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Little Hands Challege You to Try a New Snack
Jan 31, 2012

Continuing with the healthy snack posts for one more week, today I thought I'd end it with a challenge. Toddlers snack all the time it seems, and honestly, we adults should follow their lead in that. Spreading some vitamins and protein throughout our day to get us by between meals is a fantastic way to keep some of those New Year's resolutions going. The main snack my girls get is honestly the easiest. They get lots of dried or fresh fruit, nuts, seeds, and yogurt. It's easy on me, and often, easy to take other places or in the living room without a huge mess on my hands.

Here's my challenge: Try something new. Find a fruit that is in season during winter and google how to prepare it! You could try a granola with seeds and seeds, which are loaded in protein which means you stay full, or a new juice! We're moving this month across town and after my first visit to the new Harps, I can't even tell you how excited I am to live closer to it! The main reason is because of a wall full of containers, much like you see at Candy Crazy where you fill your bag with whatever you like, but those containers contain granola, nuts, dried fruit, seeds, yogurt covered fruit and nuts. You can literally get very small amounts of a few things to try out! We left with some sweetened banana chips, which were eaten on the way home, and some pomegranate.

I know that though many are familiar with pomegranate flavors and juice, not many are with the fruit itself so I thought I'd pick that to show as my challenge! It was a challenge here just because Story hasn't eaten pomegranate before, being a baby last winter, and it's been a year since London had tasted it.

The most efficient way I have found to prepare a pomegranate is to put your pasta colander in a sink of cold water but not so full that it's over the top of the colander. Clean your sink out really well first. Sinks are the number one place in the home for germs! You score the outside of the pomegranate, which just means cut the sides enough to peel but not deep enough to hit fruit. Then begin peeling it apart. The fruit of the pomegranate are little juice filled arils around the seeds that look like ruby red, translucent corn kernels. As you peel the fruit, put the arils into the water inside the colander and discard the other parts outside of the colander. It sticks to your hand easily, so the water helps to keep it all moving at a good pace as well as washes off any juice. Once you're finished, you can pick up the colander of rinsed off pomegranate seeds and throw away the big pieces of the discarded peel while letting the rest go down the garbage disposal.

We keep a colander sitting in the fridge with grapes in the summer and pomegranate in the winter to have easily accessible fruit to snack on. It's eaten so much faster when prepared and eye level, than down in a drawer forgotten. Normally, the pomegranate would last several days in the fridge, but I suppose I can count the challenge as a success, because my girls ate the entire thing in one sitting! It really is like candy. They're small, juicy, and easy to pop in your mouth and play.

Plus, pomegranates are seriously loaded in vitamin C and potassium, and it is a great source of fiber when eating the seeds inside the arils!

So what will your challenge be? A new fruit? Mango, papaya, passion fruit? Seeds or nuts? Harps has pumpkin seeds on that wall. Greek yogurt? Maybe your kids will be like mine and surprise you by devouring the entire thing!

Until next time,
Heather

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