Category Archives: I Cooked: Snacks

Dec7

Christmas Goes to the Dogs

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I love when people give homemade gifts from their kitchens during the holidays — cookies, fudge, toffee…you know they spent a bunch of time making them, and if you get one of these gifts, you must have done something right that year. Baking for our four-legged friends is just as special and even easier (dogs are not picky when it comes to edible gifts). We have made these Bacon Grilled-Cheese Bones for our dogs several times, as well as for the sweet pups at the Richardson Animal Shelter. The best part is you can dump everything into a food processor and cut into whatever shapes you like.

Bacon Grilled-Cheese Bones (Adapted from The Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook)

Enough rolled oats to make 1 cup of flour

6 slices of bacon

1 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 egg

1/2 cup water

Grind the oats in a food processor to make oat flour.  Measure out 1 cup and set aside.  Cook and cool the bacon, then place in the food processor and pulse a few times until it is roughly chopped.  Add the oat flour and remaining ingredients and process until a ball of dough forms (you can also do this with your hands in a bowl if preferred).

Roll out the dough to about 1/4″ thickness, using extra oat flour as needed so the dough doesn’t stick.  Cut out shapes (we have bone and fire hydrant cookie cutters!) and place on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until the cookies are golden.  Cool on a wire rack and store in the fridge.

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It’s hard to wait patiently when the house smells like bacon

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Baking for the Richardson Animal Shelter

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Romeo and Mouse, the taste testers

 

Mar28

Savory Greek Yogurt Snack

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Cucumber Salad

I’ve been on the Greek yogurt bandwagon for a while (Fage is my absolute favorite) and recently went from buying the kind with the sweetened fruit to getting the plain versions and mixing in my own cereal, fruit, etc..  I’m always hearing that Greek yogurt is the perfect substitute for sour cream and can be used in many savory ways, but I had yet to find a good use until seeing C&J Nutrition’s recipe for Cucumber Salad in Self Magazine.

To 1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt, add 1/2 cup diced cucumber, 1/2 cup diced tomatoes, 1/4 chopped avocado, and salt & pepper.  That’s it.  It tastes amazing and is a nice change from my normal sugary yogurt snack.

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Mar17

Loving the Looneyspoons Loaf

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Pumpkin, Banana, Zucchini, Walnut, Chocolate Chip Bread

Pumpkin, banana, zucchini, walnuts, chocolate chips…yum.  There is a lot of stuff in this recipe from Janet & Greta Podleski.  The “Loaf of Your Life” recipe was in the original Looneyspoons cookbook, but the authors sent out a new and improved (and even healthier) version in the March 2012 issue of their Recipe Newsletter.

I made this bread with my daughter Samantha, and it was great to see her fascination with grating the zucchini after telling me how “gross” it was when we picked it up at the grocery store.  Of course, once baked into this delicious bread, she had no further issues with the zucchini.  There is hope.

 

 

Pumpkin-Banana-Zucchini Loaf with Flax & Walnuts (adapted from Janet & Greta Podleski’s March 2012 Recipe Newsletter)

Dry Ingredients:

1 cup each whole-wheat pastry flour and all-purpose flour

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 bananas)

1 cup canned pure pumpkin

1 cup grated packed zucchini, unpeeled

1/2 cup low-fat greek yogurt (I used fat-free Fage)

1/2 cup brown sugar (not packed)

1/4 cup canola oil

1 egg

1/2 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used 1/4 cup and sprinkled on half of the loaf)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.  Don’t use a 8×4 pan.  Combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well.  In a large bowl, whisk together wet ingredients through egg until well blended.  Add dry ingredients and mix using a wooden spoon just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.  Spoon batter evenly into prepared pan.  Bake on middle oven rack for 50 to 60 minutes (my oven needed 60 minutes), or until wooden skewer inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.  Cool in pan on wire rack.  Wrap leftovers well and store in fridge for up to 5 days; can also be frozen.

Mar2

Shrimpy Biscuits

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Shrimp Puffs

Confession:  normally when I see a recipe starting with a tin of biscuit dough, I quickly turn the page.  They just don’t taste like real biscuits in my opinion, and many of them contain trans fats and ingredients I can’t pronounce.  But I saw this recipe for Shrimp Puffs in Food Network Magazine on two occasions, and I kept thinking about how much my daughter Samantha would like them.  And I seem to have a weakness for recipes that call for fresh dill.  Once I tracked down a tin of biscuit dough without any funky ingredients (Pillsbury‘s Simply brand), I decided to give it a go.  I had a larger tin of biscuits than the recipe called for, so my youngest kitchen helper Lauren broke eight pieces of dough into thirds and then we pressed them into all 24 mini muffin tins (the recipe states 20).  Even with this change, there was a ton of the shrimp-cheese filling, so we didn’t need all of it.  I had chives on hand (and thought they would go over well with the kids) so I used those instead of scallions.

As expected, Samantha loved these cheesy shrimp-topped biscuits.  So did my husband.  Lauren adores plain biscuits and was not happy about having shrimp stuck to the top of them…she was looking around for her usual strawberry jam.  And not surprisingly, I thought they were “okay”.  They would be a good party snack, but we had them with a big salad for a quick weeknight dinner.  Even though they weren’t my favorite creation to date, I will make these again since Samantha enjoyed them so much (and Lauren had a lot of fun “helping” with the dough).

Feb12

Peanut Butter Cherry Granola Bars

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Peanut Butter Cherry Granola Bars

My family is a major consumer of packaged granola bars, breakfast bars, protein bars, etc. — you name it, we eat it.  They are just an easy (and sometimes healthy) snack to throw into backpacks and lunchbags.  While I love the convenience, the idea of having a healthy stash of homemade, unprocessed bars in my fridge is also appealing.  So I’m going to try a few recipes to see if I can find something my kids enjoy as much as the packaged stuff.

First up is a Looneyspoons Collection recipe called Goody Two Chews.  They are sweet, chewy, and have a big hit of pumpkin pie spice (if you don’t love pumpkin pie spice, cut it back or swap for cinnamon).  I found a video of Greta Podleski demonstrating the recipe, and I have included my version of the recipe below.  The original recipe calls for light peanut butter (I used regular) and dried cranberries (I used dried cherries); you can certainly swap in your own favorites.  For the low-fat granola, definitely try to use Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola.  It has pumpkin seeds but no dried fruit, so perfect for this recipe.  And, well, it’s delicious.

My kids did not care for these granola bars — they seemed put off by all the cherries (even though my youngest, Lauren, could eat a whole bag of dried cherries in one sitting).  But that’s okay, because that means more for me.  The combination of peanut butter with pumpkin seeds and cherries is quite addictive.  I really enjoyed these.  I tried them out on my husband and also my friend Beth, just to make sure I wasn’t biased…they loved them as well.  Perhaps the flavors are just a bit too exotic for the average kid palate.  They requested something more in the ballpark of chocolate chips and oats, so stay tuned.

Peanut Butter Cherry Granola Bars (adapted from Janet & Greta Podleski’s, “The Looneyspoons Collection”)

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

2 egg whites

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2 1/2 cups Pumpkin Flax Plus Granola

3/4 cup chopped dried cherries

Preheat oven to 250F.  Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray.  In a medium bowl, beat together peanut butter and maple syrup with an electric mixer on medium speed.  Add egg whites and pumpkin pie spice  and beat again until smooth.

Stir in granola and dried cherries.  Divide mixture evenly among muffin cups (about 3/4 full).  Bake for 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack before removing clusters from pan.  Store in an airtight container.

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