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Category: Kid-friendly Recipes

It is so important to cook homemade, healthy food. But it’s not always easy to find kid-friendly recipes.

That’s where I come in. I’ve got hundreds of kid-tested and approved recipes that won’t keep you in the kitchen for hours or stretch your budget too thin.

I focus on allergy-friendly, whole foods. But I always cook with kids in mind. I take all sorts of feeding challenges into account too.

We’ve dealt with every allergy possible, so I’ve created recipes that are gluten free, nut free, dairy free, egg free, soy free, corn free, coconut free and more!

Kid-friendly recipes don’t have to be boring. And they are certainly not limited to chicken nuggets and pizza every night.

A nourished child will enjoy a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Get your kids in the kitchen with you and start cooking! Have fun with food and your kids will learn to love eating.

Grain Free Strawberry Muffins (gluten free, dairy free, GAPS-legal)

I continue to experiment with grain free baking. This morning I tried a new muffin recipe from Organic and Thrifty. The original recipe is for blueberry muffins. I made strawberry since Rebecca has been requesting some. I also made a few other modifications to the recipe. I used mostly my home-ground crispy almond/pecan flour. It’s much coarser than the almond flour I buy in the store since I use a food processor to grind it (don’t have a coffee grinder). And I omitted the baking powder to make it GAPS legal. To do so I separated the egg yolks and whilte. I beat the whites until stiff and folded them into the batter. Seemed to work quite well. I also didn’t make a full recipe, so I scaled things down a bit. Overall these were really good! They didn’t hold together as well as some muffins, but I think that’s because of the strawberries. They made them very  moist. A different fruit or maybe even just baking them a few more minutes would change that. The last few muffins hardly had any berries in them, and they held together nicely. The coarse nut flour worked fine. There were just a few nut chunks in the batter. Yum! I will for sure make these again and experiment with different flavors. And of course they are better with lots of butter on top 🙂  I’ll post the recipe as I made it.

Grain Free Strawberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups of almond meal, almond flour, or hazelnut flour (can be made by grinding crispy nuts in a coffee grinder or food processor. I used almond pecan flour.)
2 large eggs, separated
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 tsp. of sea salt
1 Tbsp. of vanilla extract
1 cup strawberries (or any other berry/fruit/dried fruit)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Prepare muffin tins with liners or grease with oil or butter.

In a small bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside. In separate bowl mix all other ingredients (except berries/fruit) until smooth. Fold in egg whites. Fold in berries/fruit. Fill muffin cups.
Bake for 35-45 minutes. Makes 9 muffins.

Coconut Blueberry Muffins

I have a couple grain free muffin recipes I want to try. I debated about what to make for breakfast today. I’ve been using a lot of almond flour lately, so I decided to do something different and try a coconut flour recipe. I got the recipe from Simply Coconut. The base recipe is for honey muffins. Then you can vary it. I made it into blueberry muffins. I’ll have to try other versions for sure. These turned out really well. Justin and I both really like them (especially warm with lots of butter :). Coconut flour is quite sweet, so you don’t have to add much sweetener. I may even cut back next time. This is a small recipe (made 6 muffins)…good for experimenting 🙂  I greased my muffin pan today…I’ll be using muffin cups in the future. Even with a good greasing they stuck quite a bit. The recipe doesn’t specify how long to bake them very well. Mine took almost 25 minutes. The one down side…I can’t technically call them GAPS legal because they use baking powder (which contains cornstarch). But it’s only 1/4 tsp. So I figured the amount of cornstarch in each muffin was so minute that I don’t think it will matter.  If you seaparte the egg yolks and whites, beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the batter you can omit the baking powder…and make them GAPS legal. Hopefully I’ll have to time to make at least one more batch of these in the next few weeks to freeze so I have some on hand post-baby 🙂

*Edited 6/2/11 – I made a batch of these yesterday without baking soda (the egg white method). Worked great! I also used coconut oil instead of butter and kefir instead of milk. I made a cherry chocolate chip version. Wow!!! So good. I just hope my tummy handles the coconut ok this time. I even baked them in my toaster oven. So nice to be able to do that when it’s hot so I don’t heat up the house. I will update the recipe to make it GAPS legal/without baking soda.

chocolate cherry version
blueberry version

Coconut Flour Honey Muffins (Blueberry Variation)

3 eggs, separated
2 Tbsp. butter or coconut oil, melted
2 Tbsp. coconut milk, whole milk or kefir
3 Tbsp. honey (or less)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup sifted coconut flour
——————–
1/2 – 3/4 cups blueberries, cherries or strawberries (fresh or frozen, thawed) (optional)
1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside. Blend together egg yolks, butter, milk, honey, salt, cinnamon, vanilla and flour. Mix well. Fold in egg whites. Fold in fruit. Pour batter into well greased or paper lined muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees F (205C) for 20 – 25 minutes. Makes 6 muffins.

