High Fiber Chocolate Smoothie Bowl
This smoothie beats the fiber cereal and it tastes like chocolate. Eat it out of a bowl, with a straw, or pack it in a thermos for a nutrition-filled snack. Bonus: tastes like dessert but a lot healthier! Grab the recipe.Nutritional goal: Extra protein and fiber.
For kids that dont like plain oatmeal, this strawberry-banana combination has everything they want and more. Grab the recipe. Nutritional goal: Fiber + protein balanced breakfast, and added fruit.
Our 20 Best Healthy Recipes
Looking for healthy dinner ideas? We combed the site for the 20 recipes that have it all — craveworthy flavor, healthy ingredients, and simple preparations. These delicious main dish recipes are loaded with healthy whole foods. They feature lots of veggies, lean proteins, and healthy fats like olive oil. Actually, the hard part was settling on just twenty. For even more ideas for healthy dinners, take a peek at our collection of Healthy Recipes.
Broccoli Pesto With Spaghetti Sauce
Broccoli pesto is a great recipe with lots of veggies, but if your kids dont touch green foods, mix it with their favorite red spaghetti sauce, and the green disappears like magic!Nutritional goal: Lots of veggies!
A delicious one-skillet meal of baked pasta, beef, seasoned tomato sauce, and melted cheese. Its one dinner kids dont have a problem scarfing down and asking for seconds. Nutritional goal: A hearty meal for less than 267 calories and 9 grams of fat per serving.
Homemade gluten-free chicken nuggets with the same texture and taste as the original Chickfila chicken nuggets. Nutritional goal: A good source of protein and made with coconut flour.
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Dinner Ideas For Kids
I have 3 kids. They are picky. And they each like different things. And ultimately, I want my kids to eat a variety of foods because I know that its the only way to add both nutrition and get them used to new things.
Ive already shared 10 dinner ideas my kids will actually eat in this post. The truth is, that you should be making one meal for the whole family so dinner ideas for kids that adults will like as well, is really what were looking for.
One thing is to eat two or three tiny pieces of mac and cheese from our kids plate on occasion, but when youre relying on that blue box a few times a week, its time to up the game -for you and the kids- with little to no additional effort. Im serious. Easy recipes exist!
Sheet Pan Veggie Fajitas
You’ll notice lots of Tex Mex and Mexican recipes in this list: because they’re always a hit with our kid! Try these Vegetarian Faijtas! These are so full flavored and satisfying, they please everyone around the table: even the meat lovers! This fajita recipe stars our favorite fajita veggies, roasted up on a sheet pan and served with refried beans and guacamole.
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Kid Friendly 20 Minute Meals
Im not gonna lie. 20 minute meals are more of a regular event at our home than not. I am a big fan of fast, delicious meals that are quick to pull together in under half an hour or less. Less is always better.
I know dinner time can be hard.
Coming back from work or after school activities often leave you with little time to prep and cook healthy dinners from scratch. Stopping at the local take out seems like the easier option. Thing is, its not good for your health, waist line or budget.
With a few easy, quick, kid friendly meal planning tips and fast meal ideas, you can get your family eating healthier and save money in less time that it would take to get through drive through. Just a give it a go for one week.
Healthy Dinner Ideas For Families
While we love our Homemade Chicken Nuggets we also want our family to enjoy easy to make meals made with fresh foods. Below are some of my, and soon to be yours, familys favorites:
Chicken Alfredo Pasta with Broccoli
Real ingredients and cooked fast are why we love this quick and easy dinner fix. Whether you add the broccoli into the pan or serve it on the side this is one cheesy meal everyone loves.
Recommended Reading: Best Low Carb Fall Recipes
The Key To Clean Eating As A Family
If you want to find clean, healthy recipes that your family will love, start by recreating your kids favorite meals. For instance, my kids adore chicken tenders and french fries ? With this info, I recreate those chicken tenders into a clean recipe, like my healthy chicken nuggets, and bake some carrot fries. Its delicious, nutritious, and everyone is happy. Kids are eating familiar foods they already love, and not even realizing theyre clean ingredients.
Do you have to do that for each meal? Of course not! Some nights a large dinner salad or pot of Paleo Chili will suffice, although the chili is always welcome in my household.
Part of eating a whole-food-based diet as a family is to reassure them that they can eat healthy and still enjoy what theyre eating.
The Best Of The Bowls
These bowls get lots of really good stuff into one compact little package, and are one of our simple weeknight dinner staples. A lot of them can be prepped ahead making for some quick dinner ideas for kids!
- Were obsessed with this Chicken Teriyaki Sushi Bowl. Shredded seaweed, thinly sliced cucumber, creamy chunks of avocado, and of course that sriracha mayo all add up to one incredibly tasty take on dinner. We serve all the deconstructed parts to our kids and they love it!
