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My daughter just started kindergarten last week (yay!) - so begins sending healthy and NUT-FREE food to school. I am looking for some ideas and healthy recipes for snacks for her that are safe to send.
I tried to find nut-free granola bars at the grocery store that also don't have corn syrup and they don't seem to exist - anyone seen any? I also made some homemade granola bars but they were really crumbly.
We made bran muffins last week and banana bread this week, but need some other ideas.
I will be following this thread closely, but I have nothing helpful to add. Sorry.
This week I made zucchini blueberry loaf and the kids LOVE it! http://www.intimateweddings.com/blog...-bread-favors/
I also added cinnamon an shredded zucchini to my pancake mix. Could send a pancake with some applesauce to dip into. French toast cut into strips would be good too.
My dd loves it when I take a pretzel stick and make it into a kabob with cheese on the end and a grape head !
I totally forgot I have some gigantic zucchinis from my mom, have to use them! The recipe looks good, though I will alter it to use whole wheat flour and less sugar. I have been cutting sugar back by half in all my baking and it still tastes good.Quote:
Originally Posted by 5 Little Monkeys
I really like the mini pita with cuccumber and cream cheese, that sounds good! Thanks for all the ideasQuote:
Originally Posted by homeschoolmom
I am going to try the granola bites recipe. But I don't have mini muffin tins. Could I just make balls and put on cookie sheet?
I made the granola bites today! I halved the sugar and used chocolate chips instead of raisins. I found the recipe a bit too dry so I added a little extra melted butter. I only had liquid honey on hand however if you use creamed honey I think they will stick better together.
Warning- they are super crumbly and dry and you will think you did something wrong. Push them in to the muffin tin and all will be fine!
I don't know if you use Facebook but if you do, I love this page. I use it all the time for healthy option but also brilliant presentation ideas which appeal to little ones.
https://www.facebook.com/superhealthykids?fref=ts
I used old fashioned oats. I just found the mixture crumbly but it packed down well and they held together. I think my problem was in part because my honey had crystallized a bit and so until it melted in the oven the mixture wasn't very wet at all.
That's a good idea to cut back on the sugar. I didn't find it too sweet though.
I made the granola bites recipe on Saturday, had to make them in a square pan then cut them into bars since I didn't have the mini muffin tins. I only used 2 tbsp of brown sugar, used maple syrup instead of honey, and dark chocolate chips instead of raisins. My daughter really liked them, they are a hit! They are abit crumbly, but not as bad as the other granola bar recipe I tried. If I had the mini muffins tins instead it would be better since I wouldn't have to cut them into pieces. I will make them again!
Yeah, you should try cutting back on the sugar next time and see if it tastes much different.Quote:
Originally Posted by 5 Little Monkeys
I have a dck with severe peanut and tree-nut allergies, plus the school is nut-free, so I feel your pain! My son used to loooooove peanut butter - he'd probably be happy taking a pb sandwich to school every day if he could!
No store-bought granola bar is going to actually BE healthy, but my kids occasionally get the Quaker chewy fruit ones - they make a raspberry crumble and an apple crumble. I just read the ingredients, and while sugar is listed, corn syrup isn't, and they're nut-free. They have a strawberry-banana yogurt kind too. I don't have that box on hand, so I don't know about the corn syrup, and it's not really healthy, but at least I'm not sending my kids to school with granola bars filled with chocolate chips and marshmallows and covered in more chocolate!
My kids take celery sticks filled with hummus, taziki (ok how the hell do you spell that?), or baba ghanouj a lot, usually with raisins on top. Cheese, meat, and crackers so they can make their own "lunchables," yogurt cups, unsweetened applesauce and fruit cups, and they love homemade muffins! Carrot and oatmeal...I think I found the recipe on pinterest, and they freeze ok too.
Lunches are so hard to keep interesting...
anyone have a good low sugar cookie recipe? All the ones I have tried are pretty gross (in my opinion and the kids!)
That sounds good....except for the dates. Would it be okay to leave out?
Yes, I was hoping for some moderately healthy store bought snacks to keep in the cupboard for days when I don't have time for homemade - but it looks like that ain't gonna happen. I usually buy Kashi granola bars for snacks but they all have nuts... And I looked at the ingredients in them again today and even though the don't have corn syrup they still have different forms of sugar mentioned like 5 times (not a good thing). But even so, they still have less grams of sugar per serving than other bars and are higher in fibre.Quote:
Originally Posted by CrazyEight
I am such a label reader, I spend way too much time at the grocery store reading ingredient lists then not buying most of it because the ingredients are so bad for you. I keep hoping that I will be happily surprised. But actually, many of the Blue Label brand items from Superstore aren't half bad. When the promote it as a healthy choice it usually turns out to be true!
I really like the superstore brand for a lot of things. I should start checking out the blue menu stuff. Do they fill it with the unhealthy substitutes? Like aspartame, etc?
I don't find that they do. Like they have reduced sodium spaghetti sauce, but it doesn't have a bunch of sugar or MSG to replace the salt.Quote:
Originally Posted by superfun