Fun & Easy Sugar-Free Recipes For Kids

Last week we were lucky enough to be sent a sneak-peek copy of I Quit Sugar’s latest printed Kids Cookbook. The story behind this book is that it was originally launched as an ebook, but due to its popularity, the public rallied together with crowd-funding to bring this book to life! It shows just how strong a community can be. We feel this same strength with our community :)

Now… we don’t normally share reviews of books, but Hugo gave us the nod of approval to share this one with you ;-)

Firstly we’d like to say we’re big fans of Sarah Wilson and all that I Quit Sugar stands for, and its great to see their team trying to influence the generation that needs this the most. With the amount of sugar-ladened junk that is targeted at our youngsters, we need to help them understand that “treats” are not foods that make you feel awful and have a sugar-induced hangover; treats are foods that make your body feel great and really “treat” your cells.

Now to first impressions…

When you first pick up this 147 page book, you’ll instantly see that it’s been designed for a family experience in the kitchen. From the informative content for the Mums and Dads out there about what kids should be eating every day and how to get your kids sugar-free; to the fun and simple recipes that are made for both the kids and parents to enjoy creating together.

We especially loved the section on how to get your kids eating their greens . Some great little tricks in there ;-)

Word of warning for all our fellow vegetarians and vegans out there, this book does have a few recipes that call for animal products, but you could easily substitute these with all kinds of veggie-friendly goodness.

Now to some taste-testing…

Naturally with the holidays around the corner, we couldn’t resist trying out the Christmas Reindeer Pops. (how adorable!)

In under 20 minutes we had Rudolf’s friends chilling out on our kitchen bench, ready for the team to dig into!

We’ve got the recipe below if you’d like to give it a try. Trust me, these are irresistible!!

The big kids at Food Matters are still licking the sticks, wishing there was more!

With over 85 simple and fun recipes packed into this book and some really handy hints on how to encourage your kids to embrace healthy food, it’s a no-brainer that this is one cookbook families should definitely have on their kitchen bench.

CHRISTMAS REINDEER POPS (RECIPE)

Makes 20
Prep Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cashews
• 1 cup macadamias
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla powder or 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1/4 cup rice malt syrup
• freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 an orange
• 1/2 cup combined total of goji berries, pecans and cacao nibs, processed into a coarse texture
• desiccated coconut for rolling
• chia seeds, or hemp seeds (optional)

Method:

1. Combine the first 6 ingredients in food processor. Add the rice malt syrup and orange juice and whiz again, Gently mix in the goji berries, pecans and cacao nibs.
2. Roll mixture into balls, roll in coconut and place in the fridge for 10 minutes. Remove from fridge.
3. Decorate - To make the reindeers, place balls on sticks and decorate with walnut 'ears' and goji berry 'noses'.
4. Store decorated balls in the fridge for another 10 minutes to set.

Tricky Tip: These Reindeer Pops are best kept in the fridge for a couple of weeks. If you'd like to keep them for longer, freeze them after a day or two.

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