AS Living Life: Healthy Snacks for Kids or Kids at Heart

As a teacher, I am constantly interested in learning about healthier snacks for my students. We have parents that bring in cookies, munchkins, cupcakes, etc. and that is great, but I also try to sneak in a healthy snack that they might enjoy too. Just recently, we had an "International Game Day" at school. We invited the parents into school and their kids taught them how to play games from around the world. We learned Mancala (Africa), Stuck in the Mud (Australia), Gaga (Israel), Escargot (France), Lupo Del Ore (Italy), and Checkers (originally from China). After we played games we indulged in foods from around the world. The parents volunteered to bring in foods and we had so much it was amazing. The children were able to try new things! As a class we decided that we wanted to contribute as well, so we made our own kid friendly sushi from Japan!

Here is the recipe below (make it with your kids because it is so much fun)

Kid Friendly Sushi

What you need:
- Loaf of White Bread
-Cream Cheese
-Shredded Carrots
-Strawberry or Raspberry Jelly

1. Cut the crust off the white bread.
2. Roll it out with a rolling pin to get it nice and flat.
3. Spread cream cheese and jelly to make one kind of roll or cream cheese and shredded carrots to make the other roll.
4. Use your hands to roll it up.
5. Cut the long cylinder into smaller rolls.
6. Ta-DA!!! You have kind friendly sushi! Enjoy

*Substitute with peanut butter and jelly or add in cucumbers to the cream cheese and carrot roll

Peanut Butter and Jelly Roll

Cream Cheese, Carrot and Cucumber Roll

Cream Cheese and Jelly Roll for a healthy lunch

Okay, next recipe I have was something I stumbled across on the Today Show. I am really excited to make it with my students when we get back from Spring Break. It is so simple and healthy! It is banana ice cream. All you need is one ingredient....bananas!!!! It doesn't have any extra sweeteners and it is great for vegans or people that are gluten free. Follow the recipe below.

Creamy Banana Ice Cream

1. Peel your bananas

2. Cut them into small pieces

3. Freeze them for about 1-2 hours in a zip-lock bag

4. Blend them in a food processor-scraping the bowl when they stick

5. Scoop it out and put it in a bowl to eat

Extras:

*Add in peanut butter to make peanut butter/ banana ice cream when your blending

*Top with dark chocolate chips

*Add an avocado to make it really creamy

*Add vanilla extract for flavor too

See Step by Step Picture Directions of Creamy Banana Ice Cream