Recommended nutritious home-cooked dishes for children

These three dishes, mixed vegetables and shrimps, pumpkin and chicken breast rolls, and tomato-stewed lactone tofu, cover the three core nutritional needs of children’s growth: high-quality protein, dietary fiber, and vitamins. They can be cooked in 15-20 minutes, and more than 90% of children have a high acceptance rate.

I have been through a lot of pitfalls before. When I first became a mother, I bought a bunch of cartoon molds and special seasonings for children, and the baby ran away after just one look at the rice balls. Later, I formed a "baby rice research and development team" with several mothers in the community, and tried nearly 20 dishes before filtering out these "always victorious generals".

Let’s talk about mixed vegetables and diced shrimps. In fact, the fresh shrimps are shelled, stripped and cut into cubes, and then mixed with corn, carrots, and yam cubes cut into the same size. Add a little less olive oil to the pot. Fry the diced shrimps until they change color. Then add the mixed vegetables and stir-fry for two minutes. Add half a bowl of water and simmer for three minutes. The whole process does not even take 10 minutes. By the way, when it comes to seasoning, there is actually a bit of controversy here: one group strictly follows the recommendations of the Chinese Nutrition Society, no salt is added at all for children under 1 year old, the daily salt intake should not exceed 2g for 1-3 years old, and no more than 5g for those over 3 years old. Another group of family nutrition teachers believe that as long as the ingredients themselves are fresh enough (for example, shrimp and corn have a sweet and umami flavor), there is no problem in not adding any seasoning at all for children under 3 years old. My own experience in trying it is that I didn’t add it at all when I was under 2 years old. After 2 years old, I sometimes dipped the tip of chopsticks into salt to enhance the flavor. The baby tasted more delicious, and all the indicators in the physical examination were normal. In fact, there is no need to be too dogmatic, as long as the overall intake is low enough. Last time, my best friend brought her notoriously picky kid to our house for dinner. The little guy who usually has to pick out diced carrots one by one, scooped up less than half a bowl of mixed vegetables and shrimp dices that day. After finishing the meal, he asked if he could have more. My best friend’s eyes widened when she saw it, and she said she would make the same meal when she got back.

Many people get headaches when they think of cooking chicken breast for their babies, thinking that they won’t like it. In fact, they don’t know how to choose the right part and use the right method. Just buy small pieces of chicken breasts and cut them into half-centimeter-thick slices. Then cut the pumpkin into strips about the same width as the chicken slices. Steam the pumpkin strips in a pot for 3 minutes until they are semi-soft, then roll them up with chicken slices. Steam them for 8 minutes in boiling water. The sweetness of the pumpkin will penetrate into the chicken, and it will feel a little juicy when you bite into it. There is no need to add any other seasonings. Sometimes when I'm lazy, I'll brush a thin layer of no-added tomato sauce on the outside of the steamed rolls, and my kids will just eat them as snacks. It's convenient to carry two when I go out for a walk. Oh, yes, some people are still confused about whether to remove the skin from chicken breasts. In fact, the fat content of chicken skin is not as high as everyone thinks. If your child likes to eat a little chewy texture, leaving a little bit is totally fine. Don’t listen to what is said on the Internet that “all must be removed” to be healthy. There are so many rigid rules in cooking.

Tomato stewed lactone tofu is a "life-saving dish" when my baby has a cold, fever and has no appetite. The method is simpler. Make a cross on the top of the tomato and peel it, cut it into small cubes and stir-fry in a pot until the sand is released. Add an appropriate amount of water and bring it to a boil. Cut the lactone tofu into small pieces and cook it for three or four minutes. Sprinkle some chopped green onions and it will be out of the pot. It is so tender that babies without teeth can sip it. High-quality plant protein plus vitamins from tomatoes, easy to digest and appetizing. If the baby has poor digestion recently, I will also add some chopped yam to it to stew it to make it chewy, and the baby will love it more. Speaking of tofu, there is a common debate here: many people say that lactone tofu does not contain as much calcium as northern tofu, and children should eat northern tofu to supplement calcium. This is true, but the problem is that the texture of northern tofu is hard and has a bit of beany taste. Many babies vomit after chewing it for two times. I think that nutritional intake must first be "eaten in" before it counts. If the baby is willing to eat northern tofu, it is better. If the baby doesn't like it, eating some lactone tofu is better than not eating tofu at all. There is no need to make the baby annoyed by the sight of tofu just for the extra calcium.

In fact, I feel more and more now that there is really no need to put so much pressure on myself when cooking for my kids. I don’t have to collect seven or eight ingredients for every meal, and I don’t have to go to all those fancy shapes. As long as the ingredients are fresh, have less salt and sugar, and the kids are willing to eat them, it will work better than any Internet celebrity “children’s nutritional meal”. My child now has to hold the kitchen door open every time before eating to ask if there are any shrimps today. Last time he had a physical examination in kindergarten, his height and weight were on the upper side for his age, and the doctors praised him for being a good child. Oh, by the way, one last tip. If your child is particularly picky about vegetables, you might as well cut the vegetables into small dices about the size of his fingernails, mix them together and stir-fry them. He won’t be able to pick out any of them. As he eats them, he will get used to the taste of various ingredients~