Snack time for kids automatically translates to fun food time. But as a parent, you should make sure the fun element should be always backed by solid nutrition. This is especially important in terms of after school snacks as you want to keep them energetic until dinner is served.

Here are some lip-smacking and healthy snack ideas for kids, that you can easily incorporate in their daily after school meal time so that they remain strong as well as happy.

Vegetable mini muffins
A batch of freshly baked muffins, but with a savory twist is something your kids will surely be curious about. You can incorporate veggies like broccoli, capsicum, zucchini, corn kernels, carrots, spinach, etc. along with two eggs, all-purpose flour, salt pepper and herbs in your muffin batter. Don’t forget to add some cheese as well. Then scoop the prepared batter into a buttered muffin pan and bake them for around twenty minutes.

Oatmeal cookies
Oatmeal cookies are healthy and quick. And you can include several other ingredients in the cookie batter to make it more fun. You can add different kinds of vegetables, fruits, nuts and dry fruits to give it a distinctive taste. Also, make sure that you use a natural sweetener like honey instead of sugar. Usually, these cookies can be easily made under forty minutes.

Peanut butter and jam sandwich
The classic peanut butter and jam sandwich are a quick and delectable after school snack fix. To make it a healthier option for kids you can make a few changes in your ingredients. For example, bake a whole grain bread, if you don’t have enough time, buy it from a local artisan bakery. Use organic peanut butter and jam products that have low sugar content. You could also make your own jam if you like. Add some fresh fruits like bananas or raspberries in the peanut butter sandwich if you don’t have a jam.

Sugar-free granola
The nutty and crunchy and the wonderfully saccharine sugar-free granola is a recipe that your kids will love no matter what. Either use wholesome oats or crumbly coconut flakes. You can whip this recipe together with the kids, with their choice of fruits, nuts, and seeds. Combine all these ingredients in a bowl with coconut oil or butter. The flavor of the snack can be enhanced by adding fruit juices or syrups.

Macaroni and cheese
Rather than the monotonous mac and cheese from the box, you can whip this super easy recipe at home. You can give it a different angle to your mac and cheese by adding broccoli florets, cauliflower, carrots, spinach, or butternut squash. You can even bake these as mini muffins.

As parents, we all know that toddlers can be real finicky eaters. No matter how much you plan and prepare some interesting snacks but your kid would still be wasting food and not completing the meals. If you are trying hard every day to give some healthy twist to the snacks for your toddlers, then grab some of these ideas.

Experiment with fresh fruit
There is nothing better than a bowl of fresh fruit. But what if you experiment with fresh fruit and give a healthy twist to the snacks for your toddlers. Fruits are loaded with vitamins and minerals and are packed with fiber. This makes them a must-have in the meals for your toddlers. A bowl with freshly sliced apples, bananas, mixed berries, and grapes would be good to go at first. If your toddler is not very fond of fruits you can always add some fresh cream to the fruit plate and make it delicious.

Scrambled eggs are always a hit
Eggs are full of protein and are a healthier option for your toddlers. Scrambled eggs can be made within a few minutes and can be served with parmesan bread for a delicious plate of healthy meal. You can also try adding cheese and turkey or you can wrap the same in a tortilla. This is an amazing and tasty healthy snacks choices when you do not have many options in your home but still, want to prepare interesting yet healthy snacks for your kid.

Mash it up
Your toddler’s days of eating mashed food are always following but there can still be newer things being experimented when it comes to mashed food. Have you wondered about mashing up black beans, sweet potato, or avocado? Mashed munchies are some of the best healthy snacks ideas for your toddlers if you want to add some healthy edge to the mashed foods.

Healthy fruit shakes
A fruity milkshake can be anything but boring. You can try adding yogurt for adding more flavor, and it also adds in more calcium and protein. If you are looking for better consistency, then add frozen fruit. Your toddler would be picky with foods but if you add an interesting twist, they cannot avoid it for sure. Grab some of these toddler-friendly easy healthy snacks ideas.

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver once wanted all parents to teach their kids about food. Rightly so, it is rather essential that kids not only understand the nutritional value of food but also get involved in the art of cooking, baking, roasting and grilling. Cooking helps kids to appreciate food and develop a healthy food culture. What’s best, cooking has long term benefits that can stay with them for a lifetime! The best way to rope in your little ones as a helping hand in the kitchen is by making the kind of food they relish. Baking seems the best way to get kids interested in the kitchen. The best part about baking is that it is simple, hassle-free, safe and a busy mom’s time saver. Check out some easy kids recipes that you can get your budding Marthas, Jamies and Nigellas to bake.

