We prepare a fun fruit–berries, mangoes, kiwi–or a regular fruit in a new way–oranges cut and arranged, sliced bananas floating in milk with agave dripped on top. Thawed organic frozen fruit is also a big hit, like eating peaches before summer. We put the fruit in small dishes or bowls, or special dessert dishes if we have them, and leave them on the kitchen counter. After the kids finish dinner and clear their plates, they find their dessert and bring it to the table. Part of the excitement is not knowing what will be served and that the fruit is separated from their meal as dessert.

For toddlers and preschoolers, we might add a wheat-free flower cookie (Healthy Times Maple Arrowroot Cookies) or biscuit (Maple Teething Biscuits) some nights.

We found Smiling Planet through a Healthy Child Healthy World email offering discounts from some of their Trusted Partners, which also include gDiapers, Seventh Generation, and Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner–all great products we use regularly. To sign up for Healthy Child newsletters and email, click on their Join the Movement.

We begin with vegetables and a protein and fill in around them to build a creative meal. Leftovers in the fridge with rice wrapped in a spelt tortilla or sheet of Nori seaweed, carrots with hummus and guacamole dips, fried egg on brown rice spaghetti–most anything goes. We started with one night a week and now may be up to two spontaneous dinners. The kids like the change, and it’s also made dinner more fun. Four year old Oliver envisions a new way of eating–turkey burgers for breakfast, pancakes for lunch and oatmeal at 6 pm. Though in the end, we realized that breakfast goes better as dinner than the other way around.

And, when we do have energy to do more than heat and roll, Weelicious is great for new food ideas.

Oliver’s TED speech is worth watching because he identifies the slide of American eating habits from home cooked meals to fast food and outlines an approach for change. Schools are central to his plan–he advocates teaching cooking in class in addition to improving the meals served, especially important since many kids eat breakfast and lunch at school. Oliver shares powerful footage of his visits to classrooms where the lack of food knowledge is striking, and how simple programs like his work in West Virginia can make a big change in children’s health.

The TED Prize grants recipients a chance to pursue their wish to change the world. Oliver’s wish is to further his work with American families, schools and corporations to educate and change the way we eat. Oliver is an inspiring reminder for us to pay more attention and not succumb to the food industry–as he encourages, “America needs to stand up for better food!”

1/2 cup butter or margarine (room temperature, not melted)

2 tablespoons honey

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

1 1/2 cups white rice flour

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons water (if needed)

Additional rice flour for rolling

1. In food processor or mixer, combine butter, honey, sugar, vanilla and lemon peel. Process 1 minute. Add dry ingredients and blend until mixture forms large clumps. Scrape down sides of bowl with spatula and blend until mixture forms ball again. Add water only if necessary–1 tablespoon at a time. Shape into flat disk; refrigerate 2 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Using half of dough, roll to 1/4-inch thickness between sheets of plastic wrap which are sprinkled with rice flour. Keep remaining dough chilled until ready to use. Cut into desired shapes (about 2 inches in diameter) and transfer to baking sheet that is lightly greased or lined with parchment paper or non-stick baking liners. Repeat with remaining dough.

3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire rack. Makes 16.

And, for a gluten-free spice bread: Trish recommends Gluten-Free Pantry Spice Cake and Gingerbread Mix, replace the buttermilk with applesauce and add semisweet chocolate chips.

The beauty of the food dehydrator is its simplicity–a rectangular box with sliding trays that provides favorite snacks and science experiments. The kids set nuts, fruit, even vegetables on the trays, slide them into the dehydrator, then after they’re dried, taste test and study the results. Weelicious creates yummy fruit and vegetable baby teethers with a food dehydrator.

We like the Excalibur dehydrators because they’re easy to use and clean, and Excalibur’s awareness of BPA issues. Most food dehydrators use polycarbonate plastic, which has BPA, because polycarbonate works well for heating. In the Excalibur, food sits on BPA-free polypropylene screens so food never touches the polycarbonate frame.

We set the ingredients on the counter, and the kids pour what they want in the blender. We watch so they don’t add too much of one thing, otherwise it’s their creation. They push the buttons on the blender with our supervision. When they find a favorite combination, we help remember the recipe, and they choose a name, like “Blueberry Bubbles”.

Organic ingredient ideas: fresh or frozen fruit (frozen for that icy taste and fresh banana for sweetness), ground flax seeds (Lyndsey’s kids say they LOVE flax in their smoothies), apple juice/water, rice or oat milk, Acai smoothie packs (unsweetened from the freezer section), goat yogurt, and a touch of vanilla extract.

