RECIPE: Healthy After-school Snacks, Pronto!

Foodie Frédérique Lock, shares her family’s favorite healthy snacks that are guaranteed to be a hit with any child!

By Frédérique Lock

When the kids come back from school at 3pm they are tired and hungry. Too early for dinner but too late to risk them filling up on some unhealthy snacks and then skip dinner, I like to share with you our family favourites. It’s some kind of stereotype Belgian snack but adapted to be more nutritious and cooling for the Thai weather.

I grew up on crepes, the thin pancakes you probably know as French crepes were our special treat. We would have it with sugar and butter on birthday parties or filled with cheese and ham for a Friday night snack. The kids love it and get excited smelling the crepes from outside when they get out of the bus. I now make them with buckwheat and serve it with a choice of low sugar jam, some dark chocolate sauce or a ball of homemade ice cream. 

I promise, it takes no time to make, the longest time you will spend is on cooking the pancakes, and if you want you can make big batches and freeze them too.

Buckwheat (a pseudocereal), is actually a seed rather than a grain and a good source of protein, needed for brain function and recovery of muscles. It is high in vitamin B and magnesium. And apparently, it is proven to reduce cough in kids than over the counter cough medicine. Bring on the buckwheat!

For frozen banana, every time my bananas are turning brown I peel and slice them and put them in a plastic bag to be frozen. Whenever I make ice cream or smoothie, it is there to be pulled out and used. The great thing about the frozen banana is that it always stays soft, even frozen, so you can easily scoop your ice cream at any time.

Five-Minute Buckwheat Pancakes

Ingredients

• 10 Tbsp + 2 tsp buckwheat flour (or any other kind of flour)
• 2 Tbsp sparkling water (or replace with milk) 
• 6 Tbsp milk (or nut milk)
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp oil (coconut)
• 1 Tbsp honey

Preparation

Put all the ingredients in a blender till they all turn into a very runny batter.

Warm a non-stick pan on medium-high heat and put the tiniest bit of oil in the pan and rub the surface with a tissue.

Put a little bit of batter in the pan (you can add thin slices of banana or apple in the pan before adding the batter if you wish), swirl the batter around to a very thin layer (just covering the pan). Once you start seeing bubbles on the whole of the pancake, flip it over and leave for just a couple of more seconds till you can slide the pancake out of the pan. Serve with low sugar jam or dark chocolate sauce.

Banana Split with Nutella

My kids honestly think this is the best thing and that they are treated to chocolate ice-cream!

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp cacao powder
• 2 Tbsp peanut butter or other nut butter
• 3 cups of frozen banana

Preparation

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend till you have an ice-cream texture. Serve immediately.

Froyo Berry Fun

Because my daughter loves anything pink!

Ingredients

• 1 cup sliced frozen banana
• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1 cup frozen blackberries
• ½ cup plain Greek yoghurt

Preparation

Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend till you have a sloppy ice cream texture. Put in the freezer to firm up.  

Photos courtesy of the author.

About the Author

Frédérique is a foodie, a blogger, and a keen cook. She recently started her culinary arts degree at Le Cordon Bleu Dusit Thani and shares her foodie experiences via her Instagram page @frederiquesfood. Frédérique gave up her job as a marketing manager at a large food company in 2016 to follow her husband to Bangkok with their two children, Felix & Anaïs, and has been pursuing her passion for food and cooking ever since.

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