#everything bagel hummus my beloved

[jonasmaurer]

25 kid-friendly breakfasts, lunches, and dinners

Sharing 25 meals that my kids will eat, no matter what. It’s always hard to find kid-friendly recipes and home runs, so I’m sharing the goods in this post! 

Raise your hand if you’re SO sick of cooking right now. I’ve been in a cooking funk for pretty much all of ‘Rona (and yes, I’ve complained about it here on the blog quite a bit. I’m sorry for being a big ol’ whiner.). I think with everything else on the list (distance learning, trying to keep P from injuring herself, trying to shuffle in my own work and workouts amidst the madness), cooking just doesn’t feel like this fun leisure activity I used to enjoy so much. It just feels like a means to an end, and the end consists of me cleaning everything up before starting the process all over again. Thankfully, the girls are awesome eaters and are adventurous, so even when I have one of those clean-out-the-fridge nights to see what happens, they’ll try pretty much everything.

Please keep in mind that I’m not an RD, but here are some of the tips for feeding kiddos that I’ve found helpful:

– Always serve at least one thing you know they love. This way, if they’re not a fan of the meal, there’s something else on their plate that they enjoy. I always try to serve each meal with at least one fruit and one veggie so they’re getting in enough nutrients during the day.

– Encourage a polite bite. They don’t have to eat anything they don’t want to eat or try, but we encourage them to take at least one polite bite. Sometimes that means they end up loving it and finding a new fave!

– Respect kiddos’ intuitive eating. They’re really excellent at listening to their bodies; eating when they’re hungry and stopping when they’re full. We don’t tell them they have to eat “x” amount of bites or clean their plates. If they don’t eat much and I know they’re going to be hungry later, I just pop their dinner in the fridge to heat up if they’re begging me for a bar at 9pm.

– Switch up the greens rotation. It can get so easy to fall into the broccoli, green beans, and zucchini sides for a green vegetable but the girls get sick of them. I try to switch it up by picking up different things (like artichokes, Brussels sprouts, stir fries), making chopped salads with our entree, or the Caesar salad kit from Costco. The girls go crazy for it.

For today’s post, I wanted to share some of my go-to recipes that are home runs for the whole family. I feel like these are hard to find, so when you find a good recipe your kids love, you definitely want to keep coming back to it. I’d love to hear any of your kids’ favorite meals, too, if you wouldn’t mind sharing in the comments below. We can all share some ideas and inspiration with each other during a kind of blah cooking time.

25 kid-friendly breakfasts, lunches, and dinners

Breakfast:

French toast with berries and sausage. The kids LOVE French toast. They could probably eat it for every meal and be totally happy. I crack two eggs into a bowl and add a splash of coconut milk creamer or almond milk, some vanilla, lots of cinnamon, and nutmeg. I dip each slice of Dave’s Killer Bread (or brioche if I’m feeling fancy) into the egg mixture and cook on the electric griddle. I add more cinnamon before flipping. The kids have gotten really used to having French toast or pancakes most days of the week since we’ve all been home, but for busy school mornings, I make extra servings over the weekend and freeze them to heat when we’re in a rush.

Chia pudding with banana and peanut butter. This is an awesome make-ahead breakfast. I just add a cup and a half of almond milk to a jar, along with 4 tablespoons of chia seeds, lots of cinnamon, and some maple syrup to sweeten. I stir and let it sit in the fridge overnight. In the morning, I put it into two bowls and top with sliced bananas, peanut butter, cinnamon, and honey.

Avocado toast with a scrambled egg. I make sourdough over the weekends and freeze it to enjoy during the week. In the morning, I pop the bread into the toaster and then top each slice with mashed avocado, sea salt, and lemon juice, and serve with a side of scrambled eggs.

Egg burritos. Another fave on-the-go breakfast. I just scramble 3 eggs on the stovetop and add a handful of shredded cheese to the eggs when they’re done cooking. I spread butter onto warm tortillas, top with eggs, and roll up. If we take them with us in the car, I wrap each burrito in a paper towel and then foil so it stays warm until we leave.

Pancakes (of course) with turkey bacon or scrambled eggs. This is our go-to pancake recipe! Like most things, I make a ton and freeze them.

Smoothies! The girls LOVE smoothies for a quick breakfast or afternoon snack. If I’m making them on the fly, I’ll add almond milk, frozen bananas, frozen fruit, spinach, chia, MCT oil, honey, and peanut butter. Otherwise, they really love the Daily Harvest smoothies (code FITNESSISTA gets you $25 off your first box!).

Lunch:

Bagel with cream cheese, sliced apples, and veggies with hummus.

Turkey sandwich with cheese on Dave’s Killer Bread with Primal Kitchen Ranch dressing and cheddar.

Omelette with cheddar and a side of leftover veggies from dinner the night before, and jelly toast

Pizza on an english muffin. Even better = Papa John’s pizza. Let’s be real here.

