This super simple Coconut Snowball recipe sets the mood for the festive season and is the healthy snack for your toddler they’ll gobble up. 

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Whip up these easy Gingerbread Men recipe for kids and spread the Christmas spirit with irresistible baked treats from the heart.

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Makes 9 Freeze and Bake Poddies | Prep 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 160 g (1 1/4 cups) cacao butter chips
• 120 g (1 1/4 cups) raw cacao powder
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) agave syrup
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence
• 60 g (1/3 cup) buckwheat kernels, raw
• 60 g (1/3 cup) walnuts
• 40 g (1/3 cup) goji berries
• 65 g (1/2 cup) cranberries, dried
• 55 g (1/3 cup) chia seed

The ingredients in italics are variable. You can substitute them with any nut, berry, dried fruit, or seed in roughly the same quantity.

Method

Place a pan with about 3 centimetres of water on a stove. Put cacao butter chips into a heatproof bowl and set bowl in the water. Bring the water to a simmer then turn off the flame and let the cacao butter sit until it has melted.

Stir frequently and add maple syrup and vanilla essence. Remove pan from heat.

Use a food thermometer and stir in raw cacao powder at roughly 55 C.

Chocolate is very delicate and can become lumpy or grainy if overheated. Avoid all contact with water as the chocolate will seize.

Add walnuts, buckwheat kernels, goji berries, cranberries, and chia seeds to poddies. Stir to combine. Pour chocolate over and mix with seeds.

Chill in fridge for at least one hour before serving.

Store

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four weeks.

Grab a copy of our recipe booklet 

Our Tahini Choc Cookies are our twist on a recipe inspired by The Boy Who Bakes. They're perfect for the school lunchbox and store beautifully in the fridge for after school snacks too.

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We’re talking about delicious, nutritious, appealing, allergy-friendly, packet-free food that can be stored in a box all day – and will get eaten! Here are a few tips on how to keep things interesting and healthy.

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This recipe is one to keep amongst your favourite family recipes! It's simple, healthy and you can substitute many of the ingredients out for alternatives to suit any special food requirements your little ones may have.

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These little colourful rainbow rice balls make a perfection companion for almost all dishes. 

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Do you find yourself struggling to get your toddler to eat their meals that you're tempted to simply serve up slices of cheese just to make sure they have something in their tummy?

Here are ten of our BEST TIPS to survive this wonderfully unique period of toddler feeding, while getting Mr Independent a little more excited about the fabulous world of food.

By the way, scrubbing dried pasta from the fridge door after it has flown past your head is just a part of the food journey.

Oh, and as for rice... that stuff gets everywhere!

1. Offer healthy food choices

That craving for independence kicks in at a very early age – nobody warned us just how early! So offer food choices but just make sure they are healthy ones. That way you are satisfying his craving for control whilst ensuring he is eating healthily.

2. Keep persevering

Whilst we’d all love to hear our little one declare ‘yum’ with the first bite of whatever we serve, research suggests that it can take between 15 and 20 tries before a toddler will accept a new food. Try to remember that ‘no’ often means ‘not now’ rather than ‘never’. Keep offering those new foods. Perseverance is the key!

3. Pair foods together

Serve a new food with a favourite food. Is there a favourite dip or sauce that would help the new food go down more easily? And don’t make new foods a big deal. The more attention you draw to his taste testing, the more he will resist! Keep it breezy!

4. Offer warming & nourishing foods

From an Eastern Medicine perspective, children are born with a weak constitution and immature digestion that need to be strengthened and nurtured over time. One of their main food principles is to not overwhelm the internal balance of the body (digestion) with food. Offer your little one simple, warming and nourishing foods which are easy to digest, and which build a strong and robust constitution and immune system.

5. Mix it up

Introduce a wide range of flavours: sweet, bitter, sour, astringent and pungent. We’re not suggesting you start seasoning dishes with chilli flakes but you can have some fun experimenting with different herbs and spices that might get your little one licking his lips for more. And, of course, offer different textures: soft, juicy, crunchy, hard, raw, cooked.

6. Lead by example

Encourage your little one to eat and enjoy healthy meals and meal times with the rest of the family. Whenever possible, offer ‘family meals’. Set a good example and show your enjoyment of a range of healthy foods too. Don’t expect your child to eat something you won’t.

