Our food journey has been really challenging with the nugget. He's struggled with prolonged vomiting and now has some trauma around eating. Except carbs. He loves his carbs.This summer he was pounding yogurt and milk and eating his weight in puffs, crackers, and all manner of bread products. He was refusing anything else I offered him in the fruit and veg families, with the notable exception of bananas... the great binder of the fruit family.I think you know where this is going... We had so many mornings of horrible crying and so much pain and pushing because now... we were constipated. That poor guy! 
He just can't get it together. Everyone had suggestions but with a toddler attitude and the traumatic memory around eating (three weeks of vomiting when you eat will do that to you... anyone remember tequila and college? Or Captain Morgan's... omg just thinking of that makes me a little queasy...) we were getting nowhere. He was open to prune pouches but they weren't totally doing the job. A friend and I were talking about sneaking veg into meatballs so I decided... it was time.I looked up a number of recipes and decided on this one as our base recipe with some modifications from other recipes I saw online. Honestly, you can use any summer squash you are growing or find at the grocery store. Pattypan, calabacita, zucchini, yellow squash. You will find zucchini and yellow squash nearly year round at your grocery store... I recommend buying it frozen if it is not in season (aka not in the summer). Frozen veggies are amazing in that they are picked at the peak of freshness and flash frozen. I prefer buying them if something is out of season. Plus they are SO cheap!Nugs Homemade Turkey and Secret Veggie Meatballs -
- 16oz of lean ground turkey
- 1 carrot (peeled and grated... or just washed and grated...)
- 1 small zucchini (peeled and grated)
- 1 small yellow squash (peeled and grated)
- 1/2 cup Wheat Germ
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons garlic salt (or split it up, garlic and salt)
- 1 teaspoon of onion powder (if you want)
- 1/2 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper (if you want)
Heat the oven to 350 degrees (F, of course). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper... if you don't have parchment paper (which I didn't), you can use foil but for the love of all that is holy OIL THE FOIL! (haha... oil the foil...) These guys stick to the pan.
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together with your hands. The recipe I linked to had a really good instruction for this part... don't over mix it, it will make the meatballs tough).Form your meatball and place on the tray. If you are a 'rule follower' you can use a tablespoon scoop or you can make them your own size. I did a bunch of small ones for nugs and some bigger ones for our dinner. The original recipe says you will get 48 but I got less.Put them on the baking sheet (NOT TOUCHING) and bake for 20 minutes.---These were delicious and even my husband enjoyed eating them. It's a great way to sneak in veggies and they freeze/defrost really well.Share your comments, pictures, and variations below!
My little guy is about as brand loyal as one year olds get! When it comes to food, he's pretty much obsessed with the 
The liquid is where I went wrong on the first attempt. I didn't add enough and it was still a bit too thick for nugs. The other recommendation I have is TASTE IT! Try it and see what it needs. Maybe more or less lime, cilantro... maybe toss some salt in. With nugget, he has reflux and so he actually need salt and seasoning to make food taste good to him. Between the burning acid and the medicine that dulls the tastebuds, he prefers seasoned foods but more on that another time!Post below with pics and stories after you try the recipe! I would love to hear it! Does your nugget love a particular brand of food?