Time to Cook!

Inspiration for wholesome weeknight & weekend cooking.

Posts tagged ‘snack’

Crazy Good Spinach Smoothie

My neighbor Jess was telling me about a smoothie that she made everyday for a year.  I figured if she did that, it had to be good.  But once she starting telling me the ingredients, I wasn’t so sure about the peanut butter.  Peanut butter in a drink?  But trust me.  It’s delicious.  I’ve now been making this smoothie for a regular afternoon snack and my boys can’t get enough of it.  Enjoy!

Crazy good spinach smoothie

Recipe from my neighbor Jess

Ingredients:

1 cup milk, almond milk, or coconut milk (I use unsweetened almond milk)

1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt

1 tablespoon of peanut butter or almond butter

3 handfuls of fresh spinach (pre-washed)

1 banana, sliced

1  1/2 handfuls of ice

Directions:

Combine all ingredients into a blender and puree, adding ice at the very end.

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Morning Glory Muffins

Oh, these muffins.  Don’t ask me how many I just ate!  The recipe was given to me over a year ago from my friend Jackie and I don’t know why it took me so long to try them myself.  She was 41 weeks pregnant at the time and anxiously awaiting her home birth.  She waddled over (sorry, Jackie — we all have that “waddle” in the final month!!) to my house with a basket of these warm from the oven.  She was panting and out-of-breath when I opened the door and I gasped, “Is it time?!”  I thought she was having contractions!  So, I secretly call these Jackie’s Contraction Muffins.  She was just winded from her walk, but I think she did go into labor the next day.  These are wonderful, earthy, sweet muffins from my Earthy Mama friend — I’m so glad she shared these with me!  Note: you can substitute raisins for any dried fruit that you like.  I made half of the recipe and it made a ton – about 10 regular muffins and 17 mini muffins, which I baked for 21 minutes.  Enjoy!

Morning Glory Muffins

Recipe from my friend Jackie who found it in The Gourmet Cookbook.

Ingredients:

4 cups white flour

2 1/4 cups sugar

4 teaspoons baking soda

4 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons salt

12 carrots, peeled and grated

1 cup raisins (or other dried fruit like cherries or diced apricots)

1 cup unsweetened coconut (if you only have sweetened, just omit 1/4 cup of sugar)

1 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

2 Granny Smith apples, grated

6 eggs

2 cups vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter muffin cups well.

Whisk together flour sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Stir in carrots, raisins, pecans, coconut and apples. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, oil and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until just combined.

Spoon the batter into muffin cups, filling them to the top. Bake until muffins are springy to the touch, about 30 minutes (or 21 minutes for mini muffins). Cool in pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool to room temperature.

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Healthy Dark Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

This is a wonderful tasting, moist and healthy muffin that you can feel good about giving to your kids or enjoying as an afternoon snack.  After tasting these, you won’t believe there isn’t any white flour, sugar, butter or vegetable oil in them.  They truly taste decadent — and they’re not!  Note: if you don’t have the wheat germ or flax, substitute with oats and the muffins will turn out fine!

Healthy Dark Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Recipe adapted from the blog Baking Adventures in a Messy Kitchen.

Healthy Dark Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups grated zucchini
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup coconut oil, softened or melted
2 large eggs
1 banana , well mashed
3/4 cup yogurt (vanilla or plain; Greek or non-fat or low fat)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups whole wheat white flour
1/3 cup toasted wheat germ
1/4 cup ground flaxseed or meal
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (heaping) dark chocolate mini chunks (Whole Foods private label sells these in a bag)

Directions:

To prepare, grate the zucchini, using paper towels to squeeze out any excess moisture, and mash the banana.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease mini muffin tray, planning for 45-50 mini muffins.

Using a stand mixer, beat together the zucchini, honey, molasses, coconut oil, eggs, banana, yogurt, and vanilla until well mixed.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, wheat germ, flax seed, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt with a whisk.

Add the flour mixture to the stand mixer incrementally, beating on low speed, stopping as soon as the flour is fully incorporated.

Remove the bowl from the stand and fold in the dark chocolate mini chunks.

Scoop the batter into mini muffin cups (filling just over 3/4 full), and bake them in the oven for approximately 13 minutes. Let sit in the pan for a few more minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Try to eat just one. Really. Try.

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Toddler Muffins

Here is a yummy, nutritious mini muffin that’s great for kids — serve with breakfast or as a snack.  The only change I made was to add some shredded zucchini to the original recipe.  Any extra muffins can be frozen to be gobbled up later.

Toddler Muffins

Recipe slightly adapted from one I discovered on  Erika Follanbee’s photography blog and originally posted on Allrecipes.com.

 

Toddler Muffins

Makes 24-30 mini muffins

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large bananas, mashed
1 (4.5 ounce) jar baby food squash
2 carrots, grated

1 large zucchini, grated

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oat bran
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 24 mini muffin cups.
  2. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the mashed bananas, squash, carrots, zucchini and eggs. Stir in the flour, oat bran, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt until just combined. Spoon the batter equally into the prepared muffin cups.
  3. Bake about 18 minutes. Cool in the pans for 5  minutes, run a knife around the edges to loosen them up, before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy immediately, or they freeze beautifully!
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Banana Milkshake

For some reason, I craved this when I was pregnant with both of my boys and might have had it everyday as an afternoon snack.  It’s healthy and somewhat filling and super easy!  I call it a milkshake because it really does taste like one, but it’s just milk and banana!  I’ve newly discovered unsweetened almond milk, which is fun to use in smoothies or in oatmeal.  It has a slightly nutty taste and is very good for you (twice the calcium and half the calories of cow’s milk).

Banana Milkshake

Banana Milkshake

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened almond milk (can use regular cow’s milk)

1 banana, cut into thirds

Directions:

Purée milk and banana in blender until smooth and drink immediately.

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Kale Chips

Although you can’t tell from the picture, these kale chips are light as air!  They are delicate and crispy and dissolve in your mouth when you eat them.  They are really a healthy replacement to potato chips and fun to have out as a snack or appetizer before dinner.  My friend Ashley made them for us and the kids and adults all loved them.  It’s great to have yet another way to serve this superfood.

Kale Chips

Kale Chips

Ingredients:

1 bunch fresh kale

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions:

Wash kale and dry thoroughly with paper towels.  Drying the kale well is key or your kale chips will turn moist and chewy just hours after you bake them.  Remove the large ribs and roughly tear the leaves into 2 inch pieces.  Spread them out onto 2 rimmed baking sheets (so they are not too crowded or they will steam) and toss with olive oil and salt.  Bake at 375 degrees for 13 minutes.  Season to taste with additional salt  if needed.  Serve warm or at room temperature within an hour or two of baking (or they may turn chewy).

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