Extra Calories Part I

A friend of a cousin was looking for ideas to increase their "petite" child's calories. I was going to write and e-mail with everything I could think of then I remembered I have an awesome blog I can put the information on :) For this post I'm sticking mostly to high calorie foods. There is a little too much information for my brain to write in one post.

Of course a good place to start by getting extra calories is buying high calorie snacks. I'm listing name brands so everyone knows what I'm talking about. Most store brands tend to be very close in calorie count. 
Here are some decently healthy options. Most of calories come from carbs or protein not all fat.
Cheez-It Crackers- 27 Crackers (~1/2 cup) 150 calories
Keebler Club Crackers- 4 Crackers (~1/3 cup) 70 calories
Triscuit Crackers- 13 Crackers (~1/2 cup) 120 calories
Wheat Thins- 15 Crackers (~1/4 cup) 140 calories
Cheddar Cheese- 2 Tbsp (1/4 cup) 80 calories
Plain Hummus- 2 Tbsp (1/4 cup) 80 calories
         -Homemade hummus is about the same calories 

This make some great snacks and the crackers of course toss into a bag for outings. I prefer to put out snacks in container instead of a bag. That way the crackers don't get smashed or I end up with crumbs everywhere.

You can also take several of the these items and make a mini meal. Ya know a little bigger than a snack but not quite a meal. And you can make a couple of slightly different mini meals so with the same items. Based on what your child likes, or simply to use the same items but not the same meal.


Triscuts Crackers
Option One

Triscuit Nachos
6 Triscuit Crackers
2 Tablespoons Hummus
4 Tablespoons Cheddar Cheese

Place the Triscuits on a cookie sheet put the cheese on top of the crackers. Heat in oven (or toaster oven) at 400F (204C), just long enough to melt the cheese. Use the Hummus instead of sour cream as a dip.
Eat it all and you have a 300 calorie mini meal. 50 Calories per cracker with a little hummus.

Option Two
Triscuit Pizza
6 Truicuit Crackers (Plain works but Tomoato or Garlic ones are best)
4 Tablespoons Mozzerella Cheese
6 Slices of Pepperoni

Place the Triscuits on a cookie sheet put the cheese on top of the crackers. Place pepperoni on top of each cracker. Heat in oven (or toaster oven) at 400F (204C), just long enough to melt the cheese.

Eat it all and you have a 280 calorie mini meal. 47 Calories per cracker.

Club Crackers
Option One
Club Sandwich
8 Club Crackers
1/4 Cup Ham
4 Tablespoons Cheese
1 Tablespoon Hummus

Take a Club Cracker spread a little hummus on it then place cheese and ham. Top with another cracker. Makes 4 Sandwiches.

Eat it all and you have a 385 calorie mini meal. 96 Calories per sandwich.

Option Two
Club Straight Up
4 Club Crackers
2 Tablespoon Hummus

Dip Crackers in Hummus. This is a great time to try new flavor of hummus.

Eat it all and you have a 150 calorie mini meal. 38 Calories per cracker.




All of the books and people of the world will tell you that you have to push fruits, veggies, and a balanced diet on your children from very young. When you have a "low calorie" child like Squeaker you have to think about three things calories, variety, nutrition. And yes in that order.

Calories are the most important thing, if there aren't enough calories going into your child they can't grow, or fight off illness. Variety is the spice of life. Sure it maybe burgers, hotdogs, enchiladas, ice cream, mac and cheese, chili, eggs, plain pasta most of the time that is still a pretty good range. Keep trying new foods so that as calories become less important you won't have a child that is extremely fussy about what they eat. Lastly nutrition. You do have to make sure your child is getting enough electrolytes, fat, protein, and iron but you don't need to be forcing your child to eat fruits and veggies everyday. If they enjoy them great use them, just pair them with another high calorie food. Squeaker used to love strawberries and chicken nuggets together. As for iron and other vitamins we use juice, I know it can be filled with sugar and hard on the teeth but I'd rather risk some tooth decay than have a vitamin deficiency. Squeaker drinks diluted cranberry cocktail juice (half water half juice) almost exclusively. Mostly it's Cran-Raspeberry, but she will do Cran-Apple, Cran-Grape, and Cran-Pomagranate. She will take some milk and occasionally water but mostly it's juice. It's more calories than water and great for iron and vitamins.

Well if I don't get to bed I'm going to have a very hard time driving to Birmingham and back tomorrow. It's the big appointment that lets us know what the long term immunology plan is.