Honey Coated Nuts

I have a recipe for sugar coated pecans that I’ve made many times. They are soooo good. Yesterday I wanted to make some…but in a GAPS-legal way. So I used honey instead of sugar. I also used cripsy pecans, almonds and walnuts. These turned out quite well. They don’t have quite the same texture, and they are definitely a bit stickier. But still good. Any nut will work. I think the almonds turned out the best.

Honey Coated Nuts

2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla + enough water to make 1 Tbsp.
1 pound crispy nuts
1/2 – 1 cup raw honey
3/4 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, whip together the egg white and water/vanilla until frothy. In a separate bowl, mix together honey, salt, and cinnamon.

Add nuts to egg whites, stir to coat the nuts evenly. Remove the nuts, and toss them in the honey mixture until coated. Spread the nuts out on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake at 250 degrees F (120 degrees C) for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.

Butterscotch Pudding

Justin’s birthday was this week. We are finally able to celebrate today since he’s back home. I wanted to make him a birthday dessert that was fairly simple, something we don’t get often, NOT cake 😛 and that didn’t make a huge amount. So I decided to do trifles…with homemade pudding. I’ve made chocolate pudding before. And that was awesome! I figured I’d try Laura’s butterscotch pudding this time. Another great recipe. So simple. It didn’t get quite as thick as my previous batches of pudding. But I probably just didn’t let it cook long enough. It still tastes great. Not GAPS-friendly since it has arrowroot and sucanat. But I still had to sneak a taste 🙂  I used some homemade chocolate cupcakes that I had in the freezer to make the trifles. And per Rebecca’s request I topped them with sprinkles 🙂

Butterscotch Pudding

2 1/2 cups milk
3 egg yolks
2/3 cup rapadura (dehydrated cane sugar juice…has a wonderful “molassasy” taste!)
4 Tbsp. arrowroot powder
1/4 tsp. sea salt
3 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla

In a medium saucepan, whisk together milk, egg yolks, rapadura, arrowroot powder and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring CONSTANTLY until pudding begins to thicken. Remove immediately from the heat, and continue to stir until pudding is creamy. Add butter and vanilla and continue to stir until mixed. Pour into serving dishes and serve warm, or chill for two hours and serve cold.

Grain Free Apple Raisin Bars (dairy free, egg free, GAPS-legal)

I tried another new grain free snack yesterday – apple raisin bars. I got the recipe from Nourished and Nurtured (a great blog with lots of yummy-looking recipes!). These are so easy to make. I made them while I was making dinner 🙂  It is noisy to do all of the processing, but doesn’t take long at all. I used my crispy pecans instead of just soaked pecans. Still worked well. We haven’t actually eaten any bars yet, but I did taste a few chunks…very good!! They are a bit messy/soft even after a while in the fridge. So I stuck them in the freezer. We’ll have them for breakfast tomorrow and I’ll give a better verdict then. So far they seem like a very healthy, easy snack/breakfast. I patted the “dough” into a rectangle and cut it into 8 pieces (kind of like when I make scones).

The verdict…we all LOVE them! Rebecca has scarfed one down two days in a row for breakfast now. She’s requesting them. I guess I’ll have to make more dried apples so I can make more of these to have on hand. I love how healthy and easy they are. There isn’t even any added sugar. Awesome! We eat them straight out of the freezer (give them 1-2 minutes to soften).

Apple Raisin Bars

1 cup pecans (I used crispy pecans and skipped the soaking step below)
1 cup dried apples
1 cup raisins
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon, optional
unrefined coconut oil, for greasing your hands

Soak pecans in water with a pinch of sea salt for 12-24 hours. Rinse and drain well. Pulse nuts in a food processor until ground pretty well (but not too long or they’ll start turning into nut butter). Dump nuts into a bowl. Then place apples, raisins, salt, and optional spices in food processor and let it whir until well-combined and chopped. This will take longer than you think, but just let it keep going around and around. Then add back ground nuts and whir until well-combined. Dump it all onto a piece of wax paper. Then rub a bit of oil onto your hands to keep them from sticking to the mixture. Use your hands to do any last mixing necessary to get a consistent mixture, then form the mixture into a mound. Refrigerate for a couple hours, and then cut into pieces.

You can also vary the nuts and fruit to make other types. Lemon blueberry is delicious (made using almonds, dates, and dried blueberries with a little lemon zest).

