Continuing a theme: Snack Boxes

[Nikkikf]

Evening,

As there have been a few useful posts on sandwich fillers and recipes, I thought I'd post about my own bug bear, snak boxes!

My 4 yr old has lunch at school but we provide a mid morning snack. No nuts, yoghurt, unhealthy choices.

So far I tend to opt for:

Smaller lock n lock with various berries/ grapes plus cheese e.g. Babybel plus cereal bar

Variations include small apple or pear and satsuma, organix biccies or similar, dried fruit

? but beyond that I am out of easy ideas.

Any tips?

Thanks!!

[Fuschia]

CArrot sticks, sliced pepper, Hummous or soft cheese dip, rice cakes, oatcakes... Cheese scone

Mini pizza on small pitta

Frittata

[Knomester]

Agree with all of Fuschia's suggestions!

Also fritters are great as they travel well and are just as good eaten cold (e.g. sweetcorn fritters, courgette & cheese, pea and feta, spiced carrot & spinach, etc). In the same way, little falafel or patties (sweet potato & chickpea or spicy beans) work quite well. They can all be made in advance in bulk and then frozen.

To vary cheese scones you could try adding grated root veg (e.g celeriac) and spring onions or some herbs. They also freeze really well and can be defrosted quickly in the microwave.

Savoury muffins or mini muffins?

Cheese biscuits are an alternative to the organix biscuits you mention. You can make and freeze the dough and then slice off as many as you need and bake them fresh the night before.

You can also make flapjacks without any added sugar or sweetener using bananas and pureed dried fruit for example. Would they pass the 'no unhealthy choices' rule?

[nikki73]

Nikkikf we have the same problem. Not very original but I also give cucumber sticks and bread sticks. As a treat we use the cheese dipper but they are probably very unhealthy. Popcorn?

Knomester I am always amazed by your recipe ideas. They always sound yummy and healthy. Would love to know where you get your recipe ideas from. Flapjacks and fritters sound great for lunchboxes and tempting my fussy eater. Am going back to work soon. Are these quick to make?

[Knomester]

Thanks nikki73. My recipe ideas come out of my head!

Fritters are super quick and easy to make. If you send me your email address by PM I'd be happy to email you a basic recipe. I've not got my sugar free flapjack recipe to hand because I've been working on improving it, but I should have it ready in a couple of weeks.

Plain popcorn is a favourite snack in our house too, I'm just never sure how filling it is unless eaten in huge quantities! Keeps my toddler occupied for ages though so I'll be packing a bag of it to take on our train journey up north tomorrow...

[LauraHW]

Would you be able to send me the recicpe for fritters too? Sound lovely!

Many thanks

[Saffron]

No nuts, but seeds ok? Pumpkin seeds + sultanas + dried cherries. Feta cubes, possibly coated in sesame seeds if feta is too "wet". Pitted olives. Slices of salami/chorizo, or Quorn sausages if you're a veggie. Raw or parboiled baby corn. Ella's pouches of apple sauce. Plain cornchips (not too unhealthy?). Little squares of eggy bread, sweet or savoury.

This thread is making me hungry.

[Aoife]

Hi knomester can I please have your sugar free flapjack recipe too if that's not too cheeky?! Sounds perfect for a bored little boy and would satisfy the "doesn't look like a cake so won't eat it" problem!

[Helen GV]

Could you post it on here...? :0)

[Knomester]

Sorry...away for the weekend at my parents' with Baby Knomester! I'll post fritter recipes next week. My flapjack recipe needs some more work, but I have a link to one that should be OK at home so will dig out and post it on here when I'm back in ED.

[Nikkikf]

This is amazing, thanks everyone - and Knomester can you be my mum?!

[Knomester]

Sweetcorn Fritter Recipe (can be adapted to use other veg)

(makes approximately 25 mini or 10 large sweetcorn fritters)

Ingredients

325g tin naturally sweet sweetcorn (no added sugar or salt) or equivalent of frozen sweetcorn, defrosted

2 tbsp self raising flour

1 egg

1 tbsp whole milk

vegetable oil (for frying)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Drain and rinse the sweetcorn.

Put the flour, egg and milk into a mixing bowl. Blitz together with handheld stick blender to form a thick batter. Add approximately half of the drained sweetcorn and blitz again until the sweetcorn is mixed into the batter.

Add the remaining whole sweetcorn kernels to the batter and mix well using a spoon.

Heat the frying pan over a medium heat. Add a little oil (enough to lightly coat the surface of the pan). Drop a teaspoonful of the batter into the frying pan and then repeat until you have filled the pan (for bigger fritters try using a dessert spoon as a measure). Fry for approximately 1-2 minutes on each side until the fritters are golden brown. Repeat the process until you have used up all of the batter. You may need to add more oil to the pan for each batch.

Transfer the cooked fritters to a baking tray and put them into the oven for 5-10 minutes (depending on the size of the fritters) to ensure that the egg is cooked through.

Transfer to a wire cooling rack and leave to cool.

Once cool, the fritters can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for 24 hours or transferred to a freezer bag / plastic tub and frozen. To reheat, either place on a baking tray and bake at 180 C for approximately 5 minutes or heat from frozen in the microwave on full power for 10-20 seconds until heated through.

Tips

- If you are making these fritters for a baby who is only just being introduced to finger foods you could blitz all of the sweetcorn into the batter rather than leave half of the kernels whole.

- You can make these fritters in any size you like. The mini ones are great for snacks when you're out and about or topped with mashed avocado or cream cheese for tea. Or try making bigger ones for babies and toddlers who like to feed themselves at teatime or to share as a family (we like them served with a chunky avocado, tomato & chilli salsa salad!).

[Knomester]

I can't find the sugar free flapjack recipe I came across recently, so I'll just have to get my apron on over the next week or so to test my recipe again! I'll try to post it soon...

[nikki73]

yummy thanks Knomester!

[Pickle]

Mmmm, that's lunch for me and mini Pickle sorted for tomorrow!