- Brown rice and black beans kick of this loaded Chicken Fajita Burrito Bowl thats topped with our Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas and alllll the toppings for a completely customizable dish even picky eaters will chow.
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Easy Meals For Picky Eaters
If you have a child that wants to eat chicken nuggets for every meal, every day, and are tired of stocking up on homemade chicken nuggets and wished your kids would eat healthier options, check out these ten ideas to help you add a little more variety and nutrition to their meals.
Before we get to these ten recipes, I wanted to share with you a bonus resource Ive created to help parents just like you.
Struggling with picky eating? Check out the FREE 6-Video Mini Course from MOMables to help improve mealtimes.
Healthy Meals Picky Eaters Will Eat
Are you having a hard time finding quality recipes your picky eater will eat?
When it comes to feeding our picky eaters, it can be tough to find recipes that provide nutrition while pleasing the pickiest of palates. For this reason, weve put together a list of 10 healthy meals picky eaters will eat and have some nutritional value in them so that we can worry a little less.
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Healthy Snacks For Picky Eaters
Below youll find superb snacks made with fruit, veggies, and chocolate. Each one also includes the nutritional goal for the snack, so you have a heads up of the nutritional benefits it has to offer come snack time.
Perfect for snack time, these add a little more nutrition in each bite. Pair them with a little yogurt for a delicious, protein-rich snack. Grab the recipe.Nutritional goal: tons of natural fiber.
Fruit roll-ups are adored by kids and this version is made with fresh berries and a tiny amount of honey for extra sweetness. You wont believe how easy they are to make at home! Grab the recipe.Nutritional Goal: Minimal added sugar and made with real berries.
Made with fresh cheese and puff pastry, homemade cheese straws are an amazing snack or appetizer recipe. Serve them in a lunchbox with marinara sauce for dipping or alongside soup and salad at dinner. Grab the recipe.Nutritional goal: Baked not fried.
These are a sweet-salty alternative to regular chips and smart way to use up those overripe bananas. Grab the Recipe.Nutritional goal: No added sugar and baked not fried.
These cheesy, savory spinach balls are the easiest way to get kids to eat spinach. These are baked to perfection and perfect for the lunchbox or a party appetizer. Grab the Recipe.Nutritional goal: Great way to pack in vitamin A and iron from the spinach.
How To Budget Family Meals
With thousands of families in the MOMables community, Ive had an opportunity to survey them on their spending habits and how to budget family meals better.
One of the main reasons families spend more at the grocery is due to lack of planning and purchasing foods my kid will eat as a plan b since Im making an adult meal and a kid meal at most meals.
Another reason is purchasing boxed, pre-packaged convenience foods that help save time -Im not talking about single bagged sliced apples and carrots here, Im referring to frozen kid sandwiches, freezer meals, snacks, frozen breakfast items and single-serving cereals, for example.
Save yourself hundreds of dollars at the store by making one meal for the whole family. With the Classic Meal Plan, you can easily budget family meals, spend less time in the kitchen cooking and cleaning, and dread mealtimes less.
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Dinner Ideas For Picky Eaters
Dinner can be the toughest meal of the day when you have picky eaters, and I know it can be easy to settle for a less nutritionally dense meal as long as it keeps the peace.
However, recreating kid-favorite meals that arent so healthy into a homemade version with fresh ingredients is a smart way to get everyone on board at dinner, and exactly what I did in the recipes below. Youll find delicious take-out inspired dishes as well as one skillet and slow cooker meals, so you spend less time in the kitchen and eat better than ever!
Family Dinner Menu Ideas
There are some simple family dinner menu ideas throughout this website in our recipe index. But before you get lost in the world of too many recipes, youll find some great recipes below that are easy to make, have simple and fresh ingredients, and family-friendly.
Youll find lots of dinner recipes to create your own family dinner menu in this video playlist:
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What Are Healthy Meals For Kids
In my mind, healthy meals for kids are meals that include a range of nutrients but that also are easy for kids to eat. I also think a healthy meal is one that is a happy one, so its only partly about the nutrition for mebecause meal times are about so much more than just the food. They help kids learn manners, new words, and allow us the much needed time to catch up with each other.
TIP: Since you never know what of the meal the kids will eat or not eat, focusing on the together time part of this part of the day is often much saner!
Spaghetti Squash With Fresh Tomatoes And Ricotta
This quick, flavorful and healthy side is done from fridge to table in under 30 minutes. We trim off the top and bottom of the squash, poke it all over and cook it in the microwave in a fraction of the time it would take to roast it. If you wanted to make this a complete meal, juicy turkey meatballs would be a delightful accompaniment to this pasta alternative.