Peanut Butter Fudge (grain free, dairy free, egg free, GAPS-legal)

I also made a batch of grain free fudge yesterday. I saw the recipe on Grain Free Foodies and knew I had to try it! It is so simple to make. And it is AWESOME!! Only a few minutes to prep. Then put it in the freezer for a bit. Then enjoy 🙂  A great treat, and a great way to get more coconut oil into my diet. I only made a half batch to try it since 1 cup of coconut oil is pretty expensive (don’t want to waste that if it didn’t turn out). I will for sure be making this again when I need to have a safe treat on hand. Rebecca and I both love it!

This is linked to the Gluten Free Recipe Parade at Heavenly Homemakers.

Peanut Butter Fudge

1 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup peanut butter
honey to taste (I used about 3 Tbsp. for a half batch)
dash of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Melt the oil in a saucepan on very low heat. Pour the oil and remaining ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Pour this mixture into an 8 x 8 pyrex dish (or similar glass dish) (I greased mine), and place in the freezer.

This fudge is best stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

Nut Butter Bread (grain free, dairy free, GAPS-legal)

I’m trying to do more grain free baking to have easy stuff on hand for myself. Yesterday I tried a new bread recipe from Grain Free Foodies. It sounded odd…making bread without any flour…just use nut butter. Would that work? But I gave it a shot…and it worked!!

This is really good (especially with lots of butter or homemade almond butter on it). And it’s a good base. I went for the sweeter version, although it didn’t turn out very sweet. I’ll have to add more honey next time. And maybe some cinnamon and raisins. Mmmm. I’d like to try a savory variety too. Either way this is very good and so simple to make.

I just mixed it by hand in one bowl. It only took a few minutes to throw together. I used natural peanut butter. Worked very well. I’m glad to have an easy, grain free snack for myself…and a way to get more butter in my diet 🙂

*Edited 4/20/11 – I made a cinnamon raisin version today. YUM!!! I’m sure this loaf won’t last long 🙂

*Edited 5/30/11 – I made a chocolate chip version last week (had to keep myself from eating it all in one sitting!). And I made a garlic version today. First savory version. Turned out well. I just cut out the honey and added extra salt and some garlic powder. I have also updated the recipe to be baking soda free so that it really is GAPS legal.

You can turn this into grain free pumpkin bread by replacing half of the nut butter with pureed pumpkin.

Nut Butter Bread

1 cup nut butter (or seed butter)
1/4 cup honey
3 eggs, separated
Pinch of salt
1 T vinegar or lemon juice

Beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside. Combine nut butter, honey, egg yolks and salt. Fold in egg whites. Add the vinegar or lemon juice (and any other add-ins) and mix well, then pour into a greased loaf pan.

Bake about 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven. It is done when a knife or toothpick comes out clean.

For a sweet bread, increase the honey to 1/2 cup and add cinnamon and whatever other spices you like, such as nutmeg or ground cloves. Adding more honey will extend the baking time so keep an eye on this. Cinnamon and raisins are great in this!

*To make it savory, reduce or omit the honey, and add a little more salt as well as crushed garlic, onion powder (if it is SCD-legal), and other savory spices such as thyme.

*To make pumpkin bread replace half of the nut butter with pureed pumpkin.

Navy Bean Hummus – Another Way to Sneak in Eggs (grain free, dairy free, GAPS-legal)

I’m just starting on my GAPS journey. And trying to figure out what I can/can’t eat. I LOVE beans…all kinds. And eat them all the time. I think I ate them every single day during my last 2 years of college 😛  I’ve always figured they were good for me…tons of fiber, right? Well, turns out that in reality most beans are very starchy…which is why they are so hard to digest…and so hard on my tummy. Most beans are not GAPS-legal. I was very disappointed to read that. Thankfully there is one kind of bean that is allowed – navy beans. It’s not a bean I’m used to eating. No particular reason why, just never really have. But over the past couple weeks I’ve been using them more. A couple weeks ago I tried making hummus with navy beans and chickpeas…a transition. It was very good. Justin didn’t even know I had used different beans. So this week I tried making hummus from just navy beans. The verdict…excellent!! I use my usual, basic recipe…even more scaled down/simple now. So easy to make. And so good. Just beans, EVOO and salt.

So, I have a safe, tasty hummus. But then I wondered if I could use my hummus as another place to sneak egg yolks into my diet. I tried it today. Tastes great! I couldn’t even tell it was there…aside from the color of course. Actually adding the egg yolk makes it look more like regular hummus 🙂  I only took a picture of it with the egg yolk added. So glad I tried this. It makes a very healthy and easy snack or lunch for me. Just pair it with some veggies and I’m all set. I think I’ll be making hummus quite often now. Protein, safe fiber and now eggs too. I just did one egg yolk in a samll dish of hummus this time. Maybe next time I’ll try 2 yolks. See how it goes.

