…the teacher will probably still serve pretzels.
Last week I got an email from my first grader’s health teacher announcing that they’d be tasting healthy snacks that Friday, and parents were invited to send in some food for the class to share.
Oh, now you’re speaking my language!
Examples of healthy snacks included carrots, cheese, fruits, whole-grain crackers, pretzels, low-fat yogurt, and a few others. Hmmmm…
I pondered whether I should share the news that low-fat is no good for kids (or other human beings), but instead I immediately responded with a passionate note about how much I’d love to bring something, and in fact I have this ebook and blog thing going on, and could I please even come in and observe the kids eating the snacks for a little market research for the update to my book?
I probably scared her a little, but she graciously let me come anyway.
I whipped up three flavors of the power bars from Healthy Snacks to Go and three flavors of the new Crispy Roasted Chickpeas (coming tomorrow in the 2nd edition).
I had to hide my grin as my son struggled with the work that day, to separate pictures of foods into "healthy snacks for school" and "tasty foods to leave at home," the euphemism for junk food like donuts, cookies, and chips. Poor kid kept getting too many images on the junk food list, since crackers, pretzels, and cereal land squarely in that category at our house.
The plates of healthy snacks to try, intended to broaden their horizons and help the kids try some new foods they may not have had before, included half a string cheese, a big slice of orange, two baby carrots, and my contributions here:
Those are Cinnamix, Sunny Vacation (nut-free), and Cherry Almond Power Bars with Cool Ranch, Mexican, and Cinnasweet chickpeas in the back. Mexican was a mistake, because kids were too scared of all things spicy, so they didn’t eat any chickpeas by and large. Oops.
I have to say I was surprised that any of the foods the teacher brought would have been new to kids, but at least they were all real food.
Some of the kids had started eating and tasted the chickpeas or power bars before the incident, or they probably would have all been thrown away.
I could have cried.
The teacher walked around the room with a bag of pretzels, dumping a handful on each plate, right on top of all the healthy goodness we had already served them!
In a fight between pretzels and chickpeas with 6-year-olds as judges, the pretzels are victorious every time.
That was the lesson I learned at school last week.
Stay tuned next week when I go on a juice rampage, challenge you to advocate for school food change, review Fed Up with Lunch, tell you what my son and I are already doing to help his new school get green, AND talk about the food pyramid and what’s wrong with school lunch these days. It’s going to be a week you don’t want to miss (and I’m inviting the parents from my son’s class to visit me here at KS, too).
Even better, TOMORROW watch for the 2nd edition of Healthy Snacks to go, now with over 45 recipes. It goes out free this weekend to everyone who purchased the first edition…or manages to sneak in a purchase today, just under the wire! 
(Buy here.)
———————————————
I’d love to see more of you! Sign up for a free email subscription or grab my reader feed. You can also follow me on Twitter, get KS for Kindle, or see my Facebook Fan Page.
If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
See my full disclosure statement here.
I’m excited to try the garbanzos. I make garbanzo snacks all the time – my kids take handfuls at a time! I just salt and pepper mine, so the variations are intriging.
[Reply to this comment]
At my daughter’s birthday party we put out a separate trash for food (we told everyone we wanted the food scraps for our chickens) so even if it wasn’t eaten the healthy food wouldn’t get wasted. I was actually surprised how much not healthy food (we had other people bring some things) ended up in the bag too. Chickens were happy!
This makes me sad- my kids love the chickpeas
[Reply to this comment]
As a first-grade teacher, I feel compelled to apologize on behalf of my co-worker who was not exactly considerate.
Personally, I don’t put any extra effort into making super-healthy stuff for my first graders. If you’ve been raised on processed foods and excess sugar, you first have to be weaned off before you can appreciate truly healthy food. Other than as part of a health lesson, which of course this was. In that context, lots of kids will eat veggies, etc.
But for my birthday? I compromise with things like 100% juice and potato chips. It’s just too discouraging to put effort into making healthier stuff only to have a third of your kids whine that they don’t like it.
[Reply to this comment]
Just going gluten free and am learning from a class I am taking that especially in the beginning, it is good not to have even gluten free grains. Was wondering if there are many recipes in your healthy snacks ebook that doesn’t use any grains at all? Thanks!
[Reply to this comment]
Ashley- if you aren’t dealing with any nut allergies, I recommend almond flour/meal flax meal and coconut flour as alternatives to grains. My family eats “paleo”….no grains, beans/legumes, no (truthfully its more “limited” for us) sugar. We stick to lean meats, fruits and vegetables and healthy fats.
[Reply to this comment]
Ashley Dunn – yes, over 30 grain-free recipes. We started grain-free last fall for awhile, too – did you see this post? It should help you: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2012/01/26/what-youre-not-eating-that-dont-be-overwhelmed-by-humongous-dietary-changes/
I second what Heather Hands Nemcic – try some coconut flour; a few recipes in HSTG no. 2 use it. Good luck!
[Reply to this comment]
Did you ever think a post on healthy foods would lead to politics and religion? lol
I’ve cooked up my chickpeas yesterday, but need to roast them today. I’m looking forward to trying them. I’ve had tasty garlic salted ones, but these others from your e-book sound delicious!
[Reply to this comment]
I would have to agree with you. What makes me a little disappointed is the superior attitude that a lot of whole food eaters have. Almost every mom I’ve ever met thinks that they are doing the best they can for their kiddos, but some just don’t know what the best is or don’t have the time or resources to provide the best. I would rather see a gentle, helpful attitude, from whole food eaters rather than a superior and judgmental view. :/ You are right, everyone is at a different place in their life and a different part in their journey.
[Reply to this comment]
Rachel Sanford Reply:
February 12th, 2012 at 7:03 pm
Oops, I meant to reply to someone else’s comment!
[Reply to this comment]
My kid ate a pretzel once and he died the next day of ketoacidosis brought on by Type 2 diabeetus.
[Reply to this comment]