Healthy Snack Ideas

Since this blog may not always share the healthiest of our meals or treats, I thought I would pass on a few of our healthier snack ideas. Some of these are kid friendly too. These are simple ideas that we discovered on our own, were passed on to us from parents or friends, or we read about in a magazine or on the web.

• Grapefruit: eat a whole grapefruit for breakfast or just half of one for a snack. Older kids might enjoy cutting in between the wedges while the younger kids, like Kaitlyn, enjoy spooning out and sipping the juice once enough wedges have disappeared. You could even work on fractions with your kids using the grapefruit halves.
• Celery and Peanut Butter: get a little protein from the peanut butter and vitamin C from the celery. The crunchy texture of the celery and smooth, creamy texture of the peanut butter is sure to please anyone. If you have kids, add a few raisins on top of the peanut butter also know as "Ants on a log."
• Roasted Garbanzo beans: see previous blog - appetizer challenge. We are playing with the seasoning as the Cajun/creole seasoning has to much salt, but if you roast (switch oven temp to 400 degrees F) the beans to a nice crunchy texture, they're a dynamite munchie and much better than chips or candy.
  
• Ranch Sour Cream: a friend of mine in the DC metro area taught me this trick. Buy a packet of dry ranch seasoning (in salad dressing isle) and add it to 8 ounces of sour cream. Use it to dip vegetables or pretzels. Depending on your health preference, you can use regular sour cream, low fat sour cream or fat free sour cream. It's not as creamy as ranch dressing, but it tastes pretty good and isn't nearly as fattening.
  
• Hummus and whole wheat pita chips: Hummus is a Middle Eastern recipe that combines chickpeas, tahini, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and salt to make a rich, thick dip for breads, vegetables, etc. Go Blue dad and I enjoy toasted pita bread on our grill, cutting it into wedges and dipping it in the hummus. If you don't want to use the grill, cut the pita bread in half and put it in the toaster or toast it in your oven. Kaitlyn enjoys dipping bread into hummus again and again and again.
• Bruschetta Triscuit: Layer a slice of tomato, a thin slice of mozzarella and some fresh chopped basil on top of a reduce fat triscuit for a refreshing treat. Go Blue dad and I also enjoy traditional bruschetta for an appetizer on a crostini. We chop the tomato (medium size), add some minced garlic, olive oil, oregano and basil and serve on top of the mozzarella and crostini. Go Blue dad prefers his mozzarella melted, but I like it cold. Sometimes we'll add additional basil on top for that really fresh, green flavor. Did you know...it's easier to grate mozzarella cheese after you put it in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes.
  
• Apples with Cinnamon (optional: nutmeg): Kaitlyn and I enjoy slicing up and apple and sprinkling cinnamon on top of it for a snack. She'll use the apple wedge to scribble on the plate and pick up extra cinnamon. Sometimes I add a dash of nutmeg on top to make it a little more savory. This is a nice alternative to peanut butter since she isn't old enough to eat it yet. A really nice, but not necessarily a healthy treat is to saute apple slices (I end up cubing it into 1/4" pieces) in a little butter with Cinnamon and sugar until the apples are soft and the sugar almost caramelized. Your kids are sure to eat apples this way. Yum!
• Granola Yogurt: Yes, I recognize that you can buy yogurt with granola on top, but if you want a fun thing to make with your kids, download a granola recipe and make homemade granola. They can eat it for breakfast with milk or as a snack with yogurt. You can also buy granola that is much tastier than what comes on top of the individual yogurt cups and add it to plain or vanilla yogurt.
  
• Tortilla Pizza: Great for an after school snack! Using leftover tortillas, stick them in the oven to toast for a few minutes at 350 degrees F. Once they are nicely toasted and firm, pull the tortillas out of the oven and coat each with a thin layer of tomato/pizza sauce, add some reduced fat mozzarella cheese and some vegetables on top. Put back in the oven until the cheese melts and viola - the kids have a fun treat. It's not an ultra healthy snack, but it beats cookies and chips.
  
• Dark Chocolate: I have recently read in multiple magazines (fitness and parenting) that a little dark chocolate isn't bad for you provided it is consumed in moderation. So if you need to satisfy your sweet tooth, eat a piece of dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate or white chocolate. Sounds good to me!!
  
• Chocolate Sorbet: if you can find it, I recently read that this is a great substitute for ice cream. If you just can't resist a small bowl of chocolate ice cream, keep chocolate sorbet in your fridge instead. It's apparently healthier for us. If you're not a fan of chocolate, I recommend lemon sorbet - it's amazingly refreshing and you only need a small scoop to satisfy your sweet tooth.
  
• Edamame (baby soy beans) - you may see this soon on my appetizer challenge. Kaitlyn grandparents recently steamed some edamame for us and sprinkled just a little salt on the pods for us for a snack. They tasted great! You do not eat the pod, but suck out the beans, so you get a little salt taste followed by the nice flavor of the soy bean. I'm at a loss for words as to how to describe the flavor, but none the less, Go Blue dad and I went out and bought some edamame after they left. Older kids would have fun popping out the beans to eat.
  

Gotta run! I hope to post some more healthy snack ideas as time goes on. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Bon Apetite!