'Nack

Snacks. I love making snacks. I am not the cook of the house; that job is left to my amazing chef of a husband. But I do make a mean snack, and I'm proud of each and every one. I try my hardest to not rely on "pantry" snacks, which (I'm going to get preachy for a sec) are generally filled with chemicals, processed crap, and hard-to-pronounce ingredients that I personally don't have in my pantry and nor do I know where to get them and so why should I feed them to my son. So, yes, this tired working mommy tries hard to make fruits and vegetables fun, different and delicious. My most fave creation of late is sliced banana with a little peanut butter (or almond butter), and topped with pomegranate seeds or a blueberry or a walnut (see below pic). Delicious, nutricious, and yum. I also bought some really fun stainless steel shape cutters, and now carrots and cucumbers look like pretty little flowers and birds. Last night, I made another batch of applesauce. It consists of lots of apples, one carrot, one beet. Chop into 1 inch pieces and bake in oven (covered) for one hour. Add a handful of fresh spinach leaves to the baked concoction. (Note: all ingredients organic.) Use hand blender to blend it all. Add cinammon or five spice or pumpkin spice, or whatever tickles your spice-fancy. And beam with pride when your child takes a bite and says "YUMMY IN TUMMY!" Some other snacks we love: blend hummus with one roasted beet (or spinach, or roasted peppers, or ...) and serve with veggies or pita, seaweed (so nutricious), kale chips (take so long to make but so worth it), sliced grapes with sliced string cheese and crackers (there are some GREAT crackers out there like ak-mak, with easy-to-pronounce ingredients), avocado and pomegranate seeds (an unlikely combination, but the colors work well together), and crackers with cream cheese and a couple specks of red bell pepper on top.