Healthy baking for family

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gollywogs1, Aug 18, 9:28am
Hi any recipies or even just the title of great healthy baking ideas I like to cake slicey things and muffins and loafs but I am new and need ideas thanks all!

sarahb5, Aug 18, 9:42am
Depends on your definition of healthy - I don't think any baking is that healthy because of the sugar, fat and flour content to be honest.If you're trying to reinvent existing recipes then try the Healthy Food Guide website because it re-works those old favourites.I do have a fat free fruit cake recipe that is dried fruit soaked in tea and orange juice then flour added and that's about it - will see if I can find a link .

400g - 1000g mixed dried fruit
1 cup of black tea
1 cup of orange juice
2 cups of self raising flour

Soak the fruit in the tea and juice for at least 2 hours or preferably overnight.Add flour.Bake for 2 hours at 150c until golden brown.

ingies, Aug 18, 12:12pm
Make your own muesli bars, mix a variety of ground nuts & seeds, oats, bran and dried fruit (anything you feel like adding- I usually go to the bulk bins at pacnsave and buy just what I need for 1 batch), together with a wet mixture of mashed bananas (I add lemon juice here to preserve the banana colour), eggs, egg whites, vanilla essence and apple puree, put into baking tin and flatten out, bake at 175 C, cool, and slice thinly, into muesli shaped bars. As I make such a lot (around 2 kilos) I put them into little individual serve bags and freeze them, so that they last much longer and the nuts don't go off etc. May want to add some honey/sugar and or stevia into mixture to sweeten it, I also add a whole lot of whey powder to increase the protein content. Each batch I make is slightly different, but all are healthy, are low in saturated fat, high fibre and high protein, and although the initial outlay is quite a lot depending on the nut selection and whey protein, they are a lot cheaper then shop bought protein bars, and are a lot healthier then muesli bars from the shops.

For a less compact/dense bar you can add some baking powder as well, but this makes it a little crumbly.

I probably wouldn't recommend this for children if you don't add a lot of fruit and sugar as it is a little on the dry side, and tastes healthy.

kinna54, Aug 19, 2:11am
Everyone has a different definition of healthy.I believe in everything in moderation. Carrot cake is a goodie, bran muffins, fruit muffins.
When I was assisting at pre-school I know a huge favourites of the kids were anzac biscuits, cornflake biscuits, wholemeal banana cake, ham cheese, and pineapple muffins, and they often baked these with the teachers.

buzzy110, Aug 19, 4:34am
OMG. My daughter has a hard enough time as it is with people offering her pre-schoolers lollipops and toxic looking cupcakes. How does one educate a child to not be part of the (un)'healthy' sugar, flour and margarine culture when they are so very young.

Who is looking after the interests of children who have dietary constraints!

At our local Playgroup the children are given popcorn and fresh fruit. No one brings 'baking' or biscuits.

kay141, Aug 19, 4:44am
x1
Exactly. What about the children who can't eat most fruit!

kinna54, Aug 19, 4:47am
Ha ha.was waiting for this.the comment from buzzy.
As I said buzzy."everything in moderation" gosh how do you manage to survive your self righteous attitude.and at that pre-school there is a rule: sandwiches are eaten first, then yoghurt and fruit, then any other foods.and the kids get to bake asa learning activity rather than an eating one, they explore a range of eating habits. They occasionally get to have a mini cookie or muffin "As a treat" for their efforts.and who says everything is made with UNHEALTHY ingredients. The pre-school is very aware of dietary constraints.It is certainly not forced upon them.
I am not going to be drawn into a debate with you and your holier than thou attitude.I have seen you fall out too many times with others.

kinna54, Aug 19, 4:50am
and further.god forbid that a pre-school kid may inadvertently pop a bit of play dough in their mouth.all that salt, oil, flour and colouring.wonder how we all survived.

cookessentials, Aug 19, 5:19am
Crickey, sorry your post has been sabotaged gollywogs. There are a number of things that can be reasonably "healthy" for home baked goods. For a start, home bakes is still far superior to shop bought because you know exactly what you ar eputting in your baked goods. I am just on my way out but do have some recipes that will be perfect. As someone else mentioned.moderation is the key.

kinna54, Aug 19, 5:26am
gollywogs my apologies that the nasties had to come out in your thread.
Unfortunately there are some people who just can't resist.
I do hope you find some recipes to suit. I'm sure that you will. Most posters on here are only too happy to help, and I'm sure you will find some great assistance.

vmax2, Aug 19, 5:41am
Cooks, as you personally know for some moderation does not work, it causes allergic reactions.

cookessentials, Aug 19, 6:39am
vmax, I would suggest you totter off to another thread. You were once a poster I could converse with. Sadly, that is now not the case as your postings of late are beginning to show. Sadly, a habit you have picked up from your newest "buddy"Nothing wrong with mederation at all and as far as your comment, perhaps you need to mind your own business in regards to me thank you. I do not appreciate your comments one bit. You do not have any idea about me and I would thank you to butt out.

