These recipes aren’t just quick, easy, and totally toddler-friendly. They’re also filled with nutritious ingredients that’ll help boost your child’s brain development.
Mindful meals, who’s hungry?
Green Monster Tuna Salad Roll-Ups
These fun, easy-to-make roll-ups come together in five minutes flat—and are loaded with brain-building ingredients like tuna, avocado, whole grains, and veggies.
- ½ cup frozen baby peas, rinsed under hot water for 30 seconds
- 1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
- 1 8-ounce can water-packed tuna fish*, drained
- 3 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 whole-wheat lavash rectangles (9½x12 inches), cut in half crosswise (or other similar flatbread)
- 8 thin slices ripe tomato
- 1 cup shredded carrot
- Place peas in a medium bowl. Using a potato masher, crush peas until mushy. Add avocado and crush until chunky-smooth. Add tuna and mash until well flaked. Stir in mayonnaise and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper.
- For each roll-up, place 1 portion of lavash on a clean work surface.
- Spread a quarter of tuna mixture over surface.
- Arrange 2 tomato slices along bottom portion and top with ¼ cup shredded carrot.
- Roll up the lavash, cut into 4 pieces and serve. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
- Serves 4
- * Young children should eat low-mercury fish such as shrimp, salmon, canned light tuna, pollock and catfish. Albacore, or “white,” tuna has a higher mercury content than canned light tuna.
Chicken Star Sliders with Roasted Kale Chips
What do you get when you put chicken, kale, vegetables, eggs, oatmeal, and sesame oil in one recipe? A brain-building dinner that’s perfect for toddlers, that’s what!
- 8 cups lightly packed bite-size pieces of kale leaves
- 3 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, divided
- 6 basil leaves
- 4 button mushrooms, stems trimmed
- ¼ cup shredded carrot
- ½ pound lean ground chicken
- 1 small egg
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 8 slices oatmeal sandwich bread
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Remove tough stems from kale leaves, tear leaves into bite-size pieces, rinse them and pat them dry. In a large bowl, add 2 teaspoons sesame oil to kale and sprinkle with salt. Toss well to coat leaves with oil. Scatter leaves evenly over surface of a baking sheet, making sure they do not overlap. Roast on middle rack of oven for 12 minutes, or until kale leaves are crisp.
- Meanwhile, process basil and mushrooms in a food processor until minced, about 10 seconds. Add shredded carrot; process until minced, about 10 seconds. Add ground chicken, egg, and a pinch of salt and some pepper. Pulse machine until ingredients are just incorporated. Form slider mixture into 8 small patties. Mixture will be somewhat loose, but don’t worry—sliders will cook to be tender and juicy.
- Heat remaining 1 teaspoon sesame oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.
- When oil is hot, add sliders.
- Cook 3 minutes on each side.
- Using a 2½-inch-wide star cookie cutter (or other shape), stamp out 2 stars from each slice of bread (save bread trimmings to make breadcrumbs for another dish).
- Place each slider on a star and top with another star. Serve star sliders with kale chips and favorite burger condiments.
- Serves 4
Quick, easy, toddler-friendly recipes that’ll boost your child’s brain development. Who’s hungry?
