Home-made summer delights your kids are sure to devour

Kids, specially toddlers are fussy eaters. They want variety, and they want their food to always taste delicious! As parents, our constant endeavour is to ensure that our children get all the nutrition in their daily diet, and stay as far away from refined (like sugar, all-purpose flour, etc) foods as possible.

But as parents, we are well aware of the odd-hour-snack-cravings and the constant munching-on-store-bought-biscuits syndrome all kids go through; which pricks our conscience to no extent! Even if these packaged items are from reputed children’s brands that ensures the highest standards of quality, the fact of the matter remains that they cannot ever be 100% free from preservatives.

What if we were to tell you that making super healthy and tasty snacks is easy and doable with ingredients you probably have lying around in your kitchen cupboards, right now?!

True Story…

Let’s get you started with some healthy yet tasty home-made snack recipes for the summer holidays.

1. Fruit and Veggie Popsicles

They’re so easy and so delicious- that your picky eater will ask you to make them every single day! Luckily you can sneak nutrition into them, without compromising on taste.

Here’s what you need to make 10 of these yum popsicles:

Ingredients
2 cups of frozen strawberries and green grapes
1 ½ cups of almond or soy milk
1 packed cup of spinach and rocket leaves
1 small orange peeled
2 small ripe bananas

Preparation
Take the frozen fruits with 1 cup of the plant based milk, add it to the blender until smooth and set aside
Next, wash the greens very well and make sure there is no dirt remaining on them
Add to the blender the spinach/rocket leaves along with the deseeded orange, banana and ½ a cup of the plant based milk. Blend it all together until smooth and set aside
In a popsicle mould, pour the strawberry-grape mixture first and then top it off with the spinach-fruit mixture. Fill ten such moulds
Let the popsicles freeze for a minimum of 3 to 4 hours
That’s it…ten gorgeous shaded deliciousness are ready to be devoured! You can try the same popsicles with orange and carrot combinations as well!

2. Vegan Gummy Bears

You read that right! We’ve got a super easy, vegan and healthy gummy bear recipe for you. Let’s call it conscious candy indulgence, shall we?

Here’s what you need to make 200 of these yummy nuggets of sweetness

Ingredients
1 cup fruit juice (we highly recommend using fresh juice. You could make the juice using oranges, carrots and apples. But remember to strain the juice with a muslin cloth)
2 teaspoons of agar agar powder not flakes
2 to 3 tablespoons of honey

Preparation
In a saucepan, place the juice, honey and agar agar powder and bring to a boil. Allow it to continue to boil for another 2 to 3 minutes
Turn off the heat and let it cool down
Place your gummy bear mould on a tray and use a dropper to fill the bears with the juice mixture. If you don’t have a gummy bear mould, don’t worry. Instead use a square cake tray and pour in the mixture till about 1cm thick
Place the gummy bear tray or square tray in the refrigerator and let it cool for 20 minutes
Pop the yummy gummies out of the mould and enjoy. Alternatively use a sharp knife to cut small squares of the firm jelly on the square tray and store in a glass container
That’s it, enjoy the delicious and healthy treats! They should last up to a week, however, they must always be stored in the refrigerator.

3. Dried Cherry Seed Crisps

This crispy deliciousness, will be loved by you too! Thankfully you can make a couple of dozens in one go itself. They make great evening snacks for the kids and are great accompaniments with tea and coffee!

Here’s what you need to made 6 Dozen of these crunchy snack:

Ingredients
2 cups of whole wheat flour
¼ cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
½ teaspoon of Kosher salt
2 cups of buttermilk
¼ cup honey (though maple syrup is tastier)
1 cup dried cherries
1 cup of mixed seeds (pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame and flaxseeds)

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
In a large bowl, mix together the buttermilk and honey. In a second bowl mix the dry ingredients - flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients mixture
Once mixed well; fold in the cherries and the seeds as well
In a greased and lined loaf pan (used for baking breads); pour the mixture
Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown
Turn off the oven and let the loaf sit for 10 minutes. Then take it out and let it cool down completely (overnight, is preferable)
Reheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit
Cut the loaf to form thin slices. The thinner they are the crispier they’ll be
Place the slices on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes or till bark brown
Once done, let them cool off completely before consuming
Store these treats in a cool dry container for up to two weeks and enjoy daily!

4. Ragi Banana Pancakes

Okay, I have a confession to make… these are so easy and so delicious that every time I make them for my children I end up eating a fair share of them too! They’re super healthy and an absolute hit with the kids.

Here’s what you need to make 4 of these super scrumptious and eggless Ragi pancakes:

Ingredients
1 ripe banana
½ cup ragi flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons of butter
Warm milk to bind the batter

Preparation
Peel and mash the banana with a fork
Sieve the two flours into a bowl
Add the mashed banana to the flour mixture and mix well
Add a spoonful or two of milk to give the mixture a liquid consistency
In a non-stick add 1 tablespoon of butter. When it melts, add two large dollops of the pancake batter onto it and spread it to make a neat circle (Be careful not to make it too thin, you don’t want it to get too crisp)
Cover the pan and let the pancake cook for about a minute. After a minute or two, open the lid and flip the pancake to allow it to cook on the other side as well
Your pancakes are cooked and ready to be served! Use the remaining one tablespoon of butter to drizzle on top of the pancake. Serve with honey and fruits and enjoy!

These are a few of our personal favourite tried and tested recipes for mommies and babies to enjoy… guilt free. Try them out today and let us how they turned out!