Snacks for little kids

[milgwimper]

How about a sandwich  made with whipped cream and fresh fruit. a mini parfait with flavored yogurt and layers of fruit and granola, these they can make themselves with a little help. Fruit kabobs rubbed with yogurt and rolled in granola. I loved korean seaweed laver wrapped in rice. Just make a pot of rice, and cool it slightly place in bowls and let the kids make their own "rolls" Make hot dog octopuses. Slice 2/3 the way up from one side of the hotdog (do not cut all the way through. Deep fry (for super curled legs) boiled gets pretty curled not as well as deep-frying).How about making teas eggs, or make the soy sauce eggs. 

[milgwimper]

I just thought of something, not sure it is up your alley, but I loved this during hot months in korea as a kid. Sliced tomatoes, with a light dusting of sugar over each slice let the sliced tomatoes get very cold in the refrigerator, and eat. I never really had a sweet/fully ripe tomato until I got to the states. I secretly do this once in a hot while, but usually I love fully ripe tomatoes as is or adulterated...

[Beebs]

How about a sandwich  made with whipped cream and fresh fruit. 

 

This reminds me of the ice cream sandwiches in Singapore, which was a slice of ice cream with soft, squishy rainbow bread wrapped around it.

[annabelle]

Knox blocks are lots of fun.  They are made with powdered gelatin and juice and are so firm that they may be cut into shapes or plain cubes. 

 

They used to be called finger jello back in the 70s.

 

Recipe on the back of the gelatin box.

[Anna N]

Frozen grapes. Freeze them as they come on the stem. Even I love these.

[FauxPas]

Make your own ice cream sandwiches, but use healthier cookies (can't remember brand names right now, but will post if I can) - or bake your own - and use frozen yogurt or frozen ice milk. Put back in freezer to refreeze, as necessary. 

 

One of my faves as a kid and when it was hot was fresh frozen fruit and yogurt. We would buy fresh fruit/berries and freeze it and I would put some frozen fruit in a bowl and pour a bit of yogurt over it. Strawberries were my fave. The yogurt would start to freeze and it would be like ice cream. You could also blend frozen fruit and yogurt and re-freeze if necessary. 

 

When do you have to worry about choking hazard with peanuts, cherries, grapes? I'm never sure if it's OK to give some stuff to young kids anymore! 

Edited August 3, 2014 by FauxPas (log)

[FauxPas]

Someone must have suggested this already, but I don't remember reading it. Quick breads of all kinds - they don't have to be really sweet and you can use some whole grains. Apple, cherry, blueberry, whatever is in season or in your freezer. Or, as Shelby has shown us, there a a lot of variations on zucchini bread! And most quick breads freeze well, so you can make a few in advance and just use as needed. 

 

And was it dcarch who made those gorgeous little zucchini/summer squash with faces and hair?  Maybe steam a few of those and stuff with goat cheese or similar. 

Edited August 3, 2014 by FauxPas (log)

[SylviaLovegren]

Quick breads are good.  I've been making banana bread (with whole wheat flour and 1/2 olive oil 1/2 butter, so very healthy    )  and my kids (in their 20s) have been scarfing it up with thickly spread butter.  Date bread with cream cheese is also very popular. 

 

Wheat tortillas folded over banana and Nutella, then sauteed in butter, sprinkled with a little cinnamon sugar = yummy.  Or you can sub marshmallows and Hershey squares for a Mexican s'more. 

 

When our son was 8 or so, he was so proud of "making" Ranch dressing (using the little pack), and he loved eating it with using carrots, celery, zucchini, cukes, red peppers, etc. for dippers. 

[Jaymes]

There are so many wonderful ideas in this thread that I hardly know where to start.  The kids are on school break right now - they go to a Spanish Day Camp in the summer, but the fall semester for kindergarten, and Spanish Immersion Pre-School doesn't start until next week.  So I have all four of them all day!

 

I'm going to start with some of the suggestions that involve hands-on effort, so I can keep us all busy.

 

The pigs-in-a-blanket (I think the older two can help me bake them in the toaster oven and all of the older three can wrap); nutella cake in a microwave; mix-it-yourself Ranch Dressing with cold raw veggies; quesadillas (served with my salsa that I'll make really mild for them); cheese, ham, salami on crackers; Jell-O; homemade tootsie rolls; puff-up cheese toast....

 

And for sure those cute little pear bunny salads. 

 

Sound like a good start?  Please, please, please, if anything else comes to mind, share.

 

Also want to thank several of you that offered good non-food ideas as to how I can direct them to spend their time having fun, and not driving Grandma Hootie right up the proverbial wall.  Those non-food posts did get "hidden," but then we exchanged pm ideas about some ideas.  Any of you that have some more of those good and fun ideas (like the big hula hoop bubbles and hot Ivory soap!) please feel MORE than free to PM them to me.

