Kids love snacking and ensuring that they eat healthily is a big task for moms. It is even more challenging if the child has some allergies or lifestyle diseases like diabetes. As parents, we want kids to eat something healthy, but kids usually gravitate toward snacks that are unhealthy. Most of such snacks are not recommended for kids with a gluten allergy or lactose intolerance.
What if we told you that a healthy snack can be gluten-free, made with less oil, and tasty at the same time? Snacks that are healthy, easy to make and so delicious that kids can’t stop asking for more!
A bit about gluten and the allergy
Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. A few people might develop gluten allergies. The exact reason the cause of this allergy is unknown, but it causes rashes, diarrhea, leaky gut, stomach ache, acne, etc. There is growing awareness about gluten allergy or celiac diseases and if you or your kid are allergic to gluten, it is time to look for healthy swaps for basic ingredients like wheat.
Replacing wheat with millets, and maida with mixed flours is a great way to manage gluten allergy.
However, allergy or not, replacing wheat and maida is not only healthy but also very nutritious, as millets and mixed flours are loaded with nutrients. So making gluten-free snacks a part of your diet is a good idea as it provides nutrition and improves gut health.
Let us look at some simple ways in which you can swap wheat or maida with healthier alternatives that are nutritious and gluten-free.
Gluten Swap:
Replace your wheat crunches with Sweet Potato crunches. Sweet potato is not only rich in fiber, vitamin A, C, and folate but it is also very healthy. Sweet Potato crunches can be equally crispy, spicy, and crunchy, just like the regular chips.
Rather than having biscuits made with Maida or wheat, swap for biscuits made out of gluten-free flours like millet flour or almond flour, or banana floor. These days, there are a lot of flavors available.
Instead of typical Rava Dosa, make dosas with jowar and Ragi flour. Add onion, chilies, cumin powder, and curd to the flour. Mix them well and adjust consistency with water. Voila! Your crispy dosa batter is ready. Spread it thin like Rava Dosa and enjoy.
Some easy gluten-free sack options for tiffin and for snacking.
Millet bread vegetable sandwich is the easiest way to add veggies and sprouts to the child’s meal. You can add tomato, cheese, onion, carrot, capsicum, cucumber, avocado, paneer, and potatoes. Boiled sprouts like moong, matki, rajma, chickpeas, chana, etc. too can be added in a mayo base and spread on millet bread.
Cinnamon Apple pie.
Millet muffins or cakes
Millet cookies.
Jowar vegetable wrap,
Garlic bajara paratha
Tangy rajma wrap
Quinoa upma
Akki roti
Thalipeth
Khandvi
Dhokla
Regular Dosa or millet dosa
Idli made of rice, jowar, or ragi
Moong daal panner chilla
Sprouts Tikki
Palak mix flour chakli
The list is endless. Keep this handy and never worry about finding new tasty gluten-free tiffin snacks.
Gluten-free recipes for kids are easy to make. Let us also look at a simple gluten-free snack recipe that kids will enjoy:
RAINBOW CHILLA
INGREDIENTS:
Moong Dal soaked and ground into a dosa-like batter
Salt to taste
Red chili powder – ¼ tsp.
Asafoetida a pinch
For filling
Oil – 1 tsp
Red capsicum – 1 tsp. [chopped]
Yellow capsicum – 1 tsp. [chopped]
Green capsicum – 1 tsp [chopped]
Carrot peeled & chopped – 1 tsp.
Cabbage chopped – 1 tsp.
French beans chopped – 2 tsp
Paneer (cottage cheese) crumbled – 10 gms
Salt to taste
Red chili powder – ½ tsp.
Pav Bhaji masala – ¼ tsp.
Method
In a bowl, combine moong batter, salt, red chili powder, asafoetida, turmeric powder, and water to make a thick but pouring consistency batter.
Heat oil in a nonstick pan and add red capsicum, yellow capsicum, green capsicum, carrot, cabbage, sprouts, french beans, salt, red chili powder, pav bhaji masala, and half cup water and cook till the vegetables are tender.
Add paneer and sauté for two minutes.
Heat nonstick Tawa and make Chella.
Cook on both sides.
Keep stuffing in the center, fold and serve with green chutney.
Such easy gluten-free snack recipes for kids will ensure that they eat something healthy and tasty every day.
