Afternoon Tea

Megan and I challenged each other to start having afternoon tea on a regular basis with our children. We both enjoy it, and our children do, too...but both of us were having trouble making it a regular part of the routine. I'm not sure how Megan's done this summer, but we are finally settling into a nice routine in this area--one I hope to continue during the school year.

We have our tea snack around 4, when my kids get up from their rest times. This is our only snack for the day. This works for us because we don't eat dinner until around 6:30 or 7:00.

Here's the thing, folks: it's NOT elaborate. Sometimes we make hot tea, sometimes we drink iced tea... and sometimes we have juice or water or milk. I predict some hot chocolate and hot homemade chai in the cooler months ahead. We sit down for about 20 minutes--just enough to chat, take the edge off late afternoon hunger, and rest Mommy's feet.

What do we eat? I've started making things right after lunch that are on the healthier end of the dessert spectrum and/or breakfasty--we eat a small portion for a snack and then we eat the leftovers for breakfast next morning! It's not always homemade, but I do make the tea snack something of a little "treat" in feel. We rarely have dessert after dinner, so this kind of takes that place. The key here is portion control; we don't need to feel full  (after all, I know dinner is coming in a couple of hours ☺). Here are some ideas:

• coffee cake
• fruit-based dessert
• cinnamon graham crackers with cream cheese and a side of fruit
• cheese, crackers, some fruit
• French bread spread with nutella and some fruit (this was a BIG hit)
• muffins with some nuts or fruit on the side
• quick bread (such as banana or zucchini or pumpkin) with some fruit or nuts 
• snack cake (many snack cakes are no different than their quick bread relatives in terms of sugar/fat!)
• rice pudding or bread pudding (using up those leftovers ☺)

What types of foods would you include on this list?