Our daughter is a picky eater too. We have found that giving her options and letting her choose seems to work fairly well. Our pediatrician basically said that at this age (2.5) this is normal and that really, a lot if kids will only eat a handful of things and that this is okay. Just make sure she's eating, even if that means she's only eating grapes and cheese, it's better than nothing. So, there's been a lot of grapes, cheese and oddly enough hummus of late. We have a routine each night that includes me reading a book to her prior to her going to bed. I know that you have a different schedule so maybe you could introduce reading time after breakfast or prior to her nap? Every kid and circumstance is different and each comes with their own challenges, this much I've learned. Our latest challenge are "tantrums". They come when she's overly tired or outbid her normal routine, but man... They're ugly. Good luck with her eating. In an ideal world all us Hubski parents could get our kids together to play.
I've tried everything to get this kid to eat more. The one thing that seems to really get her appetite up is going out and exercising, thus the one hour of outside time a day (and outside is a stimulating environment). She is off the charts for weight, but developmentally excellent in every other way. Read to her every day is more a factor of burn out, making myself be willing to read to her after reading 3-20 books everyday. I just get sick of reading lots of kid books, but I know it will pay off big down the line.
How old is she again? If I remember correctly our daughters are about the same age. I get really bored with the kids books too, which is why I embellish, come up with crazy voices for the characters and ad lib almost all of the narrative, using the illustrations as guides. She prefers my version of the stories anyways... at least for now. You live in more of a "city" than I do so being outside might be more difficult for you but we make a point to spend as much waking time outside as we can. Let's face it, it's more fun for us too, not just the kids. It's hard though because inevitably you are trying to work, study etc while trying to raise a child and time isn't always available for going to the park, museum, picnic etc. Have you tried foods that most kids will eat no matter what, like yogurt or even pudding or ice-cream? I know it's not ideal, but it will definitely give her calories and once you are through this rough patch you can phase them out. Good luck cgod. They don't come with manuals do they? :-)
She is going on two and a half. Portland is a fantastic city for little kids, lots of parks. Just fifteen minutes walk from my house is a park with a pool, a gym, two big playground installations, a water playground, ball fields, a massive fountain and rose garden and wifi. It's a great place to take kids. About a block from my house is a little one lot park, not fantastic, but fun hills a few sitting logs and a small vegetable garden. There is another park about ten minutes walk with some playground equipment, a big hill, and ball fields that overlooks the river. Rain is the biggest impediment to spending an hour outside for a good part of the year. My kid is under the first percentile in weight, probably around the half a percentile. So lighter than every few hundred babies her doctor see for her age. Most babies in this category have a serious health problems. We have had to do blood work and go through a failure to thrive question session. She is fine, probably in the 90% for developmental skills in her age range, but the doctors have to be concerned. It just stresses a person out to hear someone say "I'm concerned that she may be experience a failure to thrive." Like I said we have tried everything food wise. She likes to eat different foods (brussel sprouts, ginger, broccoli) but also like the kid foods you are talking about, but not much of any of them. I supplement many of her foods with high fat additions. Yesterday after eating a small bowl of heavily buttered vegetables she said "I drink sauce." She then tipped up the bowl and slurped down about an ounce of melted butter, hell yea!
Hang in there man, it sounds like you're doing all the right things. Can you imagine how much more difficult it would be to hear that your child is not mentally fit? -It sounds like she's well ahead in that department and in the long run, that is the most important department. Hopefully the "I drink sauce," is a sign of things to come. Good luck pal. By the way, my daughter is also two and a half. Having conversations with your child, is there anything better? Great age, but then they've all been pretty great for different reasons.