a great protein and calcium source — both of which concern me because of his refusal to eat meats and drink milk (you'd think that since he loves cottage cheese so much, he'd like milk. Nope!).
A toddler's love for a certain food can be used for ulterior motives. I have used his cravings to my advantage, I must admit. I find that my son will eat the dreaded brocolli — as long as it is chopped into tiny pieces and mixed in with, you guessed it, cottage cheese. I've even disguised pureed peas with applesauce (I'm desperate!). I have also recently tried various casseroles with some success. Most recently, I made a brocolli-cheese-rice casserole that he tentatively accepted. I took a cup of cooked, finely chopped brocolli, 2 cups of cooked brown rice, 1/2 cup of shredded cheese (I used cheddar), one beaten egg, 1/2 cup of milk and some fresh parsley and mixed it all together and poured it into a buttered casserole dish. I then topped the casserole with some bread crumbs and cooked it for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. It was pretty good, I must admit.
My all-time favorite trick to tone down flavors in vegetables for babies, however, is adding mashed potato to the puree you are working with. The potato tones the flavor down to something that is more milder and more likely to be accepted by baby. I used this trick with peas, brocolli and green beans. I also used to make a mixed vegetable puree that was pretty watery to combine with one of the potato mixtures, if I needed to. The watery puree was zuchini, yellow summer squash and red bell pepper. It made a nice flavor when mixed with other purees.
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