Granola and kid snacks

I forgot a few thing in that last post that make snacks funner.

Spread nut butter and jam, or hummus and cucumbers, or melt some cheese onto a tortilla and then roll it tightly and cut into one inch sections. Kids are usually excited by these little roll ups.

Use a cookie cutter to cut out sandwiches into interesting shapes.

Slice oranges, or kiwi, etc. into circles, or half circles for short people, and arrange in a flower around the outside of a plate. In the center of the flower put a small bowl of dip, or some berries, or both. Presentation is everything with children.

Take a whole carrot and with a sharp knife cut out 3 or four little wedges length wise. Thinly slice the carrot and you end up with a whole bunch of little flower shapes.

Those are just a few more ideas to help you make snacks exciting for your children.

Here is a simple granola recipe.

5 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1cup chopped almonds or whatever else you like
1/2 cup chopped pumpkin seeds (optional)
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp powdered ginger
1tsp vanilla extract

preheat oven to 350 F. In a 9"by 13" pan spread out oats and heat for 10 minutes.
In a saucepan melt the butter and add the honey, almonds, coconut, cinnamon, ginger and vanilla. Mix into the pan with the oatmeal and bake for 30 minutes. You have to stir it often to get everything toasted evenly.
When it has cooled add 1-2 cups dried fruit (raisins, chopped dates, dried apples, blueberries, cranberries, etc. Sometimes I just cheat and add a bag of trail mix from Trader Joe's, my favorite is the Nuts about Antioxidants blend.)
You can also add 1/2cup of sunflower seeds.
Store in a tightly sealed container in the fridge.

This recipe has no clusters in it, to get that kind of consistency you need to use sugar and bake it more like a bar and then break it up after.