While many of you are just starting to think about back to school, we are already in the thick of it! Henry started first grade two weeks ago and so we are back into a pretty regular routine here (with the occasional swim + ice cream cone afternoon). During the summer there’s lots of snacking all day but when school starts up we eat at more regular times and often his after school snack is just as substantial as any other meal (he must be going through a growth spurt!). I’m often at a loss of what to feed him since I’m usually working right until he gets picked up. Today I’ve teamed up with Blue Diamond Almonds to share four easy, healthy, and delicious ideas for after school snacks featuring one of my very favorite snacks, Whole Natural Almonds. I seriously keep a bag in the car and eat them all the time!

Photography by Liz Stanley. Assisted by Maddie Bachelder

Honeyed Almond Bars with Dried Cranberries and Sea Salt

These are granola bars, but in the simplest form. Only whole natural almonds and honey. I added in cranberries and sea salt but you could really go purist here. Apparently this snack is a popular street food in Greece.

Directions:
1. Heat one cup of honey to 280-300 degrees with a candy thermometer. Make sure you use a LARGE pot because the honey will boil up and get huge. Meanwhile, toast 1 up of whole natural almonds for about 10 minutes in the oven (about 350 degrees).
2. Line a dish like the one above (8×8) with parchment paper and pour the roasted almonds, dried cranberries into it. Then pour over the candied honey. Let sit for a few hours or in the fridge.
3. Cut into squares or rectangles and wrap with parchment paper (like the first image in this post)

Eggo Fruit Pizza with Greek Yogurt

Toast an eggo (or english muffin) and top with greek vanilla yogurt and fresh seasonal fruit. This was surprisingly DELICIOUS and took maybe a minute to put together.

Baked veggie chips

We had so much fun making these and am excited to try other root vegetables as well. This takes some prep time but you can make a whole bunch for the week!

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
1. Scrub vegetables well and slice potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc with a mandoline. For the kale chips, we just cut out the large stems.
2. Place veggies on paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Let sit for 20 minutes. You’ll see all the water start to seep out!
3. Rinse in cold water and dry very well.
4. Toss them in about 2 T of olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper (+ something fun like curry or cayenne!). Lay them on a cookie sheet without overlapping.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Peanut Butter Pita with Bananas, Honey and Almonds

I could eat this everyday, it’s super yummy! And like the eggo pizza, it only a minute to prepare:

Toast your mini pita. Top with peanut butter, sliced bananas and a cute whole natural almond smile. Drizzle with honey and take a bite!

Thanks to Blue Diamond Almonds for sponsoring this back to school post!