 

Y'know...getting old kinda sucks.  But being a grandma is pretty terrific.

 

Thanks so very much to every one of you that has been so kind and generous to take your time and share your talents, thoughts and ideas with me. 

 

I'm a little bit verklempt about the response I've gotten here!

Edited August 4, 2014 by Jaymes (log)

[FauxPas]

Jaymes, here is the link to dcarch's adorable little summer squash with faces and hair, this made me think of cooking for kids right away! 

 

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/148945-dinner-2014-part-4/?p=1977899

[GlorifiedRice]

Jaymes DO NOT forget about a berry picking excursion or foraging for stuff..

[Jaymes]

Jaymes DO NOT forget about a berry picking excursion or foraging for stuff..

Sorta hot and miserable for picking stuff outside in Houston right now and also that would mean I'd have to trade cars with my daughter because I don't even have room in my car for four infant/kid car seats, let alone the car seats themselves. Not to mention that ol' Hootie Mama is having a hard enough time wrangling all these little kids here at their house. I agree that taking them berry-picking sounds like fun in theory... Think I'll suggest it to their mommy and daddy.

Do want to say, though, that the other set of grandparents live on a farm a couple hours' drive from here, so the kids load up on fresh vegetables when they visit. And also there's a small garden here in our backyard. Most everything has burned up with this heat, but we're still getting a small handful of strawberries every day.

But it's a wonderful thought. I remember picking blueberries, raspberries, lingonberries, etc., when we lived in Alaska. I don't really think food experiences get any better than that.

.

Edited August 5, 2014 by Jaymes (log)

[annabelle]

Do the kids like hard-boiled eggs?  There a whole bunch of molds in the shapes of animals and anime characters that are sold for bento boxes. 

 

If you have them all day (yikes!) they could be a nice snack with vegetables and ranch dip. 

[Jaymes]

Do the kids like hard-boiled eggs?  There a whole bunch of molds in the shapes of animals and anime characters that are sold for bento boxes. 

 

If you have them all day (yikes!) they could be a nice snack with vegetables and ranch dip.

The kids do like hard-boiled eggs. I'm not familiar with the unusual shapes. Where should I go to seek out what I'd need?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

If you have them all day (yikes!) they could be a nice snack with vegetables and ranch dip. 

 

Makes me think of A Modest Proposal.  Yum.

 

Currently at three grandkids myself.  I have no scruples and I'll stick to serving ice cream.  I'd say peanuts and Kerry's little Shirley Temples, but my offspring prefer sterner stuff.  Even the three year old goes for a good ale.

[Jaymes]

Makes me think of A Modest Proposal.  Yum.

 

Currently at three grandkids myself.  I have no scruples and I'll stick to serving ice cream.

I actually just ordered some good malt powder from Horlicks and one day this week they're going to find out what a real old-fashioned chocolate malt tastes like.

[Smithy]

The kids do like hard-boiled eggs. I'm not familiar with the unusual shapes. Where should I go to seek out what I'd need?

 

There's probably some place or three in Houston, but since you're a bit constrained in travel you may also consider mail order.  Amazon has a number of sets; here's one: APT Egg Plate 6-piece set.  If you type something like 'hard-boiled egg molds' in the Amazon search box, or in Google, you'll find information.  

 

Speaking of hard-boiled and deviled eggs:  how about Green Eggs and Ham?

[Jaymes]

There's probably some place or three in Houston, but since you're a bit constrained in travel you may also consider mail order.  Amazon has a number of sets; here's one: APT Egg Plate 6-piece set.  If you type something like 'hard-boiled egg molds' in the Amazon search box, or in Google, you'll find information.  

 

Speaking of hard-boiled and deviled eggs:  how about Green Eggs and Ham?

 

Good idea. Don't think they have the Dr. Seuss book, so I can get that, too.  And, I noticed when I clicked on the link, there's a whole section on Cooking for Kids. A caveat, though. I've got my hands full just seeing to it that they don't leave any permanent marks on one another before mommy gets home, so if any of this cooking is too involved or time-consuming, I probably won't have the energy for it.

 

You know?

 

And I am going to order that APT Egg Plate Set to which you linked.

 

Thanks for both of these!

[annabelle]

I have those stainless steel cutters that are part of the bundle Amazon is pushing.  They are great for cutting up carrot coins and slices of cukes.

 

I use them for making salad garnishes, but kiddos would love them, too.

 

Hootie Mama will have so much cool stuff at her house, they'll be telling their friends for ages!

