0 Energy Bites: Healthy & Delicious (For Real!)

I don't know if you have made energy bites of some sort, but I have become a fan of these yummy and healthy snacks.   A while back, my friend Connie gave me a few of these she had made to sample.  After I had one, I immediately texted her, "YUM! I tried them and I need the recipe!"  Then, a few weeks ago it was my snack-bringing week for church and I felt the need to make something a little more substantially nutritious than the biscuits and coffee cake I had made the previous months.  I looked on my Pinterest breakfast board and found this recipe that was pretty much Connie's recipe but with peanut butter instead of almond butter. I had forgotten about the recipe! 

I made a double batch- which yielded 40 something balls.  They were all gone within a few minutes of serving them.  I don't know if people were desperately hungry or they really liked them.  We have lots of kids that congregate around our snack table at church, so I think we can call these delicious when kids and adults ate them, and we can call them healthy since they are chock full of flax seed, chia and oats! 

I made them again for my family this week and we have enjoyed having them for a quick snack or for a breakfast on the go.  I even had one for dessert the other night (though my son believes that despite that fact that they are laced with chocolate chips, they do not qualify for dessert) !

I'm trying to have things on hand that are protein-rich, as my kids tend to reach for crackers, chips, and starches for snacks.  Lately, I've made Hummus and Texas Caviar to have in the refrigerator and try to always keep yogurt and smoothie-making supplies on hand.  If I get my act together to have the good stuff within reach, and prep a couple of things for the week, they have good, tasty, healthy things within reach.  

 

Energy Bites

Makes about 20

1 cup (dry) old fashioned oatmeal

2/3 cup coconut flakes

½ cup peanut butter (or almond butter- take your pick)

½ cup ground flaxseed

½ cup mini chocolate chips

1/3 cup honey

1 Tbsp. chia seeds

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Stir all ingredients together in a bowl.  Let set in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.  

Form into small balls (about golf ball size).  

Put in an air tight container and keep in refrigerator. 

If this inspires you to get into healthy oatey bar/bite making, I have two granola bar recipes I love that I wrote about HERE and HERE and my favorite go-to granola recipe HERE, oh and the lovely chewy peanut butter granola HERE.  If you are short on time, these simple but nutritionally dense bites are super easy and quick to put together.  

Detail: Energy Bites: Healthy & Delicious (For Real!)

0 Making Banana Pancakes

Having middle schoolers is so interesting.  I'm seeing things about them as people, individual humans that I am fascinated by.  I sometimes wonder which of these attributes will be forever parts of them and which ones are seasonal.  An interesting quality about my son is that he cherishes ritual and celebration. More than anyone in our home.  He's the one who thinks of special ways to honor me on Mother's Day, and wants to commemorate the first day of school, or the first day of summer vacation with certain foods and traditions. Food really is the main focus of his celebrating.  He comes by this honestly.  I really think food is the cornerstone of most celebrating.  

Like earlier this month for my birthday.  I thought of a few activities that were non-food related, like hiking at Radnor Lake and cleaning my laundry room (I know, glamorous…thank you Gretchen for indulging), but for the most part it was about food and coffee.  

So, one of the desires of my son is to have "Saturday breakfast".  A real one.  Seated around the table not standing around or perched at the bar.  Weekday mornings are on-the-go and running about.  People fend for themselves or request a smoothie or egg to be made while someone is already blending or flipping.  The kids usually sit at the bar and Dave and I stand.  So, when we can, I try to honor this Saturday Breakfast Ritual. I love it too.  And I love that he loves it.  

The four mainstays of our Saturday Breakfasts are:

 our favorite Oh Boy Waffles.  If you haven't tried them you must.  They are like no other waffles.

And the Mile High Biscuits.  You need to make them this week! I crave them very often.

And French Toast - inspired by the Pancake Pantry.

And Banana Pancakes.

We were not having great luck with our Joy of Cooking recipe- they were flatter than a pancake! 

But my friend Melissa B. pointed me to the Martha Stewart Classic Pancake recipe and BINGO it's a winner.  It's a great classic pancake- that you can tweak and add to.  I love a Buckwheat pancake, or cornmeal or grainy one, but my family would rather stick to these fluffy, classic ones.

And as long as we can add some toasted pecans and sliced bananas, I'm happy with these pancakes.  They are predictable and easy.

