Nutrition for Littles

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What if fun brunch food didn’t have to be full of chemicals or refined sugar? As a mom of 2 and a self-confessed mega food enthusiast, I hope this blog post can help you rediscover some healthy, classic breakfast foods with your kids this Mother’s Day.

From prepare-ahead oatmeal cookies to rainbow yogurt bowls and talking teddy bear toast, there should be a couple of options suitable for any household with kids aged 2+!

Fun, Kid-Friendly Mother’s Day Brunch Suggestions

1. Fruit and Friends Fiesta

I hope you slept well because you’re invited to a fiesta!

Simply fill bowls with slices of your favorite fruits, cheeses, lean lunch meats, boiled eggs, crackers, nut kinds of butter and more. Then in the morning, pop the food onto the table and Voila! You have a picky bits Mother’s Day brunch fit for a queen.

You can also prepare this set up the night before Mother’s Day, so you can your family can connect over the food on your day of celebrating parenthood.

Bonus: This idea may also help you work on food chaining from breakfast foods your kids already enjoy and encourage them to try similar foods.

2. Yogurt Bowl Buffet

This next idea is similar to the first. However, it focuses on starting with a bowl of Greek yogurt (swap to a soy-based yogurt for a dairy-free and vegan alternative!). Then set up bowls with topping options to allow for full customization, including hemp seeds, chia seeds, sliced strawberries, a drizzle of runny almond butter (or a creamy, chocolatey homemade nutella!) and granola.

Pro tip: Add some natural coloring to your yogurt to create fun rainbow colors! Use fresh fruit (dragon fruit, blueberries, acai berries), superfood powder (spirulina or beetroot), or even a tiny amount of turmeric powder to add some unicorn magic to your brunch.

3. Pancakes / Waffles

Pancakes and waffles are a great option for parents of kids aged 2 or even 6+. And there is no need to head to the Waffle House when you have waffles at the house!

Depending on your Mother’s Day schedule or kid’s cooking abilities, you could opt for a totally homemade batter recipe (such as these healthy banana oatmeal pancakes) or use a protein pancake mix that you can mix with milk to create your batter on a sleepy morning.

Similarly to the yogurt bowl idea above, the beauty of this meal is that is also highly customisable and involves fun food play for picky eaters to get your little ones excited about their food. You can also add a dash of cinnamon or blueberries into the pancake mix to, well, mix up your flavours!

Try new shapes: My son loves the idea of adding pointy or sharp things to his foods so cutting his strawberries into stars or making the banana chunks into triangles is something I love to do to keep him curious about the fruit topping options!

4. Breakfast Banana Cookies

The cookies contain oats for long-lasting energy, healthy fats including almond butter and seeds and no refined sugar, they should keep you and your littles full of energy all morning.

Breakfast banana cookies are a great grab-and-go option if you and your household are heading out to visit other family members or have a jam-packed day of activities as you can make them ahead of time! And speaking of Jam (aka British Jelly!), you can even top the cookies with some strawberry jelly to get your little ones accustomed to the idea of a refined breakfast.

To go: Pack as an emergency snack to satisfy hungry toddlers during the day!

5. Talking Teddy Bear Toast

If you follow my Instagram, you’ll know I am a huge advocate for making food enjoyable for children. So why not spend the extra 5 minutes transforming a ‘boring’ meal, such as peanut butter on toast, into a teddy bear to ignite your kid’s interest in what goes in their mouth?

Simply take your wholegrain toast and help your kids spread over their favourite nut butter. Then help them arrange banana slices, berries or seeds into the toast teddy’s ears, eyes and mouth.

Bonus: encourage your kids to get creative and prompt them to come up with a name and story for each toast teddy.

6. Allergen-Friendly Banana Bread

Of course, I can forget that some parents or kids have dietary restrictions. So this delectable allergy-friendly banana bread recipe will suit most household requirements!

