Creative Snacks

Ever get tired of the same old snacks? You can only eat chips or cookies so many days in a row. Not only that, but most of us are trying to eat healthier these days, and chips and cookies don’t exactly fall into the “healthy” category. Here are some different snack ideas that can satisfy both the crunchy and/or sweet cravings we all get!

Banana Pops: I’m not a big banana fan, but my husband is, and loved these.

Ingredients:
Bananas that have just turned ripe

1large tub of strawberry and/or vanilla yogurt

2 cups (approx.) of crushed cereal, such as cornflakes or chocolate rice krispies

Popsicle sticks

Directions:
Insert popsicle stick into banana. Place yogurt in a pie plate. Place crushed cereal in another pie plate. Coat the banana with yogurt. Immediately roll the yougurt covered banana in the crushed cereal. Place on a cookie sheet. Freeze overnight.

Try all different combinations! I made mine with vanilla yogurt and chocolate Rice Krispies, and then with strawberry yogurt with Rice Krispies.

Cereal Yogurt: I accidentally discovered this as I was cleaning up from my banana pops.

Ingredients:

1 cup yogurt

1/4 cup cereal or granola

Directions:

Combine yogurt and cereal and eat. It results in a snack similar to the yogurt-snack mixes you can buy in the store, but is a lot cheaper.

Pretzel-Oyster Cracker Mix: This mix adds a yummy taste to otherwise plain pretzels and oyster crackers.

Ingredients:

1 lb of pretzels

1 bag of oyster crackers

1/4 tsp dill weed

1 ranch dressing dry mix

1/4 vegetable oil

Directions:

Warm up oven to 275 degrees. Combine the pretzels and oyster crackers. Pour in vegetable oil and coat well. Add Ranch dressing mix and dill weed. Coat well. Place onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes (until lightly browned).

Soft Pretzels: My mom made these weekly when I was a kid, but I had forgotten about them. Making them brought back some tasty memories.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. warm water
1 pkg. dry yeast
4 c. flour
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 tbsp. flour

Directions:

Turn oven on to 425 degrees. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix 3 cups of flour, sugar, and salt into yeast mixture. Work in 4th cup of flour by kneading the dough with your hands. Divide dough into equal pieces and roll into pretzel shapes (kids can also have fun making kites, hearts, and even flowers with the dough). Place pretzels in boiling water for approx. 2 minutes (until they rise to the surface). Remove with a spatula and place on cookie sheet.

Beat egg with 1 tbsp of water. Brush tops of pretzels with egg mixture. Add kosher salt. Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes.

For Garlic Pretzels:

1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese

1 tsp of gralic powder

Directions:

Sprinkle on top of pretzels that have been poached and brushed with egg mixture.

For Sweet Pretzels: Brush honey on poached pretzels. Bake. Combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 1 tsp of cinnamon. Add enough water to make a glaze (1-2 tsp). Brush on top of honey baked pretzels while still warm.

For Sweet Mustard: Add 1/2 cup of honey and 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar to 1/2 cup of Dijon mustard.

Mini Pies

I got this idea from one of my friends and I thought it was so fun, though it does take a bit of work. Instead  of making a large pie, make little tiny pies in muffin tins.

Pie crust recipe:

You can use a store-bought filling or make your own. My two favorites are apples and blueberries.

Apple filling:

Six apples peeled and cut into small chunks
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 tsp of flour
2 tsp of cinnamon

Mix everything together, spoon into mini pie crusts.

Blueberry filling:

Mix 6 tbsp of flour with ½ to ¾ cup of white sugar (depending on the sweetness you desire and the sweetness of your berries). Layer the mini pie crust with the flour mixture. Spoon blueberries into the pie crust. Generously cover the top of the blueberries. Place a small sliver of butter on everything. Then top with pie crust cover.

Apples and Dip

This is great for Fall, when apples are in season.

Dip #1:

1 package of cream cheese
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 tbsp of vanilla
1/2 cup of chopped peanuts (or pecans)

Cream together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Add peanuts to mixture. Serve with apple slices.

Dip #2:

1 small container of whipped cream
1 package of strawberry cream cheese

Soften cream cheese.  Once it’s soft, fold in cool whip to the cream cheese til thoroughly mixed. Serve with apple slices.

Snack Mix

I just invented this the other day, trying to use up some kitchen ingredients in my cupboards.

1 cup of Cheerios
1 cup of Chex
1/2 tbsp of oil
1 cup of chocolate chips (I used dark, but milk chocolate could be used as well)
1 cup of peanuts
1 cup of thin pretzel sticks

Melt the chocolate chips with the oil, until smooth and creamy. Coat the Cheerios and the Chex with melted chocolate. Let that cool on a cookie sheet. After your coated cereal has cooled, put in a mixing bowl and add peanuts and pretzel sticks. It’s a great combination of sweet and salty!