Toddler food deception – sneaking in veggies!

I’m having a hard time feeding him right now.  He is in such an in between stage where he is still wanting his bottle and baby food purees but I’m trying to get him to eat more solids.

He has no problem eating cheerios, bread, crackers and other things that are dry.  He is refusing anything that has any wetness or mush to it; ie: pasta, vegetables, fruit, cheese, etc.  Now, if I smush those things up and feed him with a spoon?  They’re ok.  Like the other day I tried to give him corn and he refused to even pick it up once he touched it, but then I threw it in the puree machine, dumped it in a bowl, and he ate some.

Needless to say I am trying desperately to find different things for him to eat.  So I dug into my new cookbook from Christmas and found something I thought he might like.  I got two copies of Deceptively Delicious* (I guess everyone knew how much I wanted it) and I love it.

I made Brady the Peanut-Butter Banana Muffins that sneakily hides carrots and bananas (and whole-wheat flour).  They are healthy in all aspects except for the brown sugar.

These muffins are SO good.  Brady has devoured them, Guy and I both like them, and the real kicker is that our nephew Matthew (5 yrs) was in town and ate one.  This is the kid that eats nothing but chicken nuggets, seriously, and they have to be the right kind of chicken nuggets or he boycotts.  He is definitely the pickiest eater I’ve ever laid eyes on and I tricked him into eating carrots!  Ha!

I don’t feel like I need to be “tricking” Brady into anything yet because he is too young to understand, but, if I’m going to feed him a muffin, I would much prefer it be a whole-wheat muffin with carrots and bananas rather than something from a box.

Does anyone have suggestions for getting their kids to start eating things with a texture they don’t like?  Is it something he will just outgrow in time?