Yay! Summer is approaching – sun, holidays, color all around. Such a welcome change after those cold, gloomy, wintry months…
But, wait. Before you dance a jig, remember that summer also means ever-ravenous and cranky children who are never quite full. If your kids are anything like mine, they will constantly be hovering around the kitchen – exploring the depths of the larder multiple times a day for something to munch on. Before the inevitable demands for something “yummy” to eat comes up, it would be best to be ready with some tasty and healthy snacks for your kids.
Children, naturally, gravitate towards processed and packaged foods that are, perhaps, best described as calorie-full and nutrient-null. Can you blame them? These ill-advised eating choices, full of preservatives, sugar, salt and oil in alarming degrees, are splashed all over the television. They can’t help but be attracted to the colorful ads. So, how can you keep their hands and mouths out of those packets? How about customizing and creating your own healthy snacks for kids? Try these recipes – they are quick and interesting and might be just what you are looking for!
These will also serve as healthy snacks for kids at school.
1. Veg cutlet (shallow fried or baked)
Ingredients:
- ½ cup green peas
- 1 cup cubed carrots
- ½ cup chopped beans
- ¼ cup chopped beet root
- Ginger – a small piece
- 1 or 2 green chillies
- Salt to taste
- Oil as per requirement
- 2 tbsp. gram flour (besan) or rice flour
- Bread crumbs
Chutney:
- Coriander leaves for chutney – a handful
- ½ cup mint leaves
- 1 tbsp. fried grams
- Salt to taste
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- 2 green chillies
- ¼ inch ginger
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
How to prepare:
- Boil the vegetables and drain any excess water/moisture in it.
- Mash them well and add salt, bread crumbs, ginger and chillies to it. The bread crumbs will help make the mix non-sticky.
- Make patties with this mix and set aside.
- Make a thin batter of rice flour or gram flour (besan) with water.
- Dip each patty in this batter and then place each side on the bread crumbs.
- Heat oil on a skillet.
- Shallow fry each side of the patty till it becomes golden-brown. You can, alternatively, bake the patty in a traditional oven.
Green chutney:
- Blend the coriander leaves, mint leaves and fried gram with the other ingredients in water.
- Serve with hot vegetable cutlets.
Suggestions:
- You can also add vegetables like cauliflower for the filling.
- To reduce the absorption of oil while frying, ensure that you completely drain out all the water from the vegetables.
- Keep the flame on medium. Low flame takes too long, and the high flame burns the patties.
2. Fruit salad with chat masala
You can make this healthy snack for kids at home or for school. It only takes a few minutes if you have the fruits available in your refrigerator.
Ingredients:
- Your choice of cut fruits – apples, bananas, litchis, pineapples, oranges, grapes, mangoes, papaya and watermelons
- Nuts like walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, cashew nuts, and pistachios
- Chaat masala
- Black salt
- Pepper
- Salt, if preferred
How to prepare:
- Cut and mix the fruits. You can also add some nuts like almonds, pistachio and walnuts.
- Sprinkle some chaat masala to it.
- You can also add black salt and pepper to suit your kids’ taste buds.
This nutritious snack is useful as a home and school snack for kids.
Suggestions:
- Kids might like to eat this with a toothpick, though it would be a challenge to eat the nuts!
- Choose fruits that are in season so you offer the choicest and healthiest of them to your kids. Come summer – mangoes, plums and grapes will be in season.
- Present this ‘rainbow in a cup’ recipe in a glass dessert bowl and it will enchant them!
3. Dates and nuts laddoo
Ingredients:
- 1 cup dates
- 1 tbsp. ghee
- ½ cup almonds
- ½ cup cashew nuts
- 2 tbsp. raisins or dry grapes
- ½ cup dry coconut (optional)
How to prepare:
- Blend seedless dates to a coarse paste and keep aside. Do not add water to it.
- Warm the ghee and add finely chopped nuts and coconut to it.
- Roast on a low flame for about 5 minutes, till the nuts are crunchy.
- Add the dates paste to it and continue roasting till the dates release some oil.
- Turn off the flame and allow the mixture to cool for a few minutes.
- While it is still warm, make round balls (laddoos).
This mouth-watering recipe has all the dry fruits and nuts your kids need to complete their nutritional requirement for a meal. It is also an ideal school snack for kids.
Suggestions:
You can also add apricots or figs to the dates to pack in more nutrients to this recipe.
