Peanut Butter Roll-ups

Walking to ALEC after school can be difficult when we walk by 2 tempting bodegas that offer candy, sodas and chips aplenty to little eyes. At ALEC we have a fairly strict "no outside food or drink" rule. This is largely in place so that we know what is going into our students bodies while they are with us. If we let them, they would eat little candies, ice cream bars and hot cheetos all day long. 

We teach them that sweets are not necessarily bad, but lots of bad sugar is not good for our bodies. We practice moderation in our space and with our students. 

"Our goal is for the students to prize 

healthy snacks as highly as a candy bar."

It is a an uphill battle most days but we have found one snack that is pretty much a win all around. 

Peanut butter burritos! 

This snack is simple and easily customized for any allergies or for food preferences.  I began asking the students to make their own burrito after I had made it a time or two.  This made them feel like they had invested in their food that day and built excitement for a healthy snack. 

The number of students that initially declined the snack dramatically reduced after I began asking them to make their own snacks.  They all wanted to make it and create it their way. It can be a little messy with the peanut butter, but I felt that even their hand eye coordination improved when it came to spreading peanut butter and guidance by a teacher.

We encourage the student to wash their hands prior to the snack preparation, so they can sprinkle their ingredients on. The honey is the one item I leave for the teacher to administer as students can go a little over board with the sweetness. We also always have our snacks monitored by a staff member. 

What you will need:

Flour tortillas

Natural peanut butter

Craisins 

Cheerios

Honey

1. Spread about a tablespoon of peanut butter on a flour tortilla, ask the child to spread around getting all the way to the edges so that it will roll up and stick like a taquito.

2. Lightly sprinkle cheerios and fruit evenly on the peanut butter. Not too much or you have made a taco because it is too full to roll. 

3. Drizzle honey around the roll up and roll closed like a taquito. Give each child a napkin upon completion so they can carry it around without the extra mess.

A few substitutions for allergies or preference:

For the wrap: gf tortillas warmed, rice cake (this cannot roll but is just another alternative)

For peanut butter: almond butter, Sun butter or just honey although we suggest having a protein in the wrap.

For crunch: other light cereals, granola, puffed wheat,  various nuts

For chewy: other dehydrated fruits like raisins, blueberries, strawberries etc.
For honey: agave

One of the great things I love about this snack is that many students have shared with me that they have requested mom to put the ingredients on their family grocery list.

Students can easily make  this snack at home and since the neighborhood we work in is a food desert these are all items that can be bought at the local family Dollar or even dollar store.

Thanks so much for checking out our recipe. Did you catch our Easy Vegan Smoothie recipe for kids?

Keep checking back here for more recipes and adventures in out of school time programming.

-Amber