It’s a goddess when it comes to being free from dairy, eggs, gluten, nuts and refined sugar while delivering all the whole food goodness you and your family deserve. And like most of these ideas in this blog post, your kids can get involved, as all stages until the baking part are heat-free.

7. Simply Boost Your Regular Breakfast

Follow the PFCF rule (if you are new to this concept this Instagram slideshow from my page Nutrition for Littles can help) to add some additional ingredients to transform your regular breakfast into one that is dynamic, rich in micro and macronutrients and even more tasty!

For example, add some crushed nuts to your cereals, add creamy nut butter to your waffles, pair your eggs with a slice of wholegrain toast and a side of sliced apples.

Get your creative juices flowing: You can also make this DIY vanilla coffee syrup with your kids to use in your morning brew to go alongside your Mother’s Day breakfast.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Hopefully, these simple and delightful brunch ideas for kids of all ages, including those as little as 2 years old, can inspire you to get creative in the kitchen with your family this Mother’s Day.

These recipe recommendations are just a starting point to help you involve your littlies in the kitchen and foster their love for healthy eating so feel free to send me a message on social media with your ideas for what you are making for your Mother’s Day breakfast this year.

You may also like this previous blog post from my website on easy ways to boost breakfast. And don’t forget to hop over to my Nutrition for Littles Instagram for more content on how to raise confident eaters who love the food that fuels them. See you there!

Grass patch guacamole with carrot crackers is an easy Easter appetizer that doubles as an interactive activity for kids. Amid menu planning for this year’s family Easter meal, I wanted to come up with something delicious, relatively light, with lots of fresh ingredients and several tactile steps. Furthermore, I wanted it hearty enough to fuel the little ones for a pre-dinner Easter egg hunt, and this hit all the marks! The guacamole is nice and creamy with a bright tartness, while the crackers are crispy, buttery, and infused with the subtle sweetness of carrot.

Why You’ll Love This Easy Easter Appetizer

Customizable: Developed with picky eaters in mind, this easy Easter appetizer recipe can be changed to suit the preferences of any palate. 

Palate cleansing: This is primarily due to the citrus juice in the guacamole.

Interactive: From preparing the carrot cracker dough to rolling it out, cutting cracker shapes, and mashing the avocado, kids can be involved in pretty much every step of the process. 

Nutritious: This appetizer is packed with healthy fats from the avocados, has fiber from the carrots, and an array of vitamins and minerals from the other fresh ingredients.

Great make ahead: The cracker dough (or crackers themselves) and guacamole can be made 1-2 days in advance. 

Ingredients Notes

• Flour: All-purpose is the way to go here. 
• Butter: I use unsalted butter to control sodium. The fat helps achieve light, crispy crackers.
• Carrots: Although carrots with the green tops attached are the freshest and offer the fresher, richer, more true carrot flavor, the bagged ones are sweeter, making them more appealing to younger palates. 
• Avocado: I always look to the stem end to determine ripeness. If it comes off easily and I can see green underneath, the avocado is ready to go!
• Citrus: I add a little lemon juice to the cracker dough to tenderize it and make the dough easier to work with. Fresh lemon or lime juice also goes into the guacamole for acidity. 
• Tomato: Roma tomatoes are best for this recipe because of their tangy-sweet taste and low water content.
• Extras: Have extra vegetables, fruits, and herbs on hand, including shredded lettuce, julienned cucumber, cilantro, cherry tomatoes, sliced radish, etc. Since I serve grass patch guacamole and carrot crackers in individual bowls, I like offering ways to customize each serving. 

Find the complete list of ingredients with precise measurements in the recipe below!

