Maddie, the creator behind the YouTube channel Let’s Eat Plants, is no stranger to the everyday challenges of feeding a vegan family, especially with a toddler in the mix. In a recent video, she offers a personal look into what she and her one-year-old daughter (known affectionately as “Baby Plants”) eat in a typical day. Still breastfeeding and recently recovering after a post-wisdom-tooth infection health scare, Maddie focuses on simple, whole-food meals that support healing and growth.
The video is as much about food as it is about figuring things out as a new parent. “If you’re going through this phase right now like me, hopefully this video will at least give you some ideas for healthy vegan meals that your one-year-old can eat,” she says.
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Starting slow with oatmeal and fruit
Mornings begin gently in Maddie’s house, with Baby Plants breastfeeding first thing. An hour later, it’s breakfast time.
Breakfast is a family meal, and it’s usually the easiest one to share. “Breakfast is probably the one meal that she will tolerate what we are eating because we pretty much always eat oatmeal and she is still okay with oats.”
To make it more appealing, Maddie adds fruit to her daughter’s bowl. “I do put extra fruit in hers to make it a little bit more delicious.” The routine includes making tea or coffee with help from Baby Plants and heating everyone’s food before they eat together.
If her daughter is still hungry after the oatmeal, Maddie adds cut fruit like tangerines: “I’m just going to cut those up for her and she can practice feeding herself.”
Breastfeeding on demand, water goals, and playtime
There’s no structured morning snack, just responsive feeding. “Usually she will just breastfeed on demand if she is hungry after breakfast.” Maddie also makes sure her daughter has access to water throughout the day: “I do make water available to her and just offer it.”
She adds that she’s trying to improve her own hydration habits: “I’ve actually been really bad about my water intake lately. I’m trying to get back into the habit of just having a jar or a large glass of water nearby me at all times.”
Mornings also include some relaxed bonding time. “She is really into books lately so she will sit with me and have me read books to her or I just let her sit on the floor and read them herself.”
Baby-led lunch with tofu and toast
After her daughter’s nap, Maddie prepares lunch. “For lunch we have been doing tofu scramble with a little piece of toast or pancake on the side and then some kind of fruit. Today we have pears.” Maddie and her partner eat an orzo salad: “It’s super easy to throw together and healthy.”
She says the salad was inspired by an older recipe on her channel. “I mix it up sometimes with whatever veggies I have.” Right now Maddie has some raw broccoli and cooked lentils in her fridge, so, along with chopped green onion and dill for extra flavor, that’s what she throws in. She tops the salad with vegan feta for saltiness and walnuts for crunch.
Her dressing is a basic lemon vinaigrette, and she notes that you can also swap the oil for aquafaba.
Baby-led weaning: figuring it out
After months of homemade purées, Maddie is shifting toward a baby-led approach. “I am leaning now more into the baby-led weaning style, giving her different foods to try and letting her feed herself more.” But she admits that it’s not easy: “No one prepares you for how weird it feels to just hand your baby a chunk of food and just hope for the best.”
She’s cautious about overly processed foods, sugar, and salt. “I definitely don’t want to all of a sudden now that she’s one-year-old just start feeding her everything processed or super sweet or super salty things.”
Texture is also a challenge. “She only has like four teeth… it just really throws me off to just hand her a chunk of something and expect her just to chew it like we do.” Maddie relies on the Solid Starts app for guidance: “I did find the Solid Starts app is really helpful for finding out how to cut and serve foods to your baby.”
Dinner: quick veggie pasta and a backup plate
Dinner is a simple pasta dish made during Baby Plants’ second nap. “Today I’m just going to do a quick pasta sauce because I already have some veggies prepped and it’s really easy to just throw everything into a pan and then add some tomato sauce and some herbs.”
The sauce starts with onion, broccoli, bell peppers, and seasonings. “I usually do garlic powder, oregano, and dried basil.” Maddie adds cooked lentils and plant milk for creaminess. “You can always add a little bit of soy milk or any plant milk of your choice for a little extra creaminess in your sauce.”
She’s aware her daughter may not love it: “I have given Baby Plants some pasta sauce once before and she was not a huge fan. Maybe it was a little bit like sour for her.” Still, she’s trying again: “I’m going to try it again with her tonight and I do have a backup dinner for her if she doesn’t like it.”
The backup is quinoa with corn and butternut squash. “I don’t think she loves the texture to be honest but I add some corn and butternut squash to it to make it a little tastier.”
Finding balance and embracing the unknown
Maddie’s day ends with reflections and questions for her viewers. She’s looking for advice on texture issues, repetition, and meal variety. “When you find a meal that your baby likes you kind of just want to eat that for a few days and not have to worry about finding something new all the time,” she says. “But I also don’t want her to get tired of it.”
Even when meals don’t go as planned, she stays positive. “Even though that pasta dinner was not a huge hit with baby girl, at least it was with my husband,” she says with a laugh.
In true Maddie fashion, she ends the video with appreciation: “Thank you for spending the day with me. I just love hanging out with you.”
For more vegan lifestyle content, check out Maddie’s YouTube channel.
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