Back to School Snack Mix

This is a fun, easy, not terrible snack for after school. The first day of school makes me think of apples and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches 🍎🍞

I don't usually measure but made some guesses this time! Add more of your favorites, you really can't go wrong!

3C Chex (or crispix or life, whatever is on sale!)

1C Freeze dried apples broken into little bites

1C Peanuts

3/4C PB chips 

3/4C Pretzels 

You can add dried strawberries too if you want to make it even more sweet. We didn't have any or I would have halved the PB chips and added some dried strawberries. Yogurt peanuts are a good alternative too. Might make it look a little less monotone hehe

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Snack Prep to Save Time & Money

This has been my most pinned thing ever!

It's been 5 long, but fast, years and SO much has changed!
For 1, none of that would last a week anymore! These growing kids and growing appetites!
Also, the actual snacks have changed a bit as well as the containers.

Now I snag these and give myself a little time, usually on Monday's when I am working in the kitchen quite a bit anyway. 

I just fill while I can, between reading to the baby and coloring or Skip Bo with the big kids. It doesn't take a terribly long time, just repetitive. I have been doing a terrible job at it all Summer. Working on making the school year as smooth running as I can though, getting back in to the habit!

And we use a whole drawer in the fridge. This fridge is new, so I am not sure if this is how this set up will stay. We aren't used to it yet. Let me get a couple times of grocery shopping in and see what happens.

Normally I wouldn't buy individual apple sauce or yogurts, both were less than big containers at our outlet. 

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Our Favorite After School Snacks

In an effort to make home the place kids can't wait to come home to, I need to put a little more into our after school snacks.  Don't get me wrong, they aren't starving but snacks have been kinda ho hum around here lately.

We aren't big on sugary snacks, these kids are sweet enough already, but I might let it happen once in a while. On that note, not all of these are going to be as healthy as I would like. But they WILL be delicious!

Graham Cracker Sandwich w/marshmallow

Chocolate Dipped Ritz

 

Smoothies

Pina Colada~Frozen Pineapple, Coconut milk, Greek Yogurt, ice w/roasted coconut chips on top

PB Chocolate~We use PB2, yogurt, ice and chocolate almond milk

My FAVE ~Orange juice, Spinach, ice and some frozen strawberries

Ritz & Sunbutter sandwich

Pretzels and PB

Rainbow Fruit Cup

Frozen Grapes

Ants on a log

Cucumber and crackers

Apple Pie Energy Poppers

Caramel Apple Snack Mix

Banana nut mini muffins
Made with Spinach

Pumpkin Muffins

Banana nut bread bars

Cream Cheese/veggie roll up

cream cheese/cinnamon roll up

PB Banana Mini Muffins

Cream Cheese/Strawberry Sandwich toasted

Apple Ham and Cheese toothpicks

 Apple Cheddar quesadilla

Banana Nutella Egg Rolls!

Big Hunk Dip

  Mini Pizza Calzones

Chocolate dipped frozen banana bites

Zucchini Bread

mini nilla wafer/banana sandwich
Cookie Dough Fake Out
Muffin Top Cookies

Those won't be an everyday thing. We will still have our usual snacks. We don't keep a lot of options on hand, that can get expensive and wasteful pretty quickly.

We pretty much always have

Popcorn

Fruit

Veggies

Cheese Sticks

Pretzels

Dried Fruit

Granola Bars

What are your favorite kid snacks? I am always looking for more ideas!

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PB Cinnamon Toast Treat

I don't even know what to call these other than delish!

 These treats were super easy to toss together. Just like Rice crispy treats, except there is a little less butter I think, and I added some PB.

Ingredients

4-5 Cups Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal (or similar)

3 TBSP Butter

1/3 C Peanut Butter

1 Bag Mini Marshmallow

1 lined 9x13 baking pan

 

Melt the PB, Butter and marshmallows together, either in the microwave or stove top.

Add the cereal and stir to coat 

Smoosh down into the baking sheet

let it cool and set, cut and enjoy

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Apple Pie Energy Poppers

Just tried these for the first time last night, they went really fast! Super tasty and super easy to throw together!

