Fix Me A Snack

These beet chips are yet another example of a supremely healthy snack that I probably never would have prepared if it hadn’t been for this blog. And my preschooler, who loves beets to begin with, said, “These are better than chocolate chips mama!” I kid you not.

She calls these “Swirl Chips”.

2 or 3 medium beets
Salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wash the beets throughly. Cut off both ends and peel. Keep a towel on hand or do your peeling under running water in order to keep the juices under control.

Slice the beets very thinly (about 1 millimeter) with a mandolin. (This is a rare instance where the mandolin is actually necessary. Uniform thickness in the chips is required in order for them to bake evenly.)

Lay the sliced beets out onto parchment-lined baking sheets. They can be placed close together as they will shrink during baking. Sprinkle with salt, if desired.

Bake for 15-20 minutes keeping a close eye on them after 15 minutes as they burn easily. The beets will still be pliable when done and will crisp up as they cool. Serve. Store in an airtight container. Depending on how dried out the chips are, they are probably good for a few days.

I’m thinking these might be tasty served with Herbed Yogurt Dip.

Note: Beets that were at least three inches wide had less of a tendency to shrivel up during baking.

Yield: several handfuls of chips
Prep-time: 5 minutes
Bake-time: 15 minutes (per batch – one beet fills approximately two baking sheets)

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These moist, sweet, and satisfying muffins take my whole family to our happy place. They are great stand-ins for cookies; in some ways they’re even more enjoyable!

This recipe was inspired by one from Nook & Pantry - a very yummy looking blog.

For the muffins:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour (or all-purpose)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup finely shredded carrot
1/4 cup raisins, chopped

For the filling:

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 large egg yolk
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

In a small bowl, make the filling by mixing together the cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, brown sugar, and oil. Stir in the flour mixture until combined. Then add the carrot and raisins. Stir to incorporate.

 Spoon the muffin batter into a well-greased mini muffin pan, filling each cup only half way. Then place one teaspoon of the filling in each cup. Cover the filling with the remaining muffin batter.

Bake for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the largest muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5-10 minutes before gently moving them to a cooling rack. Serve. Store in an airtight container for up to 48 hours or freeze in an airtight container in a single layer.

Yield: 24 mini muffins
Prep-time: 30 minutes
Bake time: 13 minutes

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Whenever I eat guacamole, I feel like it might be okay to become a vegan someday.  The creamy goodness an avocado imparts is right up there with cheese and butter in my book. 

For more “authentic” guacamole, omit the beans, chop the cilantro, and mash all the ingredients up with a fork.

 

1 small clove garlic, peeled and chopped fine
1/3 cup canned cannelli beans, rinsed (optional)
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ripe hass avocados, pits and skins removed

Place the garlic, beans, lime juice, cilantro, cumin, salt, and avocados in the bowl of a food processor. Cover and process until smooth, about 30 seconds. Serve with tortilla or pita chips. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Press a piece of plastic wrap on top of the dip to keep browning to a minimum.

Yield: 1 1/4 cups
Prep-time: 10 minutes

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Instead of welcoming my child with a cookie when she comes home from school, she gets raw veggies. It’s a bit sneaky, but she’s starving most of the time when she gets home so she’ll eat anything.

In my defense, I’d like to point out that my youngest would not even think about eating her dinner (which is only an hour or so away at this point) if we had any other sort of snack. Heck, half the time she fills up on crudites, but I’m alright with that.

Anyway, my point here is twofold: a) Buy whole organic carrots and peel them. Their taste is vastly superior to “baby” carrots. b) We don’t eat fancy snacks all the time. Fruits and veggies are actually the backbone of our snack diet.

On a side note, my three-year-old started “making recipes” yesterday. Here she is writing out all the ingredients for her “recipe”. The great part is that she actually expects me to get cookin’ after she’s written it all down.

 

This snack is inspired by the Salad Bars recipe in Julie Van Rosendaal’s cookbook Grazing. If you’re feeling extra fancy, top them with some vanilla greek-style yogurt!

1 cup white whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon ketchup or tomato paste
1 cup grated zucchini
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a mini muffin pan and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and ketchup. Pour the flour mixture into the bowl and stir to combine. Add the zucchini, carrot and raisins and stir until evenly distributed.

Transfer batter to mini muffin pan, filling each cup approximately 3/4 full. Bake on the center rack of the oven for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Yield: 24 mini muffins
Prep-time: 20 minutes
Bake-time: 15 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 recipe is especially for Life As A Mom’s Ultimate Veggie Recipe Swap. Thanks to Kid Appeal for the heads up.

This recipe is one I’ve minimally adapted from Laurel’s Kitchen. I”m not quite sure why my kids go for it, but they do. They love to help me make it. It’s quick and easy to stir. It makes me very happy to feed them something that actually qualifies as a vegetable instead of the usual glob of highly-processed sugar called “ketchup”.

1 12 ounce can tomato paste
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup maple syrup (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

Mix the tomato paste, vinegar, water, syrup (if desired), salt, oregano, cumin, nutmeg, pepper, and mustard powder in a small bowl. Transfer to a squeeze bottle or use an old ketchup bottle that has been thoroughly cleaned. Keeps for months in the refrigerator.

 Yield: 2 cups
Prep-time: 10 minutes

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I have no love for Kale Chips. But I know all the super healthy beautiful people out there are making them and getting healthier with every bite.

I have been munching on them all morning simply because there is a big pile sitting on the counter. My kids, however, are not big fans. My youngest helped me make them and happily tasted one. But a minute later she was at the bathroom sink rinsing out her mouth. My oldest tried them a couple hours later and enjoyed the crispy saltiness, but not the bitter aftertaste. My husband’s assessment was “they taste better than they smell.”

Regardless, these are worth a try if you have a sad and lonely bunch of wilted kale hiding out at the bottom of your crisper drawer like I did. I originally ran across a recipe at The Kitchn which points to a recipe at ChowMama.

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Have you ever tried to create your own muffin recipe ? Let me tell you that the ol’ ratio of 1 teaspoon of baking powder to 1 cup of flour has never worked for me.

I have gotten lucky when buttermilk is in the mix, for instance with my Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe. All you have to do there is figure out how much baking soda to use to balance out the acidity of the buttermilk. Easy (sort of).

For this recipe I finally broke down and looked up a recipe on the glorious Interweb. In swooped the Pioneer Woman with a Cheese Muffin recipe. I found these muffins to be perfectly leavened, but greasier than what I was going for. So I made some changes and here you go:

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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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