As i have said to the OP, there is nothing wrong with a bit of home baking and moderation is the key. Hopefully we can give you some great ideas for your home baking.

cookessentials, Aug 19, 6:48am
Here you go gollywogs. This is a recipe from the healthy food guide site just to get you started. This is low fat and dairy free. There is only 1/4 cup raw sugar so a good alternative to some of the more high sugar ( added) that are in some cakes.

1 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup sultanas
1 medium apple, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup apple juice
1/4 cup orange juice
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup raw sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 medium bananas, sliced thinly

Step 1 Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a loaf pan with baking paper.

Step 2 Place carrot, apricots, sultanas, apple, juices, water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to the boil then simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Step 3 Stir in the sifted dry ingredients and banana. Spread mixture into a loaf tin and bake for 1 hour.

cookessentials, Aug 19, 6:49am
Here is the link to the Healthy Food Site. They put out a regular magazine which is available at most supermarkets too.

cookessentials, Aug 19, 7:02am
Might pay to give you the link! Sorry about that!
http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/

sarahb5, Aug 19, 7:16am
The cake recipe I posted at #2 was provided to our PTA by a nutritionist

gollywogs1, Aug 19, 7:17am
Awesome guys thanks! I used to bake a cake maybe once a year but now I have kids it seems like it would be a good morning tea or arvo snack but I'm full on about fruit and sandwiches yogurt andthings.when I bake I try to use raw sugar whole meal flour and use less sugar then it says I do wonder, the oils that have ticks are they healthy ! I usually only read helpful posts anways ha ha all good guys, so what kind of things does everyone give to kids for lunch if i look at fris example i gave honey sandwiches, yoghurt two mandrins, kiwi fruit banana raisns ginger loaf (wholemeal flour etc.) healthries chips i thought this was a good combo!

wildflower, Aug 19, 7:20am
I find a lot of recipes for muesli bars etc you can play around with and make healthier, you can't seem to go too wrong with making your own muesli bars.I love to chuck seeds, nuts etc into everything.And fresh fruit holds things together well and sweetens at the same time.

I always swap butter for rice bran oil in muffins etc and usually swap all or as much as I can get away with when it comes to white/wholemeal flour.

And at least with home cooking you can pronounce the names of ingredients and it's not lists of numbers and chemical sounding things!

sarahb5, Aug 19, 10:37am
I'm not a big fan of things like muesli bars, homemade or bought, because they are so sticky and that stickiness is like sugar glue on your kids teeth - my dentist told me that a piece of home baking every day is fine (ie. muffin, cake, etc) because saliva can neutralise that type of sugar easier than the sticky/chewy kind.

Anyway, my kids are 21, 17 and 14 and have been having a piece of home baking in their lunch boxes every day since they first started school without any detrimental effect on their health, fitness, weight or teeth - the rest of their diet is healthy, unprocessed, fresh cooked food so I don't really think one piece of cake, a cookie or a muffin is too bad in the scheme of unhealthy/healthy foods.This week they are having hungry boy cake - search on the left for the recipe because I've posted it previously.Last week they had chocolate cake.Next week maybe banana cake or chocolate chip cookies.I always use raw sugar - only white sugar in the house is icing sugar.I use 1/3 wholemeal to 2/3 high grade flour.I substitute canola oil for butter because the baking keeps better.I add mashed bananas to chocolate cake to up the fruit intake.

cookessentials, Aug 19, 7:05pm
This recipe from HFG has no added sugar and uses Weet-Bix.

http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/recipes/2006/november/light-and-tasty-weet-bix-muffins

cookessentials, Aug 19, 7:07pm
On each of theiir recipes, you can click on "nutritional info" on the top right of the page so it gives you a break down of the various nutritional elements of the product.

sarahb5, Aug 19, 8:59pm
I've made those and whilst they are healthy they're not actually that tasty and were a bit chewy - these, however, were yummy and have loads of kid appeal:

http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/recipes/2010/may/double-chocolate-mini-muffins

wildflower, Aug 20, 4:08am
There's a slice on HFG site that uses weetbix and rice bubbles and rolled oats, not too chewy and very nice, name escapes me though sorry.

kirmag, Aug 20, 4:12am
Get the Healthy Food guide. it's the best mag out.Only $49.50 for 1 year subscription.Lots of recipes and info in it.

sarahb5, Aug 20, 4:19am
You can access the same recipes online for free as well