Toppings For Crackers

[sugarsue]

My daughter (almost 6) is casein free and I am having trouble finding things to go on crackers. She does not like nut butters much (we've tried peanut and sun). Any ideas for stuff to put in crackers? She does like hummus and I also will give her pepperoni or other meat but this is not her favorite. She'd much rather have cheese. Also, which crackers do the suggestions go best with (if it matters). We have bought glutano's circle crackers like of like ritz and Back to Nature's rice crackers.

Thanks!

Susan

[RiceGuy]

Have you tried almond butter, cashew butter, etc? If you mix almond meal with sugar (and probably a little something to hold them together), it's called marzipan. There's also coconut oil, which is solid at room temp, similar to butter, only it melts easier. You might try coconut oil and a little salt. You could also add a little sweetener, such as Stevia. In fact, coconut oil mixed with cocoa or carob powder can make a nice chocolate spread. Some other nice cracker toppings might be jam/fruit spreads, avocado, mashed banana, apple slices, or any number of other things. You can blend fruits and nuts together in a blender to make creamy healthy spreads too. Add cinnamon, salt, vanilla, or whatever she likes.

Earth Balance has a dairy-free margarine which comes in sticks. It has no trans fats or hydrogenated oils. It can make a buttery addition to your spreads.

[Darn210]

Would she go for a chicken/ham/tuna salad? . . . My daughter won't , but maybe yours will.

[Snow Angel]

At 6 yrs old I would want "fluff" , look at the Smuckers Marshmallow Topping... they say its gluten-free...I don't know about CF.

Open Original Shared Link

or you could try the Ricemellow which is vegan & gluten-free,

...you didn't say you wanted healthy

[purple]

I would set out a bunch of toppings and let her be creative with them so she will come up with what she likes. Mix and match sauces and toppings.

pepperoni with spaghetti sauce

raisins, banana slice or other fruit with a nut butter

jam and nut butter

powdered sugar or honey stirred into the nut butter

hot dog slice with spaghetti sauce

refried beans with tomato or olive

guacamole with tomato

pineapple tidbit with ham or bacon

hotdog slice with pineapple tidbit

maple syrup and nut butter

nut butter and a marshmallow

tuna with tomato or cucumber slice

tuna with shredded carrot

bacon and tomato

nut butter with cocoa and powdered sugar

chopped chicken mixed with tomato or shredded carrot

plus all the other ideas mixed and matched

I found this:

Open Original Shared Link

[Sweetfudge]

  sugarsue said:

My daughter (almost 6) is casein free and I am having trouble finding things to go on crackers. She does not like nut butters much (we've tried peanut and sun). Any ideas for stuff to put in crackers? She does like hummus and I also will give her pepperoni or other meat but this is not her favorite. She'd much rather have cheese. Also, which crackers do the suggestions go best with (if it matters). We have bought glutano's circle crackers like of like ritz and Back to Nature's rice crackers.

Thanks!

Susan

I also like the glutino "ritz" crackers. those are the best ones i've found so far.

  purple said:

I would set out a bunch of toppings and let her be creative with them so she will come up with what she likes. Mix and match sauces and toppings.

pepperoni with spaghetti sauce

raisins, banana slice or other fruit with a nut butter

jam and nut butter

powdered sugar or honey stirred into the nut butter

hot dog slice with spaghetti sauce

refried beans with tomato or olive

guacamole with tomato

pineapple tidbit with ham or bacon

hotdog slice with pineapple tidbit

maple syrup and nut butter

nut butter and a marshmallow

tuna with tomato or cucumber slice

tuna with shredded carrot

bacon and tomato

nut butter with cocoa and powdered sugar

chopped chicken mixed with tomato or shredded carrot

plus all the other ideas mixed and matched

I found this:

Open Original Shared Link

wow some great ideas! hot dog and spaghetti sauce sounds so good right now! i haven't eaten a hot dog in ages!

[ek327]

is there a particular reason you want her to eat crackers?

[sugarsue]

  ek327 said:

is there a particular reason you want her to eat crackers?

