Let’s face it, this is the never-ending story of having a child. They want all the snacks, all the time. Meals are overrated. Serve up a juice box and some goldfish crackers and you are Supermom. AC is one of the pickiest and most frustrating eaters on the planet. He likes to eat about 5 things, and from one day to the next, you never know if that list will change. Something he ate with 6 meals one week he’ll decide he no longer likes the next. I swear the kid could live on hot dogs and cheese sticks alone, and he never wants to go outside of his little peanut butter covered food bubble. Incidentally, he also loves the strangest things, like black jellybeans. Weirdo.
Since the ‘Rona came to stay with us we’ve been distance learning and working from home almost exclusively. As most of you know, that has meant a whole lot of togetherness, and a boatload of food. When I began hosting our Corona Chronicle daily zoom meetings with the kids in our life (where we cooked, and did crafts and science experiments), I knew there was an opportunity to up our snack game significantly. In our house, you can pretty much always find apple sauce, granola bars, yogurt, cheese sticks, crackers, and peanut butter. They are the basic staples that make up most of AC’s snack repertoire along with apples or strawberries. So to get us going on this new adventure, there was a little bit of google searching, and a lot of trial and error. What came out of it was some pretty awesome, and really easy, new recipes that everyone loved…kid and adult alike.
Below are a couple of the easiest and most well received new finds that we made. I hope they make it into your regular menu as well!
Fruit and Granola Stacks
- 1 apple, banana, pear, etc. (sliced into rounds and cored).
- 1/4 cup nut butter, we used peanut butter
- 1/2 cup granola, store bought or homemade
- Slice up the fruit and place the granola on a flat plate.
- Spread the nut butter on the fruit rounds and then dip them into the granola to coat them well.
- Stack them up and pack them in the lunch box, or serve them up on a plate. If you really want to get fancy, you can drizzle with a little honey or chocolate too!
Curvy Cue: To core out the apple or pear, you can use a melon baller to press into the apple slice and scoop out the core.
Homemade Pop Tarts
- 1 package puff pastry
- 1/2 cup (approx) fruit jam or jelly
- egg wash (1 egg mixed with a splash of water)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-4 Tbsp water or milk
- fun sprinkles (optional)
- Thaw the box of puff pastry out in the fridge overnight or on the counter for a few hours before making the pastries.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Unwrap one of the dough packages and roll it out slightly on a floured surface just to make it flat and even.
- Cut the dough into 6 squares, using the folds in the pastry as a guide.
- Place about 1 heaping tablespoon of jam on the middle of the 6 dough squares.
- Repeat the process of rolling the dough with the other pastry package.
- Using your finger or a pastry brush, wet the edges of the dough around the jam with the egg wash.
- Place the 6 additional dough pieces on the top of the jam filled ones and press the edges down with a fork to seal them.
- Transfer to a parchment (or greased) baking sheet
- Brush with remaining egg wash and cut a couple small holes in the top pastry layer so air can escape.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until nicely golden brown, not too dark
- Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Meanwhile, mix the powdered sugar and water or milk together 1 Tbsp at a time until a loose paste forms.
- When the pastries are cooled, spread the glaze on the tops and immediately top with sprinkles.
- Serve them up as a snack or a quick breakfast treat!
Curvy Cue: Jam is great, we’ve tried all different kinds, but you could also mix it up with the fillings. Try hazelnut spread and strawberries, banana and peanut butter, chocolate and marshmallow…OMG so many options, I need to go make some more.