Healthy snacking options, for infants with teeth.
Beyond puffed rice!
I think like any Indian home we have puffed rice (Kurmura) and puffed lotus seeds (makhana) available as snacks for my Bubu since he started solids. It's like a snack between meals just for kicks, with no intention of filling tummy. Lately I was noticing Bubu was super bored of both. He just tips his bowl and watches the contents fall to the ground. If I tried to refill the bowl, he would do the same and this time brush the contents on the ground, making sure he spreads them all across the room. My guess was either he is going through trajectory schema or he is genuinely bored of the same snack.
So I decided to check out a few option to mix things up a little and experiment what are the healthy option available in the market. All the items mentioned in this blogpost is tried and loved by my Bubu. He has become more independent, he gets to the kitchen pantry, picks his own snack and asks me to scoop some in a bowl so he can sit and eat. Isn't that adorable, and every mom's dream!
Freezer dried fruit
I found these in Trader Joe's. They are made in heaven. No added preservatives, no sodium and real fruit, just crunchy. Imagine if god made chips, this would be it. We tried making dehydrated fruit chips at home using our dehydrator but it didn't give the crunchy result. It is more chewy. They have a good variety blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, banana, coconut, pineapple, apple, mango and so on. We have tried all and Bubu didn't like the pineapple, apple, mango as they are the chewy variety of the lot, but he will get over it eventually. Texture and taste can be always developed.
Organic dried fruits
I have watched enough documentaries to believe that the food industry has altered our diet as well as the understanding of nutrition. So I am sold on buying everything organic, especially dried fruit. Whole Foods house brand "365 Everyday Value Organic" is a good source to buy your set of dried fruit at a good price. Just make sure whatever you choose isn't salted or sweetened etc.
Puffed snacks
In the Indian store I saw they have some interesting puffed items. Like puffed wild rice, puffed wheat, puffed barley. So these can be added to your regular stash of traditional puffed rice and puffed lotus seeds. We roast it with lil ghee and spice it with either salt+onion powder +garlic powder or jeera+dhaniya+mirchi+haldi powders. Also your spices can be an be organic variety like ours. And not to forget popcorn, referred to as "papam" by my Bubu. All you need is a deep, big vessel and corn seeds and you can pop them at home. Store bought ones will have extra added preservatives, salts, etc which can be easily avoided by the home cooked ones.
Oven baked leafy chips
Oven baked kale chips have been trending for so long just google it. We have also tried green collards, chard, spinach leaves too the key is to get a thick variety of leafy veggie to get the perfect crunch without burning. Long story short, I will say we are sticking to kale.
I am very keen on finding or making some Seaweed chips with no sodium. Seaweed has amazing amount of nutrients so why not. If anyone has discovered a brand or home-cooking method please pass it on to me.
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