I try to serve nutritious meals to my family on most nights but my kids still consume about 50% of their daily calories through snacks. During the week, I pack snacks for the bus ride, they eat a snack as soon as they walk in the door from school, and they eat continue to snack throughout the evening. On the weekends, they seem wander through the kitchen on an hourly basis to grab a snack. I do my best to keep the house stocked with healthy snacks - which seems like a never ending task these days. Several months ago, I reorganized the snack shelf in my panty and invested in some new plastic containers to store snacks. My goal was to make healthy snacks more accessible. These are the things that I keep stocked on my snack shelf: nuts, whole wheat crackers, trail mix, dried fruit, granola bars, cereal bars, cliff bars, peanut butter crackers, goldfish crackers, oatmeal, cereal, popcorn, and peanut butter. I also keep a bowl of fresh fruit on the counter. When my kids were younger, I was in control of everything they ate and it was easier to ensure that they were eating nutritious snacks. Now that they're teenagers, I am trying to teach them to make their own healthy snack choices. Hopefully the good habits that they start now will carry over into adulthood. I was looking through my recipes this afternoon in search of a new snack. I wanted to find something with fruit, nuts and oats. I came across this recipe for Chocolate, Cranberry and Oat Bars from a 2007 Food and Family magazine and decided to give it a try. Chocolate, Cranberry and Oat Bars 1 cup dried cranberries 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup orange juice 3/4 cup butter 1 1/2 cups flour 1 1/2 cups brown sugar 1 1/2 cups oats 2 eggs 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 cup chocolate chunks 1/2 cup pecan pieces Combine orange juice and cranberries. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Let stand 10 min. Combine flour, oats, baking powder and salt. Cream butter and sugar in standing mixer. Beat in eggs. Add flour mixture. Stir in nuts, chocolate and cranberries. Spread into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake 25 min. at 350. The bars were so soooo good. The kids each gobbled one up when they got home from school and another one after dinner. I packed one in each of their lunch boxes for tomorrow too. These bars would make a great snack after a mountain bike ride or soccer practice too. They're easy to pack and I am guessing that they would freeze really well too. (I didn't get a chance to put one in the freezer because they were gone to quickly.) If your kids don't like dried cranberries - try swapping them with raisins. I added this recipe to my collection of snacks - I hope that you will too.
Ciao!
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Since I didn't have a panini press at my disposal, I armed myself with a cast iron skillet and I fired up the Big Green Egg. I didn't have a recipe to follow so I decided to "wing it". I sliced the bread into nice thick slices and buttered one side of each piece with melted butter. I layered fresh mozzarella, tomato, avocado and basil leaves on the bread and topped it with another slice. I put the sandwich on the grill and put my cast iron skillet on top. It worked beautifully - the paninis were perfectly toasted and pressed. The next time that I make these, I am going to add a little pesto to the unbuttered side of the bread to bring out the flavor of the basil even more. I made a couple of paninis with just fresh mozzarella cheese. The kids were thrilled with their grilled cheese paninis. If you don't have a Big Green Egg - use a charcoal grill or even a gas grill. I am ready to try some new paninis now - send me your panini ideas. I'm ready for a challenge.
