At my house, we're trying to wean the kids (and mommy!) off of SO much sugar and sugary snacks. No more Dora fruit snacks, no more Oreos, no more Marshmallow Mateys... But we've gotta have something to munch on, right? So, I've become a baking fool. This week alone I've made: Bran muffins (eh), Power balls (hit!), zucchini bread (hit!), zucchini brownies (hit! Except with the teen, who doesn't trust my brownies after the spinach brownie incident...) I've also bought a LOT more fruit and veggies, as well as pre-packaging carrot sticks and snack-sized bags of popcorn. I think my husband's happy that there are so many easy munchies laying around, and my kids are no longer going through a box of fruit snacks a day.
Here are the recipes from our first month's meeting:
Healthy Snack Ideas
Power Balls Thank you Pinterest! (And my sister who made me pin this and try it...)
http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com/2011/08/no-bake-energy-bites-recipe.html?2 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey (can substitute dark agave nectar for all or part of the honey)
1/2 cup ground flaxseed meal
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (or nuts or raisins)
1 tsp vanilla
Mix everything together in a bowl. Chill for one hour in the fridge. Roll into balls. Keep in fridge. My kids love these and keep sneaking them because they think they're cookies!
6-Week Bran Muffins http://www.owlhaven.net/2008/01/30/my-very-favorite-price-is-free/1 cup boiling water
3 cups Bran cereal, divided
1/2 cup melted shortening or vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cups buttermilk (make your own by adding 2 Tbs. white vinegar to 2 cups milk, let sit while bran is soaking in water)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbs. baking soda
1 Tbs. salt
Pour boiling water over 1 cup bran cereal in the biggest bowl you have. Let stand until water is absorbed. Stir in shortening or oil until well combined. In a large bowl, combine remaining two cups cereal, sugar, eggs, and buttermilk. Set aside. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add buttermilk mix to cereal mix in first bowl, stirring until combined. Then add flour mix, stirring again until combined. Store batter in fridge, tightly covered for up to six weeks. To make muffins, pre-heat oven to 400*. Grease and flour muffin tins (Seriously, do NOT use muffin liners, the batter sticks to them and you loose half your muffin) spoon batter into tins until 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 min.
You can stir raisins in just before baking and in retrospect I should have done that, then I probably could have passed them off as raisin-bran muffins. Maybe next time I'll dip the tops in sugar like Mary Ostyn recommends and see if my kids go for them a little better.
Applesauce Muffins (Made up by our very own Holly B.)1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup bran cereal
1 cup buttermilk
1 apple
1 tsp butter
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon (divided)
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbs. brown sugar (divided)
1/2 cup ground flaxseed meal
3/4 cup flour (white or wheat)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup veg. oil (OR cut out the oil and add another 1/2 cup applesauce!)
1 egg
Topping:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup butter (OR more applesauce!)
1/2 cup brown sugar
Wheat germ for sprinkling
(Whew! That's a LOT of ingredients, but these are worth it 'cause they're SO yummy!)
Pre-heat oven to 350* Put oats and Bran cereal in buttermilk and set aside for 30 min. until softened. Cut up apple into very small pieces and put into saucepan along with a sliver of butter, cinnamon, and 1 Tbs. brown sugar. Cook just until apple softens. Let it cool. Meanwhile, mix flaxseed, flour, baking soda, baking powder, remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon in large bowl. Add applesauce, oil, egg, wet oats/bran mix, and cooked apples to bowl and mix. Spoon into muffin tins. Mix toppings together and sprinkle on top of muffins. Bake at 375* for 12 min if regular sized muffins, 7 min for mini muffins.
This recipe is from Stephanie R.
Banana Bread3 bananas, smashed
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
Cream together smashed bananas, sugar, butter and eggs. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir and mix well. Bake in a large greased loaf pan at 350* for 55-65 min.
