Whenever I wake up and stop blogging my life away, I’m going to have to start stalking John Thorne. He’s a food writer that apparently lives only an hour north of me in Northampton, Massachusetts. One of his books, Mouth Wide Open, contains a recipe for Stirred Egg Rice Bowl. Thorne mentions that this type of dish is popular in China, especially for children or the infirm.
This recipe is adapted from Thorne’s only slightly – can’t mess with perfection. I made some attempts to adapt the recipe using brown rice, but it didn’t compare.
1 scant cup water
Pinch salt
Heaping 1/2 cup long grain white rice
2 large eggs, beaten
1 scallion, trimmed and chopped fine
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
Drizzle of soy sauce or oyster sauce, for garnish (optional)
In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the rice and turn the heat to low. Cover the pan and allow to cook for 13 minutes.
While the rice is cooking, stir together the eggs, scallion, sesame oil, and rice wine in a small bowl. At the end of the 13 minutes, pour the egg mixture over the rice. Place a folded cloth napkin or dish towel over the saucepan with the lid on top to hold it in place. Cook over low heat for 2 more minutes. Then remove from heat and allow to sit with cover and towel on for 15 minutes.
Stir the egg into the rice and be sure it is adequately cooked. Stirring it usually takes care of any questionable bits of egg by exposing them to just a little bit more heat. Transfer to serving bowl(s) and garnish with soy sauce or oyster sauce, if desired. Serve warm.
Note: Thorne’s favorite soy sauce is this Dark Soy Sauce from Pearl River Bridge. I’m not a soy sauce aficionado, but this is definitely a world apart from Kikkoman. I found it at an Asian grocery store.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Prep-time: 10 minutes
Cook-time: 30 minutes
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How could I be blogging about healthy snacks for over a year and not have a post about my childhood favorite? Perhaps I didn’t think it was fancy enough. But today I have the clarity of mind to know that the simple snacks are often the best. Not only because they are easy for mommy to make, but because they are darn tasty! Thanks for making me these when I was little Mom! And I’ll call you soon!
2 pieces toast, preferably raisin and/or whole grain
2 tablespoons nut butter (such as peanut or almond)
One small banana, sliced
Honey
Spread nut butter on toast. Top with banana slices and a drizzle of honey. Serve warm!
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I haven’t actually tasted one of these. My kids will not share! Selfish little monkeys! But I guess that is that best indicator of all that they are a kid-friendly snack. We’ve got a thing for cucumbers dosed in vinegar at our house though. I imagine it’s not a such a thrill for most families. Still, you never know…
The recipe is adapted from one I found in The New York Times Cookbook. I think proper finger sandwiches are supposed to be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated for a while, but I opted not to.
1/4 – 1/3 of a medium cucumber (preferably European Greenhouse), peeled and sliced
White vinegar
Salt and Pepper
4 slices of whole grain bread
Butter for spreading
Place the cucumbers in a small bowl, pour over enough white vinegar so that they are well coated. A bit of extra vinegar at the bottom of the bowl is fine. Sprinkle on a little bit of salt and pepper to taste and stir to coat. Allow the cucumbers to sit for five or ten minutes.
Prepare the bread slices by spreading on a thin layer of butter to coat one side of each slice. Shake any excess vinegar off of the cucumber slices and arrange them on two of the bread slices, overlapping slightly or in two layers. Top with another slice of bread. Cut off the crusts. Cut into quarters, preferably triangles, and serve.
Yield: 8 finger sandwiches
Prep-time: 5 – 10 minutes
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I made a mother load of pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes this morning and didn’t have much mojo left when it came to making a school snack for my first grader. So the pancake sandwich was born. Maybe it should be called a panwich. Whatever it is it could be filled with jam, apple butter, or a lot of other things I haven’t even thought of.
I love that it looks like a whoopie pie.
2 small pancakes, completely cooled
1 tablespoon cream cheese
1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
In a small bowl, stir together the cream cheese and maple syrup until smooth. Spread the cream cheese mixture onto one of the pancakes and top with the second pancake. Serve.
Yield: 1 pancake sandwich
Prep-time: 5 minutes
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The absence of bacon in these vegetarian potato skins is offset a bit by the flavor of the smoked cheddar.
I’d need a nutritionist to do the math for me to say for sure, but there might be a nice little dose of Iron in this snack. Potatoes and their skins supposedly have a relatively high level of Iron (for a vegetable) and the Vitamin C in the broccoli might be enough to help boost the Iron’s absorption.
When all is said and done though, I just love potato skins. And even though there is broccoli in the mix, my three-year-old does too!