[FauxPas]

Stuff I used to make but don't really have a specific recipe for:

 

Peanut butter and jam cookies

 

http://chefmichaelsmith.com/recipe/peanut-butter-and-jelly-cookies/#.U-EQFfldV0w

 

Peanut butter and banana muffins 

 

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/09/18/skinny-peanut-butter-banana-muffins/

 

OR

 

http://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/skinny-peanut-butter-chocolate-and-banana-muffins/

[Franci]

My children are 7 and 3 and 1/2 years old and they have completely different tastes, some things are in common: ice cream, Greek yogurt with a touch of honey or maple syrup using freeze dried strawberries as a scoop, fruit (they have a lot of fun if I take out the tool for melon balls or Japanese small flower cutters), summer rolls, onigiri, crudités, jerky, cookies european style, carrot sticks with almond butter, prosciutto and salame that I serve with tiny Italian flatbreads (similar to tiny pittas), small pizzas. For my son I almost always have crepes in the fridge, he eats them with lemon and sugar, other times with ham. They both likes decaf teas like roboois, fennel tea. They like drinking yougurts. I powder freeze dried fruit with powdered sugar and blend with some plain yougurt and coconut milk.

They like pops, these are very nice http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Paletas-de-Platano-Rostizado-366270

And these http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Paletas-de-Pay-de-Limon-366252

Edit: how could I forget seaweeds, they are all addicted! All the children I know...seasnax are very expensive and I was thinking of trying maangchi recipe, didn't have a chance yet http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/gim-gui

Edited August 5, 2014 by Franci (log)

[Jaymes]

First day that I've got all four of them all day long.  Lunch big success!  Put 18-mo-old down for nap, and the other three and I rolled up some Lil' Smokies in Crescent dough, and baked them.  Served with a variety of dipping sauces and if there's one thing  3,4, and 6 yr-olds-like, it's dipping sauces.  We had honey mustard, BBQ and Ranch.

 

Also had apple slices on the side.

 

Took a while to do.  Brother (the 3-yr-old) was more interested in eating the sausages rather than wrapping, but hey, whatever, right?  So the activity was engaging.

 

And the result was very good.

 

Thanks again everybody.

 

We're trying those Nlutella cakes tomorrow.

[Jaymes]

My children are 7 and 3 and 1/2 years old and they have completely different tastes, some things are in common: ice cream, Greek yogurt with a touch of honey or maple syrup using freeze dried strawberries as a scoop, fruit (they have a lot of fun if I take out the tool for melon balls or Japanese small flower cutters), summer rolls, onigiri, crudités, jerky, cookies european style, carrot sticks with almond butter, prosciutto and salame that I serve with tiny Italian flatbreads (similar to tiny pittas), small pizzas. For my son I almost always have crepes in the fridge, he eats them with lemon and sugar, other times with ham. They both likes decaf teas like roboois, fennel tea. They like drinking yougurts. I powder freeze dried fruit with powdered sugar and blend with some plain yougurt and coconut milk.

They like pops, these are very nice http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Paletas-de-Platano-Rostizado-366270

And these http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Paletas-de-Pay-de-Limon-366252

 

Some really good ideas here.  I hadn't even thought about almond butter, but that obviously would be a nice change of pace from the ubiquitous peanut butter.

 

And crepes!  Of course.

 

And because these kids are fluent in Spanish, they'll like talking about "paletas."

 

Thanks!

[GlorifiedRice]

Jaymes Google "April Fools Food" LOADS of fun ideas

 

I did this for my sons class one year at April Fools

http://recessionhome.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/april-fool-recipes-to-keep-everyone-guessing/

 

Make meatloaf "CAKE frosted with mashed taters (for pink use beet juice)

 

Also each year for 5 years at my sons school, id send him to school with an Egg Plate (from the dollar store -faux crystal natch) with these fake chocolate DEVILED EGGS

 

 

PS when they get older get them into GEOCACHING

[MollyB]

Here are some things that my (fairly picky) 3-yr-old likes. (The seaweed and edamame are about the only vegetables we can get into him.)

 

• seaweed snacks (Franci mentioned this, too), especially the ones cut into little small pieces
• freeze-dried fruit (especially strawberries and raspberries)
• fresh fruit
• small sandwiches made with sandwich thins
• steamed buns (Trader Joe's has some decent frozen ones that cook quickly in the microwave)
• hummus (with pita or flour tortillas)
• pretzel sticks
• edamame in the pod (he likes getting them out)

 

I also find that different kinds of cookie cutters are really useful tools for making shapes out of just about anything - sandwiches, cheese, tortillas, vegetables (not to mention cookies). You can also use vegetable peelers to make thin, curly strips of carrot or cucumber. Food shaped like animals or trucks or dinosaurs seems to go down a lot more easily  than plain old carrots or slices of cheese. There are also some pretty entertaining sandwich cutters you can get - I really like a puzzle-piece shaped cutter I have that will cut a sandwich into 4 interlocking puzzle pieces. 

 

If you're going the less-healthy route, he thinks Cheetos are the best thing ever. We get them occasionally and he will start jumping up and down with excitement when we have them.