Category: Recipes

Healthy Snacks for Kids

By Mariah Bruehl, 5th January 2015

During a recent girls’ group, my daughter and her friends expressed an interest in learning some healthy snacks that they can make for themselves after school-a time that they need a nutritional pick me up. It’s easy to grab a piece of fruit and some crackers, but kids want something more exciting and they like feeling independent in the kitchen. Here are some snacks that fit the bill (tested and approved by kids):

This snack is so simple and can be eaten right away or kept in the fridge for an easy grab-and-go snack or even breakfast. It can be made in a large batch but we prefer to make it in single serving size containers (short, wide mason jars work well). All you need are your favorite:

granola
yogurt
fruit (fresh or thawed blueberries, strawberries, mango, blackberries, raspberries)

Start with a layer of yogurt, then granola, then fruit. Repeat. That’s it. Be sure to leave some space at the top to get a spoon in!

My kids love these so much they request them for lunch. Depending on your child’s age, you could prepare a platter of toppings, or let your child do it all from start to finish. Here are some ideas:

cucumber slices, of course
cheese slices
cream cheese
hummus
ham or turkey slices-add a playful twist by letting your child use a small cookie cutter to cut out fun shapes
tomato slices

Starting with the cucumber as the base, layer toppings in your desired order . We like adding the cheese or spread first. If you like, keep it together with a toothpick.

This one is a little sweeter treat and involves some wait time, but it’s worth it! Either make them a day ahead or, on a non-school day, make them a few hours before snack time. We gathered our favorite toppings and followed these directions:

dark chocolate chips (for melting)
mini chocolate or peanut butter chips (for coating)
nut butter
chopped nuts
granola
shredded coconut
chopped dried fruit

Don’t they look delicious?! I hope your child enjoys these healthy DIY snacks and is inspired to try others.

Homemade Apple Pumpkin Fruit Roll-Ups

By Mariah Bruehl, 7th October 2013

Heather of Poppy Haus is with us today to share a delicious recipe for autumn inspired fruit roll-ups…

We recently started making our own all fruit roll-ups using summer berries and mango. My boys (and their friends) are crazy for them, and they’ve become a staple in their lunchbox. With the season changing and Halloween on it’s way, I mixed up an autumnal version using pumpkin, apple and a little cinnamon spice. Here’s the recipe…

Ingredients:

1 12.5 oz can pumpkin puree
2 cups unsweetened apple sauce
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Cooking tools:

2 sheet pans
2 silicone pan liners
A smoothing tool (I use a pie server)

Preheat oven to its lowest temperature (170 degrees). Combine ingredients in a mixing bowl, dividing mixture onto the sheet pans. Spread until about 1/4” thick, uniform at the edges. Place in the oven and allow to dehydrate over the course of 5-7 hours, until the center is set completely. Turn off the oven and cool to room temperature before peeling back. Trim the crispy edges, and cut the fruit leather into 6″ squares. Roll up in wax paper, securing with a piece of tape.

Enjoy!

Healthy Frozen Treats: Probiotic Popsicles

By Mariah Bruehl, 25th July 2013

Emma from 95 Acres of Sky is with us today with a delicious recipe for probiotic popsicles—a wonderful way to give your children a special treat that we as parents can feel good about.

During the busy, sometimes hectic and overheated, days of summer getting motivated to cook can be hard. I often find my food mojo goes on vacation as the temperatures rise (and rise). As my creativity and enthusiasm take a dip so does the family appetite, the children don’t want to sit for large meals when they could be running, swimming or playing with friends.

Rather than fight this phenomenon I prefer to go with a few ‘light days’, providing healthy snack type meals that are packed full of goodness but light on the stomach. These often revolve around tapas type meals with little bits of meat, cheese, salad, hummus, crackers and fruits that are easy to assemble and are handily portable if we find ourselves heading out for yet another round of summer fun.

But when the temperatures really soar I turn to a summer staple, fruit popsicles and homemade energy bars. These frozen treats are a hit with my boys, cooling them down and giving them a good dose of energy without the table time struggles of a full meal. They can function as a snack or a summer ‘mini meal’, just before we head out to the pool or a play date.

This year I’ve been more conscious than ever of trying to pack as much nutrition into every bite as possible. My growing lads are so full of energy, but liable to crash hard when their tummies feel suddenly empty. With increasingly busy schedules it is even more important for them to be eating nutritionally dense foods that support their growth and development.

Of course that doesn’t mean boring! The more delicious a food is the more likely they are to want to eat it, so good flavor is key. I’m also conscious of taking any opportunity I can to introduce probiotics and key nutrients into their systems; despite the massive range of foods available to us in these modern times, we are often consuming empty calories filled with sugar and additives, those foods marketed to children are particularly guilty.

So instead of reaching for the freezer section at my local store I reach for my blender and whip up a batch of probiotic popsicles, chased down with an energy bar packed with natural sweetness and a good dose of omegas. If making popsicles is a bit of a fuss these recipes make delicious smoothies too.

Probiotic Strawberry Popsicles

2 cups of chopped strawberries (a great way to use some softer or imperfect fruits)
½ cup of milk kefir (a probiotic drink thinner than yogurt)
1 tablespoon of raw honey

Blend all of the ingredients together and pour into molds or straight into a glass. The kefir helps build gut flora which builds immunity and health in the body. It has a tart taste so a little raw honey (which helps protect against seasonal allergies) is a great addition.

Fruits of the Forest Popsicles with Vanilla Yogurt

2 cups of mixed berries (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries etc)
½ cup of spinach
1 tablespoon of raw honey or 2 medjool dates

For yogurt topping:

½ cup of plain yogurt
½ – 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

Blend the popsicle ingredients together and set aside. Mix the yoghurt and vanilla in a bowl and then add in layers with the fruit smoothie to your popsicle molds. This gives a visual interest as well as a delicious layer of probiotics to soothe and cool hot tummies. Alternatively serve as a smoothie with a delicious yogurt dollop on top.

I hope that you give these recipes a try, enjoy and stay cool!

Making Quick Pickles: A Summertime Adventure

By Mariah Bruehl, 23rd July 2013

We are a family that loves pickles and there is nothing like having them homemade and fresh from the garden! Heather of Poppy Haus is with us today to share a lovely recipe for making a quick batch…

We are lucky to live in a part of California where the farmlands meet the ocean, and you can lose yourself in the rolling hills peppered with wild dill. On a recent sunny summer day, we took a drive down a winding back road near the town of Tomales, and found a little creek with blackberry bushes and a wild dill grove. My boys worked together to clip some blooms to bring back home for a day of pickling cucumbers.

I have the apparatus to do home canning, but with young kids, I prefer refrigerator pickling, which takes little time or skill, and yields a nice, crunchy pickle slice. You just have to make small batches, and eat them within a few weeks, which is is no problem for my family. If you can’t find wild dill growing in your area, it’s in season now and readily available at most grocery stores and farmer’s markets. Here’s the recipe: