Guest Post By: Kensey Goebel, Nutrition and Foods Student at the University of Texas Austin.
If one of your New Years resolutions was to make healthy snacks and lunches, here is a fun and easy snack to try.
Core your favorite kind of apple to remove the seeds then slice it rounds. Spread peanut butter, any other nut butter, onto the apple slice and then add any kind of garnish such as granola, honey, coconut, raisins, or other fruit. Stick another apple slice on top and you have a delicious and healthy apple sandwich snack. Or, serve as an open-faced sandwich and let kids make faces on their apple slice with foods like banana slices, strawberries, blueberries, raisins, nuts, and more!
If your child has a peanut allergy, or you want to try a new flavor, there are many other options. You can find in most grocery stores, almond butter, cashew butter, and sun butter (made from sunflower seeds.)
The nut butter provides protein and healthy fats that keeps your body feeling full for longer because it is digested slower than carbohydrates. Be careful when choosing your peanut butter, make sure to look at the label to find one that isn’t packed with added fat and sugar. The apple slices supply a healthy sugar to provide energy for your body as well. One small apple also contains 17% of the recommended daily value of fiber and is a good source of Vitamin C.
