Yes, not all the yummy snacks are healthy for you and dang it sometimes I want a cookie!! And unhealthy snacks are conveniently packaged and wonderfully advertised. But if I make the effort not to give them to my children, why would I put my body through that?!
Sooo...I need to remember to eat better. I need some ideas of fun, fast, easy healthy snacks!!!
Here are a few I'm going to work on doing:
Sliced apples (with peanut butter or honey)
Grapes (when you come home from the store - wash, seperate and bag up these tastey treats then they are ready to go when you are)
Raw veggies like carrots, broccolli or cauliflower (again, bag them when you get home and they are ready for the week)
Wheat Thins (pre-bagged for the week)
What else can I try that I can use for both me and my kids for snacking?
5 comments:
Toast with jam is always yummy. I also really enjoy cheese. Just a slice of cheese or even a string cheese usually hit my snack spot. (Some people have a sweet tooth, mine is salty.) I like eating healthy chips, like Sun Chips, but even those need to be eaten in moderation. It's easier to eat fruit if you have a variety - kiwis, mangoes, oranges, clementines (a must have!), pears, apricots.
A fun treat is to freeze really ripe bananas. When frozen they have a consistency of ice cream. Mmm.
Dipping fruit in yogurt is really fun and healthy.
Also, you can make a ton of naan on a Saturday (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Naan/Detail.aspx - baking for 5 minutes at 500 instead of grilling) and use them all week to dip in hummus (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Hummus/Detail.aspx). If you don't like those recipes, find ones that your kids will enjoy - there are a million on the internet.
We also enjoy tortilla chips and homemade salsa. You can make your chips at home to ensure they're not covered in salt and preservatives. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Tortilla-Chips/Detail.aspx
If I think of any more I'll let you know.
The biggest problem I have with snacking healthy is just doing it. Good luck to us all!
Sometimes all it takes is the presentation in order for kids to be excited about healthy snacks. For instance, use a cookie cutter to cut out little sandwiches and wah-la they eat them! Or you can do the same cookie cutter idea with cheese and ham and then put crackers on the side. Or you can do ants on a log with celery, peanut butter, and raisins (all healthy!).
Or if your kids don't like to eat the healthy stuff (fruits and veggies), cut them up and put them on the plate in a design like a flower or tree or anything they like. Personally, I'm not so great at any of this, but for a Mother's Group we did in our ward, I was in charge of doing a class on healthy snacks. Haha!
I have to go with Kadie on the presentation thing. I was getting really frustrated with my boys because they were on a no-salad kick. So one day I made "silly faces". I used all of the same ingredients I would with a salad, but made it into a funny face on their plate, with lettuce for hair, sliced eggs and olives for eyes, carrot sticks for the mouth and cheese squares for the nose. We have "silly faces" for lunch a lot now and I've actually started just making all the ingredients up and giving them to the boys to make their own silly faces. The only rule is if they use it, they have to eat it!
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