Creative Kid Snacks

make fun of lunch!

Ballerina

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I have two little ballerinas in the house.  Grace has taken ballet and tap classes for a couple years, and dance has been one of her favorite things to do outside of school.  The recitals, where she gets to wear her costume, complete with poufy tutu, ballerina bun, and makeup – then ending with her getting a bunch of flowers and applause, are the highlight for her.  When recital time came around this last spring, we decided to make a little snack to celebrate it.

Creative Kid Snacks: Ballerina

Ingredients:

1 slice colby jack cheese

1 slice deli ham

1-2 cubes of watermelon

yellow bell pepper

1 dried blueberry

red grape

Directions:

Slice a piece of colby jack cheese into the shape of a ballerina’s head, arms, and torso.  We put the arms in the air as the ballerina twirled on her toes.  Next, lay a thin slice of watermelon cut to the shape of a top onto the ballerina’s chest area.  Add the two legs made from two thin slices of cheese, then lay the deli ham over top to look like a cute tutu.  Add two little toe shoes using bits of watermelon, a hair bun and top of yellow bell pepper, and a watermelon bow.  Slice a dried blueberry in half for her eyes, and add a thinly sliced red grape for her mouth.  So sweet!

Creative Kid Snacks: Ballerina

 

If you love cheese, make sure to check out our other adorable snacks made with CHEESE!  I’m sure you’ll find a favorite or two!

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Take Me Out to the Ball Game

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How many baseball fans do we have out there?  Kids in little league?  T-ball?  I’ve got a few fun ideas for you today inspired by one of our favorite game-day snacks: Beer Nuts!

Fun Baseball Snack by CreativeKidSnacks.com. Made from yogurt, strawberries, and peanuts. Add more fresh strawberries and yogurt and serve in individual cups for a little fruit/yogurt/nut parfait!

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I was so excited when Beer Nuts offered to send us some of their nuts to see what cute snacks we could come up with.  I asked for their classic peanuts, and a bag of almonds because they are one of the more nutritious choices out there.

(Yay for yummy Beer Nuts!)

About Beer Nuts

Beer Nuts, by the way, are specialty nuts with a unique glaze on them that has a sweet and salty flavor.  The original skin-on peanuts were an accidental hit when their creator, Edward G. Shirk, who owned a small confectionary store called the Caramel Crisp back in 1937, occasionally made them available for free as an incentive to purchase one of his other products.  These tasty redskin nuts became so popular that Shirk decided to go from selling them over the counter by the scoop to package them up and making them available for widespread distribution.  That distribution started in local taverns, and the glazed peanuts were named Beer Nuts, as they became known as the perfect accompaniment to a glass of beer.  Nowadays they are a popular snack at baseball stadiums, circus, and other sporting events.

Now, let’s get on to what fun we had with these guys!

“Skin-on Peanut and Almond Butter”

I was excited to find out that research has shown substantial amount of extra health benefits in peanut skins!  These benefits include things like antioxidants (equal amounts, if not more that fruits and vegetables), anti-inflamatory properties, anti-aging compounds, even lowering blood sugar levels.  Read all about it in this article.

Most peanut butter is made with blanched, or skinless, peanuts.  This article explains why.  One of the reasons listed is “if not handled properly, the natural oil in the peanut skins could may become prematurely stale and cause off flavors when the peanut butter is being made”. Fair enough, but when we have a full pound of skin-on peanuts at our disposal, let’s go for a great-tasting peanut butter!

“Skin-on Peanut and Almond Butter”

2 cups Beer Nuts original peanuts

1 cup Beer Nuts brand Almonds

Combine ingredients in a Vitamix machine or food processor.  Continue mixing until a smooth, warm peanut butter consistency is reached. Mmmm.

This peanut butter is perfect because the Beer Nuts have that special “slightly sweet. slightly salty” coating on them already, so no additional ingredients (including oils, sugars, etc.) are required to make a great-tasting, delicious snack.

The girls and I ate this all up in a couple days by dipping apple slices into it or spreading it onto celery sticks.

Baseball Mitt Snack

Fun Baseball Snack by CreativeKidSnacks.com. Made from yogurt, strawberries, and peanuts. Add more fresh strawberries and yogurt and serve in individual cups for a little fruit/yogurt/nut parfait!

