Now THIS is a Green Recipe Kids Will Love

On St. Patrick’s Day, it’s tempting to buy a bottle of green food coloring and just go to town on everything you plan on consuming or feeding to your kids that day. Green bread! Green yogurt! Boom, you’re festive. But St. Patrick’s Day food for kids is tricky; I have less-than-fond memories of my mom making the same meal for St. Patrick’s Day every single year; green milk (ugh) green mashed potatoes (not appealing) and ham and cabbage. Do you know a child who likes cabbage? Exactly.

Here’s the deal; if your kids doesn’t eat something the other 364 days of the year, dousing it in green food coloring probably won’t help. We get it- you want to be festive and fun, but still feed them healthy (ish) food. So what’s a parent to do?

Before you go to Costco and get a jumbo sized bottle of food coloring, check out these 9 green foods your kids are guaranteed to adore. Plus, not a single one of them involves food coloring. Gasp! Yup, you read that right. All of these kid approved foods are naturally green, and naturally delicious. So whether you need ideas for a killer St. Patrick’s Day party for kids, or are just making dinner for your little family, they’ll love these green twists on kids classic favorites. Just see if they can last until next St. Paddy’s Day before requesting one of these.

Green smoothie pancakes

 

 

Image: Healthy Little Foodies.

I have never met a child who didn’t like pancakes, and these are the best, because you are literally making pancakes out of green smoothies. Yes, smoothies. Make yourself a big ol’ smoothie, make a little extra and simply add some flour to make it the perfect green pancake batter. This is a great way to sneak some greens into your kids morning; St. Patrick’s only comes once a year, so milk it and stuff as many veggies into your kids day as possible.

Green mac n’ cheese

It may not look like Kraft Mac n’ cheese from the box, but holy cheese does this taste better. Even the pickiest eater will love this green Mac and cheese, because it’s drowning in cheese and it’s ooey gooey goodness is so insanely delicious your kids won’t even comment on the fact that they saw you putting spinach in it.

Green smoothie bowl

Um, check out that insane deep green color. If your kids are the types to demand ice cream for breakfast, this mouth watering green smoothie bowl is a great (and gorgeous) alternative. It’s sweet enough to feel like a treat, but packed with fruits and veggies so you feel good about giving it to your kiddos guilt free. Add their favorite fruits, or coconut, nuts, or berries to top off this indulgent start to their morning.

Green grilled cheese

Pretty sure there was about three years of my life when I lived off of grilled cheese, and childhood me is drooling over this green grilled cheese stuffed with avocado pesto, creamy cheese and a chewy multigrain bread.

Green Marshmallows

Behold, the power of matcha. These fluffy green marshmallows are made with only six ingredients, are ridiculously light and naturally sweetened to make the. Perfect. Marshmallow. March is roaring like a lion, and snow is in the forecast for St. Paddy’s, so pair these with a couple mugs of white chocolate hot cocoa for the best snow day treat. (Fingers crossed.)

Green Ravioli

Ravioli is a classic kid favorite, and this ravioli verde uses spinach to make it the ultimate St. Patrick’s Day dinner to satisfy kids and adults alike. If you don’t have time to make this recipe, you can also buy green ravioli in most grocery stores to cut prep time down. Top with parmesan and toasted pine nuts or keep it simple for the kids with butter, salt and pepper.

Green Doughnuts

Not only are these green doughnuts um, well, green, they’re also baked not fried, so you can feel good about letting your kids sneak an extra one after dinner. These glazed matcha doughnuts really pack a green tea punch, and give you the excuse you needed (let’s be real, you didn’t need an excuse, but now you have one) to make homemade doughnuts. They’re so easy, and so delectable, you’ll be busting these babies out way more often than just St. Patrick’s Day.

Green chocolate chip cookies

These white chocolate matcha cookies are chocolate chip cookies that are pimped out with white chocolate chips, and get their green hue from light and sweet green tea. Make a few extra batches because believe me, you’re going to taste test your way through half the first batch before they’re even cool. These will not last through the 24 hours of St. Pat’s Day in your cookie jar before your kids devour them. So bake a batch, and freeze a batch. Or two. Or five.

Green pizza

If you ask any kid from the age they start speaking through, well, forever, what their top 3 favorite foods are, pizza will be in there. And this four cheese broccoli pizza is not only festive and green, it’s crispy, chewy crust and four cheeses will have even the pickiest eater rejoicing in the goodness that is this pizza. Looking for a busy weeknight shortcut? Grab some pre-made naan or flatbread to use as the crust of this delectable bad boy.

A version of this article was originally published in February 2015.

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