Be a snack hero, with these healthy, "hidden veggie" treats!

Be the snack hero of your house whilst loading hidden veggies into your kid’s snacks for the school holidays.

School holidays are just around the corner and you just know that means…a never ending chorus of “I’m hungry”, “can I have a snack”, “I am STARVING”, “What’s there to eat”. Let us help you get one step ahead with a heap of recipes for HEALTHY snack options you can prepare in advance, with heaps of hidden goodies in them. It’s a total win! What appears to be a treat are jam packed with nutritious hidden gems! Kids love veggies? Cool, these recipes are easy enough for them to get involved too!

Here’s a few of our favourites;

Carrot Bliss balls

Ingredients

• 3 medium carrots

• 1 Cup oats

• 1 Cup sunflower seeds

• ½ Cup dates

• 1 TBSP coconut oil or other light flavoured oil

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• ½ tsp  ginger dried

• Desiccated coconut for rolling

Method

1. Place carrots in a sturdy food processor and blitz until very finely chopped

2. Add remaining ingredients, excluding the desiccated coconut and blitz until the mixture comes together into a large ball. This may take some time, 5 or so minutes of blitzing but be patient it will get there.

3. Using a teaspoon form balls, the mixture will be quite sticky (because of the water content of the fresh carrot) , but the texture improves once you roll in coconut. If yuo keep your hands damp it stops the mix sticking to your fingers, Get the kids involved they will love the mess

4. Roll the balls in desiccated coconut (You don't have to however you could leave some coconut free)

5. Refrigerate 

Zucchini Double Chocolate Muffins (Grain Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free)

Ingredients

• 2 cups ground almond (almond meal) or Coconut flour

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• ⅓ cup cocoa

• 100g banana (1 medium)

• 2 eggs

• ¼ cup coconut oil

• ¼ cup maple syrup

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1 ½ tsp baking soda

• 150g (2 medium zucchini)

• ¼ cup dark chocolate chips

Method

1. Prepare a muffin tray, you can either use paper muffin liners or grease a muffin tin

2. Take out 2 mixing bowls

3. In the first mixing bowl add the almond, cinnamon and cocoa (you can also add a grind of salt at this point), mix these so that they are evenly distributed

4. In the second bowl, place the banana and give it a good mash with a fork

5. Add the eggs, oil, maple syrup, vanilla and baking soda, use a whisk to beat all these ingredients together

6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix to combine

7. Grate the zucchini, give the grated zucchini a good squeeze over your sink so that most of the liquid comes out

8. Fold the squeezed grated zucchini into the muffin batter

9. Portion the muffin mix into the muffin tray, I typically get 9-10 muffins out of this mixture

10. Sprinkle with chocolate chips/drops

11. Bake in a 180 degree Celsius oven for 20 mins (160 degrees Celsius if fan forced) check readiness with a toothpick, it should come out clean

Rainbow Rice Paper Rolls

Ingredients

• 50g rice vermicelli noodles

• 1 carrot, peeled and grated

• 1 avocado, peeled and destoned

• ¼ cucumber

• 1 cup shredded red cabbage

• 8 rice paper wraps

• 8 king prawns, peeled

• 8 mint leaves

• ½ cooked chicken breast, shredded

• sweet chilli sauce and/or coco aminos/tamari, to serve

Method

1. Put the noodles in a pan of water and bring to the boil, simmer for 3 mins, then cool under running water. Drain thoroughly.

2. Shred the red cabbage in to thin slices and grate the carrot. Cut the avocado into strips and the cucumber into thin sticks.

3. Soak 2 of the rice paper wraps in cold water for 1-2 mins until floppy.

4. Lift 1 sheet of rice paper out of the water, shake gently, then lay it carefully on a board. Place 2 prawns in the centre, with a mint leaf between them. Add a strip of avocado, pile some noodles on top, then add a layer of carrot and cucumber. Fold the bottom half of the rice paper over, then fold the sides in and tightly roll it up. Repeat using the second wrapper and soak 2 more to make 2 more rolls.

5. Make the rest of the rolls up using the remaining 4 wraps and the shredded chicken instead of prawns. Serve the rolls with the sweet chilli sauce for dipping.

Wheat Free Pumpkin Pikelets 

Ingredients

• 1 Cup cubed cooked pumpkin or butternut squash (150g)

• ½ Cup cottage cheese or Greek style yoghurt (140g)

• 1 Egg

• ½ Cup rolled oats (70g)

• 1 Tbsp maple syrup or honey

• ½ tsp cinnamon

• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger

• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

• Vanilla essence

Method

1. Put all ingredients in a food processor and whizz until smooth
2. Heat a heavy based pan on a medium to low heat
3. Lightly grease
4. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the pan
5. Wait for bubbles to appear on the surface and then flip
6. Cook until golden on both sides

Serve with greek yoghurt and your favourite fruit combination. They can be decorated to look like a mini fruit pizza. 

Credit: A big thank you for the inspiration!
Recipes from https://mykidslickthebowl.com/