Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Wellness Wednesday - Healthy snack ideas!

We spent the morning at the park playing in the fountain.  It has been so much fun.  we have been going almost every day since my son has an art class from 10-12.  So I pack the kids in the stroller, pack some snacks and we walk down to town drop him off and head to the park.  What a blast!


Anyway all this grabbing a quick snack got me thinking about healthy kid approved snacks since I am sure lots of you are doing the same!  Here are  a few ideas...


1) Popcorn popped with an airpopper (with out all the butter) or popped on the stove with a little olive oil.


             quinoa nut and fruit granola bar
s from Martha Stewart. Find the recipe here.
2) Trail mix made up of nuts, cereal (like cheerios), dried apricots (much less sugar than craisins or raisins). and some homemade granola clusters.


3) Homemade granola bars.
             
4) Fruit of course.  We love apples, bananas, peaches, berries, grapes, oranges, tangerines...what ever is in season.

5) Whole wheat waffles made ahead and frozen for storage.  Once frozen just toast in the toaster. (defrost in micro a little if necessary).  Then cut in strips to dip in yogurt.

6) Plain yogurt mixed with a little xilitol, stevia or other low calorie NATURAL sweetener. ( Do not use splenda or other chemical sweetener.)

7) Homemade whole grain french toast frozen for storage.  Then simply toasted and cut in strips to eat as is (no syrup) or dipped in yogurt (made like above.

8) Hummus and veggies.  We love homemade hummus.  Try sweet potato hummusa balsamic hummus (my fav)or a more traditional hummus

9)Boiled eggs.  Great to eat on the run and full of protein.

10) sprouted grain bagels with almond or organic peanut butter.

11) fruit with organic peanut butter mixed with a small amount of water to make it dippable.
Just a note about peanut butter.  Peanuts are one the MOST PESTICIDE laden food when not organic.  They create a dangerous aflotoxin.  So although it is really expensive at regular stores IT IS WORTH IT!  And Costco carries a very affordable organic peanut butter. 

Annie's Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips Recipe
Fruit salsa with cinnamon chips (photo from allrecipes.com)
12) How about fruit salsa with cinnamon chips.  Try the recipe from all recipes above as is or mix it up with whatever fruit you have!  

13) Frozen fruit skewers.

14) homemade popsicles.  Check out our posts 

Well that should get you started!  Leave me a comment with your favorite healthy snacks!
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice post. Liked it. Thanks for sharing.

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Melissa said...

I liked these ideas, I've been looking for some.

Side note though, since I'm an agriculture nerd. Aflotoxin is a mold that peanuts are very prone to have. This mold is attracted to both organic and non-organic peanuts equally, which is why the FDA monitors both types of peanut butter for traces and requires it to be under a certain level.