We all love eating snacks. They are little packs of delicious food that can help you beat mid-day hunger. But snacks are not only hunger killers but they can be healthy and nutritious too.
If you choose your snacks with a lot of protein and nutrients, they can help you in many ways like weight loss or weight gain, etc. Good snacks can make you feel full all throughout the day and control your cravings for unhealthy foods. In this article we are going to talk about how you can make your own healthy snacks at home. Snacks are the ones that we eat at leisure in the evening and enjoy the most. If we select the ingredients wisely, we can plan the snacks well without adding on too much of calories.
A healthy snack is the one that has significant vitamins, low in saturated fats and added sugar and have low sodium content. Foods with whole grains, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, low-fat dairy products and lean meat cuts are preferable for snacks.
Whether you are famished after a workout or need to munch something yummy or to satisfy the hunger pangs or wanted to have a feel-good food but worried about the adding calories, then we can explore into the innumerable choices of foods in the snacking department. Readymade options like cookies, pastries, patties or cream rolls can be filling for snacks but these foods contain a high amount of sugar that would just spike the blood sugar levels and would not add nutrients into the food. If we tend to get creative with the intention of trying the ingredients easily available at home, then we can bring out tasty, healthy and nutritious snacks that will be savored by all.
Hence let’s don our chef hats and indulge in a few healthy snacks that will be loved by everyone.
Healthy and Filling Snacks
1. Baked Wheat Canapés With Vegetable Filling
Canapés have always been one of the favorites of kids wherein you can fill it with any filling and make it into a sumptuous snack. A good snack for starting a party. If we make canapés with wheat and that too baked, I think that would be an ideal crust on which you add any kind of filling.
Ingredients
For The Crust
- Wheat- 1 cup
- Salted butter- ¼ cup
- Salt- to taste
- Ice cold water for kneading
For The Filling
- Cabbage- ½
- Beetroot-1
- Onion – 1
- Carrot-1
- Mixed spice powder- ½ tsp
- Tomato sauce – 1 tbsp.
- Garlic powder- ½ tsp.
- Oil- 1 Tsp.
- Salt to taste.
- Oats (powdered)- 1 Tsp
- Milk- ½ cup
Method
Take wheat in a bowl. Add butter into the wheat and cut the butter into the wheat such that it is shredded and rub the wheat and butter with fingertips to get a breadcrumb consistency. Add salt. Add ice cold water. Mix it well to knead into a dough and allow it to sit for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, prepare small balls like a puri and roll the ball with the pin into the size of medium puri. Prick the puri with the fork to get slits. Take a cupcake mold tray. Place the puri in each of the molds so that it forms a cup. Bake the cups in an oven at 200 degrees Celsius. Once it cools down, remove the cups from the mold and place it on the wire mesh.
Scrape beetroot and carrot and keep aside. Shred cabbage and slice onion finely. Heat oil in a pan. Add the vegetables into the oil. Mix well. Now add mixed spice powder, garlic powder, salt into the vegetables and mix well. Add tomato sauce into the cooked vegetables. Cover the vegetables and allow it to cook for 1 minute. Now add powdered oats and mix well. Add milk into the vegetables and mix well till it is thickened. Cook for a minute and then allow it to cool.
Place the canapés on the plate and add a spoonful of the filling into the canapés. You can also add a small blob of mayo or cottage cheese on the top for flavor.
2. Yummylicious Quiche With Potato And Corn Filling
Quiche is a part of French cuisine, usually included as party foods. It is a savory open flan filled with eggs, milk or cream and cheese, meat, seafood’s or vegetables. Quiche is served hot or cold. We can prepare our own fillings for the quiche and make it into a healthier option.
Ingredients-
For The Crust
- Wheat flour – 1 cup
- Oil- ½ cup
- Ice cold water for kneading
- Salt to taste
You can add flavoring agents like crushed garlic or oregano powder while preparing the dough.
For Filling
- Potatoes (boiled)- 2
- Corn (boiled)- ½ cup
- Ragi flour – 2 tsp.
- Milk – 1 cup
- Red chili flakes- ½ tsp.
- Cheese (optional)- to be scraped on the top.
- Salt to taste
- Pepper powder
- Olive oil- 1 tsp.
Method
Take the flour in a bowl, add oil into the flour and mix it with the fingertips in order to gain breadcrumb-like consistency. Add water into the flour and mix well to form a dough. Keep the dough aside for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, roll the dough to form pancake sized shape and fix the dough into the baking tray by covering the sides and base of the pan. Now prick the dough with the fork and allow the base to be baked for 10 to 20 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius till it gets a brownish flavor. Keep aside and allow it to cool.
