My (Final) Week as Kindergarten Classroom Snack Parent

 

Monday 6/2/14 to Friday, 6/6/14 - I signed up as Snack Parent for the second-to-last week at Z's morning school because her birthday was that weekend, and also to leave the very last week open for someone with a Summer birthday. Plus I'd probably be too slobbery-emotional to keep my sh*t together for my baby's last week of Kindergarten! Haha!

Other than the "disposable snacks" sent for Monday's field trip and the birthday cupcakes for Friday, all the snacks are gluten- and dairy-free (and always peanut and nut-free, although possibly not all cross-contamination free. There are no nut allergies in the class, so we're more lax about stuff made on the same equipment.)

Monday

Bananas, Honest Kids juice pouches, Annie's Cheddar Bunnies, homemade GF DF duck "quackers"

 

Since her class would be going to a local history museum which is right next to a really nice park, the teacher asked for portable disposable snacks in case the weather was nice and they decided to "picnic" in the park. Can do! We got a giant assortment of single-serve Annie's Homegrown bunny snacks and sent all the Cheddar Bunnies for the field trip. (The other flavors went into her birthday goody bags for her classmates.) Since Z couldn't have them due to both the gluten and dairy, I promised I would either make her something, or send some gluten-free Qwackers (even though they have cheese in them.) She pushed me to make some (also duck-shaped though!) so I stayed up late Sunday night and got baking! They aren't awesome, as I had to experiment since I couldn't use the almond flour called for in the recipe I was following, and I think my rice flour was a bit stale. I'll work on them some more and share the recipe, once I perfect it. Z liked them okay, and while she complained that they weren't great, she didn't want me giving the rest all to her sister! Haha!

Instead of parsing out fruit in little snack-size Ziploc baggies, we opted for bananas. Self-contained single-serve fruit! The teacher said it was just perfect, and the kids loved it. So, yay.

Tuesday

Organic Pink Lemonade, organic strawberries, Snapea Crisps

 

Trader Joe's has affordable organic strawberries year-round. While I'm all for buying local and seasonal, my girls love their strawberries! And so do the kids at school!

Wednesday

Popcorn, sugar snap peas, organic carrots, guacamole

 

While shopping at Trader Joe's, I offered Z a choice of hummus or guacamole to send for dipping veggies, and she chose guacamole. I sent along some little cups to serve it in, but didn't want to do it at home and have the guacamole turn brown before snack.
Apparently I should have just made the extra trip to the natural market for dairy-free Ranch dressing. The guacamole was a bomb! Oh well.

Thursday

Organic apples, Pomegranate Green Tea, potato chips

 

I looooove Trader Joe's organic sliced apples! Very affordable, like Costco's, but a nice small amount we can go through before they go bad! And the perfect size for her 11-person classroom.

Friday

Sparkling berry lemonade, organic grapes, GF carrot cake cupcakes w/dye-free gummy hearts

For the snack the day before her 6th birthday, she chose a special sparkling berry lemonade from Trader Joe's (just like last year!) Unlike last year though, I just didn't have it in me to bake cupcakes. Luckily I had a dozen mini gluten-free carrot cake cupcakes in the freezer that had been on clearance at Safeway or Wal-Mart (they both carry Antonina's gluten-free products) for being short-dated. Short-dated is fine when they're headed straight for the freezer! Boo-yaw!

My only problem with these cupcakes is the dairy frosting. Originally I'd bought them for Z to take to school for parties or something, since E can't have them. But lately I've been letting Z have more dairy and we've been seeing more behavioral issues and tummy complaints. So I decided to do a dairy-free trial and see if it helped, or introduce dairy again after a hiatus and see if there was an observable difference. But lazy won out, and I went ahead and cheated with these cupcakes!

I added the little gummy hearts on top. They're from Surf Sweets, and are dye-free and allergy-friendly (made in a facility free from the Top 8 Allergens and gluten!) The hearts are only available for Valentine's, so I made sure to stock up to last all year!

Apparently the cupcakes were not a hit. Out of 11 kids in the class, only 9 cupcakes were taken (possibly some absences,) and Z said she got to eat hers plus two or three others rejected by her friends. They all ate the gummy hearts though!