What’s for breakfast? What can I take to school for morning tea? What about lunch? I’m starving? What can I eat? What’s for dinner?
I feed my kids at least five times a day and they eat a lot of food. Which is great, they eat healthy and are active teens but we are all a bit bored of our options right now it’s the after-school snack that is leaving us uninspired.
Rugby season is wrapping up and the boys are home a bit more in the afternoon for the next couple weeks so they’re not having to eat on the run. They want something substantial and interesting.
I work in the afternoon, seeing students in my home office. On the days where there is no sport, I usually set something out or leave the ingredients out and the boys make something up. But we’re sick of our usuals and they, like most kids, are very hungry when they get home. If they don’t eat a filling after school snack even older children can struggle to get through whatever they need to do after school and can also get pretty grumpy by the time dinner is served.
So I did as all modern mums do and I searched the net. Here are some interesting after school snacks I either hadn’t thought of or had forgotten.
Frozen Yoghurt with fruit and nuts. When I say frozen yoghurt I mean the real stuff, not the refined sugar kind that might as well be ice cream. We don’t have access to the healthy stuff where we live, not any that is affordable enough to serve on a regular basis anyway, so I make up my own. All you have to do is mix yoghurt of choice with fruits and honey or other sweetener if you like. I also add malt and kifer, you may like to add nuts or seeds. Put it all in the blender, just like a smoothie and then put into containers to be frozen.
Easy pizzas, pizza sauce, cheese and your topping of choice on the base of your choice. I can get really great organic sourdough pizza bases at my markets that are already frozen and you can pull them out of the freezer when you want to use them. You can also make the bases yourself and freeze them. Other easy options are tortillas, bagels, even a slice of bread.
Pita bread sandwiches-you can fill them with hummus, tomato and cucumber or any other combination. The trick is to make it interesting and different from what they had for lunch. Teens can also make themselves a mini bean burrito.
Baking something in advance really pays off and there are lots of recipes for muffins and even savoury goods that are filling and healthy. My sons enjoy baking and they like to bake something themselves to have for morning tea or after school, but when they do they almost never choose something healthy so I alternate with them. This way they can make things they love sometimes and the other times I can make the healthy stuff.
Use your favourite bread recipe to make sweet or savoury scrolls, the possibilities for fillings are endless. Some suggestions are: Cranberry and walnut, cinnamon, pesto and pine nuts, cheese, pizza scrolls.
Teens love hot chips and can easily make their own in the oven after school. To save time, prepare the chips in advance so all they have to do is pop them in the oven.
Well I think these ideas will help get my boys excited about after school snacks once again, but we are sure to hit another slump sometime in the not too distant future.
Any ideas?
Michele Dennis
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