Slice the potatoes long and arrange the potato slices on the base spread boiled corn on the potato slices. Prepare white sauce by sautéing the ragi flour into the olive oil till it gets cooked and then pours milk and mix the ragi mixture well to get a thickened consistency. Add salt and pepper powder to taste to the white sauce. Mix well. Now pour the white sauce on the potato and corn until it is spread well. Sprinkle red chili flakes on the dish. You can add grated cheese on the top but it’s optional. Allow the dish to be baked at 200 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes or till the top portion gets brownish. You can cut the quiche into quarters and serve hot.
Other Varieties Of Fillings That Can Be Added Into The Quiche
a. Tofu And Spinach Filling-
Cut tofu into squares. Chop spinach and onion finely. Heat oil in a pan, add finely chopped onion and sauté till golden brown. Add spinach, and tofu, mix well. Add 1 tsp. tomato puree, salt, pepper powder and mixed herbs powder. Cook for a while. Spread the filling on the crust. Allow it to bake.
b. Mixed Vegetables Filling-
Cut capsicum, carrot into squares. Boil ½ cup boiled corn. Cut broccoli into florets. Heat oil in a pan. Add capsicum, carrot into the pan and sauté till golden brown. Add boiled corn and broccoli. Cook for a while. Add red chili sauce and mix well. Add salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes. Spread the filling on the crust. Allow it to bake.
3. Oats Cutlets
Cutlets were always a favorite tea time snack, loved by the kids and the adults. If cutlets are prepared with healthy ingredients, then is the most essential snack to be eaten with relish.
Ingredients
- Oats – 2 tbsp.
- Sweet potato – 1
- Capsicum- ½
- Onion – ½
- Roasted peanut powder- 1 tsp.
- Carrot (grated)- ½
- Green chilies (chopped) – ½ tsp.
- Salt to taste
- Garam masala – a pinch
- Lemon juice – ½ tsp.
- Oil- 1 Tsp.
Method
Boil oats in water till soft and strain the water. Boil Sweet potato till soft. Remove the skin of the potato and mash the potato well. Heat ½ Tsp. oil in a pan. Add finely chopped onions, capsicum, and grated carrot. Cook for a minute. Add mashed potatoes and oats, chopped green chilies. Cook for a while. Add peanut powder, garam masala and salt to taste. Mix well. Add lemon juice on the mixture. Mix well and switch off the gas. Cool the mixture. Prepare medium balls of the mixture. Flatten the mixture. Take a non-stick pan. Add ½ tsp. oil on the pan and heat the pan. Place the cutlets on the pan and allow the of the cutlet. Once cooked on both the sides. Remove from the gas and serve hot with chutney or sauce.
4. Vegetables With Roasted Nachos
Nachos have been crispy and made of tortilla chips which are taken with loads of veggies and cheese. But if the nachos are roasted and eaten with freshly prepared veggies then it provides a sumptuous combination.
Ingredients
- Roasted nachos- 1 bowl
- Broccoli- cut into florets, 1 small bowl
- Carrot- 1
- French beans- 2 to 3
- Kidney beans- 1 small cup (boiled and lightly mashed)
- Spinach- few leaves
- Sorghum flour- 2 tsp.
- Ghee – ½ Tsp
- Milk – 1 cup
- Salt to taste
- Pepper powder- a pinch
Method
Cut carrots in squares, broccoli in florets and French beans. Clean the spinach and keep it aside. Boil water in a big bowl. Add carrots, broccoli, spinach and French beans into the water. Switch off the gas and close the bowl with a lid. Remove the vegetables and keep it aside. Heat ghee in a dekchi, add sorghum flour and allow it to cook in ghee for few minutes. Pour milk and make the sauce thickened. Now add the boiled vegetables into the white sauce and add salt and pepper into the vegetables. Mix the vegetables. Now add boiled and mashed kidney beans and mix well. Spread the veggies on the plate. You can take a scoop of this with nachos.
Hence, chuck out sugary cookies or oily Chivdas or chips, which can hamper your health and do not add nutrients and could add to the calories. Instead, try these healthy which adds value to the taste as well to health.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Sometimes we may not be able to make such elaborate snacks every day, then what could be other options?
Ans) If we are not able to prepare snacks due to time constraints, you can even have toasted brown bread with peanut butter or raw vegetables finely chopped into salad and sprouts with pieces of khakra, a small Katori roasted channa or peanuts.
2. Can we have soups as a snack item in the evening?
Ans) Yes, soups can be incorporated in the evening. But not the readymade ones. You can boil the vegetables like bottle gourd, corn, and tomatoes till soft. Then prepare a puree out of the vegetables. Boil the puree without straining, add boiled green gram and soya chunks. Add salt and pepper into the soup. Serve hot.
Read Next – 5 Super Easy and Sumptuous Easy Evening Snacks!
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