Ciao! I am a sucker for cookie recipes with molasses and ginger. I love the sugary spice of a crunchy gingersnap cookie. I found this recipe for "molasses cookies with a kick" in a Taste of Home magazine. The combination of peppers, coriander, cinnamon, fresh ginger and cloves peaked my interest so I decided to bake up a batch of these cookies and to take on our weekend getaway. Molasses Cookies
3/4 cup butter 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup molasses 1 egg 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh gingerroot, minced 2 1/4 cups flour 1 teaspoon cinnamon 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1/4 teaspoon red pepper (I used even less) 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper 1/8 teaspoon coriander 3/4 cup turbinado sugar In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars. Beat in molasses, egg and ginger. Combine flour, baking soda, cloves, cayenne, salt, nutmeg, pepper and coriander. Add to creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate 1 1/2 hours. Scoop into small balls and roll in turbinado sugar. Place 3" apart on a silpat lined baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes at 350. I am on a constant quest to bake great cookies and I like to "tweak" recipes to make them even better. These cookies were soft and chewy but they didn't bake up nice and crispy like I had anticipated. What these cookies lacked in texture, they made up for in peppery spiciness and sweet sugary goodness. I am going back to the kitchen to rework this recipe into a crunchy, spicy molasses cookie that will please the most critical cookie eater that I know - ME. Despite my criticism and my harsh analysis of these molasses cookies, by the end of the weekend they had all been eaten. In the end, that's really the best indicator of a good cookie. Ciao! Monday night is fish night at my house. I like to start the week off with a healthy meal, especially if we've overindulged a little over the weekend. It wasn't always easy to get my kids to eat or even taste some of the fish that I cooked but lately they really seem to be developing a taste for it. Some of their favorite fish meals? - salmon burgers, fish sandwiches, fish tacos, tuna and shrimp. (They also love lobster and crab legs but that's usually beyond the budget.)
We all love shrimp and these shrimp skewers are really easy. I cooked this shrimp on the Big Green Egg and I served it over brown rice with a side of pineapple. In the past when I have made this shrimp, I've served it over a salad for lunch. I've also served it over pasta with a white wine sauce. I've even served it in tortillas. For lunch today, I put the leftover shrimp from last night's dinner in a wrap with some hummus, sliced avocado and a slice of turkey bacon. Delicious. Lemon Garlic Shrimp 2 Tablespoons salt ¼ cup parsley 2 Tablespoons sugar 1 Tablespoon lemon peel 2 – 2 ½ pounds shrimp, deveined with shell on 2 cloves garlic ¼ cup olive oil ½ teaspoon pepper Mix sugar and salt. Add shrimp. Cover and refrigerate 45 minutes to 1 hour. Rinse shrimp. Combine parsley, oil. lemon, garlic and pepper and toss with shrimp. Thread onto skewer and grill about 4 minutes on each side. Ciao! When I first tasted this dish, I decided not to post it on my blog because I wasn't particularly impressed with the flavors. During the course of dinner however, my family just couldn't say enough about how much they enjoyed this chicken. They each had two helpings and then I watched them mop up the gravy on their plates with slices of bread. That was precisely the moment when I changed my mind and decided that this recipe deserved to be on the blog. I didn't change my opinion about the chicken - I still think that it lacks complexity of flavor but despite my personal opinion - my family loved it. I'll let you be the judge. I took this recipe out of a "Cuisine at Home" magazine. I chose this recipe because the chicken really does look beautiful on the plate. Unfortunately, this photograph doesn't really do it any justice. (I got overly anxious about tasting it and I forgot to garnish it.) Greek Chicken Roulades
12 pitted kalamata olives 6 Tablespoons bread crumbs 3 Tablespoons sun-dried tomato paste 1 Tablespoon lemon zest 2 cloves garlic 1 teaspoon dried oregano 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 2 teaspoons olive oil 1/4 cup diced onion 1/4 cup white wine(dry) 1 1/2 cups chicken broth 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon cornstarch Combine olives, bread crumbs, sun-dried tomatoes, zest, garlic and oregano in a food processor. Pulse until coarse. Pound chicken breasts to 1/4" thickness and spread olive filling on top. Roll chicken and secure with toothpicks. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Brown chicken breasts about 4 minutes. Remove chicken and add onion to skillet. Saute 2 minutes. Add wine and cook until reduced to half. Add broth and bring mixture to a boil. Return chicken to pan, cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook 10 minutes. Remove chicken. Whisk together lemon juice and cornstarch. Stir into sauce in skillet and simmer one minute. Slice roulades and serve with sauce. This recipe is definitely worth a try. If your family is anything like mine - they will love it. Ciao! |
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