Category Archives: Snacks

My boy adores crumble so when he wanted to bake we decided to adapt the berry crumble bars in the eatwellforless “Quick and Easy Meals” book. I’ve lowered the sugar, upped the oat and fibre and made these wheatfree (for me!). Verdict. Very crumbly but very good!

These bars were made on Sunday and kept in an airtight tin. I finished the last bits on Friday (sssshhh don’t tell my kids!).

Fruit Crumble Bars

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Servings 16

Ingredients

425 g oats
125 g self raising flour (I used gluten free)
150 g brown sugar
200 g margarine
500 g frozen berries/fruit
2 tbsp linseeds

Instructions

Mix oats with flour, sugar, cinnamon and margarine until it is a crumble consistency.
Grease a baking tray (20x20cm) or line with a silicone liner.
Spread a thick layer (1.5cm) on the base of the tray.
Cover with layer of frozen berries (no need to defrost).
Top with a thinner layer of the crumble mix and press down with a fork.
Sprinkle with the linseeds.
Bake at 180C/Gas mark 4 for 45 mins.

Baking, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Recipes, Snacks, Special Diets, Vegetarian, Wheat Free

Carrot Cake Energy Balls

12 June, 2019 Priya 9 Comments

I’m on a personal mission to reduce my biscuit intake. Now there is totally nothing wrong with a biscuit or 2, but these carrot cake energy balls add in variety and nutrition. I find they really hit the spot by giving me something to munch quickly when I’m running from job to job and they are more filling than my usual biccie.

These last for 3 days in the fridge and they also freeze well so why not make a batch and get them out the freezer in the morning, ready for when you need them.

Carrot Cake Energy Balls

Easy to make, with a hidden centre of yumminess!

Servings 12

Ingredients

150 g dates
150 g apricots
150 g oats
75 g almonds
75 g walnuts
1 medium carrot, finely grated
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
12 tsp peanut butter

Instructions

Place the dates, apricots, oats into a food processor. Process adding a splash of water if needed.
Add the nuts plus oats and food process these too, alternatively these can be done seperately.
Add to a bowl and mix in the grated carrot and spices.
Take 1 tsp of mix, roll into a ball, make an indentation and add the peanut butter in.
Now take another section of the dough to cover and roll into a ball.

Cooking with Kids, Dairy Free, Kids Nutrition, Recipes, Snacks, Special Diets, Vegetarian, Wheat Free

Gingerbread energy balls

30 August, 2018 Priya Leave a comment

One of the questions I get asked a lot is for healthy snack ideas. Walking around the shops there is a plethora of snack items but so many of them are expensive items that you can make yourself in batches with a little knowhow and patience. Energy balls are one such item. Often sold for £1.50-£1 a portion, these can be made a lot cheaper at home. See my analysis below. Whilst there are a lot of energy ball recipes out there on the internet this one is so delicious that I had to share it. I love having snacks like these to hand for instant snacking and even better, these freeze well. My boy also loves making these with me.

Perfect mid morning snack for me between clients and an afternoon snack for the kids at a much better cost than buying from the shops.

Gingernut Energy Balls

Ingredients

100 g unsalted cashew nuts
100 g dates
25 5 oats
1 tsp ginger
1 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)

Recipe Notes

Blitz up the cashews, oats and dates in a food processor or grinder. I do this in batches as my grinder is smalll. You may need to stop grinding and stir it around a bit from time to time.

Put the mixture into a bowl, add in the ginger and stir.

Now roll into balls and roll in the sesame seeds (if wanted).

Store in a tin, the fridge or freeze.

Costing = £2.20 for 10 balls (5 portions for an adult)

100g cashews £1.10

100g dates 66p

25g oats 27p

1 tbsp sesame seeds 9p

1 tsp ginger 8p

Baking, Cooking with Kids, Dairy Free, Recipes, Snacks, Special Diets, Wheat Free

Peanut Butter Cookies and Smart Snacking.

4 March, 2018 Priya Leave a comment

Snacking sensibly for me is a must. I need bucket loads of reliable energy to get me through my day. An average day for me involves 3 kids, much pilates and 1-2-1 dietetic clients. I don’t sit still for long, so crashing mid afternoon is not an option, especially as that’s the school run and my hungry time of day. So one thing I teach my clients and work on myself is balancing my snacks.