Grilled cheese with sliced apples, and veggies with ranch or hummus.

Tuna salad with Simple Mills crackers and sliced avocado. This is my go-to tuna salad recipe.

Nachos!! Chips, top with cheese, melt in the microwave. Add black beans, salsa, guacamole, and boom. Lunch is served.

Dinners:

Egg roll in a bowl

Sushi roll bowl. This is one of our family’s very favorite easy dinners! SO satisfying and quick.

Ina Garten’s lasagna. This one is a bit more labor-intensive but a huge hit. It really is the best lasagna.

Super cheesy chicken enchiladas (I serve these with beans and rice).

Chicken and broccoli casserole with a side salad. <— I mentioned above that the girls LOVE Caesar salads so I’ve been buying the salad kits at Costco. Bonus: it takes 5 minutes to put together.

Steak, roasted asparagus and baked potatoes. The Pilot makes awesome steak on the grill and we all go crazy for it. (I have red meat once every couple of months or so.)

Turkey meatloaf with sweet potato fries and a salad.

Turkey chili with cornbread. I top the chili with cheese, avocado, and lime juice.

Chicken tortilla soup with avocado, lime juice, and sour cream.

This chicken and veggie soup with a piece of sourdough.

Any type of stir fry. I recently got one from Trader Joe’s that had tons of veggies and chickpeas, and sautéed it on the stove with red onion, salt and pepper. I added shrimp to the mixture to cook, and poured some Primal Kitchen teriyaki sauce on top. Everything was served on top of rice (cooked in the Instant Pot). It was awesome!

Easy pasta dish. While Banza pasta boils, I’ll take chicken sausage and sauté it on the stove with garlic, spinach, and add sun-dried tomatoes. When it’s done, I’ll add Banza pasta, some butter, and parmesan. It’s SO easy (like 15 minutes!) and the girls go crazy for it.

Some of their favorite snacks:

Perfect Bars (or any bars really).

Jerky. They especially love these maple jerky sticks.

Any fruit. I try to switch it up each week! We always have bananas, berries, apples, and usually grapes on hand, but I try to get at least one or two different things each week, like cantaloupe, watermelon, pomegranate arils, persimmon, pears, peaches, whatever the market has that looks good.

Applesauce pouches. I get the giant box of organic pouches from Costco.

Hard-boiled eggs.

Energy balls. You can play around with flavor variations depending on what you have in the pantry.

The infamous snack plate. This is a beloved afternoon snack and is like a kids’ version of a charcuterie board. I’l just add a bunch of snacks to one large plate and they’ll share while they play outside or watch a show. It usually has chopped bars, sliced fruit, berries, cheese, jerky, pretzels, trail mix, pickles, whatever I have on hand.

So there ya go! Some of the girls’ very favorite meals. I’d love to hear your family favorites and take all the inspiration I can get! Please share your faves in the comments below.

xo

Gina

My go-to healthy breakfasts, lunches, and dinners are here.

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[noorjawda-blog]

I WENT VEGAN FOR A WEEK: WHAT IT’S REALLY LIKE

Yes, you read that title correctly. The meat and ice cream loving Noor Jawda decided to go vegan for a week. It’s a bit wild to say something like a change in diet shifted my views on many things; but it did. In this post, I will be talking to you very candidly about how it’s really like going vegan; and how it impacted my life in many more ways than one.

To begin, veganism is cutting out any and all products that come from animals. Not only meats, but milk, cheese, eggs, yogurt, and even honey. Sounds extremely daunting and difficult at first; and it is! However, like everything that takes time, it gets easier. 

I have been thinking about changing my diet for a while. I have always been somewhat content with my body, but I realized that lately I was gaining more weight than before. I have always been a “thick” person with a large rear end and slim waist. Despite that, my body wasn’t the way I liked it anymore, and I’ve been thinking about a change in lifestyle for a bit of time. I wasn't just unhappy about my body; but about my eating habits, laziness, and all around loss of interest. I was always tired. One night, a friend of mine told me about a documentary on Netflix called “What The Health?”. Bored one night, I decided to cuddle up in bed and watch it. What I saw and learned in this documentary really did change me in ways I did not expect. First of all, I love documentaries; but they often lose my interest very rapidly. This documentary did not. The seemingly short 90-minute documentary captured my attention for the entire time. We have all heard about documentaries where they try and change your mentality by brainwashing you to think certain foods and ways of life are unhealthy. However, this documentary focuses solely on certain foods and what they actually do to your body. For example: a fish fillet has as enough fattening agents as a pork chop. What?! I had no idea that foods we have been told are “healthy” are killing us slowly just the same. I was baffled and confused on how women who consume just one serving of dairy per day have a 49% higher chance of getting cancer…WHAT?! I was perplexed and downright speechless at all the facts I was learning. It was at the conclusion of this life-changing documentary, I decided I was going to try veganism for a week.

