Hi friends! I’m excited for today’s post because it is highly requested. A look at what Willow eats from sun up to sun down. It may not be perfect for everyone, but this is what works for us. It’s a realistic look! I do my best to provide balanced meals. Some days she eats more and some days she eats less. She’s a toddler, so you can imagine.
For some background, Willow is 2.5 years old and eats a plant-based diet. We are currently working on eating more vegetables. Some days she is all about them and other days, not so much. I talked about some of my tricks to get your kids to eat more vegetables here, if you are interested. Anyways, let’s dive in.
Wake-Up (6:30 AM)
Right when she gets up, she will ask for milk. Today she had 4 oz of milk and a banana to hold her over until breakfast. I didn’t grab a photo, but you get the gist.
Breakfast (8:15 AM)
Whole wheat toast with mashed avocado (I mash it with a little olive oil, lemon juice, and salt) with a side of peaches and some homemade granola I made. She ate all of her toast, some of the granola, and nearly all of her peaches.
Mid-Morning Snack (10 AM)
Nothing today, to be honest. I was serving her an earlier lunch and I didn’t want to fill her up so we skipped this. But usually she has some fruit or some toast or something light to hold her over until lunch.
Lunch (11 AM)
Elbow pasta with a lentil sauce. I actually had no sauce in the house ready to roll so I just blended lentil soup leftovers because it had a tomato base and also celery, carrots, and onion (recipe here). I like doing this a lot because it gives her a boost of iron and protein. Plus veggies. HOWEVER, I still served some carrots on the side because we are always encouraging vegetables in their whole form, even if I know she won’t eat much.
There is also apple slices with melted peanut butter & vegan choc chips (just a few) for a healthy fat source. I like to serve her something sweet along with her meal so she doesn’t just think dessert is a treat if she eats well. She seems to do better and make good choices when she has everything available to her!
She ate all her pasta with lentil sauce and then asked for and ate seconds (yay), all of her apples, and two bites of carrots. Two bites of carrots is a win. And at least the lentil sauce had veggies in it!
After Lunch Snack
This doesn’t happen often but 10 min or so after lunch she asked if she could have some fruit snacks.
Afternoon Snack (2:30 PM)
Another cup of milk (about 4-5 oz) and some Annie’s Bunnies. Sometimes I make better snacks than this, but today was a day and this had to suffice. ;)
Dinner (5:30 PM)
Dinner is a TVP taco with vegan sour cream and salsa. Side of rice with corn & olives. She ate the whole taco (she looooves them), a bite or two of rice and left 2 olives.
