Recipe Redux -- Have Snacks Will Travel

Recipe Redux time!!  This month's theme?  Travel snacks!  I love that it was set for after I got back from vacation.  I made 3 different travel snacks.  Granola bars, apple chips and squash chips.  All three were delicious.  I have a cavity I found out about right before the trip so, eating them was a bit painful at times but, it honestly didn't stop me.  

I rarely make apple chips anymore because I can eat 3 or 4 apples worth of chips in 1 day!  I'm addicted to them.  

Granola bars before they were cut

Granola Bar
Makes 8 or 16
Calories: 127 / 63
Fat: 0.8 / 0.4
Carbs: 29.8 / 14.9
Protein: 3.8 / 1.9

2 1/2 cup Quaker multigrain cereal
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 + 1/4 cup sugar free maple syrup
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cup dried mixed fruit
1 cup mashed banana
1 cup pumpkin puree {NOT PIE FILLING}

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees and spray an 8 x 8, or 9 x 9 pain with pan spray (choose which size depending on how thick you want them)
2. Stir together the cinnamon, syrup, vanilla., banana, pumpkin.
3. In a separate bowl combine the fruit and oatmeal.
4. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry and stir together until the cereal is completely coated
5. Bake for 35-45 minutes until the are slightly dry on top
6. Let cool in pan for 20 minutes then put them on a wire rack to finish cooling.  Cool completely, then cut. 

Apple Chips

For some reason I didn't get an AFTER shot of my apple chips
Ingredients
Apples

Directions

1. Core and slice apples.  {I used my mandolin}
2. Toss the apples in some lemon juice. {to keep them from browning}
3. Dehydrate for 12-18 hours
4. Cool before storing

Acorn Squash Chips

Before

After

These were a pain in the butt to slice!  So I only did a quarter of the squash and roasted the rest for my dinner the next nite.  They took about 4.5 hours in the dehydrator. They tasted kind of nutty.  Needed a bit of salt.  So, if you want to add a bit of flavor (and don't mind a bit of fat) I'd toss them with some olive oil and sprinkle with salt.


What kind of snacks do you enjoy when you travel?  Do you take store bought or home made?


   

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Healthy Snack/Dessert For The Kids

Today was one of those days that had 40 bajillion things go wrong.  Actually it was only 3 but they were really annoying. I made myself some angel food cupcakes for Mantha's birthday (since I can't eat her cake.)  I expected a couple dozen cupcakes to come from the mix. NOPE!  It made 50!  REALLY??  I don't need 50 cupcakes for myself.  Then I ate one after dinner and the sugar content is too high and made me fuzzy.  I had mushroom stroganoff planned for dinner.  I decided I would make spaetzle to go under it.  I have made it before and it's worked just fine.  I made it tonite and instead of being noodles it was a gooey, yucky mush.  To top it all off the stroganoff was sub-par, and that killed me. 

BUT, today wasn't all bad.  I took the kids to the park.  We walked since Ken had the car at work.  2 miles round trip.  I was amazed that Sunny made it the whole way.  I found this recipe for Coconut Energy Bites on Sprout's website.  I altered the recipe a bit.  They kids loved them.  I took them to the park with us as a snack.  My one suggestion is that you make sure to keep them cold.  They start to get very soft when they warm up.   

Coconut Energy Bites

(adapted from  Sprout Online)

Makes 16

Nutrition: 106 calories, 4.8 grams of fat, 5.6 grams of sugar

1 1/4 cup plain oatmeal (I used quick cooking)
1/2 cup reduced fat peanut butter
1/2 cup light maple syrup (you can also use honey)
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Directions

1. In a food processor, grind oatmeal until fine
2. In separate bowl mix together peanut butter and syrup
3. Mix in oatmeal and coconut
4.  Using a spoon or small cookie scoop, scoop and roll into balls using your hands

Traveling

Doesn't everyone start their year off with a 1000 768 mile road trip?  That's how I started mine! 

New Year's Day I left for Virginia for an appointment.  This is the first roadtrip longer than 3 hours long that I have taken in since we moved here in 2010.  I decided that I would pack all the snacks, lunch and dinner for the trip.  This way I won't be tempted by gas station food and we can cut some time off our trip by not stopping as much.  

I have to say that you CAN eat healthy at a gas station.  Fruit is sold at many gas stations these days and there are other healthy snack options.  It is difficult and there are many tempting unhealthy items alongside them.  

I made lunch sandwiches and dinner sandwiches for Mr. Amazing and myself.  I packed apples, bananas, squeeze fruit puree, and some homemade pita chips for me.  Mr. Amazing got Wheat Thin and Ritz crackers, and Slim Jims.  I packed a container of Mio and some bottled waters, and a few sodas. 

I used the Korean BBQ Rub that I found at BJ's. 

Pita Chips
1 package White or Onion Pitas (They have the least amount of fat, 0.5 grams per loaf)
Pan Spray
Seasoning of your choice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Cut pitas into 8 pieces.
3. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray it with non-stick spray
4. Lay the pitas on a single layer on the baking sheet, spray them with non-stick spray and sprinkle with you favorite seasoning
5. Bake for 7 or 8 minutes until crispy and browned

We were supposed to leave at 8 yesterday morning.  We ended up getting out of the house at 9.  It was a lot harder to say goodbye to the girls then I expected it to be.  This is the first time we’ve been away from Baye for more than a few hours. 

We stopped for a few minutes for gas in Georgia, and South Carolina.  By 6:00, 2 ½ states and 7 ½ hours of driving Mr. Amazing and I were exhausted.  We ended up stopping in Smithfield, NC [I wonder if the ham and the town are related.] We ate our dinner sandwiches in a seedy motel.  For the rest of the nite we watched TV and I learned that when there is DEFFINATELY nothing else to do I munch.  I am going to have some serious work to do when I get home. 

I ended up waking up before 6 [damn earlybirdness].  You never realize how hard it is to be quiet until you’re stuck in a hotel room trying to let your husband sleep.  I did manage to get in 150 situps (the quietest exercise I could think of)  Another thing I realized is that daylight comes later in the North.  At 7 in the morning Florida is atleast slightly sunny.  North Carolina was still pitch black.  So needless to say we didn’t get up and out as early as I expected. 

But, we finally ended up getting to my mom’s at 1:30 after a brief stop at our storage room and Target.  We stayed just long enough to drop off our bags and change and then headed for the grocery store.  I have learned that there is one perk to winters in Virginia.  When you need to make a stop and have groceries in your car you don’t have to worry about how long your other stop is.  It’s 40 degrees out so your groceries will be perfectly fine in your cold trunk!

Luckily my mom’s house is stocked with the staples so I only needed a few things to tide me over while I’m here (soy milk, bananas, etc.)  Here’s my haul:

The local Korean store, Grand Mart, was pure heaven to Mr. Amazing and me.  Imagine giving your child a green light to buy whatever they wanted at the toy store.  That was us here. 

We picked up a bunch of banchan for dinner.  There's Kimchi, bean sprouts, tofu, japchae, fishies, seaweed, radish kimchi, and black beans.  

All we needed was a big pot of rice and dinner was ready!

Well, I’m going to go relax.  It’s nice to be somewhere comfy.