Category Archives: After School Snacks

September 30, 2012 · 10:13 pm

Wheat-Free Banana Oatmeal Muffins

I have a kid who likes banana anything and everything…banana cream pie, banana flavored candy, banana bread and of course, bananas. I knew he would love these. I also knew he would probably be the only person in our house who would eat them, but sometimes you just have to bake something for someone because you know they will love it, not because everyone will love it.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 single serving cup (or 1 cup) of plain low-fat Greek yogurt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar, applesauce, agave, honey…whatever you want to use
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 bananas

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Spray tin with non-stick cooking spray.

Place all of the ingredients, including bananas in a blender or food processor, and blend until oats are smooth. PUT THE YOGURT IN THE BLENDER FIRST AND PUT THE OATS IN THE BLENDER LAST. (Very important to keep things from getting stuck.)

Pout batter into cupcake pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

What did the family think? He loved them just as I knew he would. He had them for snack and for breakfast for several days. The rest of us didn’t have any.

Where did this recipe come from? I got it from Keeping Up with the Joneses and they got it from Dashing Dish.

photo from Babycenter

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Filed under After School Snacks, Bread, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Easy, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

September 29, 2012 · 3:17 pm

Baked Blueberry Pancakes

We love to have breakfast for dinner and we also love pancakes, but pancakes seem to take forever to make. I also must admit that I was WELL into adulthood before I figured out the finesse of making a pancake that wasn’t burnt on the outside or runny on the inside. This recipe gives you the taste of pancakes without all of the standing around and flipping them. Put these in to bake and get the rest of your dinner or breakfast made while these are doing their thing in the oven.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups milk
2 Tbsp melted butter, slightly cooled
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp sugar
2 cup flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup blueberries (frozen or fresh)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly grease an 8×8 baking dish.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together milk, butter, egg, and vanilla. Add sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Carefully stir in blueberries. Pour batter into pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean minutes.

Cute into squares and serve with butter and maple syrup just like you would serve pancakes.

What did the family think? Our youngest who absolutely loves blueberries by themselves doesn’t like them in pancakes, so these didn’t go over well with them. That said, you could probably just make this dish without blueberries.

Where did this recipe come from? adapted from Plain Chicken

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Filed under After School Snacks, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Lent, Vegetarian

September 10, 2012 · 8:53 am

Chocolatey Chip Cookies

My husband had a rough week at work last week and the kids had survived their first week at school so Friday afternoon seemed like a great time to bake some cookies to kick off our weekend. A friend of mine had told me about this recipe which take the traditional Nestle recipe and tweaks it a little. The results were scrumptious.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup oatmeal

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and oatmeal. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

What did the family think? They have chocolate in them..no complaining here.

Did I change anything? The original recipe has less chocolate chips, more brown and white sugar and no oatmeal. The changes I made are reflected in the recipe above.

Where did this recipe come from? adapted from the original Nestle chocolate chip cookie recipe

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Everybody Ate It, Vegetarian

September 6, 2012 · 8:55 am

Peanut Butter Granola

I found a new granola recipe that I have fallen in love with. I can’t believe I was ever afraid of making homemade granola. I guess I thought it would be too hard or too time consuming. I’m not sure, but obviously it can’t be too hard since I make granola all the time now.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon (I didn’t add this, but I think I will next time.)

Instructions:
Melt the butter and peanut butter together in a 3-quart saucepan.

Add the honey, vanilla and salt. Stir the mixture until it is smooth.

Add the oats and cinnamon. Stir until the oats are completely coated with the peanut butter mixture.

Turn the mixture onto an ungreased cookie sheet, or a large 9 by 13-inch pan. Spread the granola out evenly and bake it at 375° for 10-12 minutes. It will be brown and crispy.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan. Break up into pieces after it has cooled.

Transfer the granola to a sealed container. Add the raisins, if you are using them, when the granola is cool.

What did the family think? The kids don’t like granola and hubby won’t touch peanut butter granola. You know what I have to say to that? Good. More for me. 🙂

Where did this recipe come from? Hillbilly Housewife


Where’s the butter? I used the last of it in this recipe and the box made it into the trash before it made it into this picture.

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Filed under After School Snacks, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

July 23, 2012 · 5:09 pm

Grain-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

These have been all over Pinterest so I had to try them. They were met with approval by 1/2 of our family. My husband would have liked them if he hadn’t seen the garbanzo beans going into them. Seriously. He would have never known… all you can taste is the yummy goodness of chocolate and peanut butter and there is absolutely nothing yucky about that.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups canned chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/4 cup honey or agave
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt if your peanut butter doesn’t have salt in it
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they’re combined.

Put in the chocolate chips and stir it if you can, or pulse it once or twice. The mixture will be very thick and sticky. With wet hands, form into 1 1/2″ balls. Place onto a piece of parchment paper. If you want them to look more like normal cookies, press down slightly on the balls. They don’t do much rising. Bake for about 10 minutes. Yields about fourteen 1 1/2″ cookie dough balls.

