6 super snacks
Pump up the nutrition quotient of your kid’s lunch-box with these power packed additions:
- Whole-wheat tortilla spread with cream cheese, sprinkled with shredded carrots and roasted sunflower seeds, then rolled up.
- Pita triangle with hummus.
- Celery sticks filled with spreadable cream cheese.
- Plain or vanilla yogurt swirled with apple sauce and granola.
- Bread sticks and baba ghanouj (smoky eggplant dip from your supermarket’s deli).
- Whole-wheat tortilla spread with honey mustard, then rolled tightly around a slice of lean deli meat and a cheese string.
Note: Packing moist towelettes in your child’s lunch-box will remind them to wash their hands before eating.
Homemade Treats:
Awesome Oatmeal Bars
Oatmeal bars are the perfect snack for kids on the run, but why bake your own when the stores are full of them? Well, our scrumptious version is lower in calories and sodium than most supermarket bars.
Wicked-Good Pizza Muffins
These calcium-rich muffins freeze well, can be packed in a lunch box straight from the freezer and will thaw by recess.
Scrambled Egg “Cupcakes”
You can vary these wholesome, bite-size snacks by adding your child’s favourite veggies to the mix ““ barely cooked chopped broccoli, diced sweet red pepper or thawed frozen peas are all good choices. If you don’t have a mini muffin pan, use a regular muffin pan, divide the egg mixture among 6 cups and bake for 20 minutes.
Mango-Banana Smoothie
This nutrition-packed shake is ideal for kids on the go and too-cool-for-lunch teens. Ground flaxseed, a source of healthy Omega-3 fatty acids ““ suggested to be beneficial for conditions as diverse as attention deficit disorder and asthma ““ is available in the health-food or bulk section of most large supermarkets. Frozen mango chunks can be substituted for fresh; just thaw before using them.
Photos by Edward Pond
Is this Canadian food?