Remember the other day on Facebook I mentioned Abby finally ate something for dinner other than a sandwich? I was ecstatic. After almost a year of sandwiches, cereal or yogurt for dinner (and not much variety at other times of the day either, despite my repeated offerings of everything from apples to zucchini), she didn’t immediately just say “no!” when presented with a plate of something she’d never eaten before.
That plate was this one – little quinoa balls filled with grated carrot, cheese and mashed avocado.
I have tried everything to get her to eat a wide variety of food, but I also never pushed it. I was convinced she would grow out of it and if she didn’t, then I could deal with it when she was old enough to reason with. The problem wasn’t taste, or texture, because the food never made it to her mouth. She would literally look at a plate and refuse it, never even taking a bite. But I pushed on and I am so glad I did. (Mind you, when Pepper was a newborn I slacked off a bit, but have stepped it up again recently and have had several successful attempts with pasta and boiled eggs with toast soldiers. Baby steps!)
The funny thing was, she wouldn’t even try things most kids like. My mum tried to give her ice cream once and she just about screamed the house down.
What I realised when I bit into one, how much like a meatball they were. I think with similar seasonings you could throw them in a spaghetti and meatball situation, or make them slightly bigger for rissoles or burgers. I tried very hard to make them balls, but I also wanted to make them gluten free so the ended up being mini burgers as they were quite soft and wouldn’t hold their shape when flipped! Feel free to sub regular flour if you like.
The main thing is they tasted good AND THEY GOT EATEN. Score.
As mentioned in the recipe card, they can be baked. And for the record, the broccoli never went near her mouth.
Carrot and avocado quinoa bites
Print recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked quinoa (cooled)
- 1 Medium carrot, grated
- 150g tasty cheese, grated
- 1 Avocado, mashed
- 2 eggs, beatend
- 1 pinch each salt and pepper, to taste
- 1/4 cup buckwheat flour
Directions
| Step 1 | |
| Mix all ingredients together. | |
| Step 2 | |
| Heat a frying pan over medium heat with a little oil. (alternatively you can place them on a baking tray and bake at 200C for 20-30 minutes until golden brown and firm) Form into little balls or patties and fry 10 minutes on one side until golden brown, and then turn and fry a few minutes more. You just want the binding egg to do its work. | |
| Step 3 | |
| Drain on absorbent paper (omitting this step if you have oven-baked). | |
I’m always looking at ways I can convince myself I like quinoa so I might give these a go 🙂
I like it way better than cous cous and things like that. I’m actually really stoked I like it as much as I do!
Yay Abby. These look great VM. I’m going to try them this week.
Maybe they can fling these at each other instead of other things? 😉
Yay for something getting eaten! These sound delicious too, definitely not just kid food!
Oh I definitely enjoyed them!
Having just found out that hubby is away until Friday for work now (2 day trip turned into 5!) I will be giving these a go tomorrow night. Emily is the same as Abbey and there’s only so many vegemite sandwiches I can hand out for dinner…..
Oh man, I’ve got a solo parenting gig at the end of this week too… sandwiches all round, I’m guessing!
Oh i will definitely be trying this recipe. I too have a little girl who on some days lives on cereal, yoghurt, bananas and that is it. Have limited success with anything else but these looks delicious so i will give it a go. Will let you know how it goes. Thanks
oh yep, bananas are king here! Please do let me know, I’d love to hear if someone else’s tinies are interested 🙂
What is it about a ball that makes kids want to eat them? Toddler C loves a ball.
He doesn’t do sandwiches though…weird kid.
haha it’s the first savoury ball I’ve had success with! the date and coconut ones were a hit.
I want these for me! Promise I’ll eat my broccoli too.
I had half the batch for lunch… so good!
No wonder she did, they sound awesome. Thank you! Recipe printed. Anticipating awesomeness.
haha if they’re for adults, then make sure you add a bit more salt or flavour – or serve them with an amazing sauce!
Whenever I can get my kids to eat something other than a sandwich I almost backflip with excitement. Spaghetti bolognaise is a huge winner here and at last I have cottoned on to the reason why we ate so much of it as kids!
oh yes, my mom made that so much that I can’t stomach it now! I’m going to try spaghetti and “meatballs” next.
She didn’t eat the broccoli? Get out! (Ha!) Nice invention Mama 🙂
tonight she had a spoonful of pureed pumpkin and broccoli that pepper was having… win.
They sound delicious – even for adults… Congratulations on getting your little one to eat them.
Thank you, I still can’t quite believe it!
Sounds yum!
Kids and foods can be discouraging. My kids are tweens and still go through weird periods with foods they like and don’t like. I just keep making one meal for the family sometimes they eat it; sometimes they don’t. I try to remember my pediatricans advice: a kid may need to be exposed to a food 10 times before he will be open to it. When you think about it, that’s a lot. Good luck, the quinoa bites are a big success, such a nutritious food.
Brilliant, am so making these for Wilf. He is bonkers, he wont eat cheese sandwiches but will gobble down quinoa like its nobody’s business. It’s embarrassing, SO middle class 😉 once he ate quinoa for dinner then blueberries for dessert, I found myself taking a photo of it then laughed at the thought of frozen potato waffles he had had for lunch. Anyway I digress, good ideas again lady! xx
Yummy I am going to make these as a recent convert to Quinoa I have made one thing with it and it was not a total success but these will be,If Abby will eat them maybe my husband will ,though i know he won’t eat the broccoli either,Thankyou for sharing your recipes,and Abby will get better at eating some day,my daughter lived on a diet of breast milk and toast for quite some time and then one day she started to eat and i didn’t say much cause you have to pretend you don’t care,just keep on leaving food around and she may well eat it x
As a parent of a fussy eater (one who has grown out of it and another in the thick of it), I feel your pain. Perhaps you could blend in some mushrooms (yes I know that generally young ones don’t like mushrooms) to give it some more meat-like texture and mouth feel. Who knows what will prove a winner. Well done on winning this skirmish with a great little recipe.
If you soak the quinoa overnight and then cook it with a very small amount of water for about 30 mins it will stodge up nicely and stick together to make balls. I’ve just made some indian spiced ones for dinner tonight, mmmmmmmm.