Healthy Foods Your Kids Will Love – Great Snack Ideas

Cheese and Crackers

Snacks too can be part of a healthy diet. If you offer snacks to your kids, do so at least one hour before a regular mealtime and keep the portion sizes small. An individually wrapped stick of “ low moisture mozzarella ” string cheese provides a one ounce serving, which is perfect for a snack. Serve the cheese with multigrain crackers for a good balance of protein, fat and carbs that will keep your kids going. Add fresh pear and apple slices for extra health benefits.

Makes 1 snack

Ingredients:
1 piece Sargento® reduced fat string cheese, approx. 1 ounce
1 serving of Nabisco® Premium, low sodium, multigrain saltine crackers

By serving one ounce of reduced fat string cheese instead of regular Cheddar cheese, you can cut back as much as 60 calories and more than 6 grams of fat. A single serving of Nabisco® Premium, Low Sodium, Multigrain Saltine Crackers has 60 calories and 1.5 grams of fat – compared to 1 serving of Nabisco® Triscuit crackers at 130 calories and 5 grams of fat per serving. Your total savings could be as high as 70 calories and 4 grams of fat, and your kids won’t even notice the difference.

Milk and Cookies

Not even Santa Claus can resist this one. Unfortunately, regular chocolate chip cookies and whole milk also contain a lot of calories and fat (just look how fat Santa is). Fig Newtons® or gingersnap cookies and a glass of 1% milk are better choices.

Makes 1 snack

Ingredients:
2 Fig Newtons®, fat-free cookies
8 ounce glass of 1% Milk

One 2-ounce chocolate chip cookie has approximately 280 calories and 14 grams of fat. Two Fig Newtons®, fat-free cookies have 136 calories and no fat. An 8-ounce glass of whole milk has 150 calories and 8 grams of fat compared to 130 calories and only 2.5 grams of fat in 1% milk. Both glasses of milk have the same amount of protein, calcium and other important nutrients.

Yogurt and Peach Popsicle

Popsicles are quick and easy to make. Almost any soft, ripe fruit (peaches, banana, mango, papaya, berries, etc.) will work. Try this recipe for the whole family to enjoy!

Makes 1 snack

Ingredients:
2 cups ripe peaches, peeled, pit removed and coarsely chopped
1 tbsp. sugar, or to taste (the riper the fruit, the less you will need)
1 cup non fat vanilla yogurt

Makes about 8 popsicles

Put peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped fruit into blender with sugar and pulse for one minute or until well blended. In a medium bowl, mix fruit with yogurt and divide mixture into popsicle molds. Add popsicle sticks. Put in the freezer and freeze until frozen hard.

Mini Pita Pocket with Cream Cheese and Veggies

This pita pocket snack provides a healthy balance of protein (cream cheese), whole-grain (pita pocket), beta carotene (shredded carrots) and heart-healthy fat (black olive).

Makes 1 snack

Ingredients:
1 mini whole-grain pita pocket, halved
1 ounce low fat cream cheese
1/4 cup Iceberg lettuce, chopped
1/4 carrot, peeled and shredded
4 thin slices cucumber
1 black olive, pitted and thinly sliced (optional)

Makes 1 serving

Spread cream cheese inside the pita pocket(s) and fill with veggies.

Popcorn

Watching movies is much more fun with something to munch on. Unfortunately, regular popcorn is typically prepared with oil and topped with butter, which makes it extremely high in calories and fat. The air-popped version is just as tasty and less heavy-handed.

Makes 1 snack

Ingredients:
3 cups air-popped popcorn

If you don’t have a popcorn machine, use a micro-waveable version.

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