Healthy nibbling and snacking: 7 delicious ideas for families including a menu template

Christmas wasn't long ago and many of us, whether parents or children, have certainly consumed more than enough not so healthy stuff in the last few months. Eating healthier is therefore pretty high on the list of New Year's resolutions for many of us every year. In addition, the reputation of industrial sugar is getting worse every year ... Dark times for those with a sweet tooth. No, the latter is of course nonsense! Because even without refined sugar and other not necessarily healthy ingredients, you can indulge in delicious food, regardless of whether it is sweet or savory. To make things even easier for you this year, we asked Kleine Prints founder Eva Malawska, a self-confessed foodie, to tell us about her favorite healthy snacks and sweets.

Healthy snacking: Eva's favorite tips

The classic healthy snacks are, of course, fruit and raw vegetables, that's for sure, and in my opinion they shouldn't be missing in everyday family life. However, these classics are a hundred times more popular with our little Schietbüdeln and are apparently much more eaten when they are nicely decorated, for example in the form of funny faces and the like. That doesn't really cost more time when chopping and is a great pleasure for the little ones. If you would like some suggestions, take a look at our Pinterest board "Small meal" past. Incidentally, the decoration does not only work with fruit and vegetables, we recently had proof of it at home again. We made pizza and designed the topping in the shape of faces - it felt like Lotta ate twice as much as usual!

Energy balls

Healthy, tasty energy balls without industrial sugar & Co. are now available in many places. But you can also prepare them yourself, which is definitely cheaper. You can also try out great own creations. This is my current, self-made favorite recipe: Cocoa-Coconut Energy Balls For approx. 25 pieces Preparation time: 15 minutes 10 dates 200 g almonds or cashews (please mix) 1–2 tablespoons raw cocoa powder 2 tablespoons coconut flakes + more to coat 1 pinch (Himalaya -) Salt preparation: Put all ingredients in a high-performance mixer or food processor and mix into a slightly crumbly mass. Form small balls and roll them in coconut flakes. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes and then ... just enjoy! The balls can be kept in a sealed container in the refrigerator for several weeks. Strangely enough, they disappeared the next day at the latest;) Extra tips for this recipe: Medjoul dates are simply the best! After cocoa nibs, raw cocoa powder, slightly de-oiled, has the best quality. For us, mixing works best in the food processor (magimix), the Kitchen Aid Blender doesn't work that way.

Mini croissants with apple wedges

The Mini croissants based on Veronika's recipe (Carrots for Claire) are one of the absolute snack sellers at home. Lotta loves her more than anything and would like to eat her every day. The croissants are very tasty and not too sweet, a heartfelt recommendation for you!

Homemade granola bars

Like so many things, you can easily prepare muesli bars yourself as a delicious, healthy snack. While the standard variants in the supermarket often come across as sugar bombs and probably do little for your health, you can prepare real powerhouses at home that give your body energy and also taste really great. This great recipe I discovered it at Heavenlynn Healthy, for example.

Homemade smoothies

Homemade smoothies are a great snack, whether at home or on the go. With a suitable machine, you can easily prepare shakes and smoothies from your favorite ingredients. Incidentally, this is also a great way to use leftovers for slightly older fruit and vegetables that you didn't manage to eat. When mixing smoothies, you can be very creative and develop your own favorite recipes or great recipes such as this one from Project: Healthy Living use.

Insider tip: frozen peas

I got to know this "insider tip" during my time as an au pair in the USA: If the preparation of the meal still takes a while and your child is already hungry and maybe even starts nagging, frozen peas are guaranteed to save you! Hard to believe, but true. Because even children, who are otherwise absolute vegetable haters, love frozen peas because they somehow taste like ice cream. Our daughter Lotta also likes to eat a small bowl full of frozen peas when she's hungry before dinner. I always find this amazing, but the frozen peas really seem to be extremely popular with a lot of children! Give it a try. Tomato paste is just as good for snacking on your fingertips!

Make healthy ice cream yourself

From the frozen peas over to "real" ice cream. Of course, that also works in suuuper delicious and healthy. For example, you can easily put your homemade smoothie in silicone molds and freeze it. We often do that when there is some leftover smoothie at breakfast. Put it into the mold quickly, put it in the freezer and you'll have a delicious smoothie ice cream on a stick in the afternoon. Without industrial sugar, but mega yummy and healthy.

More delicious recipes for healthy nibbling and snacking

Apart from these tips, there are of course also ours Favorite family food blogs always great ideas and recipes for snacks and sweets. So be sure to stop by there. Small addition: The different ones Brownies from Delisciously Ella are an absolute dream!

Bonus for you: stylish menu form with shopping list

A healthy diet is easier and often cheaper if you plan for it on a weekly basis and don't have to run off and buy ingredients every day. And because everything is even more fun when it looks nice, Eva has just designed a really stylish menu form for you. You can easily do this without registering download here. The Kleine Prints team wishes you a lot of fun with it and above all: good appetite!

Would you like more great stories about the colorful life with children?

Every two weeks Eva sends out our newsletter, the "Kleine Sonntagspost". In it you will always get great ideas and stories about the photo-loving, beautiful, exciting, chaotic life with children. Sign up now and secure beautiful stories for your e-mail inbox. We look forward to you!



Photo credits: 1) Aldyth Moyla via unsplash.com 2) Jamie Street via unsplash.com 3) Eva Malawska 4) Elizabeth Lies via unsplash.com 5) Vitchakorn Koonyosying via unsplash.com 6) & 7) Eva Malawska