Dinner ideas that work for both healthy moms and picky kids

"I want to eat more less processed foods but all my kids want is mac and cheese or pizza!"

"I wish our whole family could eat together, but I'm limiting gluten and dairy and that doesn't work for the rest of the family."

I hear these comments often from women I coach. It's hard! We want our kids to eat well, but their growing bodies need a higher balance of carbohydrates than ours do and they may not be interested in massaged kale salads and cauliflower crust pizza.

Yet there are many ways to cook once and still eat together as a family- we do this often in my house with deconstructed meals. For example, instead of a one-pot dish that my kids will reject, I separate out the chicken for them, roast the potatoes and add veggies on the side.

Some other deconstructed meal combos that you may want to try:

Eggs for dinner

(mom) Veggie omelet + avocado or sprouted grain toast

(kids) Scrambled eggs or cheese omelet with sourdough toast

Seasoned ground turkey tacos

(mom) Turkey taco in corn tortillas or over salad greens

(kids) Turkey tacos in wheat or white flour tortillas

Rotisserie Chicken or Roast chicken + roast potatoes + green salad

(mom) Chicken with veggies over salad greens

(kids) Chicken leg or favorite part of the chicken + side veggie

Pasta + Meatballs (turkey or grass fed beef)

(mom) Meatballs over spaghetti squash or carrot spirals

(kids) Meatballs over pasta

Chicken noodle soup with Brown Rice/Quinoa noodles

(mom) gf chicken noodle soup + side salad

(kids) chicken noodle soup + toast or grilled cheese

Baked potato bar

(mom) top with shredded rotisserie chicken and broccoli or other veggies

(kids) top with chicken, cheese and butter

There are endless ways to break down meals into parts that appeal to everyone. Any kind of sandwich can be turned into a salad. I often put my dinner over salad greens, which is likely why my kids are convinced that salad is my favorite food! But it's a great way to join in with the family and eat together, while still maintaining a lower gluten/dairy diet or higher veggie/greens diet or whatever your specific dietary guidelines may be.

Does your family eat meals together? Are there varying dietary preferences, or can you easily eat the same foods?