Veggie Loaded Breakfast Ideas for Kids

Breakfast can be a tough meal to get right when kids are involved. Those first few hours of the day are often slow and frantic all rolled into one. It can be tough to have enough time to prep fresh and nutritious options every morning of the week, that's why Megan from @mamamakesfood is here to help. Her feed is bursting with delicious and nutritious recipes, all of which take into account the time factor of parenthood. Today she is sharing some of her favorite Veggie Loaded Breakfast Ideas for Kids.

As the owner of an urban vegetable farm in Kansas and mother to a three-year-old, my passions are growing veggies and creating approachable, healthy, real food meals our whole family can enjoy. We eat vegetables at every meal; in fact, incorporating them into most of our breakfasts has become the norm in our home. I want to ensure that we all are meeting our daily requirements for veggie intake, so I start with the first meal of the day.

If this is a new concept for you, it may seem a bit daunting at first. With a little practice though, it can quickly become second nature. Veggies can easily be added to smoothies, pancakes & waffles, muffins, oatmeal, eggs, and so much more. Another bonus to offering veggies at breakfast is that most kiddos are rested and hungry, so they may be most receptive to trying foods that they aren’t normally excited about at this time of day.

One of my favorite ways to cram in the vegetables is to make oatmeal.  The options are literally endless. A few of our go-to combos are carrot + apple, zucchini + banana, cauliflower + chocolate, and parsnip + pear. Oatmeal is a wonderful vessel for adding all kinds of goodness: hemp hearts, chia seeds, flax, bee pollen, collagen, nut butter – any combination of these will power our children through their busy mornings. On my blog, MamaMakesFood.com, you’ll find recipes like Zucchini Bread Oatmeal, Chocolate Power Porridge, and Spiced Parsnip & Pear Oats to get you started.

We also delight in pancakes, waffles, or muffins as part of a balanced and nutritionally packed breakfast. Blending mild greens like spinach or tatsoi into the batter is a simple way to not only get a major health boost, but also a fun green color. When we have a tad more time to prep, I like to make my Cocoberry Pancakes, especially in summer when zucchini is in season. My son is so elated to find morsels of fruit inside his pancakes that he doesn’t even notice the shredded zucchini right alongside!

For a savory option, we often turn to frittatas, omelets, baked egg cups, or scrambled eggs with leafy greens + shredded cheese added in. Preparing eggs in these ways lends itself well to incorporating as many or as few vegetables as you like. Sometimes if I know I’m making one of these for breakfast the next morning, I will prepare extra roasted veggies the evening before while making dinner. This easy step eliminates prep time in the morning, making breakfast come together all the more quickly! The Sweet Potato Noodle & B’Sprout Frittata on my blog is a crowd pleaser and sure to get your crew going.

Last but certainly not least – smoothies. Like oatmeal, you can go wild with the veggies here and no one will be the wiser. Zucchini, cauliflower, butternut squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, and any leafy green will do. This is a perfect opportunity to get the kids involved in the kitchen too. Let them add and pour in the ingredients (premeasure if necessary) to the blender. Talk about the different components of your smoothie, what they taste like and the nutritional benefits they provide. Encouraging our children’s help in the process of making healthy food – whether it’s a smoothie or something else – will often entice our little ones to try their creations.  

For a veggie-packed smoothie that tastes like ice cream (well, sort of), why not try my Swiss Chard Milkshake? Here’s the recipe:

Swiss Chard Milkshake

• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• Big handful of swiss chard (spinach or kale works too)
• 2 frozen bananas, broken into chunks
• ½ cup frozen, riced cauliflower
• 2 tablespoons almond butter
• 1 tablespoon raw honey (not for babies under a year old)
• 1 tablespoon rolled oats

Add all ingredients to blender, in the order listed, and blitz till smooth.

I hope you’ve found my round-up of Veggie Loaded Breakfast Ideas For Kids helpful and you are feeling inspired to up the vegetable intake of your family with a few practical tips. For more, follow our whole food journey over at my Instagram account, @mamamakesfood.

Thank you so much Megan for some yummy ideas- we can't wait to test them out with our kids!

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Creative QT designs quality + innovative toys that declutter homes and inspire creative play. Founded by parents of five, Adam and Dana Sue Hinkle, Creative QT’s vision is to empower parents and encourage a culture of families that Make Time Together. All products are designed to enrich families’ lives through active, creative play and play based learning. Creative QT products are laboratory tested for compliance with CPSC requirements and are free of lead, cadmium and phthalates so you can play with confidence. So, go ahead … today is the day: be your kid’s hero.

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