I love being the conduit between the doctor’s visit and the grocery store for families with food allergies. Some children must go on multiple eliminations and a family’s first list usually focuses on foods a child cannot eat. Parents are shell shocked. “What do I feed my child then? You have taken everything out!” Enter the dietitian with her superhero cape!
I get the fun job of providing a list of foods their child can eat. One of those yummy foods is sunflower seeds. One ounce of sunflower seeds provides a powerhouse of — count ’em — 15 nutrients. They are an excellent source for five, and good source for five more.
| Nutrient | % Daily Value |
| Vitamin E | 84 |
| Phosphorus | 32 |
| Selenium | 31 |
| Copper | 25 |
| Pantothenic acid | 20 |
| Folate | 17 |
| Protein | 12 |
| Fiber | 12 |
| Vitamin B6 | 11 |
| Zinc | 10 |
| Magnesium | 9 |
| Iron | 6.4 |
| Thiamin | 6 |
| Niacin | 6 |
| Riboflavin | 5 |
Source: National Sunflower Association
Sunflower seeds are such a versatile ingredient that can be incorporated into a child or adult’s diet in a variety of ways. Some of the ideas I suggest include:
- Sunflower Seed Butter (as an alternative to peanut butter)
- Ground up and used as a crunchy coating for fish, pork or chicken
- Added to a salad for crunch and nuttiness
- Pump up the protein of a breakfast by adding it to muffins, cereal or oatmeal
My family and I make super-easy, no-bake sunflower seed bars that can be bagged up as a snack for school or eaten as an energy boost before a sports competition. This recipe is free of the top six allergens, and it is officially kid-approved by both of my taste-discerning children — Hannah, age 9 and Evan, age 6. I love to throw them in the freezer and then defrost them as I need them.
Enjoy the power of sunflower in this recipe — just in time for summer! One note to be aware of: these bars are not low in calories.
No-Bake Sunflower Seed Bars
Recipe by Angela Lemond, RDN, CSP, LD
Ingredients
3 cups sunflower seeds
1 cup sunflower seed butter
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup crisp rice cereal
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup agave nectar
Directions
- In a saucepan, combine the agave nectar, vanilla and brown sugar and bring to a low boil. Add the sunflower seed butter.
- In a separate bowl, combine the sunflower seeds, cranberries and cereal. Mix well.
- Pour warm mixture over the dry mix. Coat well.
- Line a 9″-x-13″-inch pan with parchment or wax paper. Pour bar mixture and spread out evenly.
- Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.
