63 Kid-Friendly Healthy Snacks

"Mom, I'm hungry!  I want a snack!"  

If you've got little ones, you probably just recently heard those words, and unless you are "The Model Mother", you are probably just about to reach for the nearest cheap, sugar-filled granola bar or the overprice, under-nourishing gold-fish crackers, but... STOP... WAIT... DON'T!!!  

Here, I have compiled a list of my favorite PRACTICAL Kid-Friendly Snacks that I prepared for my little crew over the summer (yes, this has been a long time in the making) that we both liked, because they were tasty, easy to prepare, used things I had on hand, and were fairly balanced and nutritional.  So before your toss them a fruit snack packet loaded with high-fructose corn syrup, consider tossing them a REAL fruit snack, or something fun on this list.

*Please know that I'm not saying your a wicked mother if you give your kids fruit snacks or goldfish.  I would be a hypocrite if I were. :)  I'm only "nudging" you and the kids to branch out and discover something on this list that might be just about as easy to prepare and much more satisfying.

Also, these were just the ones that came to mind.  If you can think of more good ones, by all means, add them in the comments!  I'm always open to new great ideas.

Happy Snacking!

-Lyd

63 Kid-Friendly Healthy Snacks

• Popcorn (MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE!)
• Apple Slices & Peanut Butter (My 2nd Favorite!)
• Sliced Veggies (i.e. carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, or bell peppers) & Ranch Dip
• String Cheese & Tomato Juice
• Trail Mix (Nuts, raisins, mini-marshmallows, chocolate chips etc.)
• Ants on a Log (Celery, Spread Peanut Butter, and Raisins)
• Healthy Granola Bar (LARABAR's are my latest favorite.  The simple, healthy ingredient list with astound you!)
• Nuts & Raisins
• Fruit & Yogurt
• Yogurt & Granola (or for quick Good Morning Granola)
• Apple Sauce & Cheese Slices
• Cottage cheese & Fruit or Tomato Slices
• Melon
• Whole Wheat Pitas & Hummus
• Hard Boiled Egg & Slice of Toast
• Kale Chips
• Sliced Wraps (tortilla, cream cheese spread, ham slice & sprouts) (Julia's Wraps)
• Muffin Tray Sample Plate (Put whatever you have on hand in the muffin cups... kids love it!)
• Snack Kabobs (skewer whatever you have on hand)
• Frozen Peas
• Frozen Grapes
• Almonds & Fruit
• Smoothie (The Green Smoothie from Bliss From Scratch)
• Pickles
• Peanut Butter Banana Toast (Monkey-Bee Sandwiches)
• Canned Fruit
• Sweet Potato Chips
• Healthy Muffin (Three Grain Muffin)
• Dried Fruit (Mango or Apricots)
• Ricotta w/Fruit
• Deli Meat Slice & Fruit
• Edamame
• Tuna (w/ a tiny put of mayo or plain yogurt and salt) & Crackers
• Grapefruit w/a bit of salt or sugar (I still can't abide this, but for whatever reason my kids love it. :)
• Oatmeal & Fruit
• Yogurt & Graham Cracker (I'm LOVING Greek Yogurt lately... so creamy and more protein)
• Mini Pizza (English Muffin, sauce, & pepperoni, Microwave)
• Juice Ice-Cubes
• Chips & Salsa
• Whole Wheat Breadsticks & Tomato Sauce for dipping
• Pudding (Homemade Dairy-Free Chocolate Pudding)
• Wimbledon Strawberries (strawberries, sour cream or plain yogurt, and brown sugar)
• Chocolate Slim Fast Drink w/Banana
• Nut Mix
• Whole Carrot
• Cheesy Toast
• Cheese Quesidilla Slice
• Fruit Cups
• Warm Refried Beans & Tortilla Chips
• Creamy Fruit (Sliced Fruit drizzled kefir) (*FYI Kefir was done wonders for my digestive systems... not to give too much info. :) It's loaded with pro-biotics... super good for you!  I put it in my smoothies every morning. I use The Greek Gods brand in the dairy section at Winco.  It's about $3.00 per quart. Worth every penny!)
• Sliced Bananas, Milk, & Honey (My dad used to give this to me for a bed-night-snack :)
• Sliced Fruit w/drizzled honey
• Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich slices
• Peanut Butter & Honey Sandwich Slices
• Banana Chips
• Cheese Chips (cheese melted over chips)
• Crackers & Cheese
• Steamy Brown Rice w/Parmesan Cheese and salt
• Tomato slices w/mozzerella cheese slices
• Cinnamon Baked Apples (Microwave 2-3 minutes)
• Toast w/Ricotta and Strawberries
• Apple Sandwiches
• Healthy Cookies (Giant Breakfast Cookies)  

Fast Break for Breakfast...