Yes fruit is fabulous, however it doesn’t keep me full for long or sustain my energy. So I pair it with protein or a wholegrain, higher fibre carb. Or if I’m feeling outrageous, I mix all three. For me it is not about the calories or the macro’s but the balance.

Satiety is the feeling of fullness that persists after eating. It affects the length of time between eating events and possibly the amount of energy consumed at the next. Protein is filling and can help stabilise blood sugars. Fibre rich foods require more chewing so psychologically take longer to eat, they can displace other energy rich food and slow gastric emptying.

Some of my favs:
Apple, cheese and oatcakes
Dried apricots, almonds and 25g dark chocolate
Oatcakes with nut butter and banana

Then there are these peanut butter cookies. Perfect with fruit and they take just 10 mins to bake. These make me feel like the perfect mum on those days I manage to whip the mix up before the school run and have them ready 10 mins after the kids walk in the door! Better still the kids can make them – I haven’t let them loose on this recipe yet.

Peanut Butter Cookies

2018-03-03 23:13:39

Yields 8

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Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

10 min

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

10 min

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

38g

Yields

Amount Per Serving

Calories 175

Calories from Fat 98

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 11g

17%

Saturated Fat 2g

10%

Trans Fat 0g

Polyunsaturated Fat 4g

Monounsaturated Fat 5g

Cholesterol 23mg

Sodium 75mg

Total Carbohydrates 13g

Dietary Fiber 3g

11%

Sugars 5g

Protein 7g

Vitamin A

Vitamin C

Calcium

Iron

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

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Ingredients

100g peanut butter
150g granola
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking powder

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients together.
Bake at Gas Mark 5 for 10 minutes.
Store in an airtight tin, they are best eaten on the day.

Notes

I used my own homemade granola (recipe on the blog) which is wheat free and gluten free if you tolerate oats or use gluten free oats.

By Priya Tew, Dietitian UK

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calories

175

fat

11g

protein

carbs

13g

Dietitian UK https://www.dietitianuk.co.uk/

Cooking with Kids, Dairy Free, Recipes, Snacks, Special Diets, Wheat Free

Apple and Pecan Energy Balls (no bake)

6 October, 2017 Priya 2 Comments

My kids seem to need a 3 course meal to eat after school/pre-school, so my snack tin needs to be topped up with nutritious and filling foods. These apple energy balls are something I saw another dietitian friend making on Instagram and we adapted it slightly, using different nuts to suit our tastes.

My 4 year old boy literally loved making and eating these. He raved about them and each day after preschool has been asking for them. It has been lovely to see him proudly showing them off to his older sister:

“I made these and they are yummy”.

I’ve not managed to do a vlog for ages… 3 children and work has meant a kitchen that is rarely tidy enough for filming in and few of those moments where we have the right moment with all children quiet and happy to join in. However I’m hoping to get back into it now. I’d love to know your idea and thoughts for future videos.

Apple and Pecan Energy Balls

2017-10-06 23:02:41

Serves 12

Super simple, tasty, nutritious and filling energy balls.

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Prep Time

10 min

Prep Time

10 min

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

56g

Servings

Amount Per Serving

Calories 153

Calories from Fat 59

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 7g

11%

Saturated Fat 1g

Trans Fat 0g

Polyunsaturated Fat 2g

Monounsaturated Fat 4g

Cholesterol 0mg

Sodium 17mg

Total Carbohydrates 20g

Dietary Fiber 3g

14%

Sugars 6g

Protein 4g

Vitamin A

Vitamin C

Calcium

Iron

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

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Ingredients

300g apple
200g oats
70g pecans
60g raisins
40g peanut butter

Instructions

Put the apple in the food processor first and use a grater attachement or you could grate by harns. Add a dash of hot water to make a rough purée.
Now add the oats, pecans, raisins and nut butter and combine.
Roll into balls using your hands.
Pop in the fridge to chill.

