During the week around the Valentine’s Day holiday, a whopping 58 million pounds of chocolate are purchased in the seven days leading up to Feb. 14, according to the Daily Meal.
That’s a lot of excess sugar being consumed, largely, by children whose developing bodies require quality nutrition. Fortunately, there are some healthy alternatives that your kids will enjoy putting together.
Cupid kabobs
You will need a heart shaped cookie cutter, watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes and strawberries, as well as wooden rods used for making kabobs. A word of warning: make sure to assist your child closely if the kabob stick is sharp.
- Cut the fruit into 1” thick slabs
- Show your child how to use the cookie cutter to punch out heart shapes from the various fruits
- Press the heart-shaped fruit cutouts onto the wooden rods, assembling them like a kabob (try this order: heart shaped watermelon, grape, strawberry, heart shaped cantaloupe, grape)
- Enjoy the tasty Valentine’s Day themed treat as is or by dipping it into vanilla yogurt
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Credit: T1Everydaymagic.com
Valentine’s muffins
This snack can be prepared using any of your favorite muffin recipes and some red food coloring. Feel free to use this healthy muffin recipe from Epicurious. You can add chopped nuts, dried or fresh fruit to the mix to make it your own.
You will need 2 cups flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 tbsp sugar, 1 egg, 1 cup milk, ¼ cup melted butter, 2 tbsp red food coloring. Feel free to add in any fresh fruit you like, such as blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a muffin pan
- Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl
- Add a beaten egg, milk, butter and food coloring to the flour, mixing gently (the batter shouldn’t be smooth)
- Pour the batter into the muffin pan
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes
- Remove from the oven, allow to cool, then enjoy!
