LUNCH – Butternut Squash and Apple Soup with Broccoli & Sausage Melts
There’s nothing like a bowl of warm, deliciously soup on a chilly fall day, to warm everyone up after some fun outdoor playtime. This Butternut Squash and Apple Soup has been a complete hit with the kids! Rich and smooth butternut squash with tart granny smith apples, in easy to drink cute little cups. What’s not to love? P.S. never underestimate the power of cute little cups, when presenting new food to kids:)

This was a super quick lunch to pull together. I reheated the soup (which I made the night before) and made the melts by slicing a baguette into 1/4″ slices topping them with shredded mozzarella cheese, chopped broccoli and leftover sausage from dinner. It only took a minute or two under the broiler to melt the cheese and lunch was done.

SNACK – Yogurt Parfaits with Homemade Fruit Sauce, Granola Crumble & Kiwi
To make these parfaits, I started with plain greek yogurt and topped it with some homemade fruit sauce. For the sauce I used 2 cups of blueberries, 1 cup of peaches and a handful of spinach. I love that I can make a batch of this fruit sauce each week, switching it up to keep things interesting and to use whatever frozen fruit I have in the freezer.

I also added cut-up kiwi and sprinkled on some granola crumble to finish off the parfait. What’s granola crumble? It is the leftover crumbs, at the bottom of the container, of a polished off batch of homemade lunch box granola bars, perfect for parfaits:)

SNACK – Veggie & Avocado Dip
This easy avocado “dip” is simply mashed avocado with a squeeze of lime juice and some salt & pepper. Which is awesome because with very little planning, effort or ingredients, I have a healthy dip to serve with veggies, that the kids love.

I like to challenge myself to serve afternoon/after school snacks that are veggie-based. It doesn’t always happen, but that’s my goal. You’ve gotta have goals right:) Actually, it was quite an eye opener when I started doing this. It’s so easy to grab fruit for snacks and I realized that veggies were getting left out at snack time. A lot! Don’t get me wrong, we all love fruit, but that’s kind of the point.

I have found in order to get kids (and adults) to eat more veggies, I simply have to serve more veggies. Since focusing on veggies for our afternoon/after school snacks I have definitely been serving way more vegetables. And most importantly everyone is eating more vegetables. Give it a try. Take the after school snack veggie challenge!