Healthy Kid-Friendly Lunch and Snack Ideas

(I have two small kids, so I know it's easy to get into a snack rut.  Here are a few lunch/snack "recipes" that my kids love.  Most of these ideas are adapted from Mollie Katzen’s cookbooks for kids.  Check out Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes, and Salad People and More Real Recipes, for detailed instructions and other ideas.)

·      Make your own hummus, then let your kids create wraps on whole-wheat tortillas with the hummus, carrot sticks, red pepper slices, spinach, sprouts, and other veggies.

·      Make “salad people” out of fruits and vegetables.

·      Create mini pizzas on top of pita bread, English muffins, or refrigerated biscuit dough.

·      Lay out a salad bar and let kids assemble their own salads.

·      Try a soup bar.  Fill bowls with cubed tofu, beans, corn, little pastas, carrots, peas, etc.  Let the kids put what they want in their bowls then pour heated broth over top.

·      Make fruit juice pops with Dixie cups and popsicle sticks

·      Create “bagel faces” by topping a bagel half with nut butter or another spread, then fruits, vegetables, and seeds.

·      Build “tiny tacos” with refried beans, salsa and olives on top of tortilla chips

·      Create peanut butter pictures by spreading a slice of bread with peanut butter and letting your kids make designs with raisins and banana slices.

·      Put some (nondairy) yogurt in a bowl and let kids top it as they wish—with berries, fruit slices, granola, etc.

·      Place a dollop of applesauce and a sprinkle of cinnamon on top of a bowl of oatmeal and let the kids swirl it in.

·      Kids love smoothies—including green smoothies!

·      For a quick snack, whiz up some banana milk or strawberry milk.  Place a cup of soymilk or almond milk in the blender, then blend in a banana or a handful of fresh or frozen strawberries.

·      Kids also love dipping:

o   Raw or steamed vegetables dipped in homemade hummus

o   Carrot sticks, apple slices and pretzels dipped in peanut butter

o   Toast sticks dipped in applesauce

o   Fruit slices dipped in (non-dairy) yogurt

o   Tortilla chips with salsa

o   Raw vegetables or tortilla chips in mashed black beans mixed with salsa or some cumin and lime juice

o   Anything in guacamole (just mash an avocado with lime juice and salt)