10 Healthy Snacks for the Kiddos

When I moved from Utah, I was surprised when I had to provide a snack for my kids at school. In Missouri I had to send a snack once a month for the whole class. I didn't mind that. Here in Michigan I have to send a daily snack for my kids. That takes a little more thinking and creativity. I'm getting better at it but I hit Pinterest for ideas along with my own to create this list.

1. Muffins

These make an easy portion controlled snack. You can make a bunch and freeze a dozen or so for later. I love being able to take a couple out the night before and have them ready to go in the morning. You can also make these as healthy as you want adding applesauce instead of oil and mixing in whatever fruits and veggies you want.

Erica and I have made a lot of muffins right here on our own little blog.

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

Healthy Chocolate Muffins

Zuchinni Chocolate Chip Muffins

Cranberry Lemon Muffins

You can find more of our Muffins HERE.

2. Granola

Granola is easy and also very adaptable. Make it as healthy as you want. There are tons of recipes out there. This is the one I make and love.

Tasty Granola

3. Granola Bars

I was so excited when I made my first granola bars. I love how easy they came together and I knew every ingredient in them. I love that.

Granola Bars

Just do a search on Pinterest for Granola Bars. There are hundreds. :)

4. Fresh Veggies and Hummus

We love Hummus at our house. It's such a tasty treat with fresh carrots sticks or Pita chips. It's so easy to blend up too. You can make hummus very complicated or very easy. There are many many recipes out there.

Here is a basic recipe from Allrecipes.com. You can adjust the ingredients to your taste. I never really follow a recipe but basically use these ingredients. Find it HERE.

Photo also from Allrecipes.com.

5. Fruit and Crackers

I loved this when I saw it on Pinterest. (I have yet to try it.) But it's such a cute way to make snacktime fun. Plus, it's an easy one to throw together if the pins are already made.

This is from Jugglingwithkids.com. Cute, right?

6. Healthy Breakfast Cookies

I like the idea of these. Maggie doesn't love granola bars, but I think she would go for this.

These cookies pictured seem to have a lot of "fancy" ingredients. You can find the recipe HERE. You can also find a good list on Allrecipes.com HERE.

What kinda fits in this category are these Energy Bites. I've made them a couple of time. Most of us like them. Maggie is just picky. :)

Find them HERE!

7. Boiled Eggs

Nothing like opening a baggie with a boiled egg inside! Smells gross but tastes pretty awesome. I loved this photo I saw on Pinterest. Now Maggie would really get a kick out of these and would gobble them up!

This is another good snack resource. Super Healthy Kids.

8. Peanut Butter with...

A lot of schools have restrictions with Peanut Butter so be in the know about your childs' schools policy on this. My kids can take PB, so it works for us. They love it too!! Of course you can pair PB with lots of things. We make our PB but I love the Jiffy single serving cups too.

Super Healthy Kids

9. Fruit (You Can't go Wrong!)

Whether you send fresh or dried, it's a good choice. Erica makes a yummy fruit leather that kiddos love. It's easy to make a fruit dip or an occasional caramel to go with a fruit cup too.

Strawberry Fruit Leather

10. Popcorn

Mmmm. I love popcorn. There are so many variations to make popcorn tasty and healthy too. It doesn't have to always be butter or caramel to make it amazing.

Photo Credits Here.

Here is a whole list from Allrecipes.com. Yum!

Okay, that's it! I hope I've given you some ideas and recipes to send the kiddos off to school with yummy snack. Have a great day!!!

Love,

Monica

Strawberry Fruit Leather

My sweet Mother in Law sent me home with a BUNCH of strawberries!  Tons!  I froze a lot of them, but I wanted to make a few strawberry things with the rest.  My kids eat them like they are going out of style, so I thought I'd make some fruit leather for them.  It was so simple and the end results were pretty great.  If you want it more sweet, then add more honey.  I like mine a little tart, so I didn't add quite as much.

Strawberry Fruit Leather

3 c. strawberries, with stems cut off

1-2 Tbsp honey

Parchment paper

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Line big cookie sheet with parchment paper.  In your blender add your strawberries and honey and blend, until nice and smooth.  Pour into pan and spread out with the back of your spoon, until nice and even.  Bake for 2-3 hours.  Mine took a little over 3.  It just depends on your oven.  Keep an eye on it.  When it's not sticky to the touch anymore, it is done.  I over did my second batch, but it still softened up, sitting over night.  Let it cool completely before cutting and rolling it up.  Enjoy!

