Exploring recipes, local restaurants, businesses, farms and fun places in and around Atlanta, GA that promote good wholesome food AND that make a gluten intolerant / plant based eater, a meat-eater and two young girls with ever evolving taste HAPPY.

Veggie Kids


Read I post I wrote for Engine2!

Set a good EXAMPLE:
For some reason, this phrase always makes me uncomfortable, but that is probably because it is true.  We are our children’s teacher, guide and protector.  They are watching our every move.  They notice what we eat, how we eat, and our relationship with food.  It all starts with us!



INCLUDE children in the process:
They love to help and to be a part of selecting the meal and preparing it.  My girls light up when I ask them if they would like to create a dinner.  I ask them for ideas.  And if at all possible, I do try to help them make their idea. 




Si is making her own sandwich creations for lunch.  I give her an avocado and salsa, she makes her own guacamole and spreads it on bread for her sandwich.

Make it FUN:
Food is necessary, food nourishes our body, food is eaten daily, so why not make it FUN?  Again, your children are watching!  If you are stressed out about dinner, they will pick up on that.  Make it fun, make it simple.

·      Pasta Night – boil pasta and let them choose what toppings – last night Ry had green peas and “butter” (Earth’s Best) and Si wanted red sauce (I had a jar of Muir Glen Portobello Sauce ready).
·      Taco Night – put toppings in little bowls and let them make their own tacos.  I put out beans, rice, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocados and salsa
·      Pizza Night – Frozen pizza crust, and you can have them spread red sauce or beans (beans you can buy fat free vegan refried beans, or stick them in the Vitamix to create a spread) as the base, cut up veggies for them to place on top.  Ry’s new creation – Mexican pizza with crumbled fat free tortilla chips and lettuce on top of the beans (put chips and lettuce on after you cook the crust and beans)

·      Veggie Burger Night – You can pack so many healthy ingredients into veggie burgers, and you can make them different colors, green with spinach, orange with sweet potatoes, purple with purple potatoes!

·      Smoothies – Again, create your own!  I have no exact recipe for smoothies, I just throw it all into our Vitamix.  One favorite is our “Shrek” smoothie – lots of spinach, frozen mangos, frozen pineapples and half water / half pineapple juice for the liquid.
·      Make your own trail mix / granola – have them pick out the nuts and dried fruit they would like to add.  Have them mix the granola.  As a treat, after you cook the granola and it cools, add vegan chocolate chips.  Granola is easy, its about the proportions, dry vs. wet. you can substitute any nuts and dried fruit.  For the wet ingredients, you can use pumpkin puree, applesauce, or sweet potato puree. Here is one recipe,  Granola.  Trail mix you do not even have to bake, leave out the oats and let the kids create the  nut, fruit mixture.

·      Cut it up and leave it out – It is a pain to wash and prep all the fruits and veggies.  But just do it!!  It makes life easier in the long run, and your kids will eat it.  They love to serve themselves.

·      Enjoy healthy TREATS!
o   Vegan Turkey

Make It COLORFUL:
Part of setting a good example is teaching them about the food.  Eating a variety of colorful food is paramount to healthy eating. Make it a challenge to pick a meal that includes all the colors in the rainbow! 
Tell them what type of food they are eating; this is a vegetable, fruit, etc.  Sometimes we forget to teach them the easy things!  Educating your children on how to make healthy choices starts now.

·      If you have girls, and they are into the Rainbow Fairy books, create “fairy rainbow meals”.(Thank you Kirstin for this idea)
·      Serve them oatmeal with frozen berries, they can stir in their berries and create red oatmeal or purple oatmeal.
·      Make potato fries out of sweet potatoes, purple potatoes, and regular potatoes. 
·      Have you seen orange and purple cauliflower?  This was a HUGE hit at our house.  We had purple potatoes and orange cauliflower, green broccoli and red and yellow peppers!
·      Colorful smoothies


Other food the girls like:

Breakfast
·      Waffles
·      I try to always have cut up fruit accessible
·      soy yogurt with ground flax seed (They love sprinkling the flax seed and mixing it themselves)
·      frozen gluten free, vegan waffles (Vans – Wholefoods)
·      Smoothies
·      Frozen hash browns – Trader Joes (these do have a lot of oil in them)
·      Oatmeal
·      Gluten Free / Vegan cereal – Whole Foods
·      Gluten free bread with jelly or peanut butter

Lunches
·      Bean dip roll ups
·      Ry’s salad sandwich – vegan mayonnaise with spinach
·      Si’s guacamole sandwich – avocado smashed with salsa on bread
·      Soups
·      Cut up veggies, fruit
·      Ants on a log
Article on packing children's lunches

Snacks
·      Kale Chips
·      Pimento Cheese
·      Bean Dip
·      Seaweed from Trader Joes
·      Rice Cakes
    Make Your Own Trail Mix

Dinner
·      Two Easy Dinners
·      One Pot Dinner
·      Mexican Pie
·      Another Lentil Dinner