Tasty Tuesday: Celery Cups To-Go

So life happened and Tasty Tuesday is a little more like Tasty Wednesday this week.  Better delayed than never!

Today's Tasty Tuesday snack idea is a little fun, tasty, eco-inspired snack selection that's great for team snack.  There's always that fine line of balancing something the kids would like, with something that's fun and easy to transport.  And although not every sporting parent leans toward healthy snack options for team snack, it's nice to have a good healthy option in the repertoire. 

Celery Cups To-Go

What you'll need:

• Peanut Butter or Sunflower Seed Butter (Tip: You should know and have posted publicly whether or not any kids on your team have food allergies.  Keep these allergies in mind when preparing snacks.)
• Celery
• Dried Cranberries, Raisins or Mini-Chocolate Chips (Optional)
• Empty water bottles
• Scissors
• Baking pan 

 

 

Start by prepping your water bottle cups.  We all need a good use for those old bottles, right?  Cut the water bottles almost in half, or about 3.5 inches.  I eyeball it.  The bottom portion of your bottle will become your portable and disposable snack cup.  Wash and dry your cut plastic cups.  Set them aside.  (Tip:  Make sure the bottles you are using aren't sharp when cut.  The last thing you'll want is a sharp edge for the littles.  Most cut just fine, but it's best to test one and double check.  Clean cuts are important too.  Lastly, remember your bottle tops are still recyclable!)

 

 

Wash and chop the celery into sticks about a quarter to half an inch longer than the plastic cups.

Time to assemble.  I'm pretty sure you've probably got the idea of what to do from here, but let's go ahead and walk through this for giggles anyway. 

Place about 2tbs of nut butter in the bottom of each plastic cup.  If you're super picky about neatness, you could pipe the nut butter into the cups, but really, do we want to go through that extra step and mess if a spoon works just as well?  That's a judgment call for you.  Go with your preference.

Place the cut celery sticks in the nut butter toward the center of the cups.  It's oh so important at this point to make sure you put the same amount of sticks in each cup.  We wouldn't want any off the field challenges over who has the most snack!  Placing toward the center into the nut butter will help add stability for transporting to the game. 

Sprinkle about 1tsp of dried cranberries, raisins or mini-chocolate chips into the cup around the celery if you want to jazz the snack up a little. You want a little jazz that will stick to the nut butter surface, don't go crazy here with the dried fruit or add-ins.

Snacks are complete!  Yay!  Simple, easy and hopefully crowd pleasing for kids and parents alike.

 
Now to transport.  We've got a great disposable (still recyclable by the way) container to move our snacks.  But how do we take a tray of open snacks to a game?  Easy - grab a baking pan.  Something with about a two inch lip.  Think brownie or cake pan.  Arrange the cups side by side in the baking pan and cover tightly with plastic wrap to hold the celery in the cups.  Carry this tray stand alone or place atop some ice in a cooler with the juice boxes to keep cool on a hot day.  This easy travel method should ensure this yummy snacks makes it into the hands of eager players at the end of the game.

Happy bottle cutting!

And remember, drop me a note in the comments below on some fun ideas you'd like to see explored for team snacks.