How to Make Grass Patch Guacamole and Carrot Crackers

• Prepare the dough: Call your little ones into the kitchen because this is their moment to shine! Teach them how to measure ingredients, have them squeeze the juice from the carrots, cut the butter into the flour, and knead once the dough is hydrated enough to gather into a ball. Dough prep is primarily what makes this a tactile recipe.
• Roll and cut: Chilling the dough before rolling it out isn’t required. Roll the dough out on a clean, floured work surface and have carrot-shaped and other Easter-themed cookie cutters on hand. Size does not matter. The only exceptions where chilling is suggested are hot days when the butter is likely to melt. 
• Bake: First, I bake the carrot crackers at a lower temperature to cook them through and dry them out. Then, I increase the oven temperature so they get nice and brown.
• Make the guacamole: Mash the avocado, add the citrus juice of choice, and season, then fold in the onion and tomato until everything is well combined.
• Assemble and decorate: You can do as much or as little as you want. I set up a small activity station for this easy Easter appetizer. I divide the guacamole into 3-ounce portions and place those in small bowls or cups, then arrange the crackers along with the extra produce on the side. This gives everyone a chance to customize their appetizer while possibly encouraging picky eaters to try new foods.

Variations, Substitutions, and Tips

Make it vegan – Replace the butter with a vegan alternative like Earth Balance or use refined coconut oil that has been chilled. Refined is important. Otherwise, the crackers will have an apparent coconut flavor.

Go gluten-free – Gluten-free all-purpose flour can replace all-purpose flour 1:1; however, unless you use gluten-free flour with xanthan gum, you will need to add some.

Use a light baking sheet – Light-colored baking sheets reflect heat, while dark ones absorb it. Stick to a light one to reduce the chance of burning the crackers. 

Grass Patch Guacamole with Carrot Crackers

Preparation Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Ingredients

Serves 4

Crackers

• ¼ cup (30g) finely grated carrot 
• 2/3 cup (100g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting  
• ¾ teaspoon (4g) granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt 
• ¼ cup (60g) cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 ½ tablespoons (21mL) cold water
• ¼ teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Guacamole 

• 2 medium avocados, ripe
• 2-3 tablespoons (30-40mL) fresh lime or lemon juice
• ¼-½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¼-½ teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons (20g) chopped onion
• 1 Roma tomato, seeds removed and diced

Optional Extras

• Shredded lettuce
• Cherry tomatoes, halved
• Chopped fresh cilantro
• Julienned cucumber
• Sliced radish
• Chopped green onion

Instructions

Crackers

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
• Place the grated carrot in a paper towel or piece of cheesecloth and squeeze the liquid into a cup. Reserve the juice. This will yield about ½ tablespoon (7mL) of carrot juice. Follow this with enough water to make 2 tablespoons (28mL) of liquid. 
• Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. 
• Add the butter and grated carrot. 
• Cut the butter into the flour by hand using a quick pinching motion until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. This is a great time to get kids involved as the process is a fun tactile activity that also benefits the texture of the crackers. 
• Add the lemon juice and half of the liquid. Mix by hand, then add the remaining liquid if needed. The dough will be scraggly and moist enough to stick together when pressed.
• Knead the dough a few times to form it into a relatively smooth ball, then shape it into a flattened disk.
• Lightly flour a work surface and roll the dough out until it is 1/8 inch (3mm) thick. 
• Cut into crackers using cute carrot or bunny-shaped cookie cutters, or cut into squares with a knife. Gather scraps into a ball and roll them out again to reduce waste if you use cookie cutters. 
• Arrange the crackers on the baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes or until set and cooked through but not browned. 
• Remove from the oven and increase the temperature to 400°F (200°C).
• Once the oven comes to temperature, return the crackers to the oven for 3-4 minutes or until brown. 
• Set the carrot crackers aside to cool on the baking sheet.

Guacamole

• As the crackers cool, mash the avocado in a bowl using a fork or potato masher. 
• Add the lemon/lime juice, salt, and pepper. Mix until well combined. 
• Fold in the onion and tomato.

Assembly 

• Divide the guacamole into bowls.  
• Arrange the crackers in each bowl along with any desired extras. 
• Enjoy.