Healthy Meal with Kid Appeal Winner: Nutrition Know How

by The Meal Makeover Moms on April 3rd, 2009

Carolyn whisking peanut butter

Kids love to snack. That’s no surprise. But the quality of all those snacks can be nutritionally ho-hum at best (and that’s putting it mildly). When snacking turns into mindless munching on starchy, fatty, sugary foods, kids end up consuming more calories than they need and miss out on important nutrients from high-quality foods – things like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lowfat dairy, beans, and nuts.

We recently discovered a clever snack idea on a blog called Nutrition Know How, hosted by Cindy, Nancy, Carrie, and Joan, four nutrition professionals from the University of Nebraska. Their peanut butter snack caught our attention because of its simple yet nutritious ingredients: mainly peanut butter and yogurt.

The day Liz and I decided to test this recipe happened to be when my 16-year old daughter, Carolyn, had half a day of school. The moment she walked in the door, I handed her my car keys – a beautiful sight to a teenager who just got her driver’s license — and sent her straight back out to the supermarkeAdding chips to peanut butter dipt. When she returned with our groceries, we put her right back to work!

It was great having Carolyn as our personal shopper, sous chef, and taste tester. The recipe was easy to make and she really enjoyed it – the combo of peanut butter, yogurt, cinnamon and mini chocolate chips was perfect when paired with sliced apples. Because of the recipes’ ease, nutrition, fun flavor and overall kid appeal, we hereby recognize Nutrition Know How with our Healthy Meal with Kid Appeal Award.

Carolyn and Liz with peanut butter dip

Peanut Butter Dip

½ cup lowfat vanilla yogurt
½ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup mini chocolate chips
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and serve with apples, celery or pretzels.

Here are a few additional cooking notes from Carolyn:

  • You could easily get away with adding fewer chocolate chips. My sister, Leah, isn’t a huge chocolate fan so the next time I make the dip, I may just leave the chips out.
  • The flavor of the cinnamon really shines through. Again, you could use less if you wanted to.
  • I ate the dip with both apples and celery. I definitely preferred the apples (but that’s just me).

Let us know if you try this recipe with your family. We’d love to hear your feedback.

pb-dip-with-apples-and-celery-360

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8 Comments | Filed Under Awards, Fruits, Snacks 

8 Responses to “Healthy Meal with Kid Appeal Winner: Nutrition Know How”

  1. Aggie on April 3rd, 2009

    What yummy dip!!

  2. Pam on April 4th, 2009

    Oooh, I have all of that on hand…minus the chocolate chips…but I’m not a huge chocolate person! That may just replace my caramel and cream cheese with peanut butter dip! Off to get some apples to dip!

  3. Moonduster (Becky) on April 4th, 2009

    I tried this today with my kids. 6 year old ate 1/3 of the bowl with apples and then said she didn’t like it after she “ate too much.” 2 year old is going through a picky stage and wouldn’t try it. 3 year old, who is incredibly picky, LOVED IT. She finished off the apples in it and then got out a spoon to eat what was left of the dip. I set some aside for my 14 year old, but she hasn’t tried it yet. My 15 year old won’t try it because it has yogurt in it and she does’t like yogurt. (Too bad she saw me making it or I would not have told her.) :)

  4. The Meal Makeover Moms on April 7th, 2009

    It sounds like everyone has had pretty good luck with this peanut butter snack. If you try different versions — walnut or almond butter, different types of fruits or veggies for dipping, etc — be sure to let us know!

  5. Kristin on April 8th, 2009

    I am so making this! Maybe my non peanut butter loving kid will eat this! Will it be bad if I just eat it with a spoon? :)

  6. The Meal Makeover Moms on April 8th, 2009

    Kristin, spoon or no spoon, we’re sure you and your son will enjoy this snack! Let us know how it goes over with your family.

  7. Cindy on April 14th, 2009

    I thought it was delicious! I liked it with apples and graham crackers (of all things). Delish!

  8. Janice on April 14th, 2009

    Ooh, I have some graham crackers in the cupboard and I just bought more peanut butter today so this might be my kids’ snack for tomorrow!

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