Summer on Long Island is nothing short of a season in the Garden of Eden. Farmer\u2019s markets are everywhere, farm stands are loaded with amazing produce and local grocers display all the seasons best fruits and veggies at a fraction of the usual prices. With the kids at home, it can be tough to find time in the day to prep healthy alternatives for breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacking. So we came up with a few healthy eating life hacks guaranteed to save you time that look so appetizing, your kids will reach for the healthy stuff before they grab a bag of chips!<\/p>\n

Yogurt Dots<\/span><\/h4>\n

<\/a>Mix 2 cups of greek yogurt (2% low fat works well) with \u00bd teaspoon of vanilla extract, one tablespoon of confectioners sugar and a few drops of food coloring to make it fun. \u00a0Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag or substitute with a plastic zip lock bag and snip one bottom corner off of a plastic bag. Cover a cookie sheet in parchment paper. Next squeeze bite size dots onto the cookie sheet, lining up the dots along the parchment. Freeze for an hour before serving. Tip: Store leftover yogurt dots in freezer bags for easy access on a hot summer day.<\/p>\n

Watermelon fingers: <\/span><\/h4>\n

<\/a>Thanks to the awesome chefs on Pinterest who let us know, we\u2019ve been cutting watermelon all wrong our whole life! These life hacks for cutting up watermelon will save time and make eating this delicious summer fruit so much more fun. Cut a watermelon in half and flip one half over so the round bottom is facing upward. Cut like an onion; slicing 1 \u00bd inch thick parallel cuts along one way of the melon. Next slice the same sized cuts across the opposite direction, so you are cutting box-like pieces or in a grid. Once finished, you can either pull out pieces to eat or stick popsicle sticks into the watermelon rind and serve like a lollipop.<\/p>\n

Cleaning fruit Life Hacks:<\/span><\/h4>\n

<\/a>This method works great to remove waxy pesticides, dirt and bacteria from fruit and veggies with soft skins. It\u2019s also proven to keep berries fresher and free from molding longer! Fill up a clean sink or a large bowl with cold water. Add a one to three ratio of vinegar to the water (1 part vinegar - 3 parts water) and stir together. Add any fruit or vegetables to the water and allow to soak for at least 10 minutes. Use a small strainer to remove fruit and veggies from the water.<\/p>\n

Mason Jar snacks:<\/span><\/h4>\n

<\/a>This is a great way to store healthy meal alternatives and get your whole family eating healthier all summer! It\u2019s also the perfect way to store food for the beach, so you never get sand in your mouth!<\/p>\n

Fruit Snacks:<\/span><\/strong> Use a melon baller to cut cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon up into bite size balls. Store each serving of mixed melon balls in a standard 4 to 8 ounce mason jar, with a plastic spoon taped to the sides. Seal and refrigerate at your child\u2019s eye length to encourage healthy eating alternatives for a quick snack.<\/p>\n

Breakfast:<\/span><\/strong> Layer some mixed berries, your kids favorite yogurt and top with mixed oats or granola to make a delicious breakfast parfait.<\/p>\n

Veggie Dips:<\/strong><\/span> Cut celery, carrots and cucumbers into long quartered sticks for easy dipping. Fill the bottom of a mason jar with a serving of a thick healthy dip like hummus, yogurt or ricotta and place the veggies into the jar and refrigerate until ready to serve.<\/p>\n

Chopped Salad:<\/strong><\/span> Chop up mixed greens like mesclun, arugula and bibb lettuce in a mixing bowl. Using a food processor dice up colorful veggies (peppers, celery, cucumbers, broccoli and carrots) keeping the colors separate for visual excitement. Fill the bottom third of a mason jar with the chopped leafy greens. Spoon layers of all the veggies into each jar, adding more lettuce every two layers. Seal and refrigerate for up to seven days. Tip: adding a little bit of cold lemon water to the lettuce will prevent premature browning.<\/p>\n

Homemade Veggie Chips Life Hacks:<\/span><\/h4>\n

<\/a>This is a great alternative to your family snacking on potato and tortilla chips. Root vegetables like beets, carrots and sweet potatoes will work best but Zucchini and Apple Chips are equally delicious! It\u2019s all in the way you slice the Veggies. Use a cheese slicer like a mandolin or a wide vegetable peeler to cut paper thin slices of the veggies of your choice. Place the veggie chips on a bed of paper towels or cheesecloth to allow excess water to strain from the veggies.<\/p>\n

Deep Fry Method: Heat Canola oil in a large deep pot until the oil sizzles when you flick a little bit of water into the pot with your hand. Be mindful to keep your hand at a safe distance from the oil. Add a handful of veggie chips at one time and fry until the bubbling subdues and the chips have a golden brown crisp to them. Dry on a paper towel to remove excess oils. \u00a0Season with sea salt, herbs like rosemary, cilantro or garlic\/onion powder for a savory flavor.<\/p>\n

Baked Method: Preheat your oven to 375%. Season the veggie chips by tossing them gently in a mixture of extra virgin olive oil (no more than a tablespoon or two) mixed with salt and pepper (or sea salt and paprika, kosher salt and ground black pepper, etc). Add any herbs or favorite seasoning to the mixture to make it your own. Line the chips up on one or two cookie sheets. They can be side to side but be careful to avoid any overlapping. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the chips have curled edges and a beautiful golden brown crisp to them. Season once more with salt, pepper or top with fresh herbs and serve warm or store in a brown paper bag for late night snacking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summer on Long Island is nothing short of a season in the Garden of Eden. Farmer\u2019s markets are everywhere, farm stands are loaded with amazing produce and local grocers display all the seasons best fruits and veggies at a fraction of the usual prices. With the kids at home, it can be tough to find time in the day to prep healthy alternatives for breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacking. So we came up with a few healthy eating life hacks guaranteed to save you time that look so appetizing, your kids will reach for the healthy stuff before they grab […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[40,41,43],"tags":[662,663,96,664,120,666,661,232,655,665],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","category-food","category-health","tag-eating-healthy","tag-fast-health","tag-food-2","tag-health-food","tag-kids","tag-kids-snacks","tag-life-hacks","tag-recipes","tag-summer-cooking","tag-summer-food"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/summer-snacks-hacks.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6dZB9-Cd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2369"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2376,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369\/revisions\/2376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2369"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithtowntodaynews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}