Healthy Snacks

With news reports burgeoning with comments about over-weight America and statistics about growing numbers of over-weight school-children, healthy snacks become a topic of great interest. As a young mother, I loved books a great deal more than cleaning or cooking-so it was natural to turn to my beloved friends for advice in this important area. Many of the books I used have become tattered relics (now that my children have children of their own), but favorite recipes and ideas live on because I made them so many times. Some of the recipes here came from books originally-but are so lost in the past I cannot truly attribute them. Others evolved as favorite tastes evolved as my children grew.

Raw Vegetables

As a working mother, I frequently was preparing meals late into the evening. A bowl or tray of celery sticks, carrot sticks, broccoli flowerets, cauliflower, and snow peas makes a tv snack or a good accompaniment to homework around the kitchen table. Great way to get past whining and fussing because dinner isn't ready.

Dip

Yogurt seasoned with curry powder or seasoned salt makes a nutritious, low-fat dip for vegetables. Substitute honey and cinnamon for the curry powder, and you have a grade A dip for fruit. Unflavored yogurt can be purchased in cartons in the dairy section of most grocery stores or super markets.

Sliced Fruit

Slice apples, bananas or nectarines into a bowl and serve-with or without dippers. Added seedless grapes or bing cherries for extra yummies. Dipping the apples in vinegar or lemon juice will delay browning.

Natural Finger Foods

Many foods are delicious just as they come from the plant. Bananas, cherry and Roma tomatoes, baby carrots, and snow-peas were favorites when my children were growing up. I frequently had a garden; tomatoes were fair game for grazing.

Peanut Butter Balls (aka Edible Play-Dough)

1 cup peanut butter (the kind that is all peanuts is best, but any will do), ¼ cup powder milk, ¼ powdered sugar. Stir the milk and sugar into the peanut butter, till it is stiff and will hold no more of the dry mix. Alternative recipes include adding honey instead of powdered sugar, or jelly. The honey or jelly will make a stickier mix, and you many need more powdered milk. The resultant candies can be eaten as they are made, or rolled in powdered sugar, shredded coconut, hot chocolate mix, or sugar and cinnamon. This makes a good treat for boy/girl scouts, sleep-overs, or dessert.

Cookies

Use any standard drop cookie recipe, substitute quick cook oats for 1/3 of the flour. Add extra powdered milk to the mix, substitute an extra egg for part of the liquid requirement. Substitute peanut butter or a banana for part of the shortening requirements. Stir in dried fruit (raisins, apricots, peach...apple doesn't work as well) and nuts till the batter will hold no more, and follow standard cooking directions.

Chips

It can be fun to home-make potato chips-although I am not sure the nutrition is improved. There will be fewer preservatives, at least, and you will be able to choose the fat in the deep fryer. We did this occasionally; but more often, home-made french fries. For potato chips, the potato must be sliced very thin and the fat very hot. I've done them in a frying pan on the stove-top, but a deep-fryer makes this much easier because of the constant temperature and the frying basket. Most deep fryers come with recipes. A potato/apple slicer makes created the chips much easier.

Crackers

Crackers make a tasty snack. They can be served on their own or with dip or spreads. Potted meat, egg salad, deviled ham, even sliced luncheon meat and cheese goes well. A household with a varied schedule and children between the ages of 8 and 25 goes better with a variety of quick-and-easy foods in the refrigerator.

Exploratory Foods

When my daughter was a teen-ager, we tried to buy one "to try" food each shopping day. Shopping day came around bi-weekly, so that wasn't as much of an investment as one might think. We tried guavas, star-fruit, plantains (challenge to cook, we didn't try twice), selections from the "health food" section, and so on. Some became favorites, some we agreed to be "never again", but it gave interest to shopping and variety to our diet.

The way you feed your children will carry on into the next generation. Visiting my oldest son, I see fruits and vegetables in their refrigerator, whole grains and teas in the pantry. His wife has a doctorate in biology, and a strong interest in the effects of nutrition. They subscribe to a cooking magazine; and love to share recipes.

Visiting my daughter, I find fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and crackers stocked for her bustling household. She has become quite a gardener, and on my last visit had a bumper crop of tomatoes. My youngest son likes cooking (so do the other two as well), and at last report was responsible for meal preparations for himself, his roommates and the one child in the household. He is a little too far away to visit, but always loved experimenting with cooking.

Over the years I learned the following:

1. Buy the best you can afford. Hunger blunts ambition.
2. Don't buy empty calories. If the budget is limited, you can't afford to waste the money your children need for nutrition.
3. Get something fun to eat.
4. Have some things that are quick and easy, because you won't always have a long time to prepare a meal.
5. Buy the foods your family enjoys eating. It doesn't matter how nutritious it is if no one wants to eat.

Oh, and that over-weight thing? Exercise and fresh air. Balance the computer games and TV with camping, swimming, trips to the park or just a walk around the block. It that isn't possible, dancer-cise or those crazy dance mat games are viable indoor alternatives. If all else fails, floor mopping, sweeping ceilings and rummaging out the attic keep hands busy-and out of the cookie jar.