My children go to a great school, and one of their focuses is on good nutrition.  For school lunch, they contract with an awesome catering company that focus on home-cooked, fresh, local, healthy food as much as possible.  They recently sent out this article and I thought it had some great breakfast ideas worth posting, so I'm passing it along.

"Whether or not children eat breakfast affects their learning, but so does what they eat. Children who eat a breakfast containing both complex carbohydrates and proteins in equivalent amounts of calories end to show better learning and performance than children who eat primarily a high protein or a high carbohydrate breakfast. Think grains, plus nuts, dairy or meat, plus fruits.

Breakfasts high in carbohydrates with little protein seem to sedate children rather than stimulate their brain to learn. Think sugared cereals, plus pop-tarts, plus juice.

High-protein foods perk up the brain by increasing levels of two “alertness” neurotransmitters, dopamine and norepinephrine. A high-protein meal really is a “power breakfast” or a “power lunch.”

Like the structural steel of buildings and the metal meshwork in concrete, proteins provide the framework for every cell of the body. Just as workers at a construction site need a steady supply of building materials, tissues undergoing repair and those that are growing need a steady supply of protein to build and rebuild organs, muscles, antibodies, hormones, and enzymes - every kind of cell in the body.

Examples of balanced breakfasts include:

     1. Scrambled eggs, toast, orange juice

     2. Cheese melted on toast with a piece of fruit

     3. Peanut butter and banana slices on an english muffin, milk

     4. Whole-grain waffle, sausage link, orange slices

     5. Oatmeal with sliced almonds, raisins, cinnamon and milk

     6. multi grain toast with sun-butter spread and blueberries

     7. Granola cereal, plain yogurt, a sliced apple

     8. Veggie omelet, bran muffin, fruit with yogurt

     9. Whole-grain toast, bacon slice, fruit

     10. Whole-grain pancakes or waffles topped with berries and/or yogurt, milk

     11. Whole-wheat zucchini pancakes topped with fruit, milk

     12. French Toast topped with fruit, orange juice or milk

     13. Cream cheese on a whole-grain bagel, orange juice

     14. Cashews, whole grain bagel, fruit

15. Turkey and avocado slices rolled in a whole grain tortilla

Of course, it’s what you eat not what you say that impresses a child most. By treating yourself to a healthy, balanced breakfast, you model to your children that eating a healthy breakfast gives the whole family a smart nutritional start.

And if you aren’t a breakfast eater, how about a smoothie? All kinds of combinations of fruit, yogurt, nut butters, avocado, can quickly be made into a fast (and portable) breakfast.

Maybe your kids would enjoy making up their own breakfast smoothie recipes!? Send us your successes and flops and we’ll have fun sharing them here.

Here’s our recent family favorite, the Pumpkin Pie Smoothie:

     1 cup Vanilla yogurt

     3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree

     1 banana

     1 cup peaches

     Cinnamon to taste

Here are a few links to other breakfast smoothie drinks:

4 recipes for High-protein smoothies

http://www.livestrong.com/article/363668-high-protein-breakfast-smoothies/

School-ade breakfast smoothie

http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/family-nutrition/brain-foods/school-ade-breakfast-run-smoothie

Mango Smoothie

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/mango-smoothie-00000000050660/index.html#

Most of all we hope that eating a high protein breakfast will give you, your kids and their teachers a successful and enjoyable morning."

By Amy Driggs,

On behalf of the School Wellness Committee

Coconut Dream Smoothie

I got this cute little cookbook called "Mom and Me Cookbook" by Annabel Karmel (Wasn't her name just make for cooking?) I have found some really fun recipes in it that are easy and tasty, and great to make with kids. It is very visual, so Amberlee can see what ingredients we need and what she should do to help. We made a little smooth that was yummy- I added a few strawberries to it too.

Coconut Dream Smoothie (Annabel Karmel)
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 1/4 cups pineapple juice
2 scoops ice cream
2/3 cup pineapple chunks

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend. Pour into glasses and serve. Garnish with pineapple chunk on the side of the glass.

Doug's Heavenly Orange Julius

One thing that makes me REALLY HAPPY is when Doug blends up this little beauty. I love his version of Orange Julius, and I finally talked him into writing it down. I decided it is kind of an art as he was explaining the "thickness" and such, but I hope you get the general idea, and just know that you'll never quite make it quite as good as he does, but you can certainly try. :)

Doug's Heavenly Orange Julius
1/2 container orange juice concentrate
1 tray of ice cubes
1 banana (optional)
1/4 cup sugar
about 1 T vanilla extract (to taste)
Milk (add last and fill blender almost to the top.)
Add milk to preference:
-More milk- runnier but serves more.
-Less milk- thick (and chunkier if you blend less and add banana), but serves less.

Blend to desired thickness.

(Frankly, we're all big fans!)

Perfectly Pink Smoothie

We came up with this yummy smoothie for our family night treat. We thought it was pretty tasty!

