For Veggies try giving her fresh ones with dip for dipping. Sometimes this gets them to try new things. For meat try giving ketchup, my kids love dipping there meat in ketchup.

For Veggies try giving her fresh ones with dip for dipping. Sometimes this gets them to try new things. For meat try giving ketchup, my kids love dipping there meat in ketchup.

Hi Dorothea,
This is a good question.  With my 2 children, what I found helpful was having them cook with me in the kitchen.  Something that they may not want to try became much more appealing when they helped me make it.

They enjoy spending time with me in the kitchen doing simple tasks like stirring or adding ingredients.  After mixing something, they naturally want to lick the spoon, ah-ah, now they've tasted it.  I read that it is not unusual for children to have to be introduced to food 3 times before they actually will eat it.  So 1st try down and it improved over time.  We've made potato salad (they eat), steam broccoli & make a little cheese sauce (they eat) steamed cauliflower, sweet potatoes, spinach, carrots (raw, steamed, candied) and even cabbage after helping me make cole slaw.  I've included a couple of my easy trick recipes below and look here on education.com through their recipes for some fun and healthy foods that the kids can help make.  I'm going to actually make the mashed potato snowman at dinner this week.

Tortilla pizza:  you will need flour tortilla shells, jar of pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese and toppings of choice (ham pieces, pepperoni, black olives, green peppers, mushrooms, pineapple, etc)  Let the kids make their own pizza.  Lightly spray a baking sheet, place the tortilla on the sheet and while your oven or toaster oven preheats to 350, let the kids assemble their own meal.  A little sauce, cheese and their toppings.  Bake for about 8-10 minutes, serve with apple sauce.

Easy Meatloaf: you will need 1 to 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef, 1 can Manwich, 2-3 slices of loaf bread, 1 egg, ketchup, mustard.  In mixing bowl, blend the hamburger with only 1/2 can of Manwich, tear bread slices into small pieces, add egg and "fun with hands" mix well.  Place in a loaf pan and bake at 350 for 40 minutes, remove & drain off grease, spread a very thin layer of mustard over top and pour the remaining Manwich over all, place back into the oven for another 30 minutes, remove & once again drain off the grease, top with ketchup put back into the oven for about 5 minutes until ketchup heats through.  Serve with mashed potatoes (try the snowman @ education.com) green beans, yummy.

Easy Breakfast-Egg sandwich: call it Velma's from Scooby Doo brain food-toast 2 slices of bread, spread lightly with mayo, scramble an egg and serve.  

Candied Carrots: peel carrots and slice into coins, steam until tender but not mushy.  In skillet add a pat of butter, a little water and a little brown sugar, add carrots.  Lightly toss around the carrots to coat, they will appear glazed and shiny.  Serve.  

Cheese sauce:  Makes any vegetable steamed better, in small saucepan over medium heat, add a Velveeta cheese (cut into cubes) and a little white milk.  Stir frequently until the cheese melts and is smooth, add a little more milk to make it as smooth and thin as you would like.  Also good to make nachos or use over tacos.

I will also leave a link to education.com sweet potato recipe, if you read the comments I've added my recipe that my daughter loves and she calls them potatoes in a cloud.  My son enjoys the kitchen too so "Whatever works".

I hope this is helpful and I hope these will be recipes that you will enjoy making with your little one.  Best wishes!

Is your child sensitive to other things like having his teeth brushed, hair combed, wanting to wear only certain clothes?  Some children who have sensitivites to certain textures of clothes or to light touch also do not like foods with textures.  If you suspect other sensitivities, you may want to contact an occupational therapist who specializes in children to help you with your three year old.

I have a great book, Picture Me Cooking, that talks about getting kids involved in cooking. I included their website below: they post new recipes regularly and each one has a picture of the food. We started cooking together, and my kids will eat, or at least try, whatever food we make together. We also started "Try New Food Monday". If I make it, they have to try it. The twist is, they can pick new foods for us all to try, and the adults have to try it (I have eaten some weird recipes they dug up, but that's the rule so we go with it). Getting her involved in the decision making empowers her and gives her a sense of control. That may be enough to get her to eat a wider variety of food.