How To Make Healthy After-School Snacks Your Kids Will Eat
- January 22, 2010
- 963 Views
Contributor
scovington40
Music
Edison Music Corp
Voice Over Artist
Samia Mounts
When it comes to afternoon snacks for your children, tasting good and being healthy don’t have to be mutually exclusive. It just takes a little planning.
You Will Need
- Planning time
- Shopping time
- Counter space
- Assorted dairy products
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Grains
Step 1: Get the kids involved
Give your children a list of healthy options. If they insist on an empty calorie treat like potato chips or cookies, see if you can find a recipe for a more nutritious, homemade version – like baking thinly-sliced yams brushed with a little olive oil until they’re crisp, or making cookies out of natural peanut butter.
Use applesauce instead of butter in baked goods. Make cookies and muffins with oats, dried fruit, and nuts.
Step 2: Plan your shopping
Plan your shopping list for a week’s worth of after-school snacks before going to the grocery store. Decide whether you will prepare snacks ahead of time or make them daily.
If time is an issue, prepare snacks ahead of time and package them individually for ease of availability.
Step 3: Make a dip
Make a dip to accompany some of the snacks. For fruit, make a sweet dip with flavored yogurt or apple sauce. For veggies make a low-calorie ranch dip. Grains such as baked tortilla chips or whole wheat crackers go well with salsa or hummus.
Step 4: Plan activities
Make snack time interactive. Let the kids construct their own kid-sized pizzas, or pile assorted fruits onto toothpick skewers for a fruit kabob.
Use low-fat mozzarella and a whole-grain English muffin or pita for kid-sized pizza.
Step 5: Try frozen snacks
Freeze bananas and then roll them in low-fat chocolate sauce and nuts. Make your own frozen pops out of pure pureed fruit. Or offer them a handful of frozen grapes. Anything fruity that comes out of the freezer will seem like an ice cream treat.
Step 6: Be open to non-traditional snacks
Don’t become boxed in by what you feel a “snack” should look like. It can be a petite portion of whatever your child likes to eat. The important thing is that it’s nutritious and not too caloric. Happy noshing!
A healthy after-school snack helps active kids with fast metabolism to concentrate better on homework.
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Comments (0)
I eat anything,,,
about 1 year ago by galileo
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