You do not need to be a chef to put healthy, whole-food meals in front of your kids. These five favorites are simple, quick, and flexible enough for everyday breakfasts, snacks, and lunch add-ons.

Before you start: use ripe fruit, especially spotty bananas. To make oat flour or ground flax, blend rolled oats or golden flax seeds in a dry high-speed blender.

Green Monster Smoothie

A sweet, creamy way to make greens feel easy.

Smoothie Greens 5 minutes

Banana Nice Cream

Fruit-based soft serve that works for breakfast or dessert.

Frozen fruit No dairy Sweet

Banana Boats

A two-minute snack kids can top themselves.

Snack Kid-built Fast

Big Kid Salad

Greens coated in avocado so they are softer and easier to chew.

Greens Avocado Lunch

Nourishing Oats

Warm, filling, and easy to customize with fruit and nuts.

Breakfast Warm Serves 2

Green Monster Smoothie

This is the everyday go-to. Blend until smooth:

  • 3 bananas
  • 1 cup frozen mango
  • 2 stalks kale
  • 2 Tbsp hemp seeds
  • 1 Tbsp ground flax seeds
  • 1.5 cups water

Swap the mango for berries, or trade the kale for chard, a collard leaf, or spinach. Keep it playful and adjust the greens as your child's taste grows.

Banana Nice Cream

This is ice cream for breakfast, made from fruit. Blend 3-4 chopped frozen ripe bananas with 1 tsp vanilla on low, using the tamper to push the fruit into the blade. Stop as soon as it is smooth and swirling; over-blending will melt it.

Scoop into bowls and top with coconut flakes, cacao nibs, berries, granola, peanut butter, or a small drizzle of maple syrup.

Smothered Banana Boats

Slice 2-3 ripe bananas in half lengthwise. Spread with about 2 Tbsp nut butter, drizzle with a little maple syrup, and sprinkle with hemp seeds and raisins. Let kids choose their own toppings so the snack feels like theirs.

Big Kid Salad

The trick to helping kids enjoy greens is coating them well in healthy fat so they are easier to chew. Mix together:

  • 1 small avocado, mashed
  • 3-5 tender lettuce leaves, finely diced
  • 1/4 cup cucumber, diced
  • 1 small tomato, diced
  • 1-2 Tbsp lime juice, or a spoonful of sauerkraut
  • 2 Tbsp hemp seeds

Just starting out? Use a single lettuce leaf so the bowl is mostly guacamole, then add more greens over time as their taste grows.

Nourishing Oats

Boil 1 cup rolled oats in 2 cups water, stirring occasionally. Reduce to low and keep stirring for 5-8 minutes, until creamy. Pour into bowls and top with chopped walnuts, sliced banana, frozen raspberries, a little maple syrup, and a pinch of cinnamon. This serves 2 kids.

Kids who help make food usually eat it with more enthusiasm. Hand them the toppings, let them pick the fruit, and let the fun do some of the work.

Put kid-friendly meals on the plan

Use AIM to add quick plant-based breakfasts, snacks, and lunches your kids can help prepare.

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