Healthy Snacks from my past

I was thinking about being a kid and summer.  I remember so many days spent outside, playing kickball, riding bikes, playing hide and seek, hop scotch, building carts, playing marbles and so much more.  I hope I created memories such as these for my kids. 

We had snacks too.  Snacks that were rarely preprocessed and most often right from the garden.  Yes they involved sugar but the sugar was light and they were loaded with nutrients. 

One of my favorites was sliced tomatoes with sugar lightly sprinkled on them.  They were always fresh from my Mom's garden and rich with flavor.  I don't know why we put sugar on them but it sure was a tasty snack.  We also had rhubarb in our garden and were allowed to take a stalk with a little cup of sugar and dip the tip in the sugar before each tart bite.  We have a picture of my sister at a young age making a face while eating rhubarb that reflects the true story of rhubarb's flavor.  I guess I would say it was the same as a sour patch but with nutrients.

Mom also always purchased a couple of crates of peaches when they were in season and froze them.  She pretended not to know that we took them from the freezer and ate them like freezies .  Yum!

I am not saying my mother never baked cookies, cake or other sweet treats but we didn't have those things all of the time.  She was over weight and did not want that for us.  She was very cautious of making sure that we ate healthy all of the time.

I know time is always an issue when preparing food but these three items are great snacks and can be purchased as easily as we pulled them out of the garden. 

Try something fresh for your family.

With love from your retired FACS teacher.

Jane