The Muffin Tin of "Nibbles"

The Muffin Tin of “Nibbles”

At our house, a muffin tin, or “nibble” tray, is usually our mid-morning snack.Though, I’ll admit that sometimes on busy days, the muffin tins gets refilled and becomes lunch, too.

What I include in the muffin tin varies according to what fruits and veggies and bite-sized snacks that we have on hand.  Sometimes I include something sweet like chocolate chips or vanilla wafers.

Here is a typical example of what I include:

A Recent Muffin Tin Snack:

Rice chips, almonds, chocolate chips

cherry tomatoes, strawberries, Colby Jack cheese,

popcorn, Pink Lady apple slices

Smoothie Popsicles

We have a smoothie nearly every day, year round.  I have found that this is a simple way for me, not only to get some extra fruit into the kids, but also to sneak in some spinach or kale for an extra healthful boost. We have a different colored smoothie, in a rainbow, for every day of the week.

For warmer days, when we are outside, I turn our smoothie mixes into popsicles.  For Summertime popsicles, I just blend everything up in the morning, as I normally would for our afternoon snack, and then I pour it into a popsicle mold and freeze.  They are ready in the afternoons for us to enjoy.

Here are some of our favorite mixes:

• blueberries, handful of baby spinach, frozen banana, splash of orange juice
• frozen cherries (no pits), yogurt, small handful of baby spinach
• banana, applesauce, yogurt
• orange juice, banana, yogurt

And, of course, much of our Summertime snacking involves treats of the kind we pluck from the strawberry or tomato plants and pop into our mouths, warm from the sun.