Macaroni (elbows) – These days there are many healthier pasta varieties available to us! Supermarkets have veggie, fibre pasta, buckwheat, wholemeal pasta and many more. I always regret trying to be pushy with the veggies, because I rather see him eat most of this food than none of it. Then after that hurdle, think about quantity too! even if it’s a vegetable that Kai tolerates, if I put too many in his Mac and cheese, he won’t eat much of it. He sometimes accepts these, but I have most luck when it’s broccoli. I have tried putting in carrots, spinach, corn and zucchini. Kai took a few bites and pushed his bowl away. I added half a cup of kale which I thought would have a mild taste. I hoped that the flavour of the cheese sauce hid the taste of the veggies! Most of the time it went terribly because I, being an overzealous mum, dumped loads of veggies in or used veggies I knew he would probably reject. I’ve tried placing different veggies in Kai’s Mac and cheese. So here is where I’ll be completely honest with you. Most times, we only get to eat these types of food when I’m recreating my favourite recipes for this blog! This is how much I am committed to you, Kai! Those days of eating as much spicy food or seafood as much as I wanted are long gone. Most times, before I cook or order food, I always think about Kai. I have tried to adapt to this, but there’s no guarantee that Kai would eat what we were having, so I always had to have a backup meal ready for him, anyway! Health nurses encourage parents to feed babies the food they’re eating when they’re 12 months of age. It’s been a long while since I’ve posted a recipe dedicated to babies or toddlers. We have more recipes for your little one:įussy toddlers driving their parents insane Such as using a more nutritious type of pasta and adding some veggies in! Besides, when we’re making this for them, we can sneak healthier ingredients in. There are healthier options to feed our children than mac and cheese, but it’s nice to treat them occasionally.

I don’t even want to know what kind of stuff they put in there! It wouldn’t have felt right feeding him those store-bought mac and cheese boxes. I guess, like most parents, we want the best for our children. It’s funny that I never thought about making real Mac and Cheese until Kai was born. I bought those convenient, cheap boxes of macaroni with the cheese powder. Mac and cheese was a dish that I ate when I was a broke student during my uni days but I didn’t even make it myself. My little man is growing rapidly before my very eyes! These days he quickly shoves the macaroni in his mouth until his cheeks puff out, then has trouble chewing them all at once. This leads me to reminisce about his infant days where he would adorably struggle to pick up macaroni and find his mouth. He’s incredibly impatient! Using a fork to pick up the macaroni is way too slow, so he chucks it aside and goes back to basics by using his little hands. That’s not surprising as I don’t think many adults would reject a good mac and cheese either! I mean, who can resist pasta slathered in a cheesy buttery sauce?… unless there are too many veggies in it! But more of that later! Mac and Cheese is a meal my 21-month-old, Kai, would never reject.

Healthier mac and cheese