Perfectly Pink Smoothie

1 tray of ice
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup strawberry yogurt
1/2-1 cup milk
2 T sugar

Mix in a blender.

Pina Colada Slushy

I discovered this delicious Slushy/Smoothie at a Relief Society activity a few years back. It is one of my all-time favorites! A dessert, a nice drink to cool down, whatever! It is a little pricey to buy those frozen Bacardi drinks, but it is so worth it. Spoil yourself for me and try this out! YOU WILL LOVE IT!

Pina Colada Slushy
1 can Frozen Bacardi Pina Colada mix (concentrate)
3 Ripe Bananas
1 can (Bicardi) full of milk
1 tray of ice

Blend it all together. Add more or less ice. The more ice- the slushier it will be.

Chilled Melon Soup

I saw this one in Simple and Delicious and it sounded so good to me, and that Strawberry Soup was so good last time, that I thought I better try another fruit soup. This one was interesting. I thought I was pretty funny when I served it for dinner because it was "Soup". The family didn't know what to think, but it was what I was in the mood for. :) Doug and I just couldn't decide if it was a dessert or not. I thought it was good, but deep down inside, I feel like you really can't beat the taste and texture of a plain old slice of cantaloupe, so I couldn't help but wonder if it was a good idea to puree it. :) I don't know- give it a try and tell me what you think.

Chilled Melon Soup
3/4 cup orange juice
1 cup (8 oz) plain yogurt
1 medium cantaloupe, peeled, seeded, and cubed
1 T honey
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
6 mint sprigs
I know it was naught, but I had to add 3-4 T of sugar so I knew it was a dessert.

Place the orange juice, yogurt, and cantaloupe in a blender, cover and process until pureed. (I used my immersion blender and a big bowl.) Add the honey, salt, nutmeg, and cayenne; cover and process until smooth. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Garnish with mint springs.

Lime Milk Shake

I saw this recipe in Simple and Delicious and it just made my mouth water to think of it, but I couldn't find any Lime Sherbet at the store, so we came up with our own version and it turned out pretty good.

Lime Milk Shake
2-1/4 cups milk
3/4 cup limeade concentrate
3 cups lime sherbet, softened

Place all ingredients in a blender; cover and process until smooth. Pour into chilled glasses; serve immediately. (yield 6 servings)

Our version:
2-1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup passion punch concentrate
3 cups orange sherbet, softened

Creamy Pear Smoothie

Here is a smoothie I created at my daughters request. I was actually really excited to come up with a good use for the bottled pears I put up two years ago. Funny thing.... it was the first time I had ever bottled pears and I didn't really know when a pear is ripe and ready for bottling. Needless to say, these were not and I put up the whole box. So for two years I have had these really hard, un-ripe pears that I have tried to be creative with. (Hate to have all that hard work go to waste right?) I was excited that when I blended them up like this, I was able to get away with it. Note: Use ripe pears for best results. :)

Creamy Pear Smoothie
1 jar or big can of pears
about 1 cup (or less) half and half (you can you milk if you prefer)
1/4 cup sugar
half a tray of ice cubes

Put all the ingredients in a blender and mix. It might need more sugar or milk- just add to taste

"Good Morning" Peachy Vanilla Smoothy

This is a yummy concoction I whipped up! It is one of my favorite ways to start the day.

"Good Morning" Peachy Vanilla Smoothy
1-2 cups frozen sliced peaches
1-2 cups vanilla yogurt
1/2 scoop vanilla slim fast
1 banana
2 cups pineapple juice (I have tried it with just milk and decided this is a key ingredient!)

Toss it all in a blender and "let 'er rip"! Enjoy... Mmmm... so good!

Doug's Homemade Root Beer

We have a fun Halloween tradition (thanks to my family) of enjoying some good old fashioned homemade root beer, Chili, and doughnuts together. I usually put Doug in charge of the root beer, and this year is was amazing!!! Sometimes it can be tough to find the root beer concentrate (I found at Winco) and dry ice (I had to go to two stores and most of the people I talked to didn't know you could actually make it at home.) Hope you enjoy this spooky goodness- the dry ice is half the fun! My girls were completely captivated! (Also- we had a ton left over, which isn't exactly a bad, except for our "beer" belly's :) but we thought next time we would half or quarter the recipe- three gallons is a lot! :)

Doug's Homemade Root Beer
6-8 cups white sugar (taste it- it's a good excuse!)
3 1/3 gallons cold water
1 (2 ounce) bottle root beer extract
4 pounds dry ice (the more you get the more fizz to try more)

In a large cooler, mix together the sugar and water, stirring to dissolve sugar completely. Stir in the root beer extract. Carefully place the dry ice into the cooler, and cover loosely with the lid. Do not secure the lid, as pressure may build up.
Let the mixture brew for about an hour before serving. Leftover root beer can be stored in one gallon milk jugs.