Parents who insist on the best for their children have two new choices in the popular all-natural Mac & Cheese from Annie’s Homegrown.

Our investigative adult palates preferred the slightly more sophisticated taste of the 5-Grain variety, but we’re betting the nuances will be lost on kids. They’ll only note that the 5-Grain is white, not orange. Try the tip from Annie’s Homegrown to substitute yogurt for the milk for a tangier taste.

Annie’s Homegrown has also launched new Organic Cheddar Snack Mix Bunnies: crunchy Cheddar bunny crackers, buttery bunny crackers and pretzels, with a light seasoning of Organic Valley Cheddar cheese. Visit Annies.com to learn more.

Save some for the kids! A favorite snack mix, USDA-certified organic. Photo by Hannah
Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

• Read about more our favoriteKid’s Foods on TheNibble.com.

Milton the Moose with a juice box of Froose.

A year ago we tried an alternative children’s juice product called Froose, and never posted our comments about it. Now, with the kids back in school (although Froose is targeted to the pre-school set), it seems time to right our wrong.

Named for fruit + juice or fruit + moose (its mascot is an engaging relative of Bullwinkle, named Milton the Moose), Froose was developed by a mom who was concerned about the sugar levels in the juice that was her son’s beverage of preference. She developed an alternative with half the sugar plus whole grain nutrition. It’s a product parents should take note of.

Working with nutritionists, the company created a patented process that uses fruit juice concentrate (peach, cherry or pear, the current flavors), organic apple juice concentrate and organic brown rice flour. Combined with inulin, the flour adds 3 grams of fiber in each 4.23-ounce juice box, 12% of the USDA’s recommended daily requirement).

Low-glycemic brown rice syrup is used as a sweetener, which limits the sugar from 5 to 7 grams per serving, compared to 14 grams in an all-juice product. Froose provides 25% of a day’s requirement of vitamin C. It is kosher-certified, gluten-free and dairy-free. Currently the product is 85% organic; the company aims for 100% organic down the road.

While Froose was made to appeal to very young palates, the three adults who tasted it at THE NIBBLE found it to be wholesome and appealing. If you can’t find it locally, you can purchase it at Froose.com, in Playful Peach, Cheerful Cherry and Perfect Pear.

Involve the kids in meal planning. Let them pick out dishes that appeal to them, and develop their interest in cooking and entertaining. Younger children can be offered simple choices—should we have A or B, and which side dishes. Older children can browse through cookbooks—check out Rachel Ray’s 30-Minute Meals For Kids. Discuss dishes with kids at the table: how they like this sauce or spice or food pairing compared or cooking technique compared to others, what foods they might be interested in trying. The next step is to identify regular dishes they may enjoy taking charge of—salads, perhaps, and prepping other ingredients. Check to see if there is a kids’ cooking class in your town. Involving kids in food preparation and teaching basic cooking skills teaches the joy of cooking, lets the kids help out the family in an important way, impresses their friends and ensures that when your children leave home, they know how to do more than order take-out.

• Cause lunch room jealousy with these cool lunches for school.
• Treat your little gourmet with the Nibble’s food gifts for kids

• See our favorite kids’ foods.
• Take a look at these award-winning peanut butter sandwich recipes. You’ll want to make every one of them!

Have some watermelon…cookie. Photo by
Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

Today is National Sugar Cookie Day. That’s O.K. for a start, but sugar cookies aren’t the most flavorable cookie around. Most of the large, fancifully decorated cookies are sugar cookies. They’re pretty, but they could be tastier. Sugar cookies tend not to have vanilla or other flavorings. They’re just sugary—and baked with a higher proportion of flour to be a sturdy platform that’s good for decorating, but not necessarily the tastiest for eating.

That’s where Fancypants steps in. Their decorated cookies are as beautiful and varied as any bakery’s, but they’ve improved upon the bland sugar cookie by baking rich, buttery shortbread. We hoarded the entire box!

Because the Fancypants co-founders are former educators (a middle school teacher and an education researcher, both with masters’ degrees), they know about kids and nut allergies. So their bakery is 100% nut-free. But these are welcome gifts for nut-eating grownups too. There are cookie themes for everyone, from sports to animals to baby, wedding, holiday and custom-decorated cookies for corporate logos.

Another great popcorn flavor from DaleandThomasPopcorn.com.

If you’re looking for an inspired gift to send to your favorite camper, hostess or celebrant, we can recommend the new Dark Fudge Caramel N’ Almonds flavor from Dale & Thomas. We’re still equally fond of the other chocolate-drizzled flavors, including Chocolate Chunk N’ Caramel, Chocolate & Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter & White Chocolate, Toffee Crunch and Twice-As-Nice Chocolate (dark and white chocolate). A gift box filled with six large bags is $39.95, in your choice of a single flavor or one bag of each of the six flavors (highly recommended!). Dale & Thomas sweet popcorn is not overly sweet (that is to say, it’s welcomed by the sophisticated palate), and is elegant enough that it can become a light dessert, by itself or sprinkled atop vanilla or chocolate ice cream.

All Dale & Thomas popcorn flavors are certified kosher OU-D and are gluten free.

And now, some editorializing from our editor:

If you’re a vegan or kosher, you can’t have gummy candies—they’re made with gelatin, an animal-derived product. Alas, Annie’s Homegrown products aren’t certified kosher, but vegans can certainly experience the joy of gummies. The company makes “gummy” Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks using tapioca instead of gelatin.

Two new flavors have debuted this summer: Sunny Citrus, a blend of lemon, lime and orange flavors; and Summer Strawberry. They join Tropical Treat and Berry Patch flavors. All are MSRP $4.99 for five .8 ounce pouches.

You can see the entire Annies Homegrown line at www.Annies.com.

Hopping down the bunny trail with vegan-friendly gummy candy from Annie’s Homegrown. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

It’s time to toast graduation for the elementary through high school set. You can have the Champagne; they can toast it with a glass of grapy bubbly in a Champagne-like bottle. Bottles of Welch’s Sparkling Juice Cocktail (in white or red grape juice) have been all dressed up with a tasseled mortarboard key ring as a memento (for those who haven’t graduated recently, a mortarboard is the “cap” in “cap and gown”).

Tasting exactly like fizzy versions of the regular juice, these sweet, fruity, non-alcoholic beverages are an alternative to the Shirley Temple, and a soda alternative to adults wistful for that Welch’s grape juice taste. The grown-up, wine-style bottles add to the festivities. The cost: $3.49 per bottle. Be sure to serve in wine glasses! Long past graduation that we are, we enjoyed our trip down memory lane with a glass of each.

Toast to the graduate: plenty of bubbles, no alcohol.