COLLECTION: Kids Food

Five plus a day. Well, it sounds great and all – but when push comes to shove, or fork comes to mouth, it can be a little hard to achieve. Because candy-coloured treats, extra-cheesy this or chocolate-coated that is so much more delicious than veges, right? Wrong.

Here in the El Gusto test kitchen, we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves – or should we say, aprons. Either way, there are tons of crafty ways to slide in extra fruit or vegetable into the lunchboxes of our little ones.

Here are a couple of our favourites:

• Sugar-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mm-hmm, you heard right. These clever cookies (excuse the pun) swap out sugar for agave nectar, so you can snack without the guilt. Cookies are a fun and easy thing to bake too, so get little hands to help.

• Thermomix Hummus & Healthy Dippers

Dip doesn’t have to be full of dairy and sugar (yes that’s right, check the back of the packet.) Instead, we recommend hummus as an equally delicious alternative. It’s nice and easy too – this super-speedy Thermomix recipe transforms a can of chickpeas into a chunky dip right before your eyes. Move over, fairy godmother.

• Honey Oat Bars

For kids on the run (i.e., basically all of them) the traditional muesli bar seems like the perfect snack. However, with the average store-bought bar containing more sugar than a can of Coke, it’s much healthier to make your own. Our clever little recipe is super quick and easy, and even contains dried fruit. What’s not to love?

• Ham & Cheese Wrap Rolls

We know, it’s hard competing with the golden arches. But we daresay these rolls come close – filled with cheese, ham and butter (if that counts) there’s no ingredients for fussy little eaters to complain about here.

But that’s just the beginning. For even more clever ways to beat Ronald or the Colonel at their game, check out the Kids in the Kitchen section on El Gusto. Filled with recipes happy little tummies will love, it’s the perfect space for ideas and inspiration.

Happy cooking!