Get the Recipe: Spaghetti Squash with Fresh Tomatoes and Ricotta
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Creamy Broccoli Potato Soup
Heres a creamy broccoli potato soup that will blow your mind. Its impossibly creamy, plant-based, and it tastes like the coziest bowl of comfort. And its 100% made of veggies! Hows that for amazing? This easy and healthy soup is vegan and gluten-free, so it works for a variety of diets. It tastes like an elevated version of broccoli cheese soup from a can, and kids love it.
A Month Of Easy Healthy Family Dinner Ideas:
So thats the list of the basic ideas. Hopefully some old favorite and hopefully some can be the new go-to dinner you need for busy nights!
Also, because I love you, and because I am type A and loved putting it together, I made you a free calendar printable with these dinner prompts spaced out perfect for planning ahead!
Ive also got a few specific recipes for you below if you want to check these out for a starting place.
Read Also: Easy Chili Recipe With Tomato Juice
Grilled Cheese In The Oven
Here’s a way to make grilled cheese seem like a fancier dinner idea…try Grilled Cheese in the Oven! Its never fun to babysit a skillet while you make grilled cheese to order. Fire up your oven! Baked grilled cheese comes out melty and golden brown. Some ideas for kids? Add some thin sliced apples inside for a fun sweet and savory spin, or add a dollop of pesto.
Kid Friendly Dinner Recipes: Updated Classics
These classic dishes may sound familiar, but weve upped their flavor, healthfulness, and kid-approvedness in a big way.
- Whats crunchy and juicy and keto all over? These Baked Pecan Chicken Tenders, thats what! Serve them with a side of homemade buttermilk ranch and your kids just might think theyve died and gone to heaven.
- This Turkey Quinoa Meatloaf is protein packed and full of lots of veggies. And the best part? Your kids will never know just how healthy it is.muhahahaha!
- These Steak Bites with Sweet Potatoes are perfectly sized for little mouths and, as an added bonus, are paleo-friendly! Healthy and delicious is something we can all get behind.
- Everyone loves a juicy cheeseburger and we think our Classic Cheeseburger with Secret Sauce is the best!
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How To Get Kids To Eat Healthier
Parents always want to know how to get kids to eat healthier. Ive already mentioned that if you want your kids to eat healthier, youll actually have to cook a variety of foods all the time -not just get kids to try something once.
Here are some helpful tips to get kids to eat healthier:
- Set and keep a mealtime schedule
While my family and I love snacks, I limit them to once a day and no less than 2 hours before a meal. Constant snacking depletes the appetite, and your child can miss out on quality nutrition in eating a well-balanced meal at dinner which usually results on battles at the table.
- Clean the pantry
Out of sight, out of mind. If you keep chips, sodas, snack bars, and candy in the house, thats exactly what theyll reach for. The best way to avoid this? Get rid of it. Stop buying it.
Many parents tell me that all their kid eats is cereal, pb& j, mac and cheese, and chicken nuggets. I always reply with what would happen if you stopped buying those things? I assure you that their world will not end.
Many of these foods have added sugars which create a craving for more sugar! If you want to kid to eat healthier, get rid of it.
- Restock your pantry and fridge with better ingredients.
Replace items like chips with whole grain crackers, banana chips, or plantain chips to serve with hummus or guacamole.
Items like sliced apples, bananas, oranges are an easy item to grab and replace the convenient processed foods.
Ham Egg & Cheese Breakfast Pizza
Pizza for breakfast, you say? The eggs make the base, just a touch of cheese, and a little bit of ham make scrambled eggs so much more fun to eat! Bonus: add chopped veggies for added nutrition and then you can say they ate veggies for breakfast. Grab the recipe. Nutritional goal: Extra protein, introduce the texture of eggs in a kid-friendly way.
Baking the oatmeal changes the overall texture and my kids say it tastes like blueberry pie. Add a splash of milk and its now a-la-mode. Grab the recipe. Nutritional goal: hearty meal, fiber + protein balanced breakfast, and added fruit.
Its not a meal, per se, but it does work as a breakfast add-on! Seriously though, how great is it to get your fruits and veggies in one delicious drink that the kids will love? Grab the recipe.Nutritional Goal: additional veggies/greens in the classic smoothie.
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Healthy Eating Habits For Kids
There are a few reasons why I always encourage parents to make one meal for the whole family the top reason is that a variety of foods establishes healthy eating habits in our kids.
Mealtimes are not about pleasing our kids, they are about helping them get the nutrition their bodies need from a variety of foods and that can only happen when they get on our adult food plan, not the ready-made freezer meal and drive-through plan.
Speaking of plans, if you just dont have it in you to think about putting together a meal plan youre also not alone. Many of the families in our community .
A weeks worth of family-friendly recipes, a completed shopping list, and a done-for-you meal prep sheet to help you make it happen! Boom! The Classic Meal Plan might be exactly what you need to establish healthy eating habits on your kids too! Its what I use.