Basic Pancakes
by Martha Stewart

1 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, or vegetable oil
1 large egg

Butter or oil for pan

Assorted toppings or mix ins: chopped bananas, toasted pecans, berries, mini chocolate chips

Soft butter and syrup

Preheat oven to 200˚; have a baking sheet ready to keep cooked pancakes warm in the oven.  In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, butter (or oil), and egg.  Add dry ingredients to milk mixture; whisk until just moistened (do not over mix; a few small lumps are fine).  If you are adding mix-ins, do so now.

Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat.  Rub skillet with a little butter or oil on a paper towel.

For each pancake, spoon 2-3 Tbsp. of batter onto skillet, using the back of the spoon to spread batter into a round.  (Or use one of those fancy pancake pens- which I don't have or I would have provided photos to demonstrate. It's on my wish list.)

Cook until surface of pancakes have some bubbles and a few have burst, 1 to 2 minutes.  Flip carefully with a thin spatial and cook until brown on the underside, 1 to 2 minutes more.  Transfer to baking sheet; cover loosely with aluminum foil, and keep warm in oven.
Continue oiling/buttering pan before each pancake pouring.

Top with butter, syrup, and/or fruit, nuts, etc.

Enjoy!!

I can't help but sing the Jack Johnson song, Banana Pancakes, every time I make them! Do you know this song? It's a great weekend, breakfast-making soundtrack.  That entire album is.  I looked up the lyrics so I could really sing along and realized that I really didn't relate to it at all  (except that I like to make banana pancakes), nor was it the most family friendly lyrically.   So, for those of you who get to lie in bed on a weekday with your spouse and tempt him/her to stay in bed and take the morning slow and eat banana pancakes, then this might be your anthem.  My anthem is more about choosing to wake up early so that we can steal a quiet hour of drinking coffee, chatting, reading and centering before the onslaught of children and busyness and tasks enter the scene.  Unlike the song, our banana pancakes are requested by our children who devour them in 8 minutes.  And after a  "thanks for the pancakes" they are ready to move on to the next activity of the day.  Nevertheless, I still play the song when we make Banana Pancakes.

It's such fun to honor my teenager's desire to sit around the table together and make a special Saturday breakfast memory. I don't assume that this will always be the case, though with him, it just might.

Detail: Making Banana Pancakes

0 Last Call for Cranberries: Cranberry Orange Bread

Cranberries are so lovely.  They add such zip, color and flavor to recipes!  November and December are the main cranberry months, but if you look quick you can get some in January!  I always stock up for the following 10 months!

I am always looking for a great quick bread recipe that can be thrown together easily for breakfast or to take somewhere. This recipe is a favorite- chock full of cranberries, orange juice and zest and chopped walnuts!  (As for Cranberry muffins these, from King Arthur Flour, are my all-time favorites - though they require a little more time to prepare with more chopping and measuring than this Cranberry bread).  

My friend Emily shared this bread recipe with me a few years ago.  I can't even remember when or in what context, but I printed it out, tucked it in a notebook, and have reached for it many times through the years.

Emily continually inspires me.  She has an lovely blog Celebrate Today, where she shares about her daily life and beckons the reader to celebrate each day- in grand and small ways.   You can check it out HERE.

This week she wrote about her morning run - seeing the sun rise (inspiring, I told you) and she noted seeing the crocus flowers starting to peek through the ground, signaling that spring is coming soon.  I needed to hear that.  I needed the reminder that these gray days will end and there will be green grass, blooming blossoms, and sunny days again. This gives me hope. 

In the meantime as I wait for those spring days, I am going to use my cranberries, and try to embrace these days.

Cranberry Orange Walnut Bread

2 cups all purpose flour (or combination of whole wheat/ all-purpose or whole grain pastry flour)

1 cup sugar (or a little less)

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 egg

½ cup orange juice

grated peel (the zest) of 1 orange

2 Tbsp. melted butter

2 Tbsp. hot water

1 cup fresh cranberries (or frozen)

½ to 1 cup chopped walnuts (depending on how nutty you like it)

In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients.  In another bowl, beat egg. Add orange juice, peel, butter and hot water.  Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Gently fold in cranberries and walnuts.  Spoon into greased loaf pan (or mini loaf pans).

