Need Festive Snack Ideas for Toddlers

[hortonk]

Help, I need a festive snack idea for my son's daycare class. The class consists of 1-2 year olds. Preferably, the snack needs to be a healthy one. Also, my son is milk protein intolerant and one of his classmates is vegan. But, I'm open to all ideas. Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

~Roxanne

[Pepper]

By festive, I assume you mean Christmas-themed? A couple of thoughts for you - bear with me, it's late and mommy has not had much sleep lately :-) Depending on how much you feel like cooking, and how they serve the snacks (is it feasible to give the kids something that goes with a dip?).

I'm always big into polenta. You can find a zillion recipes on the web but the basic idea is, get some cornmeal, cook it in water or veggie broth, stir in pureed broccoli to turn it green. Pour it into an oiled pan and chill. Cut it into cubes and decorate with strips of red bell pepper.

Or your could do a chip-and-dip kind of thing. It's simple to make tortilla chips from fresh flour or corn tortillas (check the labels to make sure that they don't contain lard): stack the tortillas 2-3 high on a cutting board and slice into strips with a big chef's knife or a pizza cutter. Options: brush them with a little olive oil and sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt. Lay the strips out on a rimmed baking sheet and bake them at ~320 F until they are crisp, about 10 minutes. Let them cool and store in zip-top bags. Serve with a dip: drain a can of white beans. Puree them in a food processor, adding a little olive oil and some drained, roated red bell peppers (to turn the dip red) or cooked broccoli or spinach (to turn the dip green). Or do both and have red and green dips! Sometimes you can find tortillas with spinach or red peppers added to them, so you can make colored chips too.

Another idea is to do roll-ups, again with the flour or corn tortillas. Spread a little hummous on the tortillas (to help hold everything together) and then add a layer of drained, roasted red bell peppers and a little romaine or green leafy lettuce or spinach, or even arugula (though that one can be a bit spicy for little ones). Roll up tightly and then slice into rounds about 1/2" thick.

Hope that helps!

[Tondi G]

fruit skewers (you could cut the fruit out in star shapes with a cookie cutter)... watermelon, green honeydew, red strawberry, green and red grapes(maybe not depending on the ages of the children) and Kiwi

Muffins (I'm sure there are vegan options out there) banana or zucchini or cranberry

[brittone2]

does it need to be prepackaged because of the food issues, or can you make something?

If you want something vegan (and by default that would also be dairy free for the child sensitive to dairy), try vegweb.com for recipes. I like the muffin idea if you can bring in something you've baked yourself (maybe print off the recipe so it is available to anyone concerned?)

I used the vegweb site when I went dairy free for DS's first year of life (he was sensitive to any dairy proteins in my breastmilk).

[hortonk]

I think they would prefer it be prepackaged, but I am considering making something. I like the mini-muffin idea. Definitely, still looking so if you all come up with any additional ideas, please post them.

Thanks,
Roxanne