Recently a friend of mine welcomed their third baby. When my husband and I brought our oldest home from the hospital six years ago, we had several friends and family drop off meals and snacks as we transitioned to becoming new parents. Not having to worry about meal planning those first few weeks was so helpful as we navigated sleepless nights and new routines. With my friend bringing home their third, figuring out what to feed their two older children could have been quite the chore!

Cooking and helping others are part of my love language. Once I found out they were settling in at home I went through my recipe archive of tried-and-true favorites that I thought my friend’s family would enjoy as quick breakfast options and snacks throughout the day. To keep it simple, I chose recipes that included pantry items that I already had on hand. Aside from an assortment of chocolate chips and sprinkles 😊, I always have a variety of dried fruit in my pantry. Some of our favorites are dried cherries, apricots, blueberries, cranberries, and apples. I buy dried fruit in bulk at the store because I can easily add it to recipes or use it as a topping for yogurt/cereal. A great benefit to having dried fruit is that I don’t have to worry about fresh fruit spoiling if it gets forgotten about in the fridge. Dried fruit has many of the same nutrients you would get from eating fresh produce, and my kids enjoy taking handfuls of dried fruit out of the pantry as a quick snack.

As part of the welcome home basket that I put together, I made the recipes below from Spend Smart. Eat Smart. These are easy to make, don’t require too many ingredients, and can be used as quick and healthy breakfast/snack options!

1. Granola – Jody shared this recipe already, but it’s so good I had to reshare! I picked up a container of vanilla yogurt for them to make yogurt parfaits. This granola recipe is also great on ice cream!
2. Scones – I used a mix of dried cranberries and chopped apricots.
3. Breakfast Cookies – These are a yummy, filling treat throughout the day!

Add dried fruit to your grocery list and give these recipes a try!