4 medium russet potatoes
1/2 cup grated smoked white cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated orange cheddar cheese
1/8 teaspoon chili powder (or more to taste)
4 broccoli florets, cooked and chopped (about 1/3 cup)
Salt to taste
Sour cream or greek-style yogurt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash and bake the potatoes for 40-60 minutes, depending on their size. When a knife inserted into a potato meets little resistance, they are done. Remove from oven and allow to cool until they are easy to handle. Leave the oven on.
Meanwhile, mix the cheeses, chili powder, and broccoli in a small bowl. Set aside.
Cut each potato in half lengthwise. Scoop out the potato’s flesh leaving about 1/4 inch of the flesh attached to the skin. Cut each potato skin into halves or thirds depending on the size of the potato and your preference. I made them on the smaller side in order to accommodate small hands.
Spread the potato skins out on a parchment or foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the cheese mixture over the skins. Bake at 400 degrees Farenhiet for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt if desired. Serve with sour cream or greek-style yogurt if desired.
Yield: 22 potato skins
Prep-time: 15 minutes
Bake-time: 50 minutes
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This is easy and delightfully yummy, especially if you are a fan of grapefruit. The inspiration for this particular flavor combination came from the Amateur Gourmet’s Grapefruit Granita which has some nice photos of the preparation process that might be helpful if you’ve never made Granita before.
I’m guessing that grapefruit might not be every kid’s favorite fruit. My kids liked it. But more and more I’m thinking they are being reprogrammed by my endless snack experiments – another unexpected benefit of blogging.
Juice from 3 red grapefruits
Juice from 1 blood orange
1/4 cup agave nectar
Pour the juices into a medium mixing bowl. Add the agave nectar and whisk vigorously for a minute or two in order to make sure the agave has dissolved.
Trasfer the grapefruit mixture to a baking pan somewhere around the 8 x 8-inch size. It can be metal or glass. Cover with plastic wrap and move to your freezer. Allow to freeze overnight.
Before serving, scrape and scratch the frozen grapefruit mixture with a fork, creating little flakes of ice in the process. Serve in cups or bowls.
Yield: 3-4 cups
Prep-time: 10 minutes
Freezer time: 8 hours
These are so good! I have yet to make my own chocolate-hazelnut spread. But it is completely on my list of things to do.
2 slices whole grain bread
1/2 of a ripe banana, sliced into 1/4″ slices
1 tablespoon Nutella or other chocolate hazelnut spread
1 teaspoon butter, divided
Preheat a saute pan over medium heat.
Place the banana slices on one slice of bread. Spread the nutella on the other slice of bread. Put the nutella slice of bread on top of the banana slice with the nutella side down.
Melt 1/2 teaspoon of the butter in the saute pan and swirl it around the bottom of the pan. Cook the sandwich for a few minutes or until golden brown. Remove the sandwich. Add the rest of the butter to the pan. Return the sandwich and cook the other side for a couple more minutes.
Cut the sandwich into small squares or shapes as your whim dictates. Serve. Allow to cool a few minutes if you are feeding young ones.
Yield: 1 sandwich
Prep-time: 10 minutes
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I’m not totally sure if this recipe is post-worthy. But my youngest just devoured several of them . I’m sure the chocolate sauce didn’t hurt, but still it is out of character for her to eat several of anything. I think this would be a nice treat for toddlers. To top it all off, I used up an over-ripe banana and some leftover rice. Bonus!
2/3 cup cooked brown rice
1 ripe banana, peeled
1 tablespoon unsalted nut butter (such as almond or peanut)
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnnamon
1 teaspoon honey (optional)
Small pinch salt
Butter for pan
Chocolate sauce or chocolate syrup
Place the rice, banana, nut butter, cinnamon, honey (if desired), cinnamon, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until smooth (about 1 minute), scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula once or twice.
Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Melt butter in skillet coating the bottom. Spoon generous tablespoon-sized portions of the banana mixture into the pan spacing at least an inch apart. Cook the cakes for a couple minutes on each side. Allow to cool before serving (how long depends on your child). Serve drizzled with chocolate sauce or chocolate syrup.
Yield: 12 cakes
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
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For directions on how to cook a sweet potato in the microwave, see my recipe for Halloween Mush.
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Ahh, glorious sweet potato, how I love thee. You are an inexpensive and highly nutritious veggie whose day job is being a carb. What could be better?
Honestly, these appear as a side dish more often than a snack at my house. But why not make these instead of slaving over a batch of cookies?
2 medium organic sweet potatoes or yams
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Scrub sweet potatoes clean. Cut into sticks approximately 3 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. Place sweet potato sticks in a large bowl. Drizzle olive oil and salt over sweet potatoes and toss to coat.
Spread sweet potatoes out on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until soft and browning where in contact with the pan.
Allow to cool a few minutes on the pan. Serve with ranch dressing.
Yield: 5 cups (6-7 servings)
Prep time: 5 minutes
Baking time: 35-45 minutes
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