Snack: the natural alternative

Much has been discussed about the risks associated with excessive consumption of snack foods and industrial foods, especially in recent years. This article simply means giving an alternative. It is true: children like snacks and it is difficult to keep them away from the object of desire. But it is possible to offer natural tantalizing meredines.

• Enriching a fruit salad : the fruit salad is actually already attractive on its own. Children live by suggestions and love colors: just cut a banana, a kiwi and a couple of strawberries to get a natural, colorful and inviting snack. It is not necessary to add sugar to the fruit and you should never do it: the fruit is sweet on its own and often eating it naturally is just a matter of habit. If, however, you want to make a fruit salad more delicious, you can add a little dried fruit, perhaps in grains or, alternatively, a tablespoon of fresh cream or some flakes of dark chocolate .
• The classic bread and honey or bread and jam, or, alternatively, you can lightly sprinkle a slice of durum wheat bread and sprinkle the surface with one or two teaspoons of wholemeal cane sugar .
• Natural snack foods: yogurt and fruit is the most classic, as an alternative you can whip up some ricotta like cream and add a few flakes of dark chocolate, a teaspoon of cinnamon or even cocoa, some chopped hazelnuts, or a little of maple syrup.

Make natural snacks at home

Yes: but the real snacks? Those portions and greedy ones that kids like so much? Paying attention to the choice of ingredients, it is possible to make natural snacks at home that have nothing to envy from industrial ones. Here are two recipes.

tarts

> 250 grams of barley flour;

> 100 grams of whole cane sugar;

> 1 tablespoon of citrus fruit honey ;

> 1 small cup of extra virgin olive oil;

> juice and grated peel of an untreated lemon;

> 1 egg;

> 1 pinch of salt;

> 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.

Preparation

Mix the pastry. If it is hard, add some more lemon juice. To make it a little spicy, you can add a teaspoon of cinnamon. If, on the other hand, you want to make it sweeter, just add more honey. Spread the base and then cut it making the tartlets. To make them round you can use a big glass, but why not have fun with the shapes? There are very amusing large cookie cutters that are easily found in supermarkets and help to make even more attractive the natural snacks that you will offer to your children. A good apricot jam is great, but nothing prevents you from filling with other natural jams to taste. On the surface you can make short pastry strips or add dried fruit in grains. Bake at 180 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. Cooking times obviously depend on the size of the tartlets.

Plume cake

> 1 jar of natural yogurt (once emptied, the jar will be used to measure the other ingredients);

> 1 jar of wholemeal cane sugar

> 3 jars of kamut flour;

> 1 jar of extra virgin olive oil;

> 3 eggs;

> 1 sachet of cream of tartar added to bicarbonate (or a sachet of baking powder).

With the help of an electric mixer, mix the yogurt with the sugar and the three yolks well. Add the oil and flour, stirring constantly. Add the whipped egg whites and finally the yeast. Pour into single molds from plum cake and Bake at 180 ° for about 15/20 minutes; also in this case, the cooking times depend on the size of the plum cakes.

Variation: add a handful of raisins to the mixture.