About more than a year ago, my eldest daughter (now eight years old) had a tendency to run to my next-door neighbor’s house just before snack time. I believed that I always prepared kid healthy snacks, but was discouraged as my daughter doesn’t seem to think so. She always knocked on my friend Jane’s door under the guise that she was going to do school work. (Jane’s daughter and my kid are best friends since they were 5.)
Of course, I never bought her story. I was always hurt, thinking that all I wanted was the best for her, but she doesn’t want it. But never to be discouraged, I had a long talk with Jane. Apparently, she always served snacks while the kids were studying. And they were different from my usual cookies and milk or plain sandwiches. When I heard how Jane does it, even I found my method boring.
So we decided to experiment. I was to try and make a snack into something which intrigues my kid, but which won’t also lose the nutritional contents. I tried to do some while Jane took her daughter to the mall. My daughter had no escape.
My daughter was a sucker for dips. (Makes me wonder why I didn’t think of it before.) I cored and sliced some apples and coated them with one-half cup of orange juice. I then combined and 8-ounce package of cream cheese, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract by using a hand mixer. I put it into bowls and arranged the apples on a plate. She was hesitant to try it, of course. But she did. She got a slice, and another, until I was left with just 1 slice, and I had to cut up some more apple slices – which brought me to a grand total of 5 apples.
The next day, I didn’t want to scare her with the vegetables yet, so I chose another food group that she loved: cold, ice-cream-like food. This one needed a little more time because you had to freeze a banana (cut into half-inch pieces) for about 8 hours. Put the frozen banana and 2 tablespoons of milk in a blender. Pulse until it is mashed. (Do not turn it into a smoothie.) Put it into a bowl and drizzle it with some chocolate syrup. (I used both chocolate and strawberry syrup since my daughter is a sucker for both of those.)
After that, she usually haves a snack at home before she goes to her study session with her friend – proof that I can feed my kid a healthy treat and that she doesn’t need to go to another house to find one. Let your imagination run wild (like I did); find the perfect snack for your child. One successful batch will do to make your kid want more.