Encourage youngsters to try new foods at snack time to lessen their tendency to binge on favorites. Good food choices for snacking have been well-publicized. They're not cola and chips or cupcakes and doughnuts. Anyone keeping up with the latest nutrition reports knows to snack on fruits and raw vegetables, baked chips and whole-grain crackers, soups, yogurt, even leftover pizza and peanut butter sandwiches. Soft pretzels with mustard are better than deep-fried chips and dip.
Turkey sandwiches on whole-wheat bread are better than hot dogs on white buns.
Salsas are more nutritious and less caloric than dips of flavored sour cream. Graham crackers or animal crackers are better than high-fat cookies. Rice cakes are better than, well, cake. They're important as snacks to address this country's calcium deficit, too. This selection of recipes was compiled to help satisfy a sweet tooth without contributing too many calories or fat grams, except for the bean dip.