By emma hynes
For busy parents, guardians and even adult siblings, trying to find a balance between fun and healthy snacks can be tough.
Approximately one in five U.S. children and adolescents are obese, including adolescents, Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black children and children in families with lower incomes.
Quite a few healthy food options fall under the umbrella of vegan after-school snack recipes. So which ones can sway children into wanting to repeatedly eat them? Here are some options.
Some children love the taste of oatmeal, especially when it comes in fruit and cream packages, full of sugar that drowns out the whole grain rolled oats.
For two 8-ounce glasses, blend 1-1/2 cups of a plant-based milk with 1/2 cup fresh frozen fruit (ex. strawberries, blueberries, peaches, bananas). Pour in a couple of tablespoons of oats.
Whether green or red, apples add a layer of sweetness in a green fruit smoothie that would make an otherwise spinach and plant-based milk recipe taste bitter.
For two 8-ounce glasses, blend 1-1/2 cups of plant-based milk with 1 cup of spinach, along with one apple. If the spinach taste is still a little too strong, try 1/2 cup instead. Add a handful of ice cubes too.
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Then, slice a few apples (four large or six medium) in half. In a bowl, mix melted plant-based butter and two teaspoons of ground cinnamon.
Place the apples onto a nonstick pan, preferably wrapped in foil because this after-school vegan recipe is a little messy. Carefully pour all of the ingredients onto the halved apples. Bake the apples for 40–45 minutes.
There are plenty of vegan cheese options, such as Violife, Daiya and Field Roast. There are also a wide assortment of vegan lunch “meat” options, such as Tofurky and Lightlife.
A vegan grilled cheese sandwich is made like one that contains dairy. Cover one side of each slice of bread in vegan butter, put the cheese and (optional) vegan lunch meat in the middle and grill in a nonstick pan on both sides.
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