The very next day, I told my parents about my plan. My mom found it very funny, while my dad just nodded and bit back a smile. Being middle eastern, our diets are based heavily on meats and natural cheeses. I knew this was not going to be easy. Instead of slowly easing into being vegan, I quit everything cold turkey. My dad gave me a $30 budget, which I didn't realize until I got to the cashier that I actually spent $100 (sorry baba!!). With this money, though, I purchased enough food to last me the entire week, and then some!

On my first day, I made sure I wasn't going to be hungry, eating a good amount of nuts, almond butter, and grains. I made bought some whole grain bagels, and spread vanilla almond butter and an array of nuts and seeds on it. After eating just half the bagel, I was already full! This kept me until dinner, where I made myself an amazing salad filled with greens, beans, and fruits. After just a day, I knew this diet was feasible if one put their mind to it. This week was predicted to be full of starvation, headaches, and me craving and whining about wanting to eat meat; but I was soooo wrong.

This is what I ate for the rest of the week:

 Day 2-  

Breakfast: Coffee with soy milk

Lunch: Vegan Sushi (Rice, seaweed, cucumber, avocado, carrot, ginger, and mango)

Dinner: Vegan Taco Salad

 Day 3-

Breakfast: Coffee with soy milk

Lunch: Avocado Toast with crushed red pepper and olive oil

Dinner: Greek Salad (minus feta cheese)

 Day 4-

Breakfast: Coffee with soy milk

Lunch: Vegan Wrap (spinach flour wrap, grilled tofu, carrots, spinach, hummus, black beans)

Dinner: Kale Salad

 Day 5-

Breakfast: Coffee with soy milk

Lunch: Pita bread plate with hummus, carrots, and tabouli

Dinner: Roasted Chickpeas with cayenne, olive oil, sumac, and coriander

 Day 6-

Breakfast: Orange Juice and whole wheat bagel

Lunch: Greek Salad (minus feta cheese)

Dinner: Vegan Pizza

 Day 7-

Breakfast: Flax seed smoothie

Lunch: vegan taco bowl

Dinner: vegan grape leaves with a side of grilled Brussel sprouts

 As shown above, this is what I ate for the entire first week. I drank water with each meal (excluding breakfast), and would snack in between my courses with pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries. Once you get in the groove of being vegan, it really is not difficult! When I craved something sweet, I would munch on dates, figs, raisins, or some of my beloved vanilla almond butter!

Don't get the wrong impression, there is nothing I want more than to sink my teeth into a juicy burger; but I think with more time this urge will pass (at least I really freaking hope so). It’s weird to explain, but being vegan was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Every night, I cooked at home. Roasting chick peas, making awesome salads, drinking coffee and tea with soy milk, etc. The list goes on, and so does the number of options you can make. Like me, you may have the misconception that all vegans do is munch on spinach and meditate… so wrong! Just one week of this diet has made me so clear headed in a number of ways that I was not just a mere 7 days ago.

When day 4 of my diet hit, I already started to notice a healthy change in my body. My skin was clearer, my hair was glossier, my stomach a bit flatter, and my mood a lot better…could all of this really be happening just because I chose to cut out everything that came from animals? The answer is simply yes. I told myself I was not going to change anything about my workout routine, skin care usage, or anything else. The only thing I was going to change about myself was the food I was putting into my body. I was shocked. How could only 4 days of being like this already have such a visible appearance on my body? Excited about these results, I was eager to see what the rest of the week would have in store.

When day 7 came along, I couldn't already believe it had been a week. I felt so accomplished that I actually followed through with this challenging promise I had made to myself. Upon weighing myself, I lost 5lbs in 7 days! I stood there and looked at the numbers with shock. I did not expect that going on an all plant-based diet would change me so quickly. How could just 7 days of eating all plant-based foods make me feel like I was a completely new person? The answer, honestly, is really simple. I gave my body everything it was craving all along. Humans are not built to take in copious amounts of meats, cheese, grease, dairy, and many other toxins. Our diets have been compromised by cheap burgers and cheese-stuffed crust pizza. If you really take a step back, are you happy with the way you’re eating? The foods may taste good, but are they doing good? My eyes have opened to this revelation, and to be honest, I don't think I will be going back for a long time.

After a week of what seemed like the impossible, I actually came out a stronger person than I ever have been before. My mind feels clearer, my energy levels have risen, my sense of determination has spiked, and so much more.

I decided to speak on this today because yes, makeup can be fun and exciting, but none of it will look good if you don’t take care of your skin first. A body simply cannot be treated like hell and look fabulous on the outside – at least not for long. Your body is your temple, remember that!

All of this happened because I ate a plant-based diet for 7 days, what more could there be in store? I cannot wait to find out.