What child doesn’t love pizza? Here’s a healthy way to give them a different snack alternative… mini pizzas!

* use a healthy cracker (like Kashi) or a whole wheat bagel as a base
* add sugar-free jar tomato sauce – we like ‘Garden Style’ Colavita brand
* sprinkle 2% milk shredded mozzarella on top
* optional: add dried oregano
* heat in the broiler or toaster oven

Enjoy!

A favorite snack of ours is dried cherries - we’ve never found any that live up to these: cherryrepublic.com. Yum.

- Morgan, mom to Charlie, 3 and Essie, 1

Looking for a healthy, easy snack on the go? A handful of almonds does the trick. Look for dry roasted with little or no salt and avoid the honey roasted or candy coated kind. Almonds are high in protein, fiber and good for you monounsaturated fat. At just over 200 calories for a quarter cup, they’ll provide just what you need to get you to your next meal feeling good. You can buy them direct from the orchard and avoid those high supermarket prices… one clever family we know got a deal by going bulk… $6.20/lb for 25 pounds at www.bellaviva.com and free shipping for orders over $69. Just pack the extras in big Ziploc bags and store them in your freezer.

Here’s a great easy snack for on-the-go tots… Kashi Mighty Bites. No transfats, they taste great, and they’re easy to take on the road with little to no mess. Put them in a snack trap and you’re good to go! Your toddler will love the ‘control’ of his own feeding, and you’ll love the fact that you’re not having to worry about every bite ending up on the floor. The snack trap is great for giving toddlers treats without having to worry about spreading the snack on every surface in site… see www.snacktrap.com to learn more.

- Sarah, mom to Ryland, 2

Emma loves fruit so she’ll generally eat whatever I give her, but to mix it up a little I buy the bags of frozen fruit and take a bit out each night in a dish to let it defrost. In the morning (or whenever I give it to her) I toss on a bit of vanilla or plain yogurt and she loves it. This way she still gets the good variety of fruits (they come in fantastic blends in those frozen bags) and it’s quite a bit cheaper than fresh.

Emma is also a fan of “shakes” - I just mix it with yogurt, milk and the fruit in the blender, she thinks it’s a super treat and she gets her fruit!

Now if you have ideas for getting veggies into her, those I’ll take!

- Megan, mom to Emma, 2

For a snack or part of her lunch (especially for Mother’s Morning Out) Isabel loves ham or turkey that is sliced thin and rolled up in a whole wheat tortilla with lite cream cheese spread on the tortilla first for the “glue” to hold it all together. After I roll it up I slice the roll into several pieces (like a sushi roll). It’s easy, she likes it, and she can feed herself with no difficulty.

- Jamie, mom to Isabel, 2

Who could forget ants on a log? It’s a simple, fun, healthy treat.

* Wash and cut celery into 2-3″ sections
* Fill with peanut butter
* Top with a couple of raisins

Yummy!