Happy Wednesday!  Hope you are all having a great week!

Love, Erica*

Night Owl S'More Treats

I love to make treats that are easy to throw together and that the kids...and me will love. These were just down that alley.  They were easy and OH SO YUMMY!  Thanks to my friend Kelsey at A Spice a Day I am now addicted to this stuff.  I had to send half the pan home with another friend just so I wouldn't eat it all.  I have no self control when it comes to sweet things.  :o)  These tasted just like S'Mores.  And if your children are already bored with their summer, get them in the kitchen to help out with this treat.  Please tell me I'm not the only Mom that has a kid that says I'm bored about 50 times a day?  She is getting better because I threatened more chores if she said it again.  Bahahahahahahaa!  Anyway...try this!  TODAY!

Night Owl S'more Treats
9 c. Golden Graham Cereal (I used the Malt O Meal brand)
3/4 c. light corn syrup
3 Tbsp. butter
11.5 oz bag of milk chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
3 c. mini marshmallows

Measure your cereal into a large bowl.  Butter a big cookie sheet.  In a medium saucepan put your corn syrup, butter, and chocolate chips in and on med heat melt them all together stirring constantly.  When it's all smooth take it off the heat and stir in your vanilla.  Pour over top of cereal and stir it to coat the cereal with the chocolate.  Pour in marshmallows and stir all together.  Pour mix onto buttered cookie sheet and press down with your hand.  Now enjoy it and try not to eat the whole pan.  :o)

Source-A Spice a Day

Have a happy Wednesday!!!

Happy April Fools Day!

Some moms totally get into this day and I've seen some cute ideas floating around. I've had my eye on a certain cupcake for awhile and was excited to make these. If you've never flipped through Hello Cupcake or What's New Cupcake, you need to. They have some really fun cupcake ideas. I have both books, but have never attempted any. Although they are fun to look at, they look very time consuming.

These cuties were simple enough so I made them to surprise my kiddos.

Fun, right? I told the kids I had just bought a brand new carton of eggs and dropped them. Maggie looked at them, then looked at me and said, "really?" She was kinda fooled. Ben wasn't fooled at all. Anyway, I hope your family had a fun day. We would love to hear how you fooled your kids. Next year I'll get Ben!

Have a great weekend!!!!

Giant Pretzels...And a Winner!!

First of all I need to announce our winner of the Shutterfly Book!  So exciting.  We appreciate all the entries, and can't wait for another giveaway.  They are so fun!  So with Random.org the winner is....drum roll, please....Whitney Blaisdell!!!  Congrats!  You need to e-mail Monica to claim your prize at cholita41 at yahoo dot com. 

Now the Pretzels...

...you know...like the ones in the mall!?  Oh baby!  Every time I do go to the mall, which isn't very often, I have to stop by Pretzel Maker and get me one.  I was craving one so bad one day when I was pregnant with my 2nd baby, that I had to make some, because I wasn't driving an hour to get one.  I found the perfect recipe.  These taste even better than the ones you can buy.  I've been making them since, and my family and I gobble them up.  Jason likes his dipped in pizza sauce, I like mine dipped in butter...lots and LOTS of butter.  They are best fresh out of the oven, but are also good the day after microwaved.  I would have one for breakfast if there were any left.  :o)  These are so simple to throw together.  Give them a try, and i'm sure you will be so happy you did...or mad at me, because they are so amazing that you can't stop at 1.

Giant Pretzels
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast, or 1 packet
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 c. warm water, about 110 degrees F (make sure it's not too cold and not too hot.  It's gotta be just right to get that yeast growing.)
3 c. flour
1 c. bread flour
2 c. warm water
2 Tbsp baking soda
3 Tbsp melted butter
Coarse Kosher Salt

In your mixing bowl add yeast, brown sugar and salt.  Pour in water and give it a quick stir.  Leave it alone until you start seeing that yeast bubble up and grow, about 5-10 minutes.  Then add your flour and with your hook start mixing it until it's smooth and elasticy.  (Is that a word?)  If you don't have mixer with a hook then you'll need to knead the dough about 8 minutes until it's smooth and elasticy.  Pour a little veggie oil in a big bowl and plop your dough in there and move it around to get that oil all over the dough.  Cover and let raise for about an hour or until double in size. 

