Make This Snack Board with Pizza Pinwheels, Raisinets, and, Yes, Vegetables
Kick off summer break with this at home movie-night snack board.
Serves 4
Prep35 minutes
Cook25 minutes
For the last several years my family has kicked off summer with a celebratory end-of-school cookout with friends. This year, school ended with a very unceremonious Zoom call, and we’re still social distancing. So we’re switching gears and welcoming in a new tradition: an outdoor movie night at home and an easy snack dinner filled with my kids’ favorites.
This family movie night dinner requires very little cooking, and is full of substantial snacks (and a few nostalgic treats!) that make it feel like a real meal. Here’s how to make it.
A Sweet and Salty Snack Board for Family Movie Night
There are many, many reasons to love a family snack board dinner — namely, there’s minimal cooking and cleanup, and, under the guise of snacking, my kids eat more vegetables. But right now I especially love how a snack dinner breaks up our routine and makes family meals fun again. This particular board is designed for eating in front of a movie (Trolls World Tour, anyone?) but can easily be taken outside for a porch picnic, or eaten while you take on an epic game of Monopoly.
To make a snack board that’s substantial enough for dinner and festive enough for celebrating, I like to plan for one or two more filling snacks that sometimes involve light cooking. Then, I’ll fill the rest of the board with fruits, vegetables, store-bought snacks, and a few treats. (Don’t stress if these get eaten first, as is the case in my house). Here’s what’s on our movie night board.
- Easy homemade snacks: Frozen pizza rolls were a staple of my own childhood movie nights, so these cheesy pizza pinwheels are the anchor of this snack board (do yourself a favor and get prepared pizza dough and pre-shredded cheese). And you can’t have a home movie night without popcorn, so this movie theater-style popcorn is the move for this snack board.
- Store-bought snacks: The rest of this snack board is filled in with long-lasting fruits and vegetables, namely grapes, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, and cucumbers. Use any fruits and vegetables that need to be eaten up, or add seasonal berries.
- Special treats: Red vines are our movie theater treat of choice, but pick your family’s favorite candy. This was my first time serving Raisinets to my kiddos and they were a huge hit.
Building the snack board: Get the pizza rolls in the oven first and then pop the popcorn — both of these are fine at room temperature, and as they cook, you can prep the fruits and vegetables and line your board or pan of choice with parchment paper (this makes cleanup easier).
Family Snack Boards are an easy way to minimize cooking and dishwashing and make family meals fun! This monthly series will give you snack board meal ideas that rely on just one or two simple recipes and utilize store-bought favorites to fill out the board.
Sweet and Savory Snack Board for A Family Movie Night
Kick off summer break with this at home movie-night snack board.
Prep time 35 minutes
Cook time 25 minutes
Serves 4
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- 1 recipe
- 1 recipe
- 1 cup
pizza sauce, for dipping
- 2 cups
vegetables sticks, such as carrots, cucumbers, or bell peppers
- 2 cups
fresh fruit, such as sliced apples, grapes, or strawberries
- 1 (2.5-ounce) package
Red Vines red licorice twists
- 1 (3.5-ounce) box
Raisinets milk chocolate-covered raisins
Instructions
Grab a large cutting board, rimmed baking sheet, or serving tray and line it with parchment paper. Arrange the pizza wheels directly on the board. Arrange a large bowl for popcorn and 2 small bowls on the board, one for pizza sauce and one for Raisinets.
Arrange the fresh fruits and vegetables around the bowls, leave a small space for licorice. Fill the pizza sauce and popcorn bowls before adding the candies and serving.