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Healthy Snack Ideas for Families

Easy Banana & Seed Muffins 

These muffins are perfect for using up brown over ripe bananas. If I ever have any in the fruit bowl, I peel them, pop them in a plastic bag and into the freezer ready to use in this recipe at a later date. There’s also only a little sugar here, just a little maple syrup, so these make good snacks for little ones or even for a breakfast on the go when you’re short of time.

Makes 12

Ingredients

250g flour (I like to use wholemeal for added fibre)

1 tsp baking powder

75ml maple syrup

75g butter, melted and cooled 

2 eggs

3 large ripe bananas approx 300g, mashed

100ml natural yoghurt

50g sunflower seeds, plus a little extra for sprinkling

Method

Heat the oven to 180C and line a muffin tin with 12 muffin cases. Mix the flour and baking powder and 2 tbsp of the sunflower seeds in a bowl.In another bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients. 

Next, mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients being careful not to overmix as this will make your muffins chewy.

Spoon the mixture equally between the 12 muffin cases and sprinkle the remaining seeds over each muffin. Bake in the oven for approximately 25 minutes until golden brown.

*TIP: these freeze really well. Toast under the grill straight from frozen or remove from the freezer to defrost the night before you want to eat them.

Buckwheat, Nut & Cinnamon Granola

I love this recipe. I think homemade granola is so much more superior to the shop bought stuff. The benefit also being that you can be sure of the amount of sugar that goes in –lots of shop bought granolas are packed with added sugar –and you can add exactly things you love, mix and match the nuts and fruit for personal preference. Eat simply with cold milk or sprinkle over yoghurt or porridge.

Makes one large jar

Ingredients

200g nuts, roughly chopped (I like to use pecans, almonds, cashews or a mixture but anything you’ve got will work)

150g porridge oats

100g buckwheat

100g mixed seeds (I use pumpkin, sunflower and sesame but any will do)1/2 tsp salt50g coconut oil, melted (you can also use sunflower oil)

100g maple syrup

2tsp cinnamon

75g peanut butter

1 egg white, lightly whisked

100g dried fruit (I like to use raisins, dried apricots or figs, if larger fruits, chop into smaller pieces)

Method

Heat the oven to 180C. Melt the maple syrup, coconut oil and peanut butter in a small pan over a low heat until combined.

Add the cinnamon and leave to cool slightly. Add all the remaining ingredients except for the dried fruit to a large bowl and pour over the maple syrup mixture.

Mix well and pour onto a lined baking tray making sure it is spread out in a thin layer, so everything cooks well. 

Bake for 15 minutes, remove and turn carefully. Bake for a further 10-15 minutes until everything is golden brown.

Remove from the oven, add the dried fruit and mix before leaving to cool fully before transferring to an airtight container or jar.