Quick Healthy Snacks and Give-Away Winner Announced...

Congratulations to Rachel! She won the chance to pick out one free item in my shop! Stop by her Little Birdie Blog to say hello and let her know I sent you.

Now on to the snacks...

Ok so we all know that veggies and fruit are great snacks for the kids, but we all get bored with the same old thing. Here are some ideas for healthy snacks that you may not have thought of (at least for a while) to add to the lineup.  Enjoy!

Image Courtesy Heartfelt3

Bumps on a log (Peanut butter inside the celery with rasins or crasins on top)

Apple or orange slices with cinnamon sprinkled on them

Apple with peanut butter for dip

Peanut Butter or cream cheese and any kind of fresh fruit sandwich

Garlic Toast on high fiber bread

Roasted chickpeas... My kids LOVE these!

Make fruit kabobs

Dark chocolate milk (Put 2 tsp unflavored fiber powder and a very little bit of cocoa powder in a cup and add 1 cup of milk a little at a time while stirring or put it in the blender... The dextrin is sweet enough to make it like dark chocolate... you can add more cocoa as desired.)

Mexican style dark chocolate milk (add cinnamon to the recipe above)

Image Courtesy Prrint

Frozen Pea Salad (Peas frozen - do not thaw, sour cream, salt, pepper, a pinch of garlic granules and onion powder. Add chopped salted nuts to individual portions if you like. Store any extra in the freezer or it will separate... and no nuts in the freezer, unless you like them squishy later.)

Green cheese spread and crackers (with fiber in them) or celery...  I call it 'Monster Goo'

Toss chopped tomatoes and lettuce with pesto (or mild salsa) and a tiny splash of apple cider vinegar and salt to taste for a yummy salad (freeze leftover pesto in ice cube trays for future use)

Marinate a couple of sliced cucumbers and a few slices of onion in a couple of Tbsp. red wine vinegar, salt, olive oil 1 tsp. honey and a little water for a couple of hours in the fridge Serve cucumbers to the kids, toss the onions (or eat them yourself ;)  This is quite refreshing on a hot summer day and also makes a stellar side dish to go with grilled burgers.

Make a healthier smoothie (Add to your blender 1 cup of plain unsweetened yogurt, 1-2 bananas, and enough fresh or frozen strawberries, raspberries or blackberries to almost fill it up and add some fiber powder. Blend. One banana should be enough sweeten the deal, but you can add the second one if your strawberries are super bland.) Serves 4-5 people.

Image Courtesy HaveArt

Chimichurri Hummus (1/2 a recipe chimichurri sauce blended with one can drained chickpeas - I haven't tried this one yet, but I did make the sauce {It's delicious!} and this was the application that immediately came to mind. Let me know how yours turns out!)

Banana Delight (Mash a banana and add plain unsweetened yogurt to taste then add some fresh berries, serve with chopped walnuts or slivered almonds on top)

Harvest a couple of home grown tomatoes or cucumbers... Serve with a sprinkling of salt and eat.

Split an avocado with someone, salt it and eat. (This is also good with a tiny splash of lemon or lime juice.)

Keep it Yummy and Healthy!
Kristin