Whole30 With Kids Made Simple

I think one of the most intimidating things about tackling a Whole30 is the idea of potentially having to cook different things for the rest of the family.

I remember a magical time when I was young and childless and didn’t have to worry about anyone else’s food but my own. I didn’t have to cut grapes in half and I didn’t have to hide veggies in things…it was a far simpler time. If I wanted to eat a bowl of cereal for every meal of the day (and I totally did on the regular), I had no one to answer to but myself. It was glorious!

BUT…as you know, I have three kids now and maybe yours are much more agreeable when it comes to mealtime than mine, but getting them to just go along with a Whole30 type of diet wouldn’t fly. I mean, it’s not like I’m letting them eat french fries and hot dogs for every meal of the day, but they are a little selective about the meats they’ll eat and getting them to eat a vegetable requires professional hostage negotiator type skills. Because of this, I was highly skeptical that a Whole30 would be a sustainable thing for me to tackle during this busy season of life, filled with picky eaters. The idea of cooking Whole30 felt daunting on its own, but then just imagining having to cook separate meals for my kids in addition to that?! Ummm. NO.

The good news is, that Whole30 with kids doesn’t have to be a ton of extra work. In fact, I think the fact that I’m not making completely separate things for my kids really helps me to stick with it…no PB&J sandwiches to tempt me and derail my progress.

If you’ve read my Lazy Girl’s Guide to the Whole30, then you know that there are plenty of shortcuts to help you reach your Whole30 goal, one of these being to KEEP IT SIMPLE. When I’m doing a Whole30 challenge, I stick to eating the same handful of meals for the most part and that means eating a meat (or fish or eggs) and veggies in a very simple format. To make this work for the rest of my family, I simply add in starches and/or dairy to whatever I’m already making when I think it could add to the meal or make it more appealing for them.

Here are a few examples of meals I make that are easily tweaked with kids:

*Shepherd’s Pie

Shepherd’s pie is a super easy meal to make! You can Google recipes, but basically, I just brown a pound of hamburger, heat up a bag of frozen mixed veggies, throw them in a casserole dish and cover them with a layer of “mashed potatoes” (I don’t add butter or milk to these, though I’ve used ghee before). I add a bunch of spices, and then sprinkle cheese on the top of the portion that the rest of my family is eating. Cheese can pretty much sell anything, so it’s an easy tweak that keeps everyone happy.

*Spaghetti with meat sauce

This is another super easy meal. I just make a meat sauce that is Whole30 compliant and then serve is over pasta noodles for them and zucchini noodles (spaghetti squash is another good option). Easy peasy.

*Chicken curry

There are a ton of Whole30/Paleo chicken curry recipes out there, so find your fave and then serve your family’s curry over rice while you enjoy it over riced cauliflower.

Our absolute favorite family meal though is the one I’m about to share with you. My kids and husband actually request this. Yes. You read that correctly…not just tolerate, but REQUEST. It’s practically a Christmas miracle!

PASTA SALAD BAR

This is seriously the best and easiest meal in my repertoire and it’s made even easier by the fact that the steak in it is always a leftover from the previous night’s dinner. When I’m planning my meals for the week, I’ll plan to BBQ steaks (usually just alongside veggies – maybe with some bread or brown rice or quinoa for the rest of my family) for the meal prior to pasta salad bar night. I buy extra steak and cook it all together so it’s ready to go for the next day’s meal.

I will tell you now that the true star of pasta salad night is the Tessemae’s dressings. I’m not sure they would be nearly the hit they are without the dressings. Part of the appeal is probably the fact that we just set them all out and let the kids choose what they want, so I think it feels fun and different, but also because they are ridiculously delicious. Fern and I favor the Caesar dressing (Fern’s choice may be based off of the purple label, because it’s her favorite color, but who cares if she eats it!) and Craig and Clive’s favorite is the Southwest Ranch (AKA “the blue one” as Clive says). We literally CANNOT keep the Southwest Ranch around for more than a week, because Craig is so obsessed with it. He is totally not a salad guy, but the other day he made himself a kale salad out of the blue because he was “craving the dressing”. That is seriously saying something. Also worth noting is the fact that I never liked kale until I ate it with this salad dressing, so there’s that.

Basically, this meal is comprised of leftover steak (or whatever meat you prefer…we’re partial to steak though), pasta (and kale or spinach or whatever greens for me) and whatever veggies I have on hand to sautee. I’ll give you a list of some of our favorite ingredients below to get you started:

INGREDIENTS:

-lacinato kale                   -pasta of your choice (we usually do whole wheat spiral)

–Tessemae’s dressing     -spinach

-red bell pepper              -plantain chips for added crunch (my family doesn’t dig them, but I do!)

-carrots                             -corn (for them – it’s not Whole30 compliant)

-celery                               -broccoli

INSTRUCTIONS:

I almost feel guilty posting this like it’s a recipe, because it’s so SO simple, but here goes anyway…

1. Slice up steak (or whatever your chosen protein happens to be) and chop up veggies.

2. Sautee veggies (except for the kale or spinach you’ll be using for your own non-pasta salad. You could sautee it if you’d like, but I prefer mine as a regular salad. I do add the sauteed veggies on top though, because I like the juxtaposition, but you could opt for raw veggies if that’s your jam.) Then place all your sauteed veggies in a bowl and throw them in the fridge for 15 minutes or so. You don’t have to do this, but I like my pasta salad with chilled veggies.

3. Cook pasta noodles while veggies are cooling. Drain and run cold water over them.

4. Dish pasta noodles up in bowls. Fill your bowl with your leafy green of choice.

5. Dump sauteed veggies and sliced steak into each bowl.

6. Set out your favorite dressings and let everyone choose their favorite!

ENJOY!

 

P.S. Tessemae’s is teaming up with Whole30 for their #SeptemberWhole30 challenge and I’ll be doing it along with them, so if you’ve been thinking about tackling a Whole30, now is the perfect time! They’re also offering a promo code for my readers that is good through September 30th. Get 10% off any order using the code: “lHARTTESSE”

xo

Lauren

 

*Note: This post was created in partnership with Tessemae’s. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the companies and products that we love.