~Ingredients~

3/4C Dried Apple Rings

1C Pitted Dates

1/2 C Oats

1/2 Tbsp Cinnamon (I used Pumpkin Pie Spice)

**If I was a little more awake when I made them, I would have added some flax meal and some walnuts would have made them even better!

~Instructions~

Dump all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until doughy.

Roll into balls (I used about 1 Tbsp. per ball)
Put on a parchment paper lined tray

I set ours in the fridge for a bit, then moved them to an airtight container.

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More Back to School Goodies

I shared some PBnJ bars last year, but I think this one might be a little better for our family.

They look yummy and I think I could skip most of the sugar and they would still be ok.

 My little cupcake and I made these the other day, but we changed em up a bit and didn't use the sugar, and we used sunflower seed kernels instead of peanuts. I think they would be good with dried cranberries instead of raisins!

I want to make sure I have stuff ready for their first days so I am not spending any time in the kitchen I don't have to! I want to hear all bout their new exciting year. So stuff I can make ahead of time is a must!  I love these little cookies from the cake blog.

I don't know that I would make that many, but they are too cute and not too elaborate, so I should be able to get them done in a nap time, especially if I make the cookies before!

CakeCentral.com has these to share

They are SO cute, but I also want a less sugary option, so I think I can do these with graham crackers and tint some cream cheese instead of cookie and icing.

I still think cute iced cookies are my fave! LOVE these ones!

etsy has lots of choices!

And some ideas I love that I think we will have to get started on this year:

The Back to School Fairy?! HOW sweet!

source

The year before, the girl got a diary.. SO sweet!!

And Family Fun had this idea on their site

But they were planning it for school supplies. I think I can do this but instead of supplies, something special for the kids. Mine love school supplies ( think they inherited that from me lol) but I know there are other little things I already have for rewards, tooth fairy, long car trips that I want to do too. Hair bows, Lego mini figures, special erasers, key chains, just stuff they will love!

I am hoping to get back to school stuff out in the next week! And I might have a whole post on kids clothes. I can't decide on a first day of school outfit!

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Back to School Snack Mix

Like I was saying the other day, I wanted to change up the caramel apple snack mix and make it more BTS!

So I did, it's half gone, the kids are loving it!

3C Crispix (or chex, whichever you like)

2tsp. butter

cinnamon

first I melt the butter, while it is melting I measure out the cereal

once butter is melted stir it into cereal.

spread cereal out on foil lined cookie sheet

sprinkle with cinnamon

put under broiler a few minutes to make it crunchy (but not burned, like I did the first time)

While the cereal is cooling I mix

2C pretzels (I used sticks cause they reminded me of pencils)

1C peanut butter chips

1C freeze dried apple pieces

3/4C dried cranberries

 ( I wanted to use freeze dried strawberries or raspberries but couldn't find them at the store I was at)

I also forgot to add 1/2C sunflower seed kernels

Once the cereal is cooled I mix everything together!

Keep it in an airtight container so it doesn't get icky!

I am sure I will have to make this again a few times before school starts, but once school starts, I am going to use some free printables and make some cute labels for it!

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Groundhog Day Sweetness

Ive never really done anything for Groundhog Day.. and I still probably won't because it is our oldest's Birthday!!  But I saw this and thought I would share because it is for sure something I would do!!

These almost too cute to eat Groundhog Pudding Cups!! Found HERE. So easy! Pudding cup, oreo's, nilla wafer, almonds and a little chocolate for his face!

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Thanksgiving #16

I had intention to NOT show anymore kid stuff, but it's all so cute!

 Like these little Turkey'd up mini pies!

Our kids would LOVE this, and it is kinda funny!

And another snack and craft all in one!



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More Thanksgiving snacks day 7

If nap time goes well I should catch up today! First though, I wanted to find some snacks that I can do ahead AND aren't JUST sugar like all those cute cupcakes!

Like this Cute Cute paperbag made into a turkey full of popcorn. So cute! From One Charming Party



 Or doughnut hole acorns? How easy too.. just dip them in a little chocolate (or nutella, or PB) then nuts and a little pretzel stem!

via Family Fun

And there are THESE ones from the woodland/squirrel party..

