by Laura Termini
I remember my friend Maria Isabel preparing healthy snacks for her children. I was 20 years old and sometimes to make an extra buck I used to baby sit Sebastian and Gabriela.
Every time I was in her house, Maria Isabel used to say, “remember to give the kids these snacks.” Small plastic containers with all kinds of vegetables, and some dry fruit and some cereal. They were always happy and they grew up as normal kids without diabetes or any of those diseases that kids in America have nowadays.
Here are some tried-and-true methods for making kids shout, “Hooray for healthy SNACKS!”
Fruit Sticks: Stick melon balls, berries, pineapple chunks, and cubed peaches, pears or apples onto frilled toothpicks.
Sandwiches: Use crackers or cut-up bread or give the kids’ lunchmeat, and cheese, and a couple of miniature cookie cutters to make tiny, fun-shaped sandwiches.
Pizza Pita: Who can resist pizza. Use a whole pita as a pizza crust. Let them smear on a bit of bottled tomato sauce, add a light sprinkle of mozzarella cheese (or soy cheese), and then top with a bit of lean meat. Heat for a few minutes in the toaster, then cut into triangles for extra kid-appeal.
Dip/Dip/Dip: Kids love anything they can dip! A baggie full of carrot and celery sticks, cucumber and bell pepper slices, sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes will disappear like magic if there’s a tub of dip to go with them.
Baked Goods: Sneak fruits or vegetables into her diet when you bake them into yummy muffins or breads. Banana bread, zucchini muffins, and carrot bars are a few of our favorites for kids.
Laura Termini is the creator of the Natural, Organic & Latina concept. She has spent many years testing recipes, investigating and developing products and mixtures that all aim at helping each person live life well. Laura shares advice on losing weight, how to clean your home without damaging the planet, and much more in her website, blogs, and magazine columns. http://www.naturalorganicaylatina.com