Bake at 325 degrees for 60 minutes (if using large loaf pan- reduced if using small pans) or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 

Cool for 10 minutes before removing and placing on a wire rack.

I made it a couple of weeks ago and doubled the recipe.  I baked 1/2 in my mini-loaf pans to slice and take to church and the other 1/2 in a large loaf pan, which I wrapped up, froze and took to the Joneses when we went to visit during the holidays. 

It freezes well, thaws easily, travels well, and is good for breakfast, lunch, or for snacking!

We got to enjoy it for breakfast at their home with omelets, yogurt and homemade granola.  Delicious! 

While the cranberry bread was baking, I couldn't resist making a jar of cranberry sauce with the rest of the cranberries in the bag.  I wrote about making cranberry sauce HERE. So easy, pretty, and delicious on sandwiches, with dinner, or in my yogurt for breakfast!

Seize the cranberries while they last, and hold out hope that spring is coming soon!

Detail: Last Call for Cranberries: Cranberry Orange Bread

0 Frozen Fruit Salad and Pumpkin Seed Roasting: Childhood Memories

Aside from a few seasonal fruits, including apples (which I adore and eat daily) the upcoming months of fresh fruit options do not compare with the BOUNTIFUL VARIETY of summer fruits!  That's when it's time to get creative.

this Jell-O ad is reminiscent of our
grandmother's creations

Growing up,  my grandmother made the most creative and interesting frozen and congealed salads. Some were delicious.  Others were frightening.  My sister and I were often a tad fearful of some of her frozen and gelatin creations.

However, my mom made this Frozen Fruit Salad as a staple in our house and we loved it.  She froze it in various sized and shaped molds and kept it on-hand in the freezer.  It is great for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It is made from all canned ingredients (aside from the bananas) so, it's a good fruit salad to keep in mind for the months when there are not many good fresh fruits to choose from.

We called it "F.F" for short and requested it frequently.  I even had a friend in High School who would ask my mom, when he came over with youth group pals, if we had any F.F.  It was famous.

Frozen Fruit Salad

1 large can frozen orange juice concentrate (12 oz) 
1 (orange juice) can of water
1 large can apricots
1 large can crushed pineapple
1/4 cup lemon juice
6 ripe (but not overly ripe) bananas

Mash bananas and put lemon juice over them. 
Mash apricots and add all over ingredients. 
Pour into muffin tins or individual molds. Freeze until solid.
Pop them out of the pans and place in large ziploc bags or plastic containers.
(If they don't easily come out, run a table knife around the edge and/or pour room temperature water over the back side of the pans. I flip muffin pans over on top of a baking sheet and pour water over, so that if one falls, it falls on the pan.) You can also use paper cupcake liners. 

Makes 30-32 cup cake sized cups. 

It's so simple and easy and is tangy and delicious.  I love that it has apricots in it- a fruit that is so delicious. (You can certainly alter the recipe anyway you would like.)
Here is the original recipe:

And speaking of foods from my childhood, we roasted pumpkin seeds this weekend. It's a childhood tradition that I have continued. When we carved a pumpkin at a neighborhood party last weekend, we scooped out the seeds and brought them home.  My kids were anxious to roast them and snack on them immediately. We decided to do 1/2 salty and 1/2 sweet.  (We all voted that we liked the salty best.)
I love that my kids know that if it's pumpkin carving time, then seed roasting is part of the fun.

Salty Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds

2 tablespoons melted butter (or olive oil)

2 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350°F.





Scoop out the inside of your pumpkin, and separate seeds from pulp. Don't worry if there's a little pulp left on the seeds when you roast them—it only adds flavor. Just remove the biggest pieces so that the seeds are easy to toss.





In a bowl, toss the seeds with the melted butter, coating thoroughly.  Add salt and seasonings.





Spread seeds in one even layer across a greased baking sheet (or you can use a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil).





Bake for 30 minutes, or until the seeds are golden brown. Stir the seeds every so often while

they're baking, so that they toast evenly.

(For the sweet ones, we substituted cinnamon/sugar mixture for the salt.  It might have been better to put a little salt with the sweet ingredients). 

These next few months are a great chance to carry on a family tradition or try a new recipe!  It adds zest to life and gives us fun things to break up the sometimes mundane grind of life.

Detail: Frozen Fruit Salad and Pumpkin Seed Roasting: Childhood Memories