Six years old are funny.  They start to get all kinds of personality and have very specific ways they want things done. A few friends are planning a sleepover for one night of our upcoming spring break from school and I am getting “schooled” on good ideas for snacks.  Of course there will be the typical snacks of popcorn, cookies and candy.  But, I want to make sure there are a few wholesome snacks too that incorporate fruits or vegetables.  So, I did a few taste tests with her and we created what she called “the perfect snack.”

Before I went shopping, H gave me a list of the things she wanted in her snack.  I stopped at Walmart and picked up a few items to try out including the strawberry flavor of Philadelphia cream cheese. Once we were home, I put together two ideas and let her try them to see which one she liked best.

The first was a strawberry cream cheese dip for fruit or crackers.  It was a combination of one tub of strawberry Philadelphia cream cheese {which has real strawberries in it!} and 1/2 cup of whipped topping.  

H liked the dip a lot but was really interested in the second option because she said it looked pretty.  This one was strawberry cream cheese piped onto a cracker and then topped with a fresh strawberry slice. Super simple but really delicious.

This one was our winner!  She loves the strawberry flavor and slight tang in the cream cheese.  I think she also liked that it looked a lot like the “fancy” things I serve at parties but tasted super kid friendly.  I told her that I would make these for her upcoming sleepover and she was super excited.

I was so excited to find a snack she loved that was also a balanced snack that includes nutritious fresh fruit but still feels like you are having something sweet. I think we’ll be keeping these ingredients around the house more often so we can make this for an afternoon snack too.

Want to get more recipe ideas using Philadelphia Cream Cheese?  Search for #SpreadtheFlavor and #CollectiveBias on twitter or Google.