I am LOVING the dose of warmer weather we’re getting recently up here in Scotland. Especially because it makes for lots of garden time and kids just seem infinitely easier to occupy. Does anyone else find watering their lawn and plants a super meditative process? I’m well into it. I’ll even admit to leaving this task until after Ethan goes to bed so I can have the peaceful pleasure to myself (even though I know he loves doing it too). Minus Mummy points. I don’t feel too guilty though because he’s been having an absolute ball so far, digging in the garden, getting slathered in sunscreen and playing outside at every opportunity with his cousins.

It’s far easier to keep him active, but the flipside is that I have been hearing a lot of “Muuuuuuummmmmm, I’m hungry!! Can I have a snack please?!”. And because I like to make life torturous for myself by dodging unnecessary plastic packaging where possible and keeping the vast majority of Ethan’s diet healthy, I’ve had to research and get creative. I thought I’d share some of mine and Ethan’s favourites with you.

Because I value my own outdoors time so much right now and let’s face it, we have no idea how long this weather will last… I’ve only included the super easy, quick to throw together things below. No baking or complicated steps required.

Ice Lollies & Smoothies

SUPER easy, but requires some type of food processor. I tend to mainly use my Nutribullet. And if you don’t have an ice lolly mould, get thee to your local any-kind-of-shop (Lidl’s, Tesco, Home Bargains etc) and grab a set. My kid will eat pretty much anything that is frozen in a mould. The basis of both smoothies and ice lollies are the same, pureed fruit and maybe a sneaky portion of veg. Tesco often have 3 for £5 on bags of frozen fruit, we like blueberries, raspberries and mango. Pretty much any smoothie you make can be frozen to make ice lollies, which are way more fun in summer.
Truth be told, we struggle to make a smoothie in our house that doesn’t turn a weird colour of brown. Typically because we’re often just chucking in a random mixture of nearly gone fruit. But some combos that work on repeat around here are these guys (you can wing the quantities, but we typically go two parts fruit to one part veggie):

  • Kiwi, strawberry and lemon juice (this is perfect for an ice lolly as it almost tastes fizzy)
  • Strawberries, cherries and beetroot (I use frozen cherries and precooked beetroot)
  • Orange, carrot and ginger (go easy on the ginger, it adds zing!)

    • Oh and avocado is pretty easy to sneak into a smoothie or ice lolly without your little one noticing that extra portion of healthy fats.

    Ice Cream

    Shockingly easy to make cheat ice cream at home. You can save the plastic tubs of ice cream you’ve purchased before and reuse perfectly for your own homemade (although our batches tend to get eaten as soon as they’re made). Once again, a processor is required. The two following combinations I’ve tried and loved:

  • Chocolate Banana Ice Cream – Three frozen bananas, 100ml coconut yoghurt (or you can use regular yoghurt), 3 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tbsp cacao powder, blitz together and freeze.
  • Strawberry Ice Cream – One punnet strawberries (preferably frozen), 100ml coconut yoghurt (once again, sub for greek or natural if you like) 1/2 sliced frozen banana, 3tbsp runny honey, blitz together and freeze.

    • Yoghurt

  • Smash up your chosen berries with greek yoghurt and freeze in fun shaped ice cube moulds
  • Dip slices of banana or whole strawberries into yoghurt and freeze
  • Make your own flavoured yoghurts by blending frozen fruit into a plain yoghurt. No added sugars or weird sweeteners hiding in there.

    • Barks

  • One of my faves is Greek Yoghurt Breakfast Bark. So easy. Just spread a cup (or two) of natural Greek yoghurt onto a parchment paper lined baking tray, sprinkle over your favourite granola and decorate with sliced fruit like strawberries. Freeze overnight and then snap into tasty shards the next day. You can add a little maple syrup to the yoghurt before freezing if you like it a bit sweeter.
  • Ethan also loves Chocolate Banana Bark. It’s the exact same as above except before spreading your yoghurt, mix 2 tbsp of cacao powder and 2tbsp honey into the yoghurt and decorate with sliced banana instead of berries and granola. Freeze, then devour. I warn you to have your wipes at the ready though… Mucky faces guaranteed.

    • If you want a real treat, try making a chocolate bark. Melt a bar of your favourite chocolate, I prefer Green & Blacks dark chocolate, spread on a parchment paper lined baking tray and sprinkle with deliciousness of your choice before freezing. As for toppings, I love freeze-dried raspberries and smashed up macadamia nuts on mine. Oh wait, this was meant to be for the kids, right? No problem, you can share (or not, I won’t judge).

    Popcorn

    A fun, quick task in our house is popping our own popcorn. I just buy the kernels, melt 1tbsp coconut oil on a medium heat in a glass lidded pot, add the kernels, replace the lid and the kids love watching the popping magic. I usually let it pop until there’s only one pop every other second, take it off the heat and let it cool. Ethan will eat it plain by the bucketload, but I quite like some coconut sugar sprinkled on mine.

    Do you have any go-to easy kid-friendly treats to share?
    My snack repertoire will never be big enough to satiate my four year old’s appetite!