Besides the flax, other fun smoothie finds from the health food store are Goji Berries, hemp seeds, Incan berries and Sun Warrior Protein Powder (made from organic sprouted brown rice). Smoothies are also a great way to get kids to take their supplements, like probiotics which don’t mix as well in juice or water.

Smoothies can be simple–our vanilla shake is banana, rice milk, vanilla and hemp seeds.

The kids usually tell us how often they want smoothies, maybe two or three times a week. Lyndsey serves them for breakfast or afternoon snack, Kelly’s kids like them mid-morning. We drink some ourselves and freeze any extra into popsicles.

Even Amelia who adores the soft and sweet Vans Mini Waffles now prefers Nature’s Path Gluten Free (of course we’re still advertising them as the Homestyle Waffles).

Each recipe includes simple instructions for the adult, followed by colorful illustrations so kids can see each step. Wyatt who loves to cook reads Pretend Soup as his book before bed.

We make French Toast (so easy and gets the kids eating eggs), Carrot Pennies, and Hide and Seek Muffins. We often already have what we need in the kitchen, substituting as needed. Or we can include the kids in the whole process–choosing a recipe, making a shopping list, picking out ingredients at the market, and then preparing and enjoying our creation.

Katzen follows Pretend Soup with Salad People And More Real Recipes. Kelly and Amelia like to cook from her Honest Pretzels: And 64 Other Amazing Recipes for Cooks Ages 8 & Up.

We rely on a few trusted sources, our intuition, and our babies’ cues. We check in with our pediatrician or health care provider too.

We start solids slowly, paying attention to our child’s interest. We don’t worry about which foods they eat or how much. In the beginning, babies are discovering how it feels to eat as much as they’re enjoying the taste. Breastfeeding or formula remain their primary nutrient source. We tend to look for signs of interest in food around six or seven months, some of our children didn’t open their mouths for brown rice cereal with a dab of prune juice until they turned nine months old.

For details about how to start solids and make purees, we rely on Super Baby Food and Weelicious. Kelly talks about her approach in Oliver’s First Foods.

We read the starting solids and allergy information in The New Breastfeeding Diet Plan and Feeding Your Child for Lifelong Health, which identifies foods to avoid until certain ages (like no honey before one year old because of botulism risk). We also review the common allergens and signs of food allergy so we’re prepared. The usual advice is to try the same food for a few consecutive days before introducing a new one.

Our food list for babies:

Under nine months or just starting solids: We take it slow. If they resist, we listen.

First foods: Sweet potatoes, yams, and brown rice cereal with a dab of prune juice to prevent constipation.

If the child has no allergic reactions and enjoys eating, we slowly add a minimal amount of fruits. Even when we’re adding fruits, we always give more veggies than fruits for babies under nine months.

Second foods: Pears, then bananas, apples.

Third foods: Squash, peas, mango, papaya.

Nine months: Many nine month olds still like pureed food that is fed to them, but lots of babies start enjoying food they can pick up themselves. We offer soft foods cut into small pieces. At this age, the kind of food they like is trial and error. They’re developing their taste buds and exploring.

We find if they ignore broccoli, a few weeks later they’re willing to eat it.

Foods: Same as above and adding avocado, oatmeal, soak raisins overnight and mix the juice in cereal (great for iron), quinoa flakes with crushed nori, spinach, chard, oatios, boiled chicken in tiny cubes or pureed, vegetable baby broth (broccoli, cauliflower, chard, and carrots cooked for an hour, then we cool it and pour into a bottle), pureed beets, lentils, red beans, kidneys with brown rice cereal pureed together.

One year: Babies interests and abilities change daily, and their food needs grow as well. Eggs and cheese are safe at this age, but we introduce these foods slowly to see how our babies react.

Foods: Goat cheese in small cubes, small meatballs, guacamole, turkey meatloaf, eggs in any style they like, Applegate Farms chicken and apple sausage, sheets of toasted nori, yogurt with berries, roasted butternut squash, vanilla shake (bananas, rice milk, vanilla, small amount of ground flax seeds), berries, peeled fruits, squash and quinoa flakes, brown rice pasta cut in small bites with pureed spinach and olive oil, hummus, Dehydrated Fruit Leather (see Super Baby Food), soft beans, oven baked french fries (cut sweet potatoes or yams, mix with olive oil and bake), salmon cooked in vegetable broth, wheat-free and low sugar cookies, millet rice bread with berry puree on top, smoothies (handy for hiding probiotics or other vitamins and oils we’re trying to get them to eat).