Oh my goodness, I'm sorry I didn't see this thread the first time- I consider myself an expert at grinding food for kids! I have taught for 6 years in a class for students with severe disabilities and I grind all their breakfast and lunches for them. First, get a GOOD food processor. I do school lunches so "table food" for the kids but the important thing is that you don't want to dump everything together. At least, this is assuming that you are hoping your daughter can eat regular food some day? If so, then you want to preserve the different tastes for her so she can get used to them. And I spice the food like I would for any kid. Actually, some of the kids love spicy or tangy food because they are hyposensitive to taste. Bread type products don't grind up well. Can she eat rice? Some of the kids can eat rice cause it is small so I make the cheesy rice that you can buy in a box and make it extra soupy for them. Pizza does not grind up well at all! Mac and cheese and pasta does well but you usually have to add extra liquid. Are you working with a nutritionist at all? Because I do different things for different kids depending on their medical needs. Like one kiddo needs tons of calories so I will melt butter and mix it with milk to add as a liquid. Otherwise, water works for most things. For hamburger, I usually grind it with a can of tomato sauce and several cans of water- that way it is like ketchup! Chicken grinds well but it is easier if it is plain chicken breast, not the breaded type like chiken nuggets- though you can do those. A lot of times I think BBQ sauce with water to add to chicken. A lot of times I will do canned veggies for the kids and I keep the "juice" from the cans and will toss that in with the meat. Frozen broccoli works well- cook it up and whirl it- I might add a little dressing or mayo to make it smoother if you need to. I have a whole routine on Fridays when I do all the food- I'm prepping two meals a day for 6 kids and it usually takes about 3 hours. There are some quick and easy stand-by's I use too if I am in a hurry. Refried beans (canned) are easy- I thin with a little liquid. If you are trying textures, you can fork mash beans too- my kids love garbanzo beans for some reason. You can use white beans in a can and make it like you are makeing tuna- I actually eat that as a sandwich sometimes. I make tuna for the kids sometimes but it can get pricey. I usually blend it for just a few seconds. Any of the Chef Boy Ardee pasta that you get in a can grinds easily and you can often get them at the dollar store. There is always applesauce for fruit in a pinch or I mash bananas with a fork. When we go out in the community, we take applesauce and pudding and we try to eat somewhere where they have refried beans (taco bell) mashed potatoes (KFC) or rice (chinese food). If we are trying to build texture in for a kid I will grind a blender full nice and smooth and then do one for less amount of time and mix them together. Oatmeal is easy for the morning or I do eggs a lot- just scrambled eggs and then spin them a bit with the food processor to get them smaller then add a little milk or sourcream or whatever to make them easier to eat. Instant mashed potatoes are quick and easy to provide the starch part of a meal. Frenchfries do not grind well. Any veggie is pretty easy- you might have to add a little of the water you cooked it in to make it a little smoother. Oh, Mcdonald's mcflurries are great for kids that are ready for a little more texture- we literally taught one boy to eat using Oreo McFlurry's!
That's all I can think of for now. Just make sure you keep food seperate- think of how you would want to eat it! When I first started teaching in this class, they would literally dump the lunch food tray in the blender and add the carton of milk and serve it to the kid- gross!
And we make a big deal with my kids of letting them know what they are eating and talking about it ("Oh, yummy mashed potatoes aren't those good. Do you want some of these peas? They have lemon pepper today, do you like that?" etc) In part because it is respectful to the kids and also to try to build that sense of enjoyment of food for them. Think about what a huge part of your life food is and how much it makes you happy and a lot of these kids are not used to having positive interactions with food because of their feeding difficulties so I think it is important to give them that.
