The Muffins I Make on Repeat for My Picky Toddlers

(and honestly… for me too)

I’m going to be honest, I rarely have time to put together nourishing meals for myself. I’m go go go find the minute I wake up until the minute I knock out from exhaustion at night. And dinner is made to perfection by my husband pretty much every night. 😭 Sometimes (actually most nights), I struggle to stay away long enough to get my kids all to sleep before I pass out.

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And I genuinely, deeply, truly, profoundly love it soooo much. It’s my favorite time that’s ever been. And I wish I could stay in this beautiful and exhausting moment for the rest of time.

But I’m also overworked, overwhelmed a lot of times, especially because I’m working full time, and feel a little depleted nutritionally because I don’t usually have the time to eat a proper meal during the day. Not to mention, I’m breastfeeding full time and that by itself does its own depletion.

I also have a super picky 3-year-old that basically only wants dessert. Like, that’s it. Cake, cookies, anything sweet is a big yes for him.

And as someone who thinks about food and nutrition for a living… it’s a lot for me. It makes me sad. I put so much care into our food, and I want him to get what he needs nutritionally.

But here’s what I’ve come to understand, and what the research actually backs up: forcing kids to eat, pressuring them, doing the “you have to try one bite” thing, or using food as a reward or punishment tends to make things worse long term. It can build anxiety around eating, strengthen the negative feelings about certain foods, and actually make picky eating more entrenched, not less.

So instead I meet him where he is. I keep offering, keep exposing, keep making food that feels exciting to him, I try getting him involved in recipes and even letting him lead the way with decisions on how to put ingredients together, and I work the nutrition in quietly, without adding pressure. Just consistency and creativity on my end. It doesn’t always pay off, but I’d say it does about half the time? I mean, that’s better than zero. And we are at zero good food if I don’t dig deep into my creativity around food. So it’s a win.

These avocado blueberry mini muffins are exactly my effort in action.

He loves them and ate four while standing with me in the kitchen and told me they were “REALLY yummy.”

I also love snacking on these in the day when I only hand one free hand. Easy to just heat a few in the toaster oven. Also they freeze really well!

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Why these muffins WORK

The avocado is the secret, I’ve made these so many times at this point and my kids have never once been suspicious.

When you blend or mash a ripe avocado into batter, it just disappears into a buttery richness that adds to the texture and flavor, without taking away anything.

Almond flour keeps these completely gluten-free and gives them a moist, soft crumb. And the blueberries add so much to the flavor. I’ve also tried these with mini chocolate chips, and made a dark chocolate version by adding cacao to the mix. Both worked great! If you do the cacao version, start with just 1/4 cup of cacao powder and then you may have to adjust the liquids a little so they aren’t too dry. I usually do the dark chocolate version as a cake, it’s fab! Find the recipe for that by searching my recipes up top! “Avocado Chocolate Cake” is the title 🙂