I can't find any bread she will eat so I'm trying crackers since I've found a few she will eat. She won't eat corn tortillas. I'm struggling to find stuff for her lunches. She's hugely picky right now.

Susan

[sugarsue]

  purple said:

I would set out a bunch of toppings and let her be creative with them so she will come up with what she likes. Mix and match sauces and toppings.

Thank you for these great ideas. It helped me to realize that if she helps make it or picks the stuff out herself, it will be very helpful. She chose rice with butter, green beans and okra for dinner tonight and topped it off with a banana and blueberry w/ rice milk smoothie. This was a huge breakthrough for us. The things you suggest, most right now, she would not try, but if I let her pick, I think she will expand her choices more quickly.

and thank you to EVERYONE who has reponded, really super great ideas. Thank you.

[mymagicalchild]

I love cheese, but usually it does not love me. I've had no problems, though, with the "organic valley" brand of raw cheeses. I get it at Whole Foods, but it's probably available at other healthy food markets. And raw cheeses are probably even more readily available in rural areas. (Since I've discovered the difference in myself, I've seen a lot of info that raw milk products do not cause the same problems as pasteurized/homogenized ones.)

IF I HAD A LITTLE ONE, even one without digestive issues, I'd probably find a number of foods that are healthy and palate-neutral (because children's taste buds are in overdrive) and serve them in small portions in very cute and colorful, tiny mini-ramekin-style containers. (I'd even enlist the mighty-but-little one in shopping for the containers. They'd be her very own feast-dishes.) VERY SMALL is the key.

What I'd serve would be thinly sliced carrot and celery sticks and daikon radish (sweet, crunchy veggie), pieces of raw cheese, small pieces of any cooked chicken/meat/fish she likes (or salmon/tuna spread), fresh fruit in small pieces, olives, naturally fermented sweet pickles (until her taste buds mellow and she likes the sour pickes), AND the crackers she loves.

Corn tortillas ALWAYS taste better fried. If she'll eat mashed beans, cut a corn tortilla in half and then in half again, fry only one quarter (so she won't be overwhelmed) and serve it topped with the beans and melted cheese. Or cover it in extra-thick spaghetti sauce.

The concept is called Tapas! The "Little Servings" Spain in known for.

[purple]

  sugarsue said:

I can't find any bread she will eat so I'm trying crackers since I've found a few she will eat. She won't eat corn tortillas. I'm struggling to find stuff for her lunches. She's hugely picky right now.

Susan

I found the recipe for this bread last week:

Open Original Shared Link

It's easy to make...you let it rise about an hour, then oil the top...bake 20 minutes, slice into 4 sections then each of those slice into 8 slices. It tastes like homemade gluten white bread even though it looks different. We love it! You can also cut it into bread sticks instead of slices and dip them in sauce. Make 2 pans and freeze one you have sliced and wrapped. Like us, could be she doesn't like bread made with rice flour...this recipe is made without it.

Remember to let your DD help make it and call it her special bread. If she doesn't like nut butter how about just jelly on it for a start? Or hummus and lunchmeat.

[Juliebove]

I get my daughter single serve packs of jam/jelly and also single serve packs of lunch meats or little slices of pepperoni and salami. She also eats faux cheese. Used to eat Chreese sauce but her allergies have changed and she can no longer have that. She does like rice cheese. You have to be careful to get the vegan kind. The non vegan contains casein.

[babysteps]

canned chick-peas (aka garbanzo beans), whirl in food processor to desired consistency (will get all the way to hummus-smooth if you wish) - this is basically just bland hummus, since hummus is chickpeas with olive oil, tahini, lemon juice, salt & garlic - okay, there are a thousand variations, but that's the first one listed in wikipedia You can also add parsley or fresh basil or anything leafy for a different color & flavor.

This works fine with almost any canned bean actually. You may want to rinse them first before whirling (helps cut down on gas).

luckily almost anything will fit on a cracker! And if it doesn't, just chop or grind it up, add some oil or liquid to hold it together, and then it *will* fit on a cracker