7. Serve small portions

Little hands love finger foods and small portions as they are easier to handle and will go down more easily. Serve an amount you know your little one can finish; he can always ask for more. Encourage him to eat until he is full rather than focusing on a clean plate.

8. Ensure your toddler isn't tired

Try not to eat meals when tiredness or simply not being hungry enough will prevent your little one from enjoying his food.

9. Keep an eye on snacks

Snacks between meals play an important part in the day for growing little bodies, so keep these as healthy, nutritious, and as fun as possible.

10. Involve your toddler

Wherever possible try to involve your little one in shopping, growing, and simple food preparation. Encourage him to choose fruits and veggies at the market. Give him a potted herb plant to take care of and let him harvest and decorate food with them.

 

If you'd like more information on how much to serve your toddler, recipe ideas and a seven-day meal plan, download a copy of our Toddler Food Guide for free.

Snack Stations are an ideal way of cutting down on the sometimes incessant moans and groans for food (usually within minutes of lunch!) that come with parenting, particularly on school holidays during which a child’s appetite magically doubles or triples.

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Do you sometimes feel like it can be such a fight every meal time to get your kids sitting at the table, and staying there long enough to actually eat?

You’re not alone! Toddlers and pre-schoolers are notorious for being distracted or disagreeable at the dining table. Today we’re bringing you some tips to help survive the battlefield at dinnertime.

Have set meal times

Serving up breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the same time each day will go a long way to starting the process of teaching your kids to stay at the table. In between meals, offer a morning and afternoon tea around the same time as well, and try not to give in to requests or demands for additional snacks and risk them filling up before their next meal.

Sit down together to eat

Do you serve your child and then step away to do other things? Why not sit with your child at mealtimes so they have some company? Even if you have multiple kids who eat together, sitting down with them is a great way to lead by example.

It’s also helpful to come to the table prepared for the meal – try to have all the drinks, cutlery, condiments, etc, that you need for the meal ready on the table when you all sit down together. Minimising the times you need to get up from the table will help your children learn that they, too, are expected to remain at the table for the entirety of the meal.

Visit the bathroom before meals

Of course it’s good hygiene to have your children wash their hands before eating, but encouraging them to use the toilet and then washing their hands will minimise one reason (or excuse!) they can call on for leaving the table mid-meal.

Make sure your child is comfortable

And by this, we literally mean that their seat is comfortable! If it’s too hard, too soft, too high, too low, too far away or too close, it will only be harder for your child to remain sitting nicely at meal time.

Keep meal times limited to around 20 – 30 minutes

Set the minimum expectation for how long your child, and the family, remain at the table. Even if you need to build up to this over a few days, it’s good practice. On the flip side, don’t drag meal times out too long – cajoling your child to keep eating for a long time isn’t a great habit to fall into, either.

Instead, at your chosen end time for the meal, clear the plates away. If your child comes looking for food, remind them that the time for dinner (or lunch, etc) has passed. This way, you can help your child learn that meal times are for eating, and that they need to sit at the table and eat during that meal time or risk missing out. (As an aside, this is also great practice for school, when break times are fixed and marked by the bell!)

Use cues to help build your meal time routine

Turn off the TV, have your child visit the bathroom, get them to set the table. Just a few ways that you can cue to your child that meal time is approaching, and they need to be ready to sit at the table and remain there. Turning off the TV has the bonus of minimising distraction and promoting conversation and connection with your child or family at meal times.

Let your child have a sensory activity at the table

On the flip-side to minimising distractions at the table, why not consider giving your child something small at the table to give them something to fidget with. A small toy truck or similar, a special book, something small that your child can use to expend excess energy, or focus their attention during meal time.

You can keep this toy specific to meal times and not have it available during other times to help keep the interest of your child. Be sure to maintain hygiene and wash any toys from the dinner table, since little children are likely to get food or saliva on them.

Get your child involved in the preparation

Have your child set the table. Invite them to crack the egg, or mash the potatoes. Older children can be put in charge of pouring drinks for everyone. Small tasks suitable to your child’s age can help them feel involved in the meal, and it’s a well known fact amongst children that the mashed potatoes they made themselves are always tastier!

Be consistent

Once you’ve decided your new meal time structure, remain consistent and calm with your child. It may take some days – possibly even weeks – to help your child learn to break the habits of not staying at the table. If you persist, you will see improvement.

Happy meal time!

 

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