After School Sheet Pan Charcuterie Board

As soon as the kids get off the bus, they're ready for a snack!  So build an After School Sheet Pan Charcuterie Board with all of their favorites!

Puppy Chow - Favorite Kid Snack

With just five ingredients and a few minutes, kids of all ages, and kids at heart, can enjoy this crunchy, peanut butter, chocolate, sweet treat.  

5 Back to School Snack Mix Recipes

Celebrate the first day of school with one of my kid-approved snack mix recipes.  These are a great way to do something special for an after school snack, or just because throughout the year.

Pantry Trail Mix

The end of summer has arrived with the first day of school today so that means two things: #1 - time to clean out the pantry of all the partial snacks, crackers and goodies gathered over the course of t-ball games, fair and road trips, and #2 - time to celebrate the first day of school with a fun afternoon snack.  Put those two things together and we have Pantry Trail Mix.

Ranch Party Snack Mix

It is official - school has begun for our family!  This year Mr. K is in 1st grade and Miss A is in PreK.  Both kids were very excited for today and I'm so proud to see both of them growing up to be such caring, independent, creative, young kids.  To celebrate this special day, we started off the morning with our traditional celebratory waffles and for after-school I made a batch of my Ranch Party Snack Mix with some of their favorite mix-ins.

How lucky am I?!  A super hero and a mommy.  (Mr. K did clarify for me that he could still be a farmer too but that he would be a super hero first.) Sounds good to me 😉

Now onto the Ranch Party Snack Mix.  The kids helped me create this specific mix and we do variations of it throughout the year.  We actually love making snack mixes together as you can see here, and here, and here.

This snack mix is perfect for the whole family as it combines the ranch flavor with favorite snacks such as Bugles, Goldfish and popcorn.  The popcorn is all for my kids.  They love popcorn and could eat popcorn everyday if I let them.  Now, My Farmer prefers this mix with puffcorn instead but since it was for the kids after-school snack we stuck with regular popcorn.

Ranch Party Snack Mix

8 cups microwave popcorn, butter flavored, popped (you can just eat what is left in the bag while putting together the mix 😉)
2 cups Bugles, original
1 cup Dot's Homestyle Pretzels (Now usually I don't get too much into brands but if you haven't had Dot's Pretzels yet then you are missing out!  And I'm not paid by Dot's to say that - they are that good!)
1 cup Goldfish, cheddar
1 cup Ritz-Bits, cheese cracker sandwiches
1/2 cup butter
4 tsp. Ranch seasoning mix (1/2 of a 1 oz packet)

In a small bowl melt the butter in the microwave and stir in the ranch seasoning until mixed thoroughly.

Mix popcorn, Bugles, pretzels, Goldfish and Ritz-Bits in a large bowl and evenly coat with ranch butter.  Spread mixture on parchment paper lined baking sheets and bake at 300°F for 20 minutes, stirring half-way through.

Let cool 5-10 minutes and serve immediately.  Leftovers can be stored in an air-tight container for up to 2 days.

Do you have any special first day of school traditions?  Any special breakfasts or after-school snacks?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

3 Kid-Friendly 4th of July Treats

Can you believe that 4th of July celebrations will be starting in just a week?!  No matter if you're hosting a big barbecue, or if you're keeping it simple with just watching the local fireworks with your family, you need to make something special and fun for Independence Day.  Here are 3 kid-friendly treats that my family loves to help you celebrate:

My family loves a good trail mix and we created this recipe by combining some of our favorite sweet and salty snacks.  Add some patriotic M&Ms to make it not only kid-friendly but festive too.

Here's another great snack mix to use patriotic M&Ms in.  You can never have too many snacks on hand when you have kids, are going camping, or if you are hosting a party.

There's nothing like cooling down with a popsicle on a hot, summer, 4th of July day.  My kids love these red, white and blueberry yogurt pops.  They're creamy, cool and sweet!

What's your favorite way to celebrate the 4th of July?