I make a big batch without the egg. Then just add an egg yolk into the portion I’m eating at the time. I never actually measure anything. Just keep adding oil until it’s smooth. Then season to taste. I served it today with raw peppers and avocado. Sometimes I use slices/chunks of cheese for dipping. I also eat it plain.

This is linked to the Gluten Free Recipe Parade at Heavenly Homemakers, Grain Free Tuesday at Hella Delicious and Fat Tuesday.

Navy Bean (and egg) Hummus

2 cups cooked navy beans (soaked in water w/ whey overnight, then rinsed and cooked)
1/4 – 1/3 cup cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
unrefined sea salt to taste
(garlic or organic garlic powder to taste – optional)
raw egg yolk (optional)

In a food processor combine beans, salt and part of the oil. Blend, adding more oil until desired consistency. Check seasoning and adjust to taste.

Stir in raw egg yolk when serving for added nutrition.

Cinnamon Bun Muffins (grain free, dairy free)

I tried another recipe from Elana’s Pantry last night – Cinnamon Bun Muffins. Another hit! Who knew grain free baked goods could taste so good? 🙂  These were very easy to make. And all 3 of use loved them. Elana has a cream cheese frosting recipe to go with it. I didn’t add any frosting. They are great without. I just piled on lots of butter 🙂  As usual, I substituted some ingredients (I’ll post the way I made them). I used coconut oil for all of the oil, which makes these dairy free. But you could use butter instead. Her recipes says it makes 9 muffins. I made them a bit bigger and got 6. They took quite a bit longer to bake that way. They are fairly dense/filling with all of the almond and coconut flour. Definitely a nice treat. And they were a great complement to our omelet and roasted veggies. Next time I make them I might add some cinnamon to the muffin mixture to make them have even more cinnamon flavor.

Cinnamon Bun Muffins

Topping:
2 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. melted coconut oil or butter

Muffins:
1 cup blanced almond flour
2 Tbsp. coconut flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 cup melted coconut oil or butter
1/4 cup honey
3 eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Mix topping. Set aside.

Combine almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl blend together oil, honey, eggs and vanilla. Blend dry ingredients into wet and scoop a scant ¼ cup* at a time into lined muffin cups. Spoon topping onto muffins. Bake muffins for 8-12 minutes at 350.

*I filled the muffin cups at least 3/4 full and made 6 muffins. I baked them at 350 for 20-23 min.

Grain Free Muesli Scones

I tried another grain free breakfast recipe from Elana’s Pantry this morning (she has lots of great looking recipes!). Muesli scones. Yum!!! I LOVE anything like museli/granola. And I love scones too. Put them together…and make them grain free…awesome! These are super easy to make. And they taste great. Justin and I both really like them. They are even better when you pile butter on top 🙂  I served them with blueberry, cherry, strawberry kefir smoothies. A wonderful, nutritious combo to start the day. Again, I substituted ingredients a little (I personally don’t think agave is healthy at all, so I use honey). And I used what nuts/seeds/fruit I had on hand. I ended up with a combo of raisins, cranberries, crispy sunflower seeds, crispy pistachios, crispy peacans and crispy haszelnuts. Also, the recipe says it makes 16 scones…those would be pretty tiny scones. I made 9…and they still weren’t that big. I baked 5 this morning and froze 4 to have on hand for an easy breakfast some other time. You can prep the dough ahead and stick it in the fridge to bake later too (I prepped it early and then baked them just before breakfast so they were fresh out of hte oven). LOVE this recipe. I will for sure make these again.

Grain Free Muesli Scones

2 cups blanched almond flour
½ tsp. celtic sea salt
½ tsp. baking soda
——————————————-
¼ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup dried apricots, cut into ¼-inch pieces
¼ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup sesame seeds
¼ cup pistachios, coarsely chopped
——————————————–
**whatever combo you like, preferably with crispy nuts/seeds – I used raisins, cranberries, crispy sunflower seeds, crispy pistachios, crispy peacans and crispy haszelnuts.**
———————————————
1 large egg (size does matter as dough will not hold together with a small or medium egg)
2 Tbsp. raw honey (I used a bit more than this.)

1.In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt and soda.
2.Stir in dried fruit, seeds and nuts.
3.In a small bowl combine egg and honey.
4.Stir wet ingredients into dry.
5.Use your hands to form dough.
6.Shape dough into a 6 ½ x 6 ½ square that is about ¾” thick.
7.Cut dough into 9 squares.
8.Bake at 350° on a parchment paper lined baking sheet for 12 minutes.