Valentine's Day snacks for kids usually consist of candy, heart-shaped cookies or cupcakes with red and pink frosting. These snacks contain high amounts of sugar and saturated fat. Purchased cookies and cakes often contain trans fats, which the American Heart Association recommends you avoid completely because of their negative health effects. With a little creativity, you can still make your kids a fun and festive Valentine's Day snack that is nutritious and delicious.
Open-Faced Cream Cheese Sandwiches
Top 100 percent whole-wheat bread with light strawberry cream cheese and thinly sliced strawberries. Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to make them into heart shapes. The whole-wheat bread provides a serving of whole grains and fiber, while the strawberries are a source of vitamin C.
Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries and Cherries
Melt antioxidant-rich dark chocolate and dip in whole strawberries and cherries. Let dry on a baking sheet coated with wax paper. The strawberries and cherries provide vitamins A and C, along with a serving of fruit. Make sure the fruit is completely dry before you dip it into the chocolate.
Fruit With Pink Dip
Make a Valentine-like dip by blending plain nonfat yogurt with strawberry-flavored applesauce. Serve with chunks of watermelon, cherries, raspberries, red grapes, strawberries and blood orange segments to keep with a red and pink theme. The yogurt provides bone-building calcium, while the fruits provide fiber and multiple vitamins.
Cheese and Fruit
Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut heart shapes in slices of low-fat cheese. Serve with apple wedges or red grapes. You can even cut heart shapes out of the apples using the cutter. A 1½ oz.-serving of hard cheese is equivalent to a 1-cup serving of milk.
Yogurt Parfait
Make a fruit and yogurt parfait with pink, white and red ingredients. Mix lemon zest and a small amount of powdered sugar, or no-calorie sweetener, into plain nonfat Greek yogurt. Layer the yogurt mixture with raspberries in a tall cocktail glass. Top with crushed graham crackers.
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