*Hopefully you were able to participate in the General Strike yesterday (and thanks for the comments). Now onto a post we shot a few weeks ago for those who are interested. We appreciate you being here.

Under “Things I never thought I’d be so enthusiastic about when I was 22,” I’d say that “meal prep” is near the top. And yet, I legit enjoy it. Not because I love to cook, I’m still not very good. But because I love a project that keeps me home on a Sunday afternoon, so I can listen to my gripping podcasts and audiobooks, have some me time, and enter the week armed with a few good meals and non-ultra-processed snacks my kids will actually eat. I’m sure there is some sort of neuroscience around the dopamine released when you feel like you have your shit together. Like how buying new workout clothes makes you feel like you’ve done something good for yourself. Now, I vascillate on what I meal prep (on a perfect Sunday I might roast a chicken for dinner and leftovers, then make broth from the bones, make a big soup for Brian and I, cut up veggies for salads and make homemade salad dressings) but today I’m showing you the three VERY easy healthy snacks we make for the kids (and us) that they actually love.

Here we go – they are all EXTREMELY easy, only require one bowl each, and have hidden healthy stuff. We are talking chocolate veggie muffins, no-bake energy bites, and turkey and veggie meatballs (gluten-free). I didn’t develop the recipes, so I’m going to link to the food creators who did to make sure they get the love. But I did tweak them 🙂

Chocolate Veggie Muffins

I’m not a baker AT ALL – too scientific, too specific, too easy to mess up. But these muffins only require you to dump all of the ingredients into your blender, blend, and then bake in muffin tins. We’ve made these probably 10 times now, and I modify the veggies (you can sub spinach for kale or add protein powder easily). At times they’ve looked more green (which my kids, of course, have an adverse reaction to), and at times I’ve put more cocoa powder to ensure they are sweeter.

You can easily substitute maple syrup for honey or almond butter for peanut butter. I’m sure most of you are more intuitive bakers than I am, so you probably knew that. But I am a firm recipe follower, so subbing things out feels like a real life-threatening risk to me.

As far as the dry pantry stuff goes, if you buy enough at first, it can last you through multiple batches. I found the recipe here (and I’ve tried doubling the recipe, but they don’t get eaten fast enough). Oh, and you have to refrigerate them, or they’ll mold (mine did last time).

Kaitlin is always ordering me to do a slight smile so I don’t look angry in the shots, but I know that I don’t typically look so pleasant while meal prepping by myself.

You can also add nuts during or after with the chocolate chips 🙂 Again, original recipe here.

I didn’t shoot the other two snacks (I had made them the night before), but here you go:

Turkey Veggie Meatballs!

I JUST started making these, and my goodness, they are the best protein snack hack for the whole family. I’ll pop no less than like 8 in my mouth a day, working from home. We have a lot of growing 12-year-old boys who come over, and they devour these guys. And they have no gluten, dairy, or sugar. Just turkey, zucchini, and herbs/spices. We doubled the recipe one week (made 96 of them, which was aggressive), and I found that adding way more seasoning than the recipe calls for helps a lot. I used my Trader Joe’s ranch flavoring (probably 2 tablespoons), and it added so much more flavor (and made it taste a little Mediterranean). Big fan. Original recipe HERE (just add more salt and seasoning if you aren’t adding to another recipe, imho).

No-Bake Energy Bites

These are the snacks that my kids ask for the most out of all of them, likely because they are dessert adjacent and pretty sweet and chocolatey. But honestly, anything is better than them grabbing for a bag of ultra-processed stuff, because at least I know what is in this. It’s pretty basic, recipe linked HERE, but you can add hemp seeds, protein powder, nuts, dried fruits, coconut flakes, etc. You’ll need to throw on a tray in your freezer for at least an hour to let them harden, and we leave ours in there until gone instead of transferring to the fridge (the kids just like them more that way). Just don’t make them so big, or they remain super hard when frozen. (Brian made them the other day as big as golf balls, and they were like jaw breakers from the freezer). Again, can substitute honey for maple syrup and different butters for peanut butter. I can’t imagine these are low in calories, but that’s not the point here – I just want whole foods that they’ll actually enjoy eating.

If anyone has go-to healthy snack recipes, please let them know in the comments! I recently made these other muffins for our kids, and they were excellent. But I don’t want my kids to burn out on them, so always looking for new options. And y’all, even though my kids are 10 and 12, they still don’t LOVE veggies, so any stacked with greens, please share. xx

*Photos by Kaitlin Green