Healthy Afterschool Snacks

Make after-school vegetable snacks fun by cutting and displaying them in different ways.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20 percent of children aged 6 through 11 and 18 percent of adolescents aged 12 through 18 are overweight. Only with lifestyle changes can those numbers be changed. One of the simplest changes to make is offering kids healthy after-school snacks.

Freeze Pops

Make homemade freeze pops by blending together pureed bananas, orange juice and low-fat plain yogurt. Pour the mixture into small paper cups and stick them into the freezer. After about two hours, insert a wooden stick in each cup. It will take approximately four hours for the juice pops to freeze. Or blend seedless watermelon, lime juice and a sugar substitute together for the base of the healthy freeze pop. Place a few blueberries into each section of freezer-pop mold, pour in the watermelon mixture and insert the freeze sticks. Freeze them for about six hours.

Mousse

Make a protein filled chocolate mousse by toasting almonds and coconut in the oven. Then, in a food processor, combine ricotta cheese, cocoa powder, sugar substitute and both almond and vanilla extract until it's airy. Stir the almonds and coconut into the mousse and top with a dollop of fat-free whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. If your child is a fruit lover offer her a lemon mousse made out of Greek yogurt, lemon zest and juice, egg whites and gelatin. Lemon mousse takes longer to prepare than the chocolate mousse, but it is a simple way to offer variety to your child.

Sandwich Bites

Make checkerboard sandwich bites for kids out of rye and whole wheat bread, low fat cream cheese and cucumbers. Spread the cream cheese sparingly on the bread and top with cucumber to make both rye and whole wheat sandwiches. Cut them both into four pieces and place two pieces of each sandwich together to resemble a checkerboard. Or combine low fat cream cheese and sugar free preservatives on both whole grain wheat and 100 percent whole grain white bread. Slice them diagonally into four pieces; swap the top left and bottom right pieces to make a visually appealing sandwich.

Vegetable Garden

Put together a vegetable garden where your kids can "dig" out their snacks. To make the faux garden, fill a mini muffin tin with a variety of vegetables, fruits and dips. Randomly place baby carrots, sugar snap peas, apple and pear slices, rhubarb, tomatoes, olives, radishes, low fat ranch dip and a Greek yogurt based fruit dip in the pan. Cover and tape a piece of green tissue paper across the top of the muffin tin. Write a short note on the tissue which says, "Dig in! You deserve it after your long day at school."

References

• Centers for Disease Control Prevention: Obesity and Overweight
• Eating Well: Watermelon-Blueberry Ice Pops
• Kids Health: Cream Cheesy Cucumber Sandwiches
• The South Beach Diet Parties & Holidays Cookbook; Arthur Agatston MD; 2006

Resources

• Healthy & Delicious: Greek Yogurt Lemon Mousse