Assorted fruit tart: This is a great recipe to introduce your young ones to the wonders of baking. This recipe is easy and takes just about an hour to get made. You could utilize the prep time and help your kids make the pastry dough by pulsing flour, sugar, egg yolk and some butter in a food processor. Use a tart tin and place the dough on it before baking. You could let your kids do the baking and assist them when required. For the filling, make the kiddos whip cream, vanilla and icing sugar in a bowl and spread the mixture atop the tart. Next, let your kids flex their creative muscles and decorate assorted berries and tasty fruits to top up the tart!

Cheesy spinach pizza: Get your kids to bake this healthy spinach cheese pizza and see how even the picky eaters relish their own creations. To make the recipe exciting, instead of a regular sized pizza base, use small circular cut pita breads. Get the whole-wheat pita variant to make the dish even more healthy. Mix chopped and thawed spinach with cheese and add it as toping. Let your kids bake the pizza and serve immediately!

Thumb print cookies: The next best thing to bake while the young ones are in the kitchen is cookies! Cookies are loved by kids and when they get to bake them on their own, they are likely to enjoy them even more! Cookies are hassle-free as the blender does most of the work. You could decide the flavor you want and pulse flour, butter and maybe nuts into a food processor. Once the batter is ready, get your kids to knead it. Kids would love to play around with the dough, you could also get them to make balls out of the dough. Once uniform balls are ready, flatten the dough and make your kiddos put thumbprints at the center of the cookie. You could then bake the cookie and fill in the dent with chocolate, jelly, nuts or any topping of your choice.

Have last night’s leftovers in the fridge and don’t have a clue as to what to do with them? But you don’t want the food to go to waste also. Here are a number of breakfast snack ideas you can do with leftover recipes.

Noodle patties: Have a lot of leftover pasta which has been sitting in the fridge since last night, you might not be tempted to just reheat and have some for breakfast. Just make a couple of patties of that delicious pasta in marinara sauce and sauté on each side until they are golden brown and will hold that shape. Turn your last night’s soggy and cold pasta into a hot and tasty patty dish, served with a sipping of your choice or put them together with a nice toasted burger bun oozing with butter and cheese to enjoy this blissful combination.

Bread delights: There is always a chance that you might not be able to finish that entire loaf of bread in one go. But there is only so much you can do with bread itself, unless you incorporate a number of interesting ingredients with it. By doing this you can make dishes like a savory bread pudding, or bread salad featuring colorful green and leafy vegetables.

Pizza: Saturday night dinner just got interesting with a couple of extra-large deep dish pepperoni pizzas, but you just might have ordered more than what you and your friends could handle for the night. The result being there is a large deep dish now sitting in your fridge, what do you do with it? The easiest way would be just to reheat it and have a couple of slices for breakfast. Why have a plain pizza when you can make a nice little quiche dish out of it. Just transform the ingredients of your deep-dish pepperoni into a skillfully made quiche recipe in a matter of minutes with eggs, spinach, some ground meat and pour it all into a pie crust. A very tasty and innovative alternative to make your breakfast quiche stand out.

Rice pudding: Sometimes you just might have a couple of servings of rice left from last night’s dinner, and there isn’t much you can do to modify last night’s soggy cold rice into a stellar stand out. However, you can transform this simple ingredient into a nice little rice pudding. A healthy desert alternative which can be served after lunch or maybe for today’s dinner.

There are a number of creative ways in which you can modified yesterday nights leftovers, apart from the ones featured above.

Combing a tasty recipe which is also healthy at the same time can be a big challenge, especially when kids today can easily figure out what’s in the recipe after one bite. It is quite a challenge to mask those healthy ingredients in that one recipe.

Here are a few ideas for snacks which are healthy and can also be made tasty at the same time.

Cereal: Everybody loves this breakfast delight, especially kids who would love to dip their spoons in that bowlful of milk with sugar and honey puffs. But not everything that is sweet and sugary will help, instead substitute those sugary delights for some whole grains cereal full of vitamins, calcium, fiber mixed with milk and fruits. A healthy and power packed snack with a twist of taste, to start your day.

Cheese: A very simple yet protein rich ingredient, kids will love anything with chess as long as you don’t overdo it. Instead of using the fatty version, switch to low fat brand and incorporate some interesting cooking techniques to mask the simple taste. It’s a win-win situation, cut out a few interesting shapes and make some cheese skewers on a stick with a bunch of different small side fruits and berries.

Smoothies: All time favorite of kids and adults for that matter, who doesn’t love a smoothie? There can be no better way of incorporating a number of fruits and some vegetables, masking it with a couple of spoons of flavor induced yogurt. Overall it is great way to ensure that the right amount of fiber and other vitamins are consumed regularly.

Pies: Pies are a great snack, always have been. But instead of making a traditional apple pie or rhubarb cherry pie, try introducing healthy but unusual fruits into a pie recipe. For example, berries are high in vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin C in case of strawberries. You can substitute apple slices for strawberries and enjoy a healthy filling with a crunchy and crumbly texture.

