As promised, we’re back with more on healthy ways to feed the seedlings. Depending on where you are on the desperation scale with your kids, some items will be options for tonight’s dinner and some may offer targets for future progress. In any case, here are few ideas for real life meals your kids will at least try.

We don’t sell this as the perfect MDA meal plan, hence the faint of heart warning in last week’s post ^[3]. If your kids eat what Mark eats, more power to you! For the rest of us, here are some decent compromises that can keep the peace. They might just inspire the parental units of the house as well!

And we can’t help but add our bit of commentary to the veggie controversy floating around out there. We’re all for using familiar foods to get kids on the right track, but as for the latest surreptitious “trend” of hiding veggies in kid’s food? We have this to say about vegetables: love them, applaud them, and shamelessly flaunt them to your kids and rest of the world while you’re at it. It’s a much more sustainable approach, and (let’s face it) it’s also less work.

Don’t forget to check out our past MDA recipes ^[4] for options that might pique your children’s interest! “Hey, Mikey, he likes it!”

Breakfast:

• Fruit and Cheese Plate (Good for light eaters)

• Omelet (Add nitrate/nitrite free ham or bacon, cheese and veggies of choice)

• Breadless Egg Benedict ^[5]

• Huevos Rancheros ^[6] (Cut out the tortillas altogether if you can manage it. But, especially for those trying to wean kids off of toast or oatmeal, you can reduce the tortillas to one, and exchange the beans for more avocado and veggies.)

Lunch:

• Chicken Tortilla Soup ^[7] (Cut out the chips.)

• Cobb Salad (Bacon will get most kids to eat a lot of things. As always, make it nitrate/nitrite free.)

• Fresh Spinach Salad (Add hardboiled egg, crumbled cauliflower, diced tomato, peas, bacon, pine nuts, parmesan, and basil pesto.)

• Thai Beef Salad ^[8]

Side Dishes/Snacks:

• Deviled Eggs

• Waldorf Salad (Great as a side dish or as meal with a little turkey or chicken.)

• Apples with Almond Butter (Add a dash of honey for the truly tough customers.)

• Cottage Cheese with Berries

• Cut Veggies with Veggie-Loaded Cream Cheese Whip (Send a few select veggies like carrots and peppers as well as herbs like chive or parsley through the food processor until they’re a chunky “near-puree,” and add to whipped brick of cream cheese.)

Dinner:

• Meatloaf (Skip the breadcrumbs and add some pureed veggies instead. Serve with veggie sides of choice including glazed carrots made with butter and ginger instead of brown sugar.)

• Veggie-loaded Chili (You can increase the veggies over time.)

• Gluten-Free Caribbean Pork Roast with Cinnamon Apples ^[9]

• Chicken Stew or Coq Au Vin ^[10]

• Roasted Root Vegetable Salad ^[11] (Substitute parsnips for white potatoes.)

• Baked Salmon with Coconut Crust ^[12]

• Salad Adventure (See our previous Choose Your Own Salad Adventure post for ideas on setting up your own salad mini-bar.)

This is, thankfully, just the tip of the iceberg. We’d love to hear from you and learn what healthy foods (both familiar and unusual fare) you serve the seedlings in your life.

tico brassie ^[13], In Praise of Sardines ^[14], rodeomilano ^[15], talkoftomatoes ^[16], *tk ^[17], rachel is coconut&lime ^[18], jasmined ^[19], Elaine Vigneault ^[20], dawnnakaya ^[21], essjay in NZ ^[22], ninjapoodles ^[23], Sachmanns.dk ^[24], SarahR89 ^[25], bunchofpants ^[26], joshbousel ^[27], Mrs. Maze ^[28], kendiala ^[29], talkoftomatoes ^[30], wEnDaLicious ^[31], VeganWarrior ^[32], ninjapoodles ^[33] Flickr Photos (CC)

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