In the 21st century, it seems that families are trying to accommodate various specialized diets, as well as food preferences for kids as well as adults, making mealtimes difficult to plan. If you are looking for some carb-friendly recipes to satisfy your kids as well as your whole family, you’ll find you have plenty of options.

Hearty Entrees

Just because a recipe is kid-friendly, it doesn’t mean the adults in the family can’t enjoy it, too. Go beyond your basic chicken nuggets and whip up a hearty entrée of pork tenderloin with fruit chutney. Most kids love fruit, and what better way to serve up a pork tenderloin than with a helping of peach chutney. What makes most chutneys high in carbohydrates is the amount of sugar in the recipe. Since fruit provides its own natural juices, it doesn’t require a lot of sugar to make it sweet. Cut the sugar in the recipe in half and see how it goes over with your kids. Any meat or poultry entrée goes well with chutney, and a variety of fruits can be used to make it. Follow a basic low-carb chutney recipe and substitute mango, apricot, cranberries, or apples as the main ingredient.

Pasta

Kids love to eat pasta — and moms love it. It’s easy to make and can be made in so many ways. What’s not to love about pasta is that it can be laden with simple carbohydrates. Pasta makers have gotten on board the low-carb revolution and created several low-carb pasta options. Some brands offer a mere 5 g of digestible carbs, while providing the same amount of fiber as whole wheat pasta. Kids who avoid veggies will enjoy butternut squash with linguine. The bright orange color of the diced squash along with the long strands of linguine makes this a fun and tasty dish for the entire family. Just the mention of Mexican spaghetti pie might send your kids running to the dinner table. With all the tasty ingredients of tacos and easy substitutions — you can use ground chicken instead of ground beef, or make a vegetarian version using black beans — spaghetti pie is a win-win low-carb recipe for kids and grown-ups alike.

Desserts

Follow dinner with a carb-friendly dessert to top off the night for the entire family. While sugar usually reigns supreme in most dessert recipes, some natural alternatives on the market that provide a similar great taste with little to no carbohydrates. Stevia, a naturally derived plant based sweetener, is one that works well in baking. According to FamilyDoctor.org, although stevia is a fairly new product on the market, as of 2010, several studies have shown that it is safe when consumed in moderation. Many recipes can use stevia in place of sugar, such as low-carb Neapolitan parfaits. Whip them up with strawberries, blueberries or mixed berries. These parfaits are a creamy, sweet treat with the added bonus of a healthy dose of fresh fruit. Another low-carb recipe is a chocolate treat that uses stevia in place of sugar. Use blueberries, dousing them in melted, unsweetened chocolate, before you flash-freeze a panful in the freezer.