Top 3 dinner winners for fussy eaters

Even the most adventurous eater can go through a fussy eating stage, and if your little one doesn’t, you can count yourself among a few other lucky parents.

While toddlers may start out happy to try anything and everything when solid foods are new to them, as they get older thay may start to refuse things that they once loved. Some may develop a dislike for certain textures, or have an unpleasant experience (choking, for eg), or may not be exposed to a variety of different foods as they grow up.

This pickiness can last for days, weeks, months (years?!) and patience is key to retaining your sanity during these tricky times. As well as offering ‘safe’ foods that you know your kids will eat, keep offering meals for the whole family to help your LO get used to new foods.

Bounty Parents recruited seven junior taste testers age 4 to 11 to sample the family-friendly recipes below.

Watch the video above to see how quick and easy the recipes are PLUS the kids’ reactions!

Pork and 2-Minute Noodle Fritters

Prep time 15 minutes Cook time 25 minutes Serves 4 people

Ingredients

• 500g pork mince
• 2 x 74g packets Oriental flavour 2-minute noodles
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon salt-reduced soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 4 green onions (shallots), trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1 small carrot, peeled and grated
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• Kewpie mayonnaise, kecap manis and thinly sliced green onions (shallots), to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Bring 3 cups of water to the boil in a medium saucepan. Break noodle blocks into quarters and add to boiling water. Cook for 2 minutes. Stir through seasoning. Drain. Set noodles aside to cool.
2. Whisk eggs, soy sauce and sesame oil together in a large bowl. Add cooled noodles, pork mince, green onions and carrot. Season with salt and pepper. Mix until well combined.
3. Heat vegetable oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Using a 1/3 cup pork mixture per fritter, cook fritters, in batches, for 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden. Place fritter onto a large baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 10 minutes or until cooked through.
4. Arrange fritters on a serving platter or plates. Drizzle with mayonnaise and kecap manis. Top fritters with thinly sliced green onions and serve.

Pork Sausage Meatball and Spinach Carbonara

Prep time 20 minutes Cook time 20 minutes Serves 4 people

Ingredients

• 500g pork sausages
• 150g Australian rindless streaky bacon rashers, chopped
• 3 eggs
• 300mls light thickened cream
• 1 cup finely grated parmesan, plus extra to serve
• 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
• 400g dried spaghetti
• 120g baby spinach leaves

Method

1. Cut sausage casings open and roll the sausage filing into small (about 2cm wide) meatballs. Place onto a plate.
2. Whisk eggs, cream and parmesan in a large jug. Set aside.
3. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add bacon and cook, stirring often, for 3-4 minutes until crisp and golden. Transfer to a plate to cool.
4. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in the pan over medium heat. Add sausage meatballs. Cook, tossing occasionally, for 10 minutes until browned and cooked through.
5. Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water following packet directions until just tender. Drain and return to saucepan.
6. Add egg mixture, sausage meatballs and spinach to the hot pasta tossing quickly to cook the eggs. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, topped with bacon and sprinkled with extra parmesan cheese.

Cheese Melt Pork Rissoles

Prep time 15 minutes Cook time 20 minutes Serves 4 people

Ingredients

• 1kg pork mince
• 1 medium red onion, grated
• 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce
• 1 large zucchini
• 1/3 cup plain flour
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ¾ cup grated 4 cheese melt or mozzarella cheese
• Chopped cherry tomatoes, oven fries and tomato sauce, to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan-forced. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
2. Place pork mince, onion, carrot, breadcrumbs, tomato sauce and barbecue sauce into a large bowl. Grate zucchini and firmly squeeze in your hands to remove liquid. Add zucchini to pork mixture. Stir until combined. Season with salt and pepper. Roll mixture into 12 large round rissoles. Lightly coat rissoles with flour and place on a tray.
3. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Cook rissoles, turning often, for 8-10 minutes or until evenly browned. Transfer to prepared baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes or until cooked through.
4. Sprinkle rissoles with grated cheese. Bake for 5 minutes or until cheese has melted. Serve rissoles with tomatoes, oven-fries and tomato sauce.

Brought to you by Australian Pork.