The next fun thing we did with our Beer Nuts is make a baseball mitt.  To make it, simply spread your Beer Nuts brand peanuts onto a plate and arrange to look like a mitt as shown.  Leave a small round circle in the center of the mitt.  Next, spoon 5-6 tablespoons of yogurt into the round opening.  Use a butter knife to smooth out the dome of yogurt you have created.  (We used plain Greek yogurt.  I’m telling you, it’s absolutely astounding what kids will eat if it’s presented in a creative way)!  Complete your look by adding thinly sliced bits of strawberry to look like the red stitches on a baseball.

Add more fresh strawberries and yogurt and serve in individual cups for a little fruit/yogurt/nut parfait!

“Hitting a Home Run” Snack

Fun Baseball Snack by CreativeKidSnacks.com. Made from yogurt, strawberries, and peanuts. Add more fresh strawberries and yogurt and serve in individual cups for a little fruit/yogurt/nut parfait!

A third fun idea we had was to make a baseball bat and ball.  This size snack is a better serving size for just one.  When your child mixes the yogurt, strawberries, and peanuts together, they get a little parfait perfect for them!

Simply arrange your Beer Nuts brand peanuts on your plate to look like a bat as shown.  Follow the same directions as above for the baseball.  You can finish the look with a couple yogurt motion lines on either side of the ball to look like you are seeing the impact of the bat and ball.  We made those lines by scooping a tablespoon or so of yogurt into a plastic baggie, snipping off a corner of the bag, and piping it onto the plate where we wanted it.

If you enjoyed today’s post, check out our other sports-themed snacks!

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Superbowl Snack

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Looking for a cute, healthy Superbowl Snack you can make with the kids?  I’ve got a Superbowl inspired veggie tray you can make with the kids before the big game.  This is not too fancy, but I’m sure people will get a “kick” out of extra effort you put into it!

Superbowl Snack

First, lay celery along the center of your platter for the field.  If you have a big crowd, you could use two layers of celery.

Next, create the lines across the field.  I used white string cheese sliced into thinner sections and just laid them across the celery.  An almond football goes down right onto the line of scrimmage.

To make the “fans” I used several serving cups to stand some red bell pepper and baby carrots in to look like they are slightly elevated from the field.  I filled in the extra areas with some cashews.

As a finishing touch, I just laid some pretzel sticks down to look like a goal post.  (I tried to make them stand in the air, but it was just too much work – even for me!)

What are your plans for the Superbowl this year?  What Superbowl Snacks are you ready to chow down on?

Check out a few of our other Sporty Snacks:

Downhill Skier
 
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Downhill Skier

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Do you love skiing?  Have you taken a family trip to Colorado to hit the slopes this year?  Even if you haven’t gotten to go in person, celebrate the fun of winter sports with this cute little lunch.

skiier

Cottage chesse is a favorite in our home.  Any lunch with cottage cheese as one of the elements is sure to be gobbled up quickly!

To create this lunch, take a baby carrot and slice it in half lengthwise so it lies flat on the plate.  Chop off one of the rounded edges from the bottom.  This will be your skier’s body.  Next, slice the other half of the carrot you didn’t use for the body into small sticks to serve as the arms and legs.  Create the look of bended knees by cutting what would be one leg in half and laying on the plate to look like it is bent.

Take some thinly sliced celery and cut to desired length for skis.  Add two small pretzel sticks for the poles.

Now, take a spoon and spread the cottage cheese onto the plate to look like it is sloping upward on one side as a mountain would.

I decided to add a fun touch in the background by using some string cheese for a chair lift.  Use a small rounded edge of a carrot for a little guy, and give him one leg (that you are seeing from the side), and one ski.

Give each skier a cap to keep warm.  I used turkey breast cut to shape with a little puff of cottage cheese on top.

Your kids will love this protein and fiber filled snack.

Check out some other winter snacks:

Cottage Cheese snowman, Snowman Popcorn Cups, Snowman Milk Chugs, Snowman party poppers.

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Copyright Note

Please feel free to use any of these ideas with your children at home, school, church, or anywhere you are inspired to make fun of lunch. If you would like to share a post on a blog or site, you may use one picture so long as you include a link to the original post. Please do not re-post the whole article or distribute printed-out content without written permission from the original author.

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