Healthy Recipes for Kids with Nuts and Dryfruits

 

Even though not every parent count calorie, we still choose to provide our children with healthy portions. The following are a few recipes and pointers that helped me successfully incorporate seeds, nuts, and dry fruits into my child's diet. After they have been tested to ensure that the kids do not have any allergies to any of the ingredients, give these recipes a try.

 Nuts Powder:

Recipe: Take a handful of each nut—almonds, cashews, pistachios, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, and flax seeds—and roast them after being air dried, soaked for 12 hours (for almonds, about 4 hours), and soaked for 12 hours. The addition of dried ginger or cardamom to this is up to you. Save them in an airtight container after grinding in pulse mode. For two weeks, you can use this.

We can sprinkle it on anything—pancake batter, porridge, curry leaves powder, etc.—but some kids prefer it on sweet dishes like pancakes, sweets, and dumplings only.

Notes:

• Taking a handful of each nut will result in a larger volume when ground. However, we can only add two teaspoons to any recipe to preserve the original flavor and store it for two weeks, so be mindful of how much you make. 
• The nuts will release oil and the powder's consistency will be altered if they are not ground in pulse mode or for a brief period of time.
•  This is a key ingredient that can be sprinkled on many dishes to go green on the health meter, but it is neither a recipe nor a flavor by itself.

 Nuts Balls:

Recipe: The primary ingredient can be roasted gram, green gram, peanut, sesame, or a combination of these. Take 1 cup of it.3/4 cup of Brown sugar, a Pinch of cardamom, and cinnamon powder. Ground them together and sieve them. If you are adding both Peanut and sesame, then ground them separately and add them. Add ½ cup of Nuts powder and mix the dry ingredients well. Melt ½ cup ghee, add them in portions, and roll the dry ingredients with ghee into balls, once cooled store them. 

Notes:

• If you're using peanuts or green grams, roast them thoroughly until a pleasant aroma develops.
•  Although dates can be used in place of brown sugar, dates have a stronger flavor.
•  Shredded roasted coconut can be added if the food is kept for less than two days.

 Wheat Banana cake:

Ingredients: Smashed or ground two ripe bananas. 1/4 cup warm milk, 1 egg (optional), 2 drops vanilla essence, 1/4 cup wheat flour, 1/4 cup nuts powder, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 cup room temperature butter, a pinch of cardamom and cinnamon powder

Recipe: Whisk the brown sugar and butter together, then add the milk, vanilla extract, and egg. Separately, mix the dry ingredients and add them to the sugar mixture, and continue to whisk for five minutes. Transfer to a butter-coated baking tray. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees C), then top with raisins and chopped walnuts. These are also baked as muffins.

 

  Notes:

• A good choice is a red banana.
•  Freshly baked cake served warm tastes better

 Multigrain Flour cookies:

Recipe: Beat together ¾ cup brown sugar and ½ cup butter, add 50 ml milk, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence.  Mix 1 cup multigrain flour,1/4 cup wheat flour, 1/2 cup nuts powder, a pinch of cinnamon powder, salt, and 1 teaspoon of baking powder as dry ingredients separately and add it to the sugar mixture and knead the dough to a soft consistency. Roll and cut into shapes. Bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes at 180° C.

 Delicious Combinations:

 After getting to know the health benefits, I was curious to try all sorts of recipes where I can include nuts and dry fruits, but trying to include everything in everything was a big flop. A few combinations that go well are mentioned below:

• For milkshakes, pancakes, cakes, or pudding using apples; almonds and cashews makes a good choice.
•  For Banana based recipes, walnut topping is a good combination.
•  Walnut when grounded gives a very dominant flavor that not many might appreciate, so walnut tastes best when chopped.
•  Dates can be substituted as a sweetener in milkshakes and juices.
•  Purines, figs, and raisins are good in savory dishes to give that dash of sweet and sour taste.

 Dry fruits to decorate fruit salad.

 Please try these recipes as well as more creative options. If you have questions about why, how, and when to introduce dry fruits, nuts, and seeds to children, please read this blog, "Why do kids need nuts and dry fruits" and return to these recipes.

Parents having a constant battle to make kids eat healthily will never yield well on both sides. Kids should be thought to have balanced limitations or carving for food so that they can settle down to eat right as part of their lifestyle. If most of the food options exposed to kids are healthy then food and eating will not be the only topic for both parents and kids, they definitely will have better topics to chat about or argue about.