Easy Kid Recipes – An Early Christmas Treat

‘Tis the season to be jolly – or so the song goes. But for us, Christmas isn’t just about giving and tree-decorating and all that pizzazz … it’s also the time to show our mini-me’s that it is also the time to make nutritious and healthy kids snacks – the same as what you’ve been doing for the past year (actually, since they were born).

Kids all over the world anticipate the only holiday in the world where they are usually allowed to splurge and binge, especially when it comes to food. We as parents should remember that we were once kids too … would you want to spoil the fun for them? But fortunately, with the luxury of “unnecessary” food comes several complements to them. (For example, if you bake some cookies – which we have here – you can complement that with some milk for additional calcium.)

Here are some recipes that deserve a test-run before the big red letter day. (If I refer to particular brands, it just means that I recommend it, but you may substitute what you wish for a specific ingredient):

The Ultimate Trail Mix (perfect in-between snacks)

Ingredients: 2 lbs of mixed nuts, 10 one-and-a-half ounces Cheerios (or any product like it), a 12 ounce package of Wheat Chex, 6 one-half ounce of Rice Chex, a small bag of stick pretzels, 2 cups of salad oil, 1 tablespoon of garlic salt, 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, salt to taste.

Procedure: Put dry ingredients into large roasting pan. Add Worcestershire sauce to salad oil and pour over dry mix while stirring. Bake at 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat for an hour and stir every 15 minutes.

Snowball Cookies

Ingredients: 1 cup butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, half a cup of powdered white sugar (sifted), 2 and a half cups of sifted flour, one-fourth teaspoon of iodized salt, three-fourth cup of chopped pecans.

Procedure: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cream butter in bowl. Add sugar and cream again until light. Stir in vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together flour and salt; add to cream mix. Add nuts. Shape into balls and put on ungreased cookie sheet; bake for about 15 minutes. From the oven, roll balls in additional powdered sugar; let cool. Roll again in sugar after cooling.

Smoothie Santa

Ingredients: 2 bananas, 1 cup of milk (preferably whole milk), 3 tablespoons dark chocolate chips (regular chips would do fine too), one-fourth teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Procedure: Put all ingredients in a blender. Puree until smooth. Serve immediately.