5 Snack Recipes to Start the New School Year on the Right Foot!

Submitted by: Alejandra A. Francis, RD /LDN 

With summer break ending and students returning back to school, it is time to stock up on school supplies and healthy snacks that are perfect to pack in lunch boxes.

Want to make snacks more fun and appealing to young children? Invite them into the kitchen to help prepare snacks and meals. Healthy meal preparation is an important, lifelong skill that you can pass on at an early age. And, by working together to prepare snacks, you can peel your child off of the computer screen and the one-on-one time will help you stay more personally connected.

Even if your children are involved in multiple extracurricular sports, clubs, or artistic endeavors, you can still find time to prepare breakfast together, pack up dinner leftovers for lunch the next day, and make nutritious snacks. Before you know it, they could get into a really good healthy habit of making their meals and snacks.

It is also important for parents or guardians to give children different opportunities to choose their own meals and snacks. For example, asking “Would you prefer chicken, spaghetti, or should we order dinner in tonight?” helps empower children to know they can make food choices. And, while home-cooked meals are most important, occasionally splurge meals are fun and more realistic in our busy schedules. It is also a good idea to ask them if they see any healthier options available, like choosing fruit-flavored water over a sugary soda.  

We want to make sure our future generations are well nourished with healthy meals and snack options to keep them both mentally and physically sharp in and out of the classroom. This will help them learn more and retain the knowledge they acquire. Tonight, could be a great time for you to have a conversation about school, relationships, social life, peer pressures, standardized tests, etc.

Here are a few cute and creative snack ideas that we found online. Each recipe should only take 5-10 minutes to make, but the positive impacts could last a lifetime.

Fire Ants on a Log

Ingredients:

• Celery Sticks or Pretzel (Honey Wheat) Sticks
• Nut Butter: Peanut Butter, Almond Butter, Sunflower Butter (Allergy Free)
• Raisin, Golden Raisins, Dried Cranberries, or Dried Cherries

Instructions:

• Cut the celery into 3-4” small bite size or use Pretzel Sticks
• Use a knife or spoon to spread 1 tsp of Nut Butter into the celery sticks or onto the pretzel sticks
• Add the “Ants” Raisins on top of the Nut Butter

Cool as a Cucumber Sandwich

Ingredients:

• Whole Wheat bread or White Bread
• Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• Thinly Sliced English Cucumbers or Your Favorite Veggies!

Instructions:

• Use two slices of bread
• Spread 1 tablespoon of Philadelphia Cream Cheese onto the bread
• Prepare to thinly slice the English Cucumber and place 5-6 cucumber slices onto your sandwich.

Yogurt Blast with Mix Trail & topped with Fruit

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of Non-fat Yogurt (Flavors Mixed berry, strawberry, blueberry, peach, etc.)
• ¼ cup of good quality Granola Trail Mix
• ½ cup of (Fresh, Frozen, or Canned Fruit) Strawberries, Blueberries, Apples, Mixed Berries, Dragon fruit, Cherries, etc.)

Instructions:

• In a small bowel add 1 cup of Non-Fat Yogurt
• Add ¼ cup of good quality Granola Trail Mix on top of the Non-fat Yogurt
• Combine ½ cup mixed fruit and layer the fruit on top of the Granola Trail Mix

Rainbow aka “Rain Bowl”

Ingredients:

• Vegetables (Carrots, Celery, Broccoli, Red Peppers, Green Peppers, Cucumbers etc.)
• Fruits (Pineapple, Apples, Oranges, Blueberries, Strawberries, etc.)
• Whole Wheat tortilla chips and/ or Pita Chips
• Hummus (Original Hummus, Red Pepper Humus, Garlic Humus)
• Guacamole (Original and Spicy)

Instructions:

• Fresh cut Vegetables Julienne Style – a preparation or garnish of food that has been cut into thin strips.
• Fresh cut Fruit into bite size pieces.
• Cut Pita Chips to small bite size triangles.
• Serve a small bowel 8 oz. of Hummus and/ or Guacamole in the center of a large plate.
• Next, add the fresh cut vegetables, fruit, Whole wheat tortilla chip, and pita chips around the small bowel of Humus or Guacamole.

Whole Grain Rice Cakes Loaded with the Goods

Ingredients:

• Rice Cakes
• Slices of Banana + Peanut Butter or Sun Butter (Allergy Free)
• Slices of Apples + Yogurt
• Slices of Peach + Cottage Cheese

Instructions:

• Place 1 rice cake onto a plate.
• Loaded with the Goods depends on which combination you’d like to have
• based on your personal preference.
• Thinly slice fruit (i.e., Bananas, Apples, Peaches).
• Add 1 Tbsp of your choice of (Nut Butter, Yogurt, or Cottage Cheese) and spread around the Rice Cakes.
• Next, add the slices of fruit (Bananas, Apples, or Peaches).

Start today with the conversation about food! I hope you enjoy these cute and creative snack ideas as much as I did! Have a great back to school year and be safe.