Kids love sweet things. The more sugar, the better! While you don’t want them to lose out on parties, after dinner treats, and that first taste of an ice cream on a sweltering summer’s day, you also don’t want to be giving them sugar-laden desserts after dinner every night either. For those days when the kids are intent on finding something to satisfy their sweet tooth and you’re determined that healthy vegetables are the order of the day, here are some ways to compromise.
Homemade fruit ice lollies are a great way to have fun with healthy, fresh fruit. Get the kids involved by asking them to choose some of their favourite fruits and berries. If they’re old enough, they can help you to chop them up carefully too. You can make tons of different flavours and types of lollies. Try freezing whole fruit chunks in water or fruit juice for a start. Or, you can blend fruit together before freezing. Coconut milk or milk blended with fruit makes for a lovely creamy texture. Some of our favourite fruit combinations are mango and orange, kiwi and strawberry, mixed berry and apple, and raspberry and mint – but use whatever appeals to you!
For an alternative to ice cream that your kids will love, even if they aren’t fooled, chop and freeze some bananas. When the time for ice cream comes, take them out and blend them up in a high powered blender. Frozen banana takes on an entirely different texture. It’s sweet, thick, creamy, and really does resemble banana flavoured ice cream! Add some toppings in the form of melted dark chocolate, strawberries, or whatever your kids’ favourite is. They can get away with a bit of unhealthy topping if they’re not eating real ice cream, after all!
If they’re more into cakes and brownies, there are loads of good substitutions available simply by researching healthier versions of your favourite dessert online. You’ll probably want to keep the fact that your sugar-free chocolate brownies are loaded with sweet potato and avocado secret from the kids, but as long as they taste nice, we promise they won’t mind. Try to serve cakes and baked goods without cream or custard where possible. Strawberries are a good match for anything chocolate or vanilla flavoured, so start serving them alongside dessert and see if your kids eat some.
Sure, sometimes you’ll just have to give in and let them order that bowl full of strawberry ice cream. There’s nothing wrong with that on occasion. For the other days though, hopefully these ideas have given you some inspiration.