angathome

I do not remember why the children are eating cereal in their PJ's on the floor! There must have been a reason at the time!

My children have bottomless stomachs in the morning. It seems like the last bite of breakfast has only just disappeared when someone will be asking me “What’s for morning tea, Mum?” By the time I have planned breakfast, lunch and dinner meals, It’s a real stretch to think of snack ideas on top of that. They are however, very important to the short people I live with and they have failed to catch on to my preferred method of simply having an early lunch. Besides that, the general happiness level drops dramatically and seems to be inversely related to the hunger levels, particularly with the toddlers and girls in the family.

So, this brings me to today’s quest to make a list of healthy, low sugar snacks that don’t fill them up too much and take very little time and effort to prepare. I don’t mind putting in a little preparation ahead of time if they can be kept in the fridge or pantry and simply dished out as the children head outside to play. Even better if one of the older children can get them out for me as I am usually feeding a baby at this time. Otherwise, it’s got to be nothing more taxing than spreading a little peanut butter or it just won’t happen.

I would love to hear your ideas so please leave a comment. Fresh inspiration from other Mothers is always appreciated. Here’s my list so far:

• savoury cheese crackers (recipe below)
• celery boats (celery with peanut/nut butter and sultana sailors or cream cheese)
• apple slices spread with peanut/nut butter and pressed into sesame (or other) seeds
• juice pops
• pikelets (I make a huge batch and freeze them in packs of 6. They heat up beautifully in the toaster if I’ve forgotten to defrost them. Nan’s recipe below.)
• mini muffins (fruit based or savoury cheese and chives etc. I try to have a stash in the freezer already sorted into bags of 6 to whip out on the spot.)
• mini cheese, pumpkin or plain  scones from bisquick mixture. (Baked ahead and frozen.)
• banana and apricot bliss bombs (recipe below)
• bliss balls (I haven’t tried these yet but they are on my “to do” list. They seem very healthy and it says they can be frozen.)
• lettuce leaves spread with peanut butter, sprinkled with sultanas and rolled up. (Tastes better than it sounds!)
• crackers with nut butter, cheese, Vegemite etc.
• sugar free 4 ingredient banana oat bars
• fruit salad, fruit kebabs or just plain ol’ fruit
• veggie sticks (crudites) and dip (I love this and so do the older children but the toddlers don’t do carrot and celery sticks so well just yet! I refuse to serve 2 different snacks so this is out for now.)
• trail mix (We can’t serve this as the toddlers can’t eat the whole nuts and certain other children’s tummies can’t handle too much dried fruit.)
• air popped popcorn (We were given a popcorn maker as a wedding gift and at the time thought it a very strange present. It mouldered away in the back of the cupboards for many a year until we had a gang of children who loved to scoff popcorn. All of a sudden it became one of our favourite machines. Glad we kept it!)
• plain rice cakes with avocado, Vegemite, nut butters, cream cheese, cheddar cheese etc.
• toothpick with cheese and pineapple or olives and cheese
• milk shakes
• yoghurt (I use natural with fruit puree stirred through and maybe a dash of honey.)

Savoury Cheese Crackers
250gms tasty cheese
¼ cup butter
1 ½ cups sifted flour
Optional: (In dough) ¼ tspn pepper or chili powder, taco seasoning, pizza herbs, vinegar (salt and vinegar) plain or seasoning salt to sprinkle

 Cream cheese and butter in food processor.
 Add flour gradually and optional flavours.
 Pack dough into a ball (it will be crumbly)
 Divide dough into 3 parts and shape into logs about 3 cm in diameter.
 Wrap each log in waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
 Slice into very thin wafers, sprinkle with seasoning if using and bake at 180 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden.

Source: adapted from Recipe Zaar #108486

Banana & Apricot bliss bombs
2 soft bananas – mashed
8 dried apricots – chopped
1 cup coconut
2 tblspns ricotta/cottage cheese.
 Mix all ingredients.
 Roll into balls and coat in coconut.
 Refrigerate until firm.

Nan’s Pikelets
1 c SR flour (or plain flour plus baking powder)
½ cup soured milk (add 1 tblspn lemon juice and let sit for 15 mins)
3 tblspns sugar
1 egg
1 rounded tblspn melted butter

 Sift dry ingredients and mix wet.
 Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry, beating with a wooden spoon as you go.
 Cook spoonfuls in buttered frypan over med heat.

Filed under: Recipes, food and hospitality | Tagged: healthy snacks, low sugar snacks, managing large families, menu planning, morning tea, no sugar snacks for children, quick snack ideas, savoury snacks |