And from Rachel B. we have
Peanut Butter Granola Bars (These kinda remind me of Payday bars)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup peanuts
wheat germ
Combine together peanut butter, honey, and coconut oil over low heat in a saucepan until melted together. Add oatmeal, peanuts and wheat germ. Stir to combine and remove from heat. Dump into an 8x8 in pan, spread to corners and let cool. Cut into bars or squares.
Peanut Butter Popcorn From Rebecca N. 6-8 cups popped popcorn
1 Tbs. butter or margarine
1/2 cup light corn syrup or honey
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Melt together butter, corn syrup and sugar in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Add peanut butter and vanilla, stirring to combine. Pour over popcorn. Cool and enjoy! (Protein and grain in one snack! I looove popcorn!)
(Ok, we're all done with the peanut butter recipes, for those of you who have peanut butter allergies, sorry!)
From Christine M.
Maple Vanilla Granola with Almonds
http://goodcheapeats.com/2012/05/maple-vanilla-almond-granola/
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup oat bran
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup dry-roasted, unsalted almonds
In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, wheat germ, oat bran, and salt.
In a small saucepan, combine the syrup, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Heat just until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the liquid over the dry mixture and stir to coat. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking sheet and spread evenly, pressing the mixture firmly.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Break into clusters and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely before packaging in an airtight container. Stir in the almonds or add them to taste upon serving. Store in an airtight container. Freeze for longer shelf life.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 45 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 8
This is a great granola, it turns outs nice and crunchy, and super yummy over vanilla yogurt.
And ALSO from Christine:
REAL Fruit Roll-Ups
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/09/how-to-make-homemade-fruit-roll-ups/Ingredients
2 1/2 – 3 cups ripe or slightly over-ripe diced fruit
sweetener to taste: honey, sugar, agave, etc.
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
optional: seasonings, spices, extracts to tasteInstructions
Preheat oven to lowest temperature. 140° or higher. Puree all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Pour onto a baking sheet lined with plastic wrap, or a silicone baking mat (don’t use foil, parchment, or waxed paper), and spread to 1/8″ thick. Place in oven and bake for 6-8 hours, until center is not tacky anymore. Remove from oven and peel off of baking sheet. Cut into strips and roll in parchment or plastic. Store in airtight container or freeze. Tips:
-All fruits will produce slightly different results. Strawberries and Raspberries are two of my favorites, that consistently produce good flavor and texture. You might have to experiment to find what works well. If you’re going to make a giant batch, you may want to test one first to make sure it works well.
- The addition of sugar or honey enhances the texture and makes the fruit roll ups a little more chewy than if you leave it out.
- If using plastic wrap, it will shrink a little as the fruit dries, so do leave a little extra around the edges. A silicone baking mat works the absolute best in my opinion.
Tracy M. brought an quick snack fix that was probably the favorite with the pre-school crowd we had with us, (but it was lunch time…)
Sandwich WrapsGet a wrap from the store with your favorite sandwich topping. Make just like a sandwich. Roll. Cut into the same size pieces. I like to do 6 pieces, easier to eat.
That’s it! She made peanut butter and jelly ones for us in like, a minute. (Peanut butter again! I think we’re junkies…) I can’t wait to try this one for my kid’s lunch boxes.
Darla H. brought in a huge long list of lunch ideas, so I’ll hang on to those and post them when we do lunch ideas.
Next month we’re going to bring in healthy salad ideas for dinner. So ladies, start thinking, and pinning and trying! Oh, go check out the blogs we borrowed ideas from. Some of these gals are hilarious and you might just find a new favorite blog!
…Wait, what? You want my zucchini brownie recipe? It IS to die for, but we did SNACKS today, not desserts! I’m sure we’ll get around to healthy desserts sometime, (knowing us…) so remind me again when I post about healthy desserts and I’ll give it up as well as my recipe for zucchini pie that can fool the toughest critic into thinking it’s apple. Until next month… eat clean!
Ivy