By Priya Tew, Dietitian UK

Adapted from Catherine Lippe, Lippe Nutrition

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calories

153

fat

protein

carbs

20g

Adapted from Catherine Lippe, Lippe Nutrition

Dietitian UK https://www.dietitianuk.co.uk/

Baking, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Recipes, Snacks, Special Diets, Vegetarian, Wheat Free

Carrot and Parsnip Cake

30 April, 2017 Priya 4 Comments

I’ve had a hankering for carrot cake for a few weeks after a conversation on social media about a bumper crop of carrots leading to recipes for carrot cake being posted. So when carrots were on offer and hubby came back with 3 bags of them plus 2 bags of parsnips it was suddenly my opportunity. Seriously, there are only so many things you can do with parsnips, so I thought why not try them in a cake. In that moment it felt like probable madness, however actually, you know what? The parsnips add a real kick to this cake. A warm earthiness and nuttiness that really adds to the sweetness of the carrots.

My main critic will always be my husband. He isn’t fobbed off as easily as the children, he has a sweet tooth and isn’t pulled in by any of the latest health trends or superfoods. So I tried him on one. He gave me the “what is it” quizzical expression which I interpret as “What the heck is the crazy woman now trying to give me”. To be fair, you can’t blame him, I am experimental in my approach and a fair few of these experiments just don’t work out. Upon trying it his response was “Actually that’s not bad”. Now for hubby that is a compliment. He isn’t overflowing with expression and excitement like me, thankfully or our house would be even more crazy! So this “Not bad” really meant “I wasn’t expecting it to taste nice but it is pretty good and I like it”. He agreed it was actually the parsnip that made it.

This cake is moist, light and a little to easy to eat. With 250g vegetables in it, it may feel pretty nutritious but you would have to eat a lot of cake to get a portion of veggie in! Having said that these will contain some vitamin A, some calcium and iron, so as cake goes, it is a good option.

Carrot and Parsnip Cake

2017-04-22 22:14:21

Yields 24

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Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

38g

Yields

Amount Per Serving

Calories 121

Calories from Fat 59

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 7g

10%

Saturated Fat 1g

Trans Fat 0g

Polyunsaturated Fat 1g

Monounsaturated Fat 5g

Cholesterol 23mg

Sodium 173mg

Total Carbohydrates 13g

Dietary Fiber 1g

Sugars 3g

Protein 2g

Vitamin A

22%

Vitamin C

Calcium

Iron

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

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Ingredients

150ml Rapeseed Oil
60g Brown Sugar
3 Eggs
150g Carrots (2 large)
100g Parsnips (1 large)
300g Doves Farm Self Raising Flour
1 tsp Mixed Spice
1 tsp Cinnamon

Instructions

Peel and grate the carrots and parsnip.
Mix the oil and sugar together. Add the eggs and mix.
Next add the grated vegetables and slowly add the flour and spices in.
Pour into a greased and lined loaf tin.
Bake at Gas Mark 5 for 30-40 minutes.

By Priya Tew, Dietitian UK

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calories

121

fat

protein

carbs

13g

Dietitian UK https://www.dietitianuk.co.uk/

Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Reviews, Snacks, Special Diets

Snack Attack: Wellaby’s review

26 February, 2017 Priya Leave a comment

The snack market is huge and every expanding, but often snacks can be laded in calories, saturated fat and less than nutritious. I am always on the look out for new, nutritious snacks that I can eat and recommend to others.

Wellaby’s Simple Bakes are gluten, dairy and nut free. This of course does not make them any healthier in my eyes, but it does mean they could be a worthwhile addition to the free-from snack market. Many snacks in the free-from aisle have one food group removed and replaced with fat/sugar in order to help boost the taste.

These baked snacks are less than 100kcals per serving – however this is for a 24g serving and they come in a 120g packet. So I doubt that many people would stick to this serving size. As well as being low in calories per portion they are low in saturated fat and sugars.

They are marketed as being a wholegrain snack. Looking at the nutrition label they contain 4.2 g fibre per 100g, equivalent to a medium apple, this comes from the wholegrain rice flour and oats. A high fibre food is 6g/100g so I would put these as a mid-range fibre food.

