Michelle Darmody: Healthy snacks for picky toddlers

Bitesized bits for grasping, busy hands - including veggie and breadcrumb muffins, and mini pancake treats!

Veggie and breadcrumb muffins - perfect for stuffing little faces on the go

The regularity with which toddlers have to be fed can be overwhelming, especially if you have things to do and places to get to. 

I find the best solution for our family is to always have filling snacks on hand, even on the shortest of trips. 

Sometimes that is just slices of apple and cheese, or if I miraculously have time, I do a batch of any of the below. I freeze them, then take out what I need each morning.

Vegetable and Breadcrumb Muffins

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

These can be made with any leftover vegetables. A mix of steamed or roasted root vegetables is a go-to, but some chopped spinach, broccoli or roasted courgettes all work well. The cheese and egg bind the vegetables with the breadcrumbs to make tasty littl

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 18 mins

Total Time

 28 mins

Course

 Baking

Cuisine

 American

Ingredients

• 110g mashed vegetables

• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

• 4 tbsp breadcrumbs

• 50g cheddar cheese, grated

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C grease and flour the tin a 12-hole mini muffin tin or pop in mini bun cases.

2. Stir all of the ingredients together until well combined. Spoon it into your prepared tin.

3. Bake for about 18 minutes until golden and baked through.

4. Run a knife around each muffin if you are not using the paper cases, and when cool enough to handle pop them out of the tin with a butter knife and place them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Carrot and sesame pancakes

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

It can take a bit of time to fry up all of the small pancakes, if saving time is a priority, you can make three larger pancakes and cut them into strips. This works just as well and is easy for little hands to grasp.

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 20 mins

Total Time

 30 mins

Course

 Baking

Cuisine

 European

Ingredients

• 1 measuring cup of mashed carrots, which were either steamed or roasted

• ¼ measuring cup of oat flour

• 1 tsp sesame seeds

• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• a dash of rapeseed oil

Method

1. Whisk all of the ingredients except the oil.

2. Heat the oil in a flat pan. Spoon a soupspoon of batter at a time into the pan and cook until golden on the bottom then flip it over.

3. Continue until all of the batter is used up.