Sweet potatoes: Sweet potatoes, considered as some of the most nutritious vegetables with loads of vitamin A, B6, C and folate. They can be fried like your traditional potatoes to be served with a dipping sauce of your choice or baked to maintain the health benefits. Either way a very healthy substitute of potatoes, power packed with nutrients for your children to enjoy.

The classic American buffalo meat is a must-try for every foodie who worships red meat. The buffalo meat is succulent and slightly sweeter than beef. It is rich in proteins, nutrients and low in fats. If you are planning to unravel the scrumptious universe of bison meat, you should start off by trying a buffalo burger.
As buffalo meat is still emerging in the culinary arena, finding the best buffalo burger joint isn’t an easy task. But don’t fret, here are three of the most popular places where you can devour the super delightful buffalo burgers.

Ted Montana Grill
Ted Montana Grill has been a popular buffalo joint for over a decade. It is spread over 17 states and has around 45 restaurants. This food entity has an amazing range of buffalo burgers. George’s Cadillac, Montana Breakfast, No.11, Avalon, Bacon Cheeseburger, Blue Creek, etc. are some of the most popular burgers from Ted’s Menu. These burgers are also available with the beef variant. Apart from burgers they have many other buffalo meat dishes. You can peruse through their website to know more about the menu and locations.

The Buckhorn Exchange
Nestled in the city of Denver, Colorado, The Buckhorn Exchange is not only a well-known joint for great American food but also happens to be the oldest restaurant in the city. The restaurant is quite famous for its mouth-watering assortment of buffalo burgers. Mexican, Smokehouse, Big Bleu, Canadian, etc. are some of the wonderful burgers available at the restaurant. Apart from the buffalo meat, they have an interesting selection of appetizers, mains and desserts. They also have an elaborate menu for children and a great variety of wines to offer.

No Name Saloon
No Name Saloon in Park City, Utah is one of the ultimate bar and grill destination. Its rustic and unconventional ambience serves as a great break from the usual dining experience. Comprising of an amazing menu of appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, tacos, etc. No Name Saloon is quite popular for its juicy, and luscious buffalo burgers. Saloon, No Name, Bacon Bleu Cheeseburger, Barbeque Cheese Burger, Sliders with various combinations are some of their best buffalo burgers. Along with these scrumptious bison burgers you can have sides of fries, onion rings or salads.
Apart from flavorful buffalo burgers, you can find steaks, sandwiches, pizzas, barbequed ribs, kabobs, etc. made from the buffalo meat. You can research online to narrow down restaurants near you serving buffalo meat recipes.

Buffalo meat also known as bison, has emerged as a popular red meat variant in the past few decades. It is a yummy alternative to beef, and is a bit expensive too. But if comparisons are drawn, bison is a healthier red meat option. Packed with proteins and essential nutrients, the buffalo meat has less calories and fats as compared to beef.

The animal from which this leaner red meat is acquired is void of any external hormones, steroids or antibiotics for growth and enhancements, unlike the cow. These buffalos raised on the farm are left to graze the grass freely, i.e. it isn’t excessively domesticated, making its meat richer and highly nutritious. This also helps the environment as it naturally curbs the overgrowth of pastures.

In terms of flavor, buffalo meat is mildly sweet, and denser as well. If you are considering to try or switch to buffalo meat, there are many recipes that you can attempt with it. One of the recipes that you can try with the bison meat is the recipe of buffalo burger.

But why start off with a burger? Because a burger is fuss free and familiar part of our diets. It’s fun, easy to make and even easier to gulp down. You can serve this burger for family and friends during the weekends, or just simply whip it together if you are super famished.

Here’s how you can make a simple but a delectable buffalo burger.

So, for a buffalo burger recipe all you need is grounded buffalo meat, seasoning of salt and pepper, sliced onions and celery stalks and some blue cheese. Firstly, you will need to make patties out of the meat by mixing the buffalo meat and the seasonings thoroughly. If you like you can also add some eggs in the patty mixture. On a pan gently saute sliced onions in butter, with chopped celery and the crumbled blue cheese.

After cooking these ingredients properly, grill the bison patties in another pan in olive oil. Grill them for around 5 to 7 minutes. Remember not to keep them in the pan for too long, as they can get excessively dry. Aim for a medium rare, and then toss them on the grilled buns, add the mixture of caramelized onions and celery. Then slowly incorporate the lettuce leaf, and a tomato slice. You can also add Worcestershire sauce or mayonnaise if you like.

Apart from the juicy buffalo burgers, there are many other recipes that you can experiment with, using the buffalo meat. You can make soups, pastas, kebabs, steaks, meatballs, tacos, pizzas, etc. Check out various cooking websites that can help you with amazing ideas to incorporate buffalo meat in your daily diet.