As parents, our focus always remains that our child should eat healthily. On the contrary, children are notoriously picky eaters and getting them to eat something healthy is sometimes a difficult task. We are constantly looking for recipes that are healthy and will help increase our baby’s weight. We shouldn’t just rely on the child’s weight chart to decide whether the baby is healthy or not. Thin doesn’t mean unhealthy, and plump isn’t a definition of health either.
For moms, the real challenge is making healthy eating appealing. Below are some foods that are healthy and nutritious. With these, we’ll prepare a few recipes that your little ones will devour in a minute.
fruit
vegetables
Dried fruit (in moderation)
legumes
Oats
Rice/Dalia
Ghee & Butter (in moderation)
Khichdi:
This is considered to be one of the most nutritious and healthy first foods for toddlers. It’s easy to prepare and a variety of veggies are easy to incorporate. It helps with weight gain and is also easy to digest.
Ingredients:
• Rice/Dalia (half a cup),
• Moong Dal (half a cup),
• ghee (1 tsp),
• Cumin seeds (1/2 tsp)
• Vegetables: carrot, tomato, spinach, bottle cap, potato (cut into small pieces)
• Spices: salt, pepper and turmeric
• water (1 cup)
Cooking time: 15 to 20 minutes
Recipe:
Pick the rice and dal, wash them and soak them in a little water. Put ghee or butter in a pressure cooker and heat, then add cumin until it starts to splutter. If you want you can also add a pinch of asafoetida, it helps with digestion. Then put all the vegetables in a pressure cooker and sauté briefly. Add all the spices like salt (to taste), pepper (a pinch) and turmeric and simmer for a minute. Add rice and dal and 1 cup of water. Give some whistles and voila! A perfect meal is ready for your baby.
PS You can adjust the consistency of this dish to your liking.
Oat Pancakes:
Ingredients:
• Powdered Oats (1/2 cup) Toast 1/2 cup oats for 1 minute then grind into powder
• Fruit: banana, blueberry, apple, grapes
• Dried fruits (chopped and roasted)
• Honey (2 tsp)
• Rice powder (half cup)
• Baking Soda (A pinch or two)
• Milk (1.5 cup)
Cooking time: 10 to 15 minutes
Recipe:
Mix oat powder, rice powder, sugar, salt, baking powder in a bowl. Pour in milk and stir well. Place a pan on the stove and drizzle a few drops of butter over it. Pour a ladle with the prepared batter and spread evenly in a circular motion. Sear on both sides on medium flame and place on a plate. Layer it with chopped fruit, dried fruit and spoon the full honey on top.
Your healthy and delicious dessert is ready and your kids will love it.
PS: You can use chocolate syrup every now and then to change the taste. Put a dollop of peanut butter on a pancake, drizzle over some chocolate syrup and serve to your little ones.
One of the best ways to get your little ones to eat a healthy meal is to work on presentation.
Thanks to Divya Tandon
