If your kids love sweets but are not happy when it comes to eating fruits and vegetables, there is an easy way to solve it – prepare some fun looking, delicious and healthy snacks. Replace conventional crisps with baked vegetable slices or serve some one-ingredient banana ice cream, which tastes exactly like dairy ice cream but without unnecessarily fat and sugar. Your kids will love it and won’t even notice the difference!
Spiced Apple Crisps
Naturally sweet and crunchy, these apple baked crisps make a great snack for your children. Slice the apple into very thin slices 1-2mm thick. Dust with cinnamon and lay flat on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 45 mins – 1 hour, turning halfway through and removing any crisps that have turned brown. Continue cooking until the apples have dried out and are golden.
Oat Cookies with raisins and nuts
Not many children like their morning oatmeal but serving it in a form of cookies is a completely different story. Try to make dough with some wholemeal oats, a little bit of wholemeal flour raisins and nuts of your choice. You can add a little bit of honey or brown sugar for a bit of sweetness. Serve with a glass of cold milk for a delicious and healthy snack!
Carrots and Hummus
Made from pureed chickpeas, hummus is an excellent dip for kids. It has an appealing nutty flavor, is thick enough not to be messy, and contains folate, vitamin B6, and iron. You can serve humus with carrots and other cut-up vegetables like cucumbers and celery, with some wholegrain crackers or use it as a sandwich spread.
Apples with Cream cheese and Honey
If your children are not very happy about eating their fruits, try replacing apple cores with cream cheese mixed with a little bit of honey and pieces of almonds or other nuts, raisins or dried fruits of your choice. It’s a healthy and delicious snack that provides a number of vitamins and is rich in proteins and will be a great alternative for usual; “boring” piece of fruit your kids have to eat.
Mango Fruit Rolls
One-ingredient, 10 minutes recipe for mango fruit rolls will completely change your kids’ perception about fruits. These mango fruit rolls looks and taste like fruit candy and are very easy to make – blend 3 mangos in a food process and then spread it as flat and as evenly as possible until it's about 1/8-inch thick. Bake the purée for 3 to 4 hours. Cut the mango sheets into long stripes and roll!
Baked Vegetable Crisps
Most of the kids love crisps and most of the parents do not approve. If you have ever been faced the situation when your kid throws a tantrum in the shopping mall aisle - try making some baked vegetable crisps. Just cut some sweet potatoes, carrots and beets in very thin slices, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle some salt, black pepper and thyme and bake in the oven until crispy. They are as tasty as regular crisps but have less than half of the calories and fat content.
Peanut Butter
Peanut butter is full of healthy fats, proteins and fiber and can be a great snack for your children. It has a strong, nutty flavour and it’s perfect on a whole grain toast with sliced banana and a bit of sea salt. Try putting it on wholemeal waffles or rice cakes or serve with a yoghurt parfait.
Slightly Spiced Roasted Chickpeas
Crunchy and flavorful, roasted chickpeas make a great, healthy snack. Much healthier that conventional snack mixes, chickpeas can be roasted with as many different spices as you want and it will still satisfy the craving for some crunchy treats. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Drain and rinse 2 cups of chickpea and let them dry on a towel. Once dried, spread on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and roast in the oven for 45-60 minutes or until the beans are crunchy. Immediately (while the beans are still hot), toss with olive oil and seasonings. Serve hot or at room temperature. They are best the first day, but you can keep them in a closed container for 4 days.
Banana Ice Cream
As tasty as conventional, full fat dairy ice cream, this one-ingredient banana ice cream are naturally sweet, full of calcium and vitamins. Just cut the banana into small chunks and put in the freezer for about and hour. Then blend in the food processor until smooth. You can serve it with dark chocolate sprinkles or shredded coconut for a tasty snack or a dessert.
Wholemeal Zucchini Muffins
Your kids won't even notice the vegetables in these delicious zucchini muffins. They are soft, moist, and completely fat-free. Perfect as a snack or for a school lunch. Mix 2 cups of wholemeal flour with 0.5 cup of brown sugar, 2 tsp. of baking powder, 2 tsp. of baking soda, some cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice. Add 2 cups of grated zucchini and 1 grated apple. In a separate bowl mix 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce with 3 eggs and 2 tsp. vanilla. Stir into flour mixture until batter is just combined and top the muffin cups. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.
Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin seeds are full of healthy fats and minerals. They are not very tasty on their own, but once spiced and oven baked they make a tasty and nutritious snack. In a bowl mix 1 cup of pumpkin seeds with ½ spoon of garlic powder, ½ teaspoon of sea salt, ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper and ½ ounce of olive oil. Spread evenly on a baking sheet and bake until toasted and slightly browned, about 15-20 minutes, tossing halfway through. You can enjoy them on their own or add to your homemade salty snack mix.
Yoghurt Popsicles
Another homemade ice cream idea. Yoghurt is a great addition to your child’s diet – it contains a lot of calcium, and it’s a great source of proteins and probiotics important for the balanced health of the digestive system. Add some berries to yoghurt of your choice and freeze in the popsicles mould for a healthy alternative to store-bought frozen treats.
Homemade Snack Mix
Mix together some unsalted nuts, wholegrain cereals and pretzels. Add some banana chips, pumpkin seeds, raisins and coconut flakes for a quick, portable snack. Nuts contain a number of important minerals such as magnesium, iron, and zinc. This mix is rich in healthy fats necessarily for healthy brain development and provides a long-lasting energy from the wholegrain cereals and pretzels. And your kids will love it!
Date Truffles
Easy and healthy! Nutty date truffles are a great treat that is naturally sweetened by dates with no added sugar. You can coat them after with whatever you want – try desiccated coconut, cinnamon, cacao powder, crushed nuts or sesame seeds! Just blend in a food processor 2/3 cups of macadamia nuts with 25 soft dates, 5 tbsp. of cocoa powder and 2/3 cups of desiccated coconut. Don’t mix too much, just give the dough a couple of pulses so it will be enough to roll it into balls – then coat the balls in whatever you want.
Brown Rice Crispy Treats
Paired with crisp brown rice cereal, coconut oil, and a touch of sea salt, these 5-ingredient treats have an irresistibly sweet and buttery flavour without an excessive addition of sugar and marshmallows. Simply mix ¼ cup of coconut oil and 2/3 cup of brown rice syrup in a saucepan over medium heat, and bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Boil for one minute, then remove from the heat and stir in 1tsp of vanilla extract and a pinch salt. Pour 4 cups brown rice crisp cereal into a large mixing bowl and stir in the boiled syrup mixture until the cereal is well coated. Spread the mix over lined with baking paper tray, press and freeze for 45 minutes. Cut into pieces (you can also shape the mix into the balls or pancakes).
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