3 Summer Veg & Non-Veg Recipes Ideas for Kids

Summer recipes, especially when created for children, may be made keeping in mind a few factors, like:

1. The heat effects the body in many ways, one of those being that it slows down the digestive system, so we may think of “easy to digest” food
2. Some food groups help to keep the body temperature down
3. In spite of the sweltering heat, children don’t slow down so their need for carbs and energy remains steady, and that needs to be catered to
4. Hot weather is also the cause for food going bad faster, so we must be extra careful
5. Cold food is often not been cooked through a high temperature process, therefore bacteria and germs may have remained behind, since kids will crave for cold food in summer, we need to be mindful of its appropriateness and hygiene

Summer Recipe Ideas for Your Child

Some recipes that I think are tasty in spite of being light:

#1. Paneer Tikkas in home style

Nutrients - 100 gms of paneer made from cow milk provides 18.3 gms of protein, 20.8 gms of fat, 2.6 gms of minerals, 1.2 gms of carbohydrates, 265 kcal of energy, 208 mgs of calcium, 138 mg of phosphorous and reasonably good amounts of fat and cholesterol.

This is a good snack before they run out for their round of evening activities.

• Buy one block of Le Bon/Amul/Mother Dairy cottage cheese, cut it into blocks, the size paneer tikkas usually are
• Brush these generously with rock salt, coarsely ground pepper, lime juice, and chat masala, if you happen to have that at home. Use rock salt instead of normal salt, it has more minerals and is therefore healthy, it adds a sourish taste that normal salt does not and rock salt has a characteristic flavor that enhances the taste. Do not use chilly powder for heat, but just coarsely ground peppercorn.
• Sprinkle olive oil on your non-stick fry pan and sauté these cubes till they are golden brown.
• Serve at an edible temperature, if you make slices instead of cubes, you can put this between 2 slices of bread and make a light sandwich.

#2. Fish Recipe - Light & Easy

Nutrients – 1 serving of Rohu fish contains approximately 97 calories, 101 mg sodium, 1 g total fat, when raw,288 mg potassium, 0 g of saturated fat, 4 g total carbs, 0 g poly-saturated fat, 0 g dietary fibre, 17 g protein, 0 mg cholesterol, 5% Vitamin A, 30% calcium, 0% Vitamin C and 1% iron.

• As opposed to red meat, fish is lighter and easier to digest during summers. Buy a river fish like the Rohu or Katla and cut into largish stake style pieces
• Brush with olive oil, coarsely ground garlic, pepper, salt, lime juice, thyme and put in the refrigerator for 5 – 7 minutes, not on the chill tray or ice tray though.
• Take out and bake in your OTG or Microwave, set the timings as appropriate in your machine. You can add some more Olive oil at this stage.
• Serve with mashed potatoes and sautéed veggies.

#3. Summer Mango Sandesh

Nutrients - The same calorie content in paneer as specified before, added to that will be the approximately 774 calories of a cup of sugar.

• Add lime juice to milk and make cottage cheese at home.
• Add 3 cubes (or whatever number will add flavor according to the quantity of paneer you are using) of mango and ½ to ¾ cup powdered sugar ( decide quantity based on your families preference and quantity of paneer) and knead the mixture in a food grinder or an ordinary mixie. Set aside
• Grease a big utensil that can be accommodated inside a pressure cooker and has a tight lid, arrange the kneaded mixture in cubes or rounds inside this utensil , close the lid tightly, put this inside a pressure cooker, take off the weight and let the cooker wheeze for 10 minutes
• Put the container with the sweets inside the refrigerator, eat cold.

Tell me if these healthy summer recipes appeal to you, and then respond by posting some of your own, let us help each other to plan the right meals this summer.