My nearly-two-year-old son is a bit of a picky eater. Aren't they all at this age? I can pretty much get him to eat any sort of carb-filled food -- breads, rice, quinoa, Morning O's (wheat-free cheerios), rice chex, bananas, fruits -- anything sweet or full of carbs that turn into sugar. But vegetables are always elusive, and protein, as well. Sure, he'll eat lentils and beans and such (sometimes) so that helps, and I make him a green smoothie every morning that he just LOVES, which makes me feel better about him getting some veggies in his diet. But nuts are kind of a choking hazard at this age, and he just doesn't like meat, and he liked eggs for about two days before he decided he hated eggs. So what's a mom to do?
I had decided to stop feeding him carbs for breakfast. No more oatmeal and rice cereal, because he's eating too many carbs and if I start the day off with them, then he's just going to be in a carb-frenzy for the rest of the day. Veggies are a hard sell any time of day, so I certainly didn't plan to fill his breakfast plate with veggies. Eggs seemed like the perfect option, but we've already covered his anti-eggs stance.
Time to get creative.
Egg "pancake"
Ingredients:- 1 tsp coconut oil (or oil of choice)
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp almond meal
- 1/2 tbsp flax meal
- 1 tbsp pureed veggie or squash of choice (if available)
- 1/2 tsp maple syrup (or honey, etc)
- Whisk together egg, almond meal, flax meal, syrup, and veggie puree (I've used minced zucchini, butternut squash, and green beans from a baby food jar. This one isn't essential but is a way to sneak other goodies into it, and the butternut squash is by far the favorite).
- Heat oil in a skillet on medium-high heat.
- When oil is hot, pour mixture into skillet. Is should spread out pretty thin. Let the pancake cook until you can easily flip it over in one piece.
- When both sides are cooked, put it on a plate to cool.
Makes one pancake. One pancake is approx 190 calories, 15 grams of fat, 7 grams of protein, and only 7 grams of carbs (2 grams sugars).
I call them pancakes for my son as sort of a marketing technique. But they're more like crepes, which means you can smear them with almond butter or fruit filling or something and roll them up if you want to get fancy.
Sometimes Zeke likes them plain, but when he gets bored with it I will put almond butter on it, or a dab of honey, or some almond butter and dried cranberries... you get the idea. These (below) are made with butternut squash, and have a light layer of honey on the inside before they're rolled up, per the Little Man's request.
