Recipes: Nutritious Nibbles
             Hummus
             Banana Bread

Healthy Snacks
Snacking makes a healthy contribution to our diet. It gives children the opportunity to explore different flavors and textures of foods to make eating more enjoyable. Growing children may not be able to fulfill their energy needs with only 3 meals a day. Follow these guidelines to help make snacking work for you and your family’s health.

Planning
Plan ahead so that you have the desired food at hand when you need it. You do not want to be forced to choose from limited selections in a randomly stocked refrigerator. Stock only the foods you want your children to eat.

Make snacking a conscious activity. Ideally this means eating without doing anything else at the same time (for example watching TV), otherwise you and your children can overeat without realizing it.

Choose lower-fat snacks.

Try:                                           Instead of:
Baked tortilla chips                      Corn chips
Pretzels                                      Potato chips
Bagel with light cream cheese       Doughnut
Spiced applesauce                       Apple pie
Light ice cream                           Ice cream
String cheese                              Cheddar cheese
Light yogurt or smoothie               Milkshake
Salsa                                          Sour cream-based dip

Focus on Nutrition
Choose nutrient-rich foods: whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy, lean meat, nuts, and natural peanut butter. Most children naturally like sweets, so learn to set limits. Sweets are fine for special treats. All foods can contribute to a healthy diet, but remember is to provide a good balance and variety.

Watch for Snack Traps
Beware of snack traps. Some snack foods sound nutritious but often are not much better than a candy bar or potato chips. For example: granola bars or energy bars are often loaded with hidden fat or hydrogenated fats. Fruit drinks have very little fruit juice. Many versions of microwave popcorn are high in fat. Fruit rolls have very little fruit and are high in sugar.

Nutritious Nibbles
Natural peanut butter or mozzarella cheese with whole grain crackers
Celery or apples with natural peanut butter
Trail mix with pretzels, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate chips
Frozen fruit juice bars
Unsweetened or lightly sweetened dry cereal with milk
Fresh fruit
Raw vegetables with dip
Low-fat pudding
Light yogurt with natural granola
Air popped popcorn or light microwave popcorn
Pita and hummus (see recipe)
Baked tortilla chips with salsa or bean dip
Smoothies with fruit, yogurt, milk, ice
Mini pizzas with ½ of a English muffin, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese; broiled
Sandwiches with lean meat, vegetables on whole grain bread
Small soft tortillas with refried beans, cheese, and salsa
Homemade quick breads, muffins (see recipe)
Homemade oatmeal cookies

Try these Tasty Nutrition-packed Treats


Hummus
1 can of drained garbanzo beans
Juice of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves
2 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon sesame butter
Dash of salt and pepper

Combine and blend in food processor. Add artichokes, cut red peppers, or kalamata olives as desired. Serve with pita bread or fresh vegetables.

Banana Bread
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
¼ cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture, beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 x 4 inch bread pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.