Healthy Alternatives To Great Snacks

Try these delicious and healthy snacks and forget about pastries forever

One of the barriers most frequently encountered by many parents when managing the feeding of the youngest members of the household is the choice of snack. Therefore, in this article we will see a few healthy alternatives to prepare great snacks.

For years the food industry, with its continuous “bombardment” of advertisements encouraging us to buy ultra-processed foods disguised as healthy, have managed to convince us that a package of cookies and an actimel are an excellent option for our children to grow up. healthy, strong and happy.

However, the reality is different, neither the cookies will bring out “the hero that they carry inside”, nor the actimel “activate your defenses”. What they can achieve is that the diet of the child population is loaded with products whose composition has endless sugars, refined flours and poor quality fats, which will do no favors to their health.

So what can we give them for a snack?

The truth is that there is no perfect snack formula. We should not focus our energies on looking for ideal “superfoods”, but on detecting and avoiding those products that are harmful (pastries, cold cuts, patés, juices, flavored yogurts…) and offer them alternatives that are attractive and healthy.

Healthy Alternatives to Great Snacks

The options are endless. We just have to give it a little imagination and read carefully the ideas that we propose here.

Hazelnut and cocoa cream toasts with strawberries

Ingredients

• 6 pitted dates
• 1 tablespoon of pure cocoa.
• 1 splash of milk or vegetable drink.
• 2 handfuls of hazelnuts raw or toasted without salt.
• Strawberries.
• Wholemeal bread.
  

Elaboration

1. We wash, cut into slices and reserve the strawberries for final assembly.
2. We grind the rest of the ingredients until we get a creamy and homogeneous texture.
3. Toast a couple of slices of whole wheat bread and with the help of a knife spread the cream and add the strawberries.

Tangerine and banana chocolates

Ingredients

• Tangerine.
• Banana.
• Walnuts.
• Chocolate 85% cocoa.

Elaboration

1. We melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave.
2. We peel and cut the fruit.
3. We submerge the whole or part of the fruit in the melted chocolate.
4. We put the fruit on greaseproof paper and add the chopped nuts on top.
5. Let cool in the fridge (approximately 1 hour) and ready to enjoy.

We can vary the fruits and nuts. We can also use a chocolate with a different percentage of cocoa (preferably greater than or equal to 72%).

Oatmeal and banana pancakes, one of the healthy alternatives for great snacks

Ingredients

• Oatmeal.

• 1 ripe banana.
• 1 egg.
• Vanilla essence.
• Cinnamon.
• Extra virgin olive oil.

Elaboration

1. In a deep plate, mash the banana with the help of a fork.
2. We beat an egg and mix them with the banana.
3. Add two tablespoons of rolled oats and cinnamon or vanilla essence (optional).
4. Cook the dough in a pan with a drop of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat.

Olives and almonds pate

Ingredients

• 80 grams of olives.
• 1 handful of natural almonds without salt.
• 2 tablespoons of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil).
• 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds (optional).
• 1 small garlic clove (or ½ normal).
• Some basil leaves.

Elaboration

1. We put all the ingredients in a blender glass and blend until we get the texture we want.
   

Sugar-free cereal bars, another healthy alternative for great snacks

I ngredients

• 6 tablespoons of rolled oats.
• 2 tablespoons of puffed quinoa.
• 3 tablespoons olive oil.
• 1 tablespoon of flax seeds.
• 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds.
• 4 dates.
• 1 handful of nuts.
• 1 banana

Elaboration

1. We soak the flax seeds (with 3-4 tablespoons of hot water) for approximately 15 minutes.
2. Brown the oat flakes in a pot with 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
3. Add the puffed quinoa, sesame seeds and chopped nuts. We stir for a few minutes while they brown.
4. We chop the dates and the banana, and add them to the preparation.
5. Add the previously hydrated flax seeds (and the viscous gel that formed around them) and stir until we get a sticky and as homogeneous mass as possible.
6. We put the dough on parchment or baking paper and shape it with the help of a spoon.
7. We bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees.
8. Let cool and ready to enjoy.