Rachel Mansfield has been creating approachable, nourishing recipes for over a decade—first through her popular blog and cookbooks, and now as the co-founder of cadootz!, an organic, protein-packed snack line designed specifically for kids. As a mom of three juggling multiple businesses (including her forthcoming cookbook more please), she’s spent years navigating the gap between what wellness culture tells parents they should feed their kids and what actually works in real life.
Her approach? Ditch the perfection, ignore the noise, and focus on whole foods that satisfy both picky eaters and rushed schedules. In this conversation, Rachel opens up about unlearning diet culture, why she refuses to make three different dinners, and how she decided to build the kids’ snack she couldn’t find anywhere else.
Spoiler: eating in the car on the way to baseball practice is not a failure—it’s just Tuesday.
What’s your honest take on the healthy eating pressure parents face? How do you navigate that with your own kids?
The pressure is intense, and honestly, can be exhausting. Everywhere you turn, someone is telling you you’re doing it wrong, or there’s a new health trend to be aware of. I’ve had to really unlearn the idea that every meal has to be perfect. That eating “healthy” has to be boring or bland. That having “picky eaters” means they can’t eat healthily. It’s also comical how much I have flexed since having our first son almost 7 years ago. We are all just trying to make it through the day!
Do your kids actually eat what you make, or do they still beg for the same three things on repeat?
They eat what I make. But they don’t know it any other way. Bless my mom but she always catered to what we wanted and would make 3 different meals for all of us. But that is both exhausting and not sustainable. Especially for busy parents with multiple kids. I definitely cater what I make to their tastebuds/preferences but within reason. Exposure is so key with kids and just because they don’t like something one day, doesn’t mean they won’t the next.
You’ve been creating food content for 10 years. How has your own relationship with food and cooking changed since becoming a mom?
A LOT has changed. I’m very transparent that I’m someone who, in my 20’s, had gone through the calorie counting phase, the diet obsession and would only eat organic and everything had to be “perfect” blah blah. But that was both mentally and physically exhausting. Once I really started cooking myself in my early twenties and creating new recipes, cooking and food became creative and calming for me. I also learned that you can feel nourished and your cravings can be satisfied all in the same meal. Then once I had kids, cooking and food became more functional but still with an emphasis on whole foods. I am all about meals that you’d never know only took me 30 minutes or you can toss on a sheet pan and cook – because it’s truly all I have in me sometimes. That is a huge reason why I wrote my second cookbook, more please coming out later this year. Your survival guide in the kitchen!
What’s one ingredient or food trend you wish would just go away?
There really isn’t one that bothers me. If I don’t love something or buy into it, I just ignore it. I don’t really let the trends influence me.
You have three kids and you’re running multiple businesses. What does a real Tuesday look like at your house? (Not the Instagram version—the actual one.)
A real Tuesday here is one kid has baseball, another has soccer, all 3 have different pick up times from school. My kids are eating dinner in the car on the way home from sports with us or our sitter (every week varies). That is what I have a whole “on-the-go” section in my next cookbook, more please, because we are constantly on the go. And it has meal ideas and recipes for both parents and kids. Typically I don’t get off calls until 6pm and I eat dinner with my husband while my kids sit with us and have their dessert and do homework. The fantasy of us all eating together at the same time everyday just doesn’t happen. Typically on weekends we all eat together because that is so important to me.
How do you decide what to say “no” to? Because it seems like you do everything.
Ha! I don’t do everything, I just say no a lot privately. I’ve gotten clearer about what actually aligns with my values and what just looks good on paper. If it costs too much time, energy, or I miss time with my kids, it’s typically a no. It has to be really good to get me out of pajamas and not in bed watching TV by 8pm.
What’s something you thought you’d be great at as a parent that turned out to be way harder than expected?
I didn’t think I’d be “great” at this but something that is 100% harder for me is trying to be the mom I want to be while juggling work. I want to be the class mom, the field trip volunteer, at every activity but it just cannot happen while running 3 businesses. It is SO hard and I have had to learn to accept that some days I will be better at one than another.
There’s so much noise around kids’ nutrition—protein, sugar, seed oils, organic vs. not. What do you actually think matters most?
I think what matters most is transparency and consumer education. It can feel overwhelming, but there is such a power in decoding a nutrition label and understanding where things might be hiding – like natural flavors for example. Sounds positive, but actually is one of those sneaky ingredients that we don’t know much about what’s in it! One natural flavor could have hundreds of other ingredients int it. But in general, I would say protein matters most for kids’ nutrition. Not because it’s a fad, but because kids are constantly on the go, they’re constantly moving, and they’re HUNGRY! It’s important to give them something that will satisfy them as they set out on their next activity.
If you could only give parents one piece of advice about feeding their families, what would it be?
Don’t stress. Everything is a phase. I’m here to help you!
You recently launched cadootz! What made you decide to create a product yourself instead of just recommending what’s already out there?
I definitely didn’t set out to start my own snack company. But after years of feeding my own kids and working in the better-for-you food space for 12 years (where I’ve watched “better-for-you” take off in almost every other category), I found myself continuing to ask myself the same question: why is it so hard to find snacks that actually meet my standards and my kids’ expectations on taste? I cannot tell you how many times I said to myself “why are there no protein snacks for kids besides meat sticks, bars and string cheese?”. So my husband Jordan and I built what we couldn’t find. cadootz! is the snack we were searching for: organic, whole-food snacks with protein that feel good to serve and that kids genuinely love. It’s also the first snack my kids actually ask for by name, which honestly tells me everything! We’re launching it on our own website to start, and soon will be in a major national retailer. We truly can’t wait for families to try it!
What’s your go-to meal when you have absolutely nothing left to give?
Definitely something one-pot or dump and bake (like my no-boil baked pasta) or made in one sheet-pan (like a sheet pan quesadilla). The less cleanup, the better! Plus the possibilities are endless, based on what you have in your fridge, freezer and pantry. In my next cookbook, I have a whole chapter on what to keep on hand so you can make a healthy delicious meal at any time.
Has there ever been a moment where you thought, “I cannot post another recipe or make another meal”?
Not at all. I have been doing this for 10+ years and I love it. I get to help inspire others on what to make every single day! How cool is that?
You have a big platform where you share so much of your life. How do you decide what to keep private?
I started this platform well before I had kids, and before there was any sort of creator “playbook.” I take things day by day. For a while, I was sharing my kid’s faces, and then stopped the moment it wasn’t feeling right anymore. I really follow my intuition here.