4. Moong dal sprouts salad (split moong beans)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup moong daledients:
- ½ cup Cucumber
- ¼ cup Carrots
- 2 chopped tomatoes
- 1 Green chilli
- Salt to taste
- 1 Lemon
How to prepare:
- Rinse the moong dal to clean it.
- Keep it in a bowl and add about 3 cups of water to it.
- Soak it for 6-12 hours.
- Drain the water and keep the moong dal in a dark place.
- Once it sprouts as much as you want it to, your sprouts are ready.
- You can add cucumber, carrot, tomatoes, green chillies and salt to it.
- Squeeze lemon over it, toss it and it is ready-to-eat!
Suggestions:
- Rinsing the dal removes any toxins, metals and soils that may be stuck to it.
- In hot and humid climates, moong dal sprouts faster than in cold climates.
- This recipe is rich in proteins and can act as a side dish for flat breads (rotis) a great and healthy snack for kids at school.
Tips while serving to kids:
- Present the food in an attractive way. Children love to imagine and play with their food – Mickey Mouse dosas or salad islands can spark their imagination and spur their taste buds.
- Use attractive cutlery to interest them in its contents. For instance, use a glass bowl for fruit salad and tall glasses for smoothies – these accentuate the color of the food in them.
- Use seasonal fruits and vegetables in your spreads to ensure that the food is fresh and does not contain preservatives.
5. Masala idlis (rice cake)
Ingredients:
- 5-6 Idlis (rice cakes) chopped to small pieces
- 2 chopped tomatoes
- A pinch of asafoetida (hing)
- 2 green chillies cut to small pieces
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 10-12 curry leaves
- 2-3 tbsp. water
- 2 tbsp. ghee
- ½ tbsp. coriander leaves
- Salt to taste
How to prepare:
- Warm the ghee and add mustard seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves to it.
- Once the mustard seeds pop, add the green chillies, tomatoes and salt to it.
- Add some water to the mix and allow it to be completely absorbed. Keep aside.
- In a pan, add the chopped idlis and pour the masala mix to it and stir for a few minutes.
- Turn off the flame and add coriander leaves to it.
Your yummy and healthy snack for kids is ready-to-eat!
Suggestions:
You can skip adding salt to the masala if you want to reduce salt consumption. The idli will already have some amount of salt.
6. Beaten rice with jaggery and boiled milk
Ingredients:
- 4 tbsp. thick beaten rice (poha)
- 2-3 tbsp. grated jaggery
- 1-2 glasses of milk
How to prepare:
- Boil the milk.
- Add about 4 tbsp. of thick beaten rice (poha) to it and allow the milk to be absorbed. This may take about 10-20 minutes depending on the thickness of the beaten rice.
- Grate some jaggery and mix it.
This simple snack for kids is both easy to make and filling, and will keep the kids going until dinner time!
REMEMBER!
What the children enjoy is a reflection of your tastes and habits. If you regularly feed them pizzas, burgers, cakes and French fries, that is all they will crave for. If you serve delicious and healthy snacks regularly, your kids will thank you for your caring and nutritious choices in the future. After all, anything homemade beats processed foods.
7. Fruit smoothies
Ingredients:
- 2-3 frozen banana peeled and sliced
- 1 cup frozen strawberries
- 2-3 tbsp. honey
- Water
How to prepare:
- Blend all the ingredients in a blender.
- Add water, if you prefer a more dilute smoothie.
Suggestions:
- You can make mango smoothies (mango, honey and water) or blueberries smoothies (blueberries, black berries and strawberries with water) as well. Mix and match fruits according to your taste and the season.
- Use raspberries or cherries instead of strawberries, if you like.
- If you like your smoothie thick, don’t add water.
- Mix different fruits to get a colorful smoothie that attracts the kids.
- Present in a tall glass with a colorful straw and hat and you will have the kids smacking their lips!
So the next time they say “I’m hungry!” don’t exclaim, “Wait, didn’t we JUST have lunch?!” Try and introduce these traditional snacks with modern twists to your kids instead. After all, these tasty and healthy snacks for kids contain their favorite ingredients. The recipes are quick and simple and will cater to the capricious tongues of the young, growing tummies.
If you liked these recipes, you might enjoy exploring healthier cooking options with Ayurveda. The rich array of natural and fresh food choices in Ayurvedic cooking can add a wide variety of menus to your daily spread.