Combine your 2 c. warm water and baking soda in a pie pan or 8 inch casserole dish.

When the dough is done seperate dough into 12 parts.  Roll your pieces out into 3 foot ropes, (Roll it out about half way and set aside, and when your done rolling out your last one go back to your first and it will be easier to roll it out into a 3 foot rope.)  Shape them into pretzels, and dip them in your baking soda solution and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Let rise 15-20 minutes.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until a golden brown.  Remove from oven and brush on melted butter and sprinkle with salt.  These are also good with parmasean cheese, cinnamon sugar, garlic salt, or whatever else you would want to experiment with. 

Hope you are having a wonderful week!  Have a happy Wednesday!!!

Brown Sugar Fruit Dip

Oh Scrumdiddly!  My sis in law made something similar for a Christmas party and ever since I've been wanting it again.  I was just getting over the stomach bug, so I couldn't really eat a whole lot of it.  LAME!  So, I thought i'd make it for an after school snack and it got eaten right up.  Goes great with apples, and i'm sure lots of other fruits, but that is all I had on hand.

Brown Sugar Fruit Dip
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients until well combined.  I whipped it for quite awhile until it wasn't so granually from the sugar.  Is that even a word?  You catch my drift, right?

Might not be the healthiest of dips, but HEY!...you are getting your fruit intake!  ;o)

Halloween Party Treat for Kids

Looking for that last minute treat to take to a Halloween Party? Here's a quick lil' treat you can do with your kiddos. I'm not sure what to call it, but it's kinda a popcorn ball/rice krispy treat without the rice krispies. Ha ha. Throw in some candy and here you go!

 Honestly though, I'm sure I didn't make this up but I don't have a set recipe. If I was to do this again I would do it a little differently. Here's what I did...

Marshmallowie Halloween Popcorn Balls (now there's a name!)

8 cups of popcorn

5 cups of mini marshmallows

3 Tbls. Butter
1 teas. vanilla

Orange food coloring

Candycorn

M&Ms

Roasted Peanuts

Okay, I knew these were going to be sweet so I wanted to try and balance it out with salted popcorn and salted peanuts. So I used one bag of microwave popcorn (approx. 5 cups) and I air popped about 3 cups of plain popcorn. Next time I would use another bag of microwave and just save the extra. Sift through your popcorn and take out the unpopped kernels. You don't want to unexpectedly bite into one of those babies. Ouch!

Measure your marshmallows and butter in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in microwave until butter and marshmallows are completely melted. You can do this on the stovetop if you prefer. Stir in your food coloring and vanilla.

Add this marshmallow mixture to you popcorn and mix. I didn't give you measurements on the add-ins because that's really just to your taste. But I used a couple hand fulls of each. Mix till everything is evenly distributed.

 

Butter your hands (girlie loved this part), and shape the popcorn into balls. Place on a sprayed piece of parchment to set.

Okay, my honest opinion. These are a little sweet to my taste. The girlie loved them. Next time I would either add more popcorn or less marshmallows. I really liked the M&Ms and the peanuts but the candycorn was a little much for me. You really can't go wrong with this just add what you like. Now go rot your kids' teeth out! That's what Halloween is for, right? :)

Today is the last day to enter our drawing for the amazingly cute felt food. ENTER HERE! We will be drawing a winner tonight! Yay!

Chocolate Pretzel Caramel Treats

As my daughter was saying her nightly prayer she happend to ask to please not let her be bored the next day.  I thought to myself, "Is it THAT boring around here?"  Must be.  So, I thought I better let her do something not so boring today.  I found these on a BLOG I came across and they looked easy enough and I love chocolate, caramel, and pretzels.  Put them all together...EVEN BETTER!  Her friend came over and helped her make them, and I think they enjoyed it and enjoyed eating them afterwards.

 You need:

Small pretzels

Rolos

Bag of Pretzel M&M's

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Layout pretzels on a cookie sheet then set a Rolo in the center of each pretzel.  Bake for 4-5 minutes until nice and soft but not completely melted.  Remove from oven and press a M&M in the center of each Rolo.  Eat away!

So easy and a fun way to get your kids involved in the kitchen.