I found these snacks really tasty. I sometimes find the flavouring in snack foods can be overpowering or too artificial tasting, but these were a good balance. I also enjoyed the crunch.

It would be great to see these in smaller, portion controlled packets, I particularly like the fibre content and the fact they are gluten, dairy and nut free.

Disclaimer: All views are my own, I was sent these 3 packets to review.

Baking, Cooking with Kids, Snacks, Special Diets, Wheat Free

Pear Rock Cakes, no added sugar.

12 February, 2017 Priya Leave a comment

It’s been a week of pretty awful sleep. That saying about “They saved the best till last” is not true when it comes to sleeping babies. The third baby is the worse sleeper! However she also gives the best cuddles and is super cute with it, so I can’t be cross with her.

When I don’t sleep well I tend to :

Walk around in a bit of a brain fog, yet still be functional for work – how does that happen?
Want to poke out the eyes of anyone who has a baby that sleeps through the night.
Loose some of my words. My 6 year old is good at finding them for me. “I’m just making…..ummm, ummm” “Breakfast Mummy?” “Yes, that’s the one”.
Get creating in the kitchen. I’ve no idea how but cooking and baking helps restore my sanity.

So on a cold, fuzzy headed Sunday afternoon I was flicking through my recipe notebook and stumbled upon rockcakes. Rockcakes seem to be one of those recipes that people make in school or when they are learning to bake. I think they need a come-back. Super easy to make, which means the children can help, there is little that you can go wrong with and you are left with a mountain of tasty snacks for your week.

I’ve adapted the usual rock cake recipe by adding in fruit and upon tasty the mix I decided it was sweet enough for our palates. Try a bit of it before you add in the eggs and see what you think as you can always add in a little sugar to taste. Doing it this way will hopefully mean you don’t go OTT on the sugar content.

My kids were happy bunnies and rewarded me by playing nicely with minimal arguments all afternoon. I love the subtle pear hint in these. Perfect for tbe after school munchies, which happens to co-incide with my cuppa and snack time 🙂

Pear Rock Cakes

2017-02-12 22:23:44

Yields 20

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Prep Time

10 min

Prep Time

10 min

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

45g

Yields

Amount Per Serving

Calories 116

Calories from Fat 41

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 5g

Saturated Fat 3g

14%

Trans Fat 0g

Polyunsaturated Fat 0g

Monounsaturated Fat 1g

Cholesterol 29mg

10%

Sodium 9mg

Total Carbohydrates 17g

Dietary Fiber 1g

Sugars 5g

Protein 2g

Vitamin A

Vitamin C

Calcium

Iron

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

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Ingredients

100g butter at room temperature
250g flour (I used Doves Farm Plain Gluten Free Blend)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
1 soft large pear, peeled and chopped
1 soft ripe banana, mashed
100g raisins
2 eggs

Instructions

Rub the butter into the flour.
Now add the baking power and spice.
Add in the wet fruit. the pear should break down easily if you are using a stand mixer or food processor.
Now mix the raisins in gently.
Add in the eggs, one at a time.
Taste and add sugar if needed, I found it wasn't necessary.
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5, line and grease a baking tray.
You should end up with a soft dough.
Take dessert spoons of the mixture and gently shape into rounds.
Place onto a greased, lined baking tray.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until they are lightly browned on the top.

By Priya Tew, Dietitian UK

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calories

116

fat

protein

carbs

17g

Dietitian UK https://www.dietitianuk.co.uk/

Dairy Free, Dietitian Advice, Gluten Free, Nutrition Education, Snacks, Special Diets, Vegetarian, Wheat Free

Make your own healthy “graze” snack boxes

27 June, 2016 Priya Leave a comment

So snacking, it’s one of those things I definitely do. I tend to eat my 3 meals and at least 2 snacks a day. Which means my snacks need to be healthy, well most of them! Currently I am breastfeeding which makes me quite hungry at times. It is those moments when I have children clamouring for me, a baby wanting to feed and I know I need to eat that I need a ready to grab and go snack. That moment when it could be biscuits. Although I do eat my share of those too, I’ve recently discovered a wheat free dark chocolate and stem ginger cookie… dangerously nice. So to keep me on the straight and narrow I’ve started making snack boxes. This is something I often recommed to clients and many find them so useful. You can literally make a pile up for the week and take one to work each day, keep them in your bag or just on the worktop if you are at home.