What did the family think? They were good, but I thought they were best about two days after I’d made them and they were less doughy and more like a cookie.

Where did this recipe come from? Texan Erin Baking

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July 17, 2012 · 2:22 pm

No Bake Berry Cream Cheese Tarts

My mother-in-law sent me this recipe before the 4th of July. Yes, this would have been a perfect dessert for the 4th, but we were out of town. I meant to make it last week, but the berries kept getting eaten before I could make the dessert. So, I finally got around to making this last night…we had all of the ingredients AND the family LOVED this! It only made four and there are four of us. The kids wanted to eat mine. Sorry…I am not handing over anything that involves cream cheese and berries.

Ingredients:
4 whole graham crackers (8 squares)
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
2 cups mixed berries: raspberries, strawberries and/or blueberries

Instructions:
Finely crush graham crackers and divide crumbs among four small bowls. I used ramekins.

In a small bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla, and confectioners’ sugar with a whisk.

Put mixture on top of graham cracker crumbs. Top with berries.

Refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.

What did the family think? We all loved it! Hubby actually hasn’t eaten his yet and he better hurry up or it’s going to be GONE.

Where did this recipe come from? KU Med Center

photo from KU Med Center

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Make Ahead of Time, Six Ingredients or Less, Vegetarian

July 12, 2012 · 2:37 pm

Blueberry Belgian Waffles

It’s that time of year…lots of blueberries and lots of things to cook so you can use them all before they spoil. We had these yummy waffles last night for dinner with some eggs and bacon.

Ingredients:
2 egg yolks
2 cups milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup oil
2 stiffly beaten egg whites
1-2 cups blueberries (depending on how blueberry-ish you want them)

Instructions:
Preheat waffle maker.

Put all ingredients except egg whites and blueberries in large mixer bowl. Beat on low until moistened. Increase to medium, mix until smooth.

Gently fold in beaten egg whites and blueberries with a wooden spoon.

Pour about 1/2-3/4 cup batter over grids. Close waffle maker, bake until steam no longer escapes, about 3-5 minutes. Repeat. Serve hot with your favorite toppings. We like butter and maple syrup!

What did the family think? YUM!

Where did this recipe come from? CDKitchen

photo from Columbus Foodie

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Filed under After School Snacks, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Everybody Ate It, Lent, Vegetarian

July 3, 2012 · 3:38 pm

Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothies and Popsicles

I have been following Catherine Newman ever since I read her book Waiting for Birdy. (If you are a parent with little people at home you will LOVE this book. Trust me.) So even though we may not have super little people in our house anymore, I am still stalking following her because of her fantastic recipes. It’s been a while since I have made something from her blog, but this makes up for the wait. These are SOOOOO good! We made them into smoothies and popsicles and they were FANTASTIC both ways! I bet you could make them with blueberries, too.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sliced fresh or frozen strawberries
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt (or plain or strawberry yogurt…we used plain Greek)
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup milk
3 ice cubes
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 T Agave syrup or another sweetener, to taste (we made some with and some without…some of us liked it better with the agave syrup and some of us liked it better without)

Instructions:
Put everything in a blender and mix until well blended.

What did the family think? Love, love and more love!

Where did this recipe come from? Ben and Birdy

photo courtesy of the resident 3rd grader

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Filed under After School Snacks, Beverages, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

June 28, 2012 · 9:53 am

Hard-Baked Eggs

You have certainly made hard-boiled eggs before, but have you ever made hard-baked eggs? Does it matter if they are baked or boiled? Some benefits of baking them are: you can bake them while you are cooking something else in the oven so it saves energy, they are easier to peel when they have been baked and the yolks don’t come out gray like they do when they are hard-boiled. This has been all over Pinterest, so I had to try it.

Ingredients:
Whole Eggs
Muffin Tin

Instructions:
If you are baking them by themselves: place eggs in muffin tin and bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes.

If you are baking them with something else: place eggs in muffin tin and bake on top rack at 350 degrees.

Let cool and peel.

photo from Alaska from Scratch

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Filed under After School Snacks, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Lent, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

June 19, 2012 · 3:12 pm

Cinnamon Vanilla Pancakes

My husband wanted to have pancakes for Father’s Day breakfast “if we had a mix”. Are you kidding me? You are married to a food blogger. There are no pancake mixes here. 🙂 We had these instead.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vegetable oil, or as needed (or cooking spray)

Instructions:
Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Whisk in the milk, egg, 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, and vanilla extract until only a few lumps remain. Let the batter stand for 5 full minutes for extra fluffiness.

Heat a skillet or griddle over medium heat, and brush with 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (or use cooking spray). When the oil shimmers, slowly pour about 1/4 cup of batter into the hot pan. Cook until bottom is browned, about 2 minutes, then flip and cook until the center of the pancake is set and the other side is browned, about 2 more minutes. Keep warm until serving.

What did the family think? Yum! Yum! and more Yum!

Where did this recipe come from? Allrecipes

photo from Allrecipes

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Filed under After School Snacks, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Lent, Vegetarian