FUN WITH FRUIT KABOBS AND FRUTTARE

Back-to-school shopping is finally underway, and as you consider your family’s lunch boxes it is a great time to start thinking about how you will fill them. Will you include gummy bears and quick fixes in their lunches? Or will you strive to keep the family excited about having fun with fruit?

Getting the whole family to enjoy fruit can be as simple as including tasty fruit in their lunch boxes — and don’t forget your own too!

I’ve partnered with Fruttare®, a delicious line of frozen fruit bars, to bring fun with fruit to your whole family. Not only are Fruttare® Fruit Bars delicious and made with real fruit you can taste, the brand is also working towards sustainably farming every piece of fruit that goes into a Fruttare Fruit Bar by year’s end. My favorite flavor is pineapple and I love that everyone in the family can enjoy their favorite flavors like coconut, strawberry, and mango, just to name a few.

One of the great ways that we have been able to have fun with fruit was when the Fruttare Fruit Farm came to Tampa this summer. We made our final stop at The Suncoast Credit Union 8th Annual Back to School Fair. This gave me the chance to share my favorite flavors of the delicious Fruttare Fruit Bars with families from all over the Bay Area. We also made the famous University of Tampa Minarets with real fruit, which are recognizable in the Tampa skyline. This fun and simple activity is a party favorite, and everyone who made it was proud of their tasty and adorable treat.

Families also were able to get their own strawberry plant to take home at the Fruttare Fruit Farm, as a way to grow their own delicious fruit. I loved seeing families come learn about how to plant their strawberry seeds and of course enjoy a Fruttare Fruit Bar!

Having fun with fruit is just one of the easy ways to encourage your whole family to eat more of it. An easy way to do this, is allowing your children to come shopping with you and pick out a new fruit to try. This will encourage them to try new fruits. They are also far more likely to eat it if they chose it themselves. Take those same fruits and mix them into a smoothie, or let your family get creative with it so that they can enjoy their creation.

After they’ve selected their favorite fruits, a great way to get them to enjoy it is to make fruit kabobs. They make an easy snack to include in a lunch box and, most importantly, taste yummy!

Fun with Fruit Kababos

Letting your kids use their unique personalities to create something crafty and fun can be a great opportunity to let them shine! And, when you let them pick which fruits they like, their tastes might be as different as their unique selves. Making kabobs is a great way to let everyone use the fruits they like, while allowing the kids to showcase their colorful personality and style.

Here is what you will need:

• Kabob sticks
• Assorted fruits (strawberries, mangoes, bananas, cherries, and pineapples are great for this)
• Small cookie cutters in varying shapes

Instructions:

• Layout the fruit your family selected, and use the cookie cutters to create a variety of shapes. Note: Cookie cutter won’t work on citrus fruits
• Stack the fruit onto the kabob stick

When you want to let your kids show their unique personalities, creating something crafty and fun can often be a great time to let them shine. And, when you let your kids pick which fruit they like, their tastes might be as different as their unique selves. Making kabobs is a great way to let everyone get something they like, and to let you see the colorful attitudes of each of your kids.

For this craft, you will need (2 servings):

About two cups of Assorted fruits (strawberries, mangoes, bananas, cherries, and pineapples are great for this).

All you will need to do is have your kids cut their favorite fruits into fun shapes, like hearts or stars, using cookie cutters or a Pop Chef which cuts fruit into fun shapes.

Have your kids stack and layer their favorite fruits onto the kabob stick, and you are done! They can save their kabobs for lunches during the school year, or for treats at home.

I am Angela Ardolino writing on behalf of Fruttare Fruit Bars.