After School Starving Part 2

I have come to realize that my kids eat very frequently!  It is a lot of work to keep up with their appetites!  They may not eat a huge amount at one sitting, but throughout the course of the day, they eat a lot.  

Here is the eating schedule for my little monkeys:

Morning: Breakfast (oatmeal/toast/cereal/smoothies/french toast/pancakes soy milk + fruit)

Am Snack: fruit

Lunch: pasta/sandwich with beans/lentils/tofu/quinoa/sunbutter

PM Snack: granola bars/crackers/apple sauce/soy pudding/popcorn/muffins/healthy cookies

After school snack: cereal/fruit/soup/toast/nachos & salsa/peanut butter/hummus/veggies & bean dip

Dinner: Pasta/ Rice & Beans, Stews/ Tacos/ Quinoa/Lentils/Vegetables/Tofu- VARIETY

Bedtimes Snack "Last call for food!": oatmeal/cereal/toast/fruit/leftovers

HOLY GUACAMOLE!  I am always in the kitchen!!

So afterschool snack has to be quick and EASY.  (It's already hard enough organizing the homework situation).  My homemade soup plan failed because I don't have anymore time to cook than I'm already cooking!  But a lovely jar of prepared soup from my Mama Earth Organics or local deli does the trick.

After school snacks are set out and it's a free for all.  I try to have a different healthy option to deter them from grabbing breakfast cereal.  (But I buy whole grain, low sugar cereals so these are okay).

Some examples of recent afterschool snacks:

Carrot Soup & Whole Wheat crackers (Triscuits)

A nice jar of carrot soup from Mama Earth.   Note: My kids do not like carrot soup.  (I LOVE it).  I wanted them to at least try a small taste. 

(A new use for my egg-cups that have been abandoned in the cupboard for 8 weeks.)

Cucumbers!

Nachos, Salsa & Guacamole

Grapefruit

My kids all love grapefruit! Nice.

Veggie Splats

Okay- this snack had a lot of promise and hope for me!  I saw it on one of my Facebook groups (I can't find the link now to reference it. Sorry!).  A mom reported her vegan kids grew up on these: A bunch of whatever veggies are in the fridge blended with potato flakes and flax meal.  Fry up with olive oil and serve as patties with ketchup.  I was so excited!

These are the veggies I used: mushrooms, kale, parsley, carrots, yellow beans, green pepper, green onion & broccoli.
I was stoked- and had them ready for when I picked the kids up from the bus.  I LOVED them - so fresh, packed with fresh veggies!  They even smelled amazing to me!  The kids had an entirely different opinion. :( They disliked them strongly, let's just say that.  So I ended up eating 8 of them all by myself.  (In my defense, I didn't have lunch, and just came back from grocery shopping after work, so I was famished).  If you're kids like these: Kudos!  I'm still hoping mine will acquire a taste.  In the meantime, I will make these for me frequently.  So easy and yummy. (Although I made such a mess it looked like my kitchen went splat! Ha!)  The kids ended up having chopped mango as their afterschool snack instead:

Mango!