I wanted to show an example of what my son likes for snacks at home.  Today it is whole plain milk yogurt (from Trader Joe’s, though sometimes it is home-cultured), sprinkled liberally with cinnamon mixed with a hint of xylitol (one spice jar of cinnamon with 1 tsp xylitol), then topped with frozen pitted dark cherries and fresh strawberries (which have just come into season locally).  Gabriel really likes frozen fruit in his yogurt (the yogurt freezes to the fruit),  sometimes with more fruit than yogurt so it really ices up.  And I’ll admit, using frozen fruit means forgoing the seasonal fruit cycle sometimes.  

 

These local CA strawberries are huge gorgeous beauties, but only so-so in flavor, in my opinion.  A bit too firm, too, but that is probably a deliberate intention, to tolerate handling without bruising or going soft.  These berries were at the peak of freshness because I bought them at the field stand.  But unless I start growing my own, I doubt my son will get to know what “real” strawberries taste like, those small, intensely flavored, and oh-so-fragile old fashioned berries that would never survive the rigors of commercial distribution and sales.  So to him, these are fantastic strawberries.  

 

 

At first I attempted to make the plain yogurt taste like commercially flavored yogurt, but with my own choices of flavorings and real fruit instead of concentrated fruit purees, and without the unnecessary thickeners, colors, preservatives, and excessive sugars. Over the past few years I have reduced the amount of vanilla, maple syrup or other sugars, and home-concocted flavorings.  Cinnamon has been very useful in this endeavor (I add it liberally to many of his foods that have had the sugar reduced).  The gradual change in flavoring additives has also been key.  

 

Also, I think the chunky fruit is distracting and provides natural sweetness on its own without contributing excessive sugars.  In the past I cut the fruit small so it was well-distributed in the yogurt, but I have curtailed that as he has warmed to the plain yogurt flavor.  A huge plus has also been our switch from lowfat plain yogurt to whole milk.  The creaminess is wonderful and thick in the mouth and tempers the sharpness that can be very pronounced in lowfat and especially in non-fat yogurt.  The liquid whey also doesn’t separate as much as in reduced fat yogurt.

 

Now that Gabriel is older and fixing some of his own snacks, if I keep fruit ready and easy to use, he will prepare a bowl for himself sometimes.  Trimming and cutting the fruit to size is good for his knife skills.  

 

Sending this snack to school has proved a bit less easy because it doesn’t stay as chilled, though a cold pack helps; he gets a bit leary of “disguised” fruit - it might be “old” or developed weapiness; and the container issue is hard for us to mutually resolve (lids get lost, not refastened properly, require more effort & responsibility from him, etc.).  Screw tops or really tight-fitting lids help, but they also have to be easy to get off-on for his less-dexterous hands, too.  So sometimes it comes home uneaten or the remains are all over the inside of the lunch box.  But despite the packed lunch issues, we’re getting to where I want to be, one real food snack at a time, and he’s coming along fairly willingly.  I haven’t had a request for Go-Gurts or Stonyfield Yo-Squeezers in a long time - phew!