Kids are notoriously difficult to please. They need food that is both tasty and healthy. No matter how nutritious the snack is that you’ve spent ages in the kitchen to prepare, if it doesn’t appeal to them, all your hard work goes to waste!

Read on below to get inspired with ideas that will help you boost your child’s health and captivate their taste buds at the same time! Also know how to eat healthy on a low budget.

French Toast (Eggy Bread) and Stewed Apples

This is a spicy, sweet and delicious snack that your kids will love. It is made from ingredients easily available at home. It can be made from leftover bread and is called “pain perdu” in French, meaning “lost loaf.” It’s great because it is really easy to make and tastes heavenly!

The preparation is similar to the common french toast we make and eat. There are a few tricks to make this dish really stand out. For example,

• Use slightly stale bread, like 5-day old bread. Fresh bread absorbs too much egg and becomes soggy when fried. We need the fried bread to be crisp. 

• Though apples are the natural choice, this recipe will work with any fruit you have in case apples aren’t available.

The ingredients that are generally needed to make this dish are bread, apples, a knob of butter, eggs, cinnamon powder, sugar, icing sugar for garnishing, milk, water and cooking oil.

Baked Beans with Potato Cakes

Deliciously light potato cakes. A modern kid-friendly twist on the classic bacon and beans most of us have enjoyed in our childhood. The ingredients you will need to make this treat are shredded pork, seasoning (salt and pepper), cooking oil, red chilli, garlic, onions, raw sugar, cider vinegar, tomatoes, white beans, potatoes, a knob of butter, flour and some olive oil.

The preparation is simple enough. The pork is cooked first in oil and condiments. The beans are added in with pureed tomatoes. The potatoes are mashed, doughed and fried to make cakes. The pork and beans are then portioned on top of the cakes.

Fish Fingers with a Chip Butty

Tasty convenience food at its best, yet hygienic, wholesome and nourishing. Simple to make, yet tastes amazing. To make this, get hold of some potatoes, paprika, cooking oil, seasoning, flour, eggs, dill, breadcrumbs, a knob of butter, bread and fish.

Dial up the wow factor of this simple and tasty dish by paying attention to the following:

• Use fresh fish. The freshest you can get your hands on. Like those at Jim’s Fresh. Use 250 grams of any fish of your choice, for example Pollock.

• Put the fish on a plate and lightly salt them. It is a good idea to do this 20-30 minutes before starting to cook them. It firms up the fish beautifully and allows it to become more durable, specially in the pan.

• After coating the fish batons thoroughly in seasoned flour, roll them in your hands to get rid of the sharp corners so they don’t burn in the pan.

For the chip butty:

• The bread should have a nice and thick crust. Also, it should be cut into thick slices.

• When retrieving the baking tray from the oven and mop up the flavorful juice released by the potato chips using the buttered bread slices. Then arrange the chips between two slices of bread and cut in half. Do not cut each butty at an angle but cut straight along the width in a vertical motion.

• Have this treat with a little ketchup.

Scotch Eggs

Perfect for kiddies lunch at school or an all-in-one mini-picnic breakfast on a fishing trip. Make this easy dish with eggs, ground sausage meat, black pudding, seasoning, grated apple, flour, eggwash, breadcrumbs and cooking oil.

The novelty of scotch eggs is in how the yolk runs out on the plate when you slice into it with your knife and fork. To ensure this, exercise just a little caution when you prep the eggs. Boil water in a deep pan till it starts bubbling. Lower eggs into the water one at a time using a spoon so the eggs don’t hit the water or the surface of the pan and as a result, crack. Boil each egg for 4 ½  mins so the centre is slightly runny.

A couple of more tips to ensure an impressive scotch egg:

• Form the thin shell of ground meat and black pudding with your hands around each boiled egg. This is because if you try to make a thick outer layer of meat around each boiled egg, it will not cook through in a uniform manner and will taste bad.
• Prepare an assembly line of seasoned flour, eggwash and seasoned breadcrumbs. Keep them separate in plates. The reason is, the eggwash needs a thin coat of flour to stick to the surface of the scotch egg. The breadcrumbs, in turn, will not stick without the layer of eggwash.
• Lightly dust the scotch egg in the seasoned flour. Then quickly dip in the eggwash and finally coat evenly with breadcrumbs. Roll the scotch eggs in your hands till the breadcrumbs are forced into the surface ensuring it is fried evenly.
• Adding a grated apple to the ground sausage and black pudding mixture adds a little sweetness making it easier for kids to eat.

