Finger Foods

My girls attend a daycare that doesn’t supply meals and no snacks until January for Essie (approx 18 mo).  I have been mentally stretched to come up with foods my sweet ones can eat with their fingers.  At this age (13 mo) they don’t have the capability to feed each child jar food and by no means do they want it (typically).  I still use most of these for Adeline, she just eats hers with a utensil – I hope.  So… here are some of my ideas and I would LOVE to hear some of yours:

• Chicken patties (soy product)
• Peas (both girls love to eat these frozen at home, esp when teething)
• Carrot squares (from the frozen food section)
• Cottage cheese (one of the first successful spoon foods)
• Sweet Potato cubed  (my girls don’t seem to eat Idaho, yet love fries – go figure)
• Quesadilla (chicken or cheese)
• Olives sliced (they both love putting them on their fingers to eat them – toy and a food)
• Yogurt (need some help here from the teachers, but typically not for long)
• Veggies can be cut up: Green beans, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots,
• Avocado cubed (though this is rejected by my girls at this stage, I keep trying though)
• Fruits cut up (peaches, banana – I feel like I slow the browning down by leaving as much as possible in the peel with a slice down the center and then peak inside with the crosswise cuts into half coins, grapes – cut to avoid choking, watermelon, strawberries sliced, honeydew, cantaloupe, kiwi, mandarin oranges – not many due to the acidity and the ease of diaper rash for my girls, pears)
• Raisins – though not too many for the baby until her system can handle them a bit better
• Cheese cubes or shredded early on
• Both my girls like to eat apples whole, though I don’t send it in to school b/c I like to know I am watching them closely.  Both started early.  They just seem drawn to eat that stem.  Once you get them away from that you are all good.  For a little bit anyway.
• Eggs scrambled seem to do well too. 
• Egg whites boiled – though this food too is currently snubbed
• Canned beans: Bakes, Northern, Lima, any I bet
• Soy Crisps
• Rice Cakes
• Gold Fish and any other crackers (cheese filled kind too)
• Granola bars
• Fruit filled cereal bars
• Pasta tubes or corkscrew work best for my two (so yes that includes mac n cheese)
• Rice
• Tofu – plain and cubed.  (I need more creativity here)
• Hot dogs (For Essie I cut them lengthwise twice then crosswise into bitty pieces)
• Shredded Chicken
• Shredded or ground Beef  (though not tolerated too well with the little ones)
• Oatmeal  (when it is cooled it clumps a little and works all the better for a finger food)
• Dry cereal  (Essie even eats flakes – with only front teeth.  She is dedicated to eating.)
• Pizza usually goes over well too
• Mommy wraps:  Tortilla spread with cream cheese to moisten and help keep it closed, sandwich meat and cheese; rolled up then cut into slices and even further into pieces for the bitty one)
• I have a few of those tubs of food for Esther if I ever run out of ideas and another few of those boxed TV dinner type meals with a veggie and main dish.  Both get eaten without being warmed.  Their favorites are the Gerber Ravioli. 

Maybe I should have done my I prefer to feed them list and then a last resort gotta get something in their box to feed them list.  After looking over that list I wonder why do I seem to act like this is difficult.  Just so you know we are going on day 7 of turkey and cheese.  Not really, but poor Adeline has had her strings of what we call “mommy wraps”.

Does anyone feed their little ones soy beans.  Do you cut them in half?  They seem to me to be the choking hazard size.  I really would love more ideas :)