Planning snacks part of school year

I had a mom stop me recently and ask me what I did for after school snacks.  She said her kids come home from school starving and raid the pantry usually taking the prepackaged things she had planned on them using for lunches.
I asked if she was home in the afternoons when her kids get home from school and she told me that no sometimes she had to work late and they were home for a little while by themselves.
OK, so I saw several things going on here, but nothing a little planning couldn’t help. I suggested she write out with her family (husband, too!) a menu that at least included afternoon snack options and dinner.  This way the kids knew what choices they had. I also suggested she put the “school snacks” in a special place that were off limits except for school time.
Those were the easy fixes.  The big question she asked was “what I did for after school snacks?”  I admit my after school snacks are not always of the “healthy” variety.  Now I do try to outweigh the “super sweet heavy on the fat” with the very good for you, but sometimes it’s fun to make my kids homemade funnel cakes,  or chocolate no-bakes, or chocolate chip cookies, or snicker doodles, or . . .  Well, you get the idea.  However, there are many healthy snacks to choose  from that can also be fun to make.
A trail mix using favorite cereals, dried fruits, nuts, etc is great. Smoothies using yogurt, ice and  fresh fruits are yummy and fun to make.
There are many easy healthy  snacks like veggies, pretzels, raisins, peanut butter, popcorn, and bagels and cream cheese.
So it’s not hard to balance out the “incredibly” not good for you with the healthy snacks.  My advice is save the “incredibly” not good for you snacks for when you are there and can monitor their intake and have plenty of the healthy snacks available for when you do have to be busy either at home or at work.
I do want to share one of my kids favorite recipes with you.  Yep, you guessed it.  It’s an incredibly not good for you one!  It’s Mom Tillmon’s Homemade Funnel Cake: You will need a funnel— OK so that’s a no-brainer moving on. 1 egg;  2/3 cup milk;  1  1/3 cups flour; 1/4  tsp salt; 1/2  tsp soda; 3/4 tsp baking powder; 2 Tbsp + 1 1/2  tsp sugar;  Directions: Beat egg and milk in small bowl.  Combine dry ingredients in large bowl and blend well  add egg mixture.  Mix well.  Heat 1 inch of oil in skillet to 350 degrees. Test batter. It should pour through a funnel smoothly. If it doesn’t thin down with a bit of  milk.  Cover spout of funnel with finger and fill funnel .
Lift finger over skillet and swirl batter in a pinwheel design . Fry in deep fat (oil) until brown, turn over and cook until brown.  Take out of skillet and drain on paper towel , sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.
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