Quick, Easy, Healthy After School Snacks

"I'm hungry." Do you hear those words every day when the kids come through the door after school?
It is hard to keep kids healthy today. They eat half of their school lunch or none at all. They charge through the door and immediately start opening the fridge and slamming cupboard doors. It is important to halt the hunger pangs while preventing them from filling up leaving no room for a healthy dinner. It can drive a parent, grandparent or child care giver to distraction after a multitude of days and snacks.\

Try these quick and easy snacks next time you hear those I'm starving to death pleas. Encourage the kids to make some of these snacks themselves.

Eat your veggies Presentation can be a major factor with kids. They will look at a full piece of celery or a carrot and say "blech". They can look at a plate of interesting and colorful shapes and eat the very same thing that had caused their lips to curl.
Make a face: Slice up a red, yellow or green pepper, a boiled egg or radish and add carrot along with celery sticks. Place two egg or radish slices on the plate for eyes. Add the wavy slices of pepper for hair. Spread peanut butter inside of the celery stick and set it in place for a nose. Arrange three small celery sticks for a big grin. You can substitute cherry tomatoes for eyes and make stringy hair with spouts. You can cut a bow tie from a piece of cheese for an addition. Children enjoy figuring out the facial parts and will exclaim happily when they eat the 'guys nose'.

Tooty Fruity Kids love fruit but apparently the lazy gene keeps them from being able to wash or peel it. When you magically complete these task they suddenly are able to eat oranges and apples. You can adapt the face on a plate with fruit pieces. A yummy and easy apple snack is a peanut butter apple. Simply core an apple. Scoop a Tablespoon of peanut butter with a dollop of honey on to a plate. Toss in several raisins and mix together. Fill the cored apple with this mixture. This has been a favorite snack that I know of for close to forty years. It came from an old Charlie Brown cookbook for children.
Another simple fruit snack is a favorite with my sons. Open a large can of pineapple chunks and pour into a small serving bowl. Add a jar of drained maraschino cherries. Chill. They can serve themselves easily. Another quick frozen treat for older children is frozen grapes. Simply wash a bunch of grapes, remove from the stems and place in a container or freezer bag. Freeze overnight. The cold treat is excellent on warm days.

Heat it Fast Quick and easy mini pizzas. If your children have a two or three hour wait for dinner as most children do today they can make this individual size pizza for a quick snack. You can leave a container of cut up peppers, mushrooms and cubed ham in the fridge for them to dress up their snack. Place an English muffin half or a small pita pocket on a plate. Cover with a spoonful of pizza sauce. Add an ounce or so of shredded mozzarella cheese. Top with peppers, mushroom and ham or other healthy toppings. Microwave for one to two minutes for a nice hot snack. Cooked chicken pieces can be used with cheese and sauce on a pita. Roll it up when it is cooked for a quick healthy snack.

Jiggly Goodness Add some healthy goodness to a dish of strawberry gelatin. When the gelatin is at the soft set stage stir in one half cup of diced apple and one Tablespoon of chopped walnut meat. This tastes so good and gives substance to a favorite kids treat. When it is prepared and ready in the fridge your kids are able to snack on it when they get home from school.

Sneaky Sweet My mother had several ways of infiltrating healthy things into our diet without us being even remotely aware that we were being duped. Do you need to get fiber, particularly bran into the diet of your children? This is a surefire way to add in supplements to ensure that fiber and other goodness sneaks a way into your child's little body. Place a half stick of butter or margarine in to a large pan. Heat on medium high to melt the margarine. Add in a 1/4 cup of peanut butter. Stir constantly to melt and mix well. (This can burn easily so keep watch) Add a bag of jet puffed marshmallow and stir to melt. When it is is thoroughly melted you will have a thick creamy mixture.Remove from heat immediately.

Here's the sneaky part. Add in six to seven cups of dry cereal which should include a one half to one cup measurement of bran flakes. Mix very well to combine and disperse the bran throughout. This is also a great way to use those cereal remnants in the box that get left behind because it isn't a full bowl. ( I save mine in an airtight container until there is enough cereal for a batch.) You can also add in a half cup of raisins or other dried fruits bits. Spoon out into a buttered 9 x 13 pan or two of the heavy wax paper bags found in the cereal boxes. The bags make a great no fuss clean up. Cut into squares or roll the cereal mixture into balls.

There are ways to have healthy after school snacks for your kids. You just might need to be a little sneaky. One day they will thank you.