Malt Chocolate Doughnuts

Sweet, sticky and absolutely delicious doughnuts. Your kids will love them! You’ll need some milk, sugar, yeast, butter, flour, salt, egg yolks, double cream, honey, dark chocolate and vegetable oil for this. 

When making the dough for the doughnuts, keep the following in mind:

• The dough that is made using flour, salt, egg yolk, milk and butter shouldn’t be worked too much. We don’t want the dough to be too tight.

• The milk and sugar used for liquefying the yeast shouldn’t be boiled to an extreme temperature. After adding the yeast and milk to the dough,the resulting mixture should be elastic in texture. It should be loose enough to drop off the spoon but shouldn’t be liquidy and runny.

• Dust a fresh bowl with flour and place the dough inside. Seal the bowl with cling-wrap and leave in a warm place for 60-90 minutes for the dough to rise and double in size. This stage is called “proving.”

• Prior to proving, flour a board and place the dough on it. Dust some more flour over the dough and fold the dough onto itself to work it. Keep doing this till the dough is able to relax. It shouldn’t stick to the fingers and should be nice and pliable.

Sweet Corn and Chicken Soup

This is a popular and perennial favorite amongst youngsters and adults alike. It is amazing what the following, easily-available ingredients can achieve. All you need are chicken, corn, bok choy, green shallots, a beaten egg, chicken stock, garlic, ginger and sesame oil. This is really easy to make.

Some care needs to be given to make sure the skinned chicken breast fillet has been trimmed of all visible fat and sliced thinly.

Sweet Potato Wedges with Yoghurt Dip

A fun dish your kids will happily share with friends at school. All you need are sweet potatoes, rosemary, garlic, olive oil, plain yoghurt, ground cumin, lemon juice, freshly chopped dill, ground white pepper and thinly sliced green shallots.

Rope in the help of your kids and share some quality family time for the following steps:

• Enlist their help to toss wedges in a large bowl with rosemary, garlic and olive oil. This step is perfect for kids if you want them to be involved.
• You’ll need to place the wedges on a greased tray and bake in an oven preheated to 220 °C for 20 minutes. Get your kids to arrange the wedges on the tray if they’ve been particularly mischievous.
• Let your kids help with this step if they’re interested and curious – making the yoghurt dip by mixing yoghurt, shallots, cumin, lemon juice, dill and pepper.

Apples and Peanut Butter

Simple, tasty and packed with health. As the name suggests, the only two things required are apples and peanut butter.

• Leave the skin on to maximize its nutritional quotient.
• Spread the peanut butter evenly on the inner sharp edge of each slice.

Frozen Fruit Slushee

This is a healthy and convenient idea for a refreshing and lip-smacking treat. The best part is you can mix and match ingredients according to your taste and convenience. Feel free to swap out any number of ingredients for other fruits. No specific quantity is mentioned below as this idea doesn’t need specific amounts to work.

You can make this with strawberries, oranges, blueberries, bananas, lemon juice and pineapple. Just combine crushed fruit, strawberries, bananas, blueberries and lemon juice in a large vessel. Portion into handy cups with lids or jam jars and freeze. 

This treat can be had frozen or thawed, like a slurpee. Perfect for a hot summer afternoon!

Cheese Plate Lunch Box

Cheese appeals to a wide variety of palettes. It lends itself to a number of snacks that are easy to prepare and taste great. It is delicious on its own and versatile at the same time. This treat is enjoyed by kids and adults alike, and apart from a lunchbox, is perfect for a variety of occasions.

This idea is both filling and nutritious, as it contains proteins, carbs and delicious fruits.

Just keep the following at hand and rustle up a killer snack whenever required:

• Chunks of varieties of cheese of your preference
• Red and green grapes
• Sliced apple
• Salted and roasted nuts, like almonds
• Dried fruit, for example apricots
• Pretzel crisps (use for making canapes)

Parfait Lunchbox

This idea can double up as a  breakfast option as well. It is perfect as a refreshing lunch for kids. This is sure to be a hit among those with a sweet tooth and those who cannot resist a parfait!

Arrange small portions of granola, coconut flakes, blueberries, raspberries and roasted almonds. Kids can have fun assembling these ingredients on their own at school. All they need to add to make it ready-to-eat are some yogurt and berries. Yummy and awesome!

Conclusion!

Healthy eating is very important in early ages of children. So, prepare these yummy recipes for little super heros and fill them with your love and nutrition. Jim’s Fresh offer flat $20 Off + free cherries on order above $100. So order fruit and vegetables today and start cooking for your little ones.