Here are some of my favourite combos:

Cranberry.almond.choc — 15g Dried cranberries, 15 almonds and 10g dark chocolate

Cashew.mango — 15g cashews, 15g dried mango, 1 tsp mixed seeds

Brazil.apricot — 5 brazil nuts, 3 dried apricots, 1 tsp mixed seeds

Here is me trying out Facebook Live and showing off my not so great phone video skills:

Love to hear your healthy snack box combos. Leave me a message/comment so I can steal your ideas too 😉

I tend to buy my nuts and dried fruit in bulk online (it is cheaper per kg but costs a bit up front) and I store a supply in the cupboard and a supply in glass jars on my shelf. Which looks pretty and also means we all see them and are more likely to eat them instead of reaching into the biscuit tin.

“Keep healthy food – In plain sight so it is in your mind to eat it”

A good example of this is my toddler boy who often asks for “prawns” and points at the jars… he means prunes!

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Baking, Recipes, Snacks, Vegetarian, Weaning

Courgette and Stilton Pinwheels

1 May, 2016 Priya Leave a comment

These little beauties are something that I always like to have a ready supply of in the freezer. They make an easy lunch and are great to take out and about. We are in that stage where the toddler boy likes to eat lunch early which is usually when we are out and about, so lots of packed lunches are needed. Seeing as he isn’t keen on sandwiches I have to be slightly more inventive. Savoury muffins, savoury flapjack and pinwheels all go down well.

Courgettes are one of those vegetables that I love because you can add them into recipes without them being hugely noticeable. Grated courgette goes into a lot of things I make! Not don’t get me wrong, I’m not into hiding vegetables but I do like to add extra veggies to dishes when I can. My boy isn’t that keen on eating vegetables on their own so they need to be mixed into dishes. You could use any combo of toppings in these, be inspired by your fridge!

You could use pastry to make these, however I prefer pizza dough. I tend to make a large batch of the dough in the bread machine, make pizza with half and then make these with the rest. Knock them up, bake and freeze in a freezer bag. They defrost pretty quick for an easy, healthy lunch.

Here they are before baking…..

Courgette and Stilton Pinwheels

2016-05-01 21:01:11

Yields 8

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Cook Time

20 min

Cook Time

20 min

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

70g

Yields

Amount Per Serving

Calories 141

Calories from Fat 35

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 4g

Saturated Fat 1g

Trans Fat 0g

Polyunsaturated Fat 1g

Monounsaturated Fat 2g

Cholesterol 4mg

Sodium 94mg

Total Carbohydrates 21g

Dietary Fiber 1g

Sugars 0g

Protein 5g

Vitamin A

Vitamin C

Calcium

Iron

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

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Ingredients

Pizza Dough Recipe (I make double and make a large pizza with the other half of the dough)
140ml water
75g wholemeal bread flour
150g white bread flour
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp yeast

Topping

1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp red pesto
1/2 courgette grated
50g grated stilton
2 slices ham sliced (optional)

Instructions

Make up the pizza dough, you could mix by hand and leave to rise or make in a bread machine.
Roll it out on a floured surface, to a rectangle.
Spread the tomatoe puree and pesto on the top.
Cover with the courgette, stilton and ham.
Roll it up longways (see picture) and slice into 2 inch pieces, it should make about 8-9.
Grease and flour a baking tray, pre-bake the oven to Gas Mark 5.
Turn each piece so the filling can be seen from the top (see picture).
Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

By Priya Tew, Dietitian UK

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calories

141

fat

protein

carbs

21g

Dietitian UK https://www.dietitianuk.co.uk/

Fruit Crumble Bars

Ingredients

Instructions

Carrot Cake Energy Balls

Ingredients

Instructions

Gingernut Energy Balls

Ingredients

Recipe Notes

Freelance Dietitian specialising in helping those with Eating Disorders and a Media Spokesperson for the profession.