How to Prepare Healthy Snacks for Kids with Nut Allergies
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Every parent knows the pain of dealing with hungry kids, especially a couple of them. When my daughter has playdates at our house, I always make an effort to have some food for her and her friends that is easy to make and eat. Recently, I prepared a fruit and vegetable board for my daughter’s playdate, full of tasty and healthy snacks for the kids. It’s always nice to have something that both kids and adults can enjoy and easily eat during a day full of play. This board is loaded full of summer fruits, fresh vegetables, and various crackers to help deal with the summer heat and have a nice snack for the kids.
However, creating this board wasn’t easy, as I had to work around the fact that one of the kids has a nut allergy. When working with food allergies, you have to be very careful in what you prepare, as some allergies can be quite severe, as was my daughter’s friend. When planning out this board, though fruits and vegetables aren’t usually containing any nuts, I had to be more careful with the types of crackers and dressings I used.
A lot of kids have food allergies, from the nut to gluten allergies, and I think it’s important to have food for them that’s just as tasty and healthy as other kids. Instead of choosing to use hummus as a dipping sauce for the vegetables on this board, I chose to use ranch and blue cheese dressing. I also made sure to use crackers that didn’t have any nuts in them. Other than those two things, I was able to put whatever fruits and vegetables I wanted onto this board. For this board, I used the following recipe:
Ingredients:
Cherry Tomatoes
Zucchini
Cucumber
Cherries
Blueberries
Broccoli
Celery
Grapes
Apples
Crackers
Breadstick Crackers
Dressings & Dipping Sauces
More charcuterie board ideas
Making the board is very simple, as you just have to cut a few fruits and vegetables and arrange everything the way you want with no cooking involved, but it also takes some time to do. I started with a 21-inch x 12-inch rectangular tray, to fit all of the fruits and vegetables. To keep the chopped fruits and vegetables fresh, I tossed them in a mixture of water and fruit-fresh produce protector, so the fruits don’t become oxidized. I began with arranging the dips first, then constructed the board around those dips. I chose to prepare the board a couple of hours before my guests arrived and I wrapped the board in saran wrap and kept it in the fridge. If you’re unable to make the board the day your guests will arrive, they will stay just fine overnight in the fridge, so you can prepare the board the night before. I served this snack board with an infused citrus water, which you can read about here.
Food photography props used in this photoshoot
Some of the props might no longer be available in stores. I selected props as close as possible to match those items.
Food Photography & Video Tips from My Studio
Here’s a peek at the tools, gear, and camera setups I use to film my recipe videos and photograph food at home. Over the years, I’ve tested dozens of different setups, and now I’m sharing what actually works for me—whether I’m filming overhead shots for YouTube or styling still photos for my blog. If you’re curious about how I create the content you see here, these posts are a great place to start.
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