Snacks

With the load that we have in school this year, we're eating lunch a little bit later now than we have in the past.  (Meaning 12 or 12:30 p.m., as opposed to 11 or 11:30 a.m.)

Because of this longer space that we now have between breakfast (at 8 a.m.) and lunch, we normally need a little snack midway through the morning.  It needs to be something we can grab quickly, and keeping on going with school.  Actually, Noah is normally the one to remember it's time for snack, and he goes and retrieves the snack for everyone, loads it up in their snack bowls and they eat it right at the dining room table as they continue working on their independent work.

Sometimes, our snacks consist of a little bowl of dried fruit and nuts (usually purchased in bulk through our co-op).

But, lately I've tried three new recipes for this snack-time that seemed to fit the bill:  Healthy and Grab-able (new word?)

Two of the recipes we liked...one, not so much.


We did enjoy these "Powerball Cookies" (found here):

• I loved how easy these were to put together...and that they didn't even have to be cooked.
• 
  
• 1 c peanut butter or almond butter
• 1 c honey
• 3 c old-fashioned oats 
• 1/2 c flax seed 
• 1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 c any combination of nuts and soft dried fruits (I used walnuts and almonds)

Instructions:
Add chocolate chips and dried fruit and/or nuts. Stir until well combined.  Mix in oats and flax seed.  Blend peanut butter and honey until smooth. Shape into balls (using wet hands may be easier) and refrigerate or freeze.  I freeze them individually on a cookie sheet, then store them in a gallon bag in the freezer.

You may want to let them thaw for a minute before eating them, but I love chewy stuff, so these are right up my alley straight from the freezer.

• 
  

Chewy Granola Bars

I found this recipe here.  It is labeled as a 4-Ingredient Chewy Almond Butter Granola Bars...but I made mine a little differently, and they ended up with more ingredients than that.  Here is how I made them:

Ingredients

• -4 cups old fashioned oats
• -1 cup natural almond butter  (I didn't have quite enough almond butter, so I ended up using 1/2 c. almond butter, 1/2 c. peanut butter)
• -3/4 cup honey 
• -1/2 cup almonds (chopped if desired)
• -1 T ground flax seed
• -1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Grease the bottom and sides 9x13 pan well.
2. Preheat oven to 320 degrees.
3. Combine all ingredients VERY well in a bowl. 
4. Mash the granola bars into the pan well. Put some muscle into it!
5. Bake for 18 minutes or until the edges barely start browning.
6. Cool for 10 minutes, and cut into bars while they are still pliable but not too hard.

I freeze the individual bars and eat them straight out of the freezer.   I liked these fine, my family not so much...so I ended up finishing them up by myself over the course of a few weeks.  

I've saved the best for last.  This last recipe is our fav-O-rite!

"Best granola bars" 

I found this recipe on Kitchen Stewardship.  Katie lists a bunch of possible variations here, but this is how I made them:

Ingredients

• 1 c. butter
• 1 c. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 
  
• 4 1/2 c. rolled oats
• 1 ½ c. whole wheat or spelt flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups of add-ins:

I used 1 cup chopped walnuts

            1/2 c. sunflower seeds

            1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Melt the butter, honey and vanilla in a saucepan and cook on low for 5 minutes after the butter melts.  While that's doing its thing, combine the dry ingredients in bowl (oats, flour, baking soda).  Pour butter mixture into dry ingredients and stir to combine.  Stir in add-ins by hand.  Press mixture down very firmly into a greased 9x13 inch glass dish.  Don't be afraid to put some muscle into it!  Put the pan on the floor and lean all your weight into it as you push down. Bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown on the edges.  They won't quite look done, but they are.  Let them cool a little (10 minutes?) before cutting in the pan.  Then let them cool completely before taking them out of the pan.  Again, I put these on a cookie sheet and individually freeze them, and we eat them out of the freezer.