Friday Five: Back to School Snacks

This week I asked for some Friday Five inspiration on Facebook and heard back that y’all would love some ideas for back to school snacks that are healthy and parent friendly. And although I have no children yet and am not heading back to school, although I wish I was, we can all use some snack remixing in our lives in my opinion, and maybe some back to school shopping. If only I could still convince my Mom that this was a necessity at my age. Here are some yummy snacks that parents and kids will love, and will hopefully add some excitement to your day, especially if you pack them up in this or this. Also if you are looking for more ideas, my friend swears by these two books for lunches for her kids Yum-Yum Bento Box: Fresh Recipes for Adorable Lunches and Cooking With Trader Joe’s: Pack a Lunch.

What are your favorite snacks?

1. Chocolate Meringue Cookies, 2 weight watchers points plus for 12 cookies
In my opinion, meringue cookies are the way to go when you want a sweet, crunchy, melt in your mouth treat that both kids and parents will love. If you have the time, I recommend making your own at home using this great recipe from Weight Watchers that lets you have 12 cookies for just 2 points. If you don’t have time, then look for some at your local grocery store. I usually buy the ones from Miss Meringue or Trader Joe’s, just make sure to check the points value, especially if the cookies are mini sized.

2. Fruit Kabobs, 0 weight watchers points plus
Sometimes for kids (and me!) fruit gets, well, a little dull. But magically when you make it into a beautiful kabob, everything changes. Make it even more exciting by adding something to dip it into like this yogurt and condensed milk dip or combine some vanilla yogurt and peanut butter or PB2, a low calorie peanut butter powder.

3. Sweet Popcorn Mix, 4 points plus per cup
I love the idea of creating a snack mix based with popcorn since it is low calorie and full of fiber. This recipe from Taste of Home starts with 8 cups of popcorn and adds some cinnamon sugar, cocoa powder, pretzels, Teddy grahams, and M&Ms – but you could whip up any combination you like. A savory mix with popcorn, pretzels, nuts, and some Lawry’s seasoning would be delicious.

4. Banana Chocolate Oat Cookies, 1 weight watchers points plus
These delicious little cookies are easy to whip up and full of healthy ingredients you can feel good serving to your child – oats, bananas, and applesauce – to name a few. Every child I have ever served them to has gobbled them right up and I have been known to eat a few myself. You can find the recipe here.

5. Ants on a Log, varies depending on toppings
Remember ants on a log? I loved ants on a log as a kid and you can definitely make it diet friendly if you pay attention to the amount of peanut butter or cream cheese you spread on the celery. My favorite way to eat ants on a log – celery covered in PB2 for me and real peanut butter for the kids with some dried cranberries on top. I also love celery with low fat cream cheese. I add sliced green olives for me and raisins/dried fruit for the kiddos.