A pumpkin or melon and a pear turned into a Turkey with fruit kabobs!

via Better Homes and Gardens

These little apple turkeys are great, you can still just about anything on them!

source

What themed snacks are you planning?



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Harry Potter Movie Night!!

I love the Harry Potter Books.. LOVE them! We listen to the audio books in the car, and the kids like to watch the movies (but not the scary parts!)  Hubby and I are going to see the new movie next month, but the kids aren't. We like to filter what they see and that is pretty hard to do at a theatre.  But I am sure they will pick up on some of the excitement and I wanted to make them a couple little things to take to Grandma and Poppop's when they go. And a couple things for us to do the day of, while we do our regular day to day stuff. I'm going to make them Butter Beer with lunch, and I am sure we will make time to watch one of the movies. Carsyn loves any that have a house elf.. she thinks Dobby is cute.. EWW!

Pumpkin Pasties would be good for them, if either one liked pumpkin pie or pumpkin anything! Going to make some Chocolate Frogs instead!

I ordered some frog candy molds and usually have the chocolate on hand.. but didn't want them to be solid chocolate. Decided for this run I would try a Nutella mix in them. 



I melted the chocolate

put it into a frosting bag

filled the bottom part in partially..

tap it on the counter to help the air bubbles escape then

stick it in the fridge to set up.

While they are setting in the fridge I

Mixed some nutella with a little milk, really a tiny tiny amount of milk.(to help smooth it out)

Filled a different frosting bag with the Nutella mix
Filled the frogs with the mix, smoothed it out on the top (the bottom of the frog though)

Then finished it off with more chocolate and back in the fridge to set again.

once they are set, I will put 1 in each of the kids little goodie bags, and then a few to share too!

I also did a couple marshmallow filled ones.. but didn't take pictures! Super easy, just stuck a big marshmallow in the microwave for about 10 seconds, sprayed my spoon with cooking spray and scooped some into the chilled shell and then spread it out a little and covered with more chocolate! You could make these any color or add the shimmer dust to them. I love how easy the candy melts and molds are! There are SOO many molds on etsy and ebay you can just about anything!!

 

And if you don't want to buy a frog candy mold (not sure what else I will use it for) you can also just dip these in chocolate... the inside might be a little weird.. but I think most kids will try anything atleast once! These are avialable in lots of places, I think Target even has small bags of them!

 

 

For the butterbeer I just use Cream Soda, a little vanilla coffee creamer and some butterscotch ice cream topping. I mix the butterscotch and cream soda together first then add a little of the coffee creamer. There are about a hundred different recipe's for Butterbeer online. I use this one because I have all 3 things or can get them easily and for not a lot of money, just needed the cream soda this time!

 

If we have any pretzel rods left I might make them into candy wands, just using the candy melts, roll one end in the melted candy then put some sprinkles on them! Kids can help with these, so maybe I will have to pick up some pretzel rods if we are out!

Not doing any more than that though, we have a crazy busy week already! I don't want to overfill it!

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Earth Day Goodies!

Stephanie Lynn @ Under the Table and Dreaming did SUCH a cute post with some great ideas for snacks/treats for the kiddies for tomorrow (Earth Day)  It just happens to be Ramsey's day for snacks at preschool so I thought I would try to whip some up.. Mine are not nearly as good lookin' as hers.. head over there to see her goodies!

I did mini muffins so I couldn't use the same process she did. First I made the batter (lemon blueberry this time) seperated it about 2/3 and 1/3, 2/3 blue and 1/3 green.. with my batter colors ready I used 1/2 Tablespoon measuring spoon to put a dallop of blue in each mini pan, then I filled a plastic disposable pastry bag with the green, no tip required!  I made a weird little design on each of the blue and then "filled" the mini muffins up with the green, just stuck the pastry bag below the surface and squeezed until they were all about the same size.. so the insides will be mostly green, the outsides mostly blue. Baked according to directions!  ooh and I didn't add any blueberries to the green, only the blue batter.

Happy Earth Day tomorrow!!

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