The lovely after school meeting in the playground where you ask your child, ‘How was your day?’ can often be met with “I’m starving, what’s for dinner” and “can I have a snack?”. You don’t want them eating empty calories, so we’ve put some tasty and healthy after school snack ideas together for both you and your children to enjoy.
Fruity yogurt drops
These are a great snack and they’re super easy as they require no cooking! You’ll need yogurt, plain is great or a smooth fruit flavour if your children really don’t like plain yogurt. Honey for a little sweetness if using plain yogurt and some strawberries, raspberries and peaches.
First lay out greaseproof paper onto a baking sheet. Make sure the baking sheet will fit in your freezer. If it won’t you can always use a large plate.
Then choose which fruit you want to use and cut very thin slices. With the peaches, cut them into quarters, then cut thin slices.
Next, put dollops of yogurt onto the greaseproof paper, roughly the size of the slices of fruit. Flatten them down so they look like buttons and top with the fruit.
Flash freeze the yogurt drops until hard, then place into freezer bags or re-useable pots.
These are a great snack for after school and you can always add chocolate chips, nuts or seeds for a mix as well as the fruit.
Salad kebabs
Let’s face it, anything on a stick tastes better! You can get some fun skewers now with fancy shapes on them, but the standard wooden sticks work just as well.
You’ll need a selection of firm salad items. We like tomatoes, cucumber, olives and maybe feta cheese for a Greek twist. But different coloured peppers, ham and cheese work well, as does the retro cheese and pineapple or cheese and baby onions.
You want salad which will hold up in the fridge and not wilt. Ideally, use a container to keep them fresh and make ahead of time. Adding a slightly damp paper towel to the container will also help to keep the salad kebabs fresh.
Cut your salad items into bite-size chunks, then thread onto the sticks. It’s also great to serve these with hummus or sweet chill sauce.
Chicken lollipops
If you want a protein-based snack that will keep them going a bit longer and can also make a great lunchbox alternative or even form part of dinner, these are great. They can be served hot or cold and are perfect for dipping in a homemade veggie-packed tomato sauce.
Take skinless chicken breasts and cut into bite sized chunks. Then bread the chicken first in seasoned flour, then beaten egg, then panko breadcrumbs (they give a crispier coating and you can buy them ready done). Once you’ve breaded your chicken chunks, pop them on a stick (if it’s wooden, soak it in water first.
Pop on a baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes at 200 degrees, depending on the size of your chunks. Turn halfway through.
These are best served with a veggie-packed tomato sauce. Simply chop up red pepper, a tin of chopped tomatoes, basil, celery, carrot, onion and garlic. Sweat off the veggies (everything except the tomatoes) in a little olive oil until totally soft and slightly caramelised.
Add in the tomatoes and a spoon of tomato paste and simmer. Check for taste, you can always add a touch of sugar if it’s not quite sweet enough. Once combined and it’s thickened, blitz with a stick blender until smooth and add to an ice cube tray. Freeze and add to freezer bags ready to defrost as needed.
We hope you enjoy these tasty treats and that the kids love them too.
