My twin grandsons (14 mos. old) are going to Mother's Day Out two days a week. They must feed themselves finger foods which the parent must provide for snack and lunch . I've been helping my DIL come up with ideas (and making foods for them). We are in search of new recipes and ideas to try.

apple slices, cheese slices, cut strawberries, CUT grapes, red pepper strips, cucumbers, pb&j sandwhich cut into bites, CUT cherry tomatoes, raisins...

teach them to eat healthy early. remember that a food may need to be introduced up to 10x before a child will accept it.

Fresh raw veggies/fruits are no problem. Our main problem is coming up with protein foods. I've been making pinwheel sandwiches (kind made in a roll, and then sliced into pinwheels--often served at parties) with minced ham and chicken, plus some grated veggies added in, so far. They like them. This week, I'm trying some mini (2-bite) meatballs (finely ground) and baked ravaloi-type morsels (also 2-bite) with a variety of meat stuffings. I'm also doing some tiny applesauce and some banana muffins. It's fun--at least to this crazy grandmother.

How about some home made chicken nuggets. I cut chicken breasts up to bite sized pieces. In a zip lock bag I put some fine bread crumbs which you can either buy or let your bread crusts dry then run in a food processor. To the bread crumbs you can add some garlic powder, season salt or however you want to season. Shake to mix then add a few chicken nuggets at a time and shake to coat. I've made these and froze some for "next" time so they're fast to make like the store kind. When freezing make sure you don't over crowd and I have mine on a sheet pan for a few hours in the freezer then transfer to a zip lock bag for storage.

My boys loved the dill pickles wrapped in a slice of ham which had some cream cheese to hold them together (make sure pickles are dried as much as possible with paper towels). Slice and enjoy!

Super, Willa--this is just what I'm looking for to add variety to their MDO meals! And this is something I always have on hand. I'll try some this weekend. Question: to prepare, do you bake or fry the chicken nuggets?

My DIL loves pickled stuff. Hopefully, my grandsons will love the pickles wrapped in ham, too.

I bake the nuggets. I'm sure if you want to fry you could but my boys like them baked and less fat.

Pizza Roll Ups

1/2 pound ground beef (I also use ground turkey)
8 oz. tomato sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 t dried oregano
2 (8 oz.) tubes crescent rolls

Cook meat till no longer pink. Drain. Add tomato sauce and oregano. Add cheese mix well. Separate crescent dough into 8 rectangles, pinching seams together. Place about 3 Tablespoons meat mixture along one long side of each rectangle. Roll up jelly roll style starting with long side. Cut each roll into 3 pieces. Place seam side down, 2 inches apart on greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or till golden brown.

I added garlic powder, thyme and minced onion to my meat mixture.

Cheeseburger Roll Up

1 pound lean ground beef
4 slices bacon chopped
1/2 c chopped onion
1/2 pound Velveeta cheese in 1/2 inch cubes
13.8 oz tube pizza crust

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook ground beef, bacon, and onion till browned. Drain grease. Add cheese and cook until cheese is melted, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Unroll pizza dough. Press into 15x8 rectangle. Top evenly with meat mixture. Roll up dough long way. Transfer to greased cookie sheet with seam side down. Bake 20-25 minutes or till golden brown. Cut diagonally into 6 slices to serve.

I'm sure these could also be made smaller by cutting the dough into smaller pieces, filling with meat mixture and pinching closed then bake with seam down as above.

Just thought of another idea do you have a food dehydrator? If so you could make fruit roll ups and jerky. You can get a plastic "gun" (sorry forgot what its called) which makes the jerky into several shapes such as round sticks or flat sticks by changing the tip. They usually come with a few seasoning packets which you add to your ground meat then into the dehydrator via the "gun". This is a softer jerky unless you dry for days.

Heart shaped individual pizzas. If you need a recipe for home made let me know.