Category Archives: Snack

Covid19 / Snack / Sweet

Quarantine Activity: Bake your feelings! (Healthy, ultra-adjustable muffins)

March 19, 2020

These are not the muffins we made yesterday, but WordPress isn’t letting me upload new photos for some reason (I blame Covid) so I had to just pull this from the archives. Whatever. You guys know what a muffin looks like, right? #doingourbestoverhere #survivingnotthriving

Looking for an activity to do with your kiddos that results in a (semi) healthy snack? Or just looking for a muffin recipe you can make with whatever you’ve got in your pantry? We made these yesterday and I realized that so many of the ingredients could be swapped, subbed, stretched… perfect for quarantine! Plus, there’s enough ingredients to measure and dump that it can occupy helping hands for at least a little bit (and I will take those small wins however I can get them right now, ok?)

Flexible Quarantine Muffins

  • 1/3 cup oil (avocado, canola, safflower, peanut) or melted butter
  • 2 eggs (or 1/2 cup applesauce or mashed banana)
  • 1/3 cup plain yogurt, buttermilk, dairy or non-dairy milk, or any combination of those (I used 1/4 cup greek yogurt topped off with whole milk)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup brown or white sugar or 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cups all-purpose flour or GF flour
  • 3/4 cups other flour (almond, oat*, whole wheat, GF flour, or more all-purpose)
  • 1 tbsp flaxmeal or chia seeds (feel free to leave out if you don’t have this)
  • 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup grated zucchini, carrot, apple, applesauce, or mashed banana (or any combination)
  • 6 chopped dates or about 1/2 cup raisins, dried cranberries, apricots or any other dried fruit (chopped, if large)
  • Raw sugar (or other sugar), for topping (optional)
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 12 cup muffin tin.
  2. Whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla and sugar.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together cinnamon, salt, flour(s), flax/chia, baking powder and soda.
  4. Pour dry ingredients into wet and stir just until combined. Stir in grated zucchini and dates (or whatever you’re using).
  5. Spoon batter into muffin tins (fill about 2/3 full), sprinkle tops with sugar (optional), and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 18-21 minutes.

*You can make your own oat flour by blitzing old fashioned or quick-cooking oatmeal in the blender or a food processor.

Looking for another easy muffin recipe to make with kids? We love these whole wheat applesauce muffins. These pumpkin muffins are also easy and delicious!

Appetizer / Budget-Friendly Weekend Fun / Cocktails / Drinks / Gluten-Free / Happy Hour / Pescatarian / Savory / Snack / Vegan / Vegetarian

Two Recipes for Summer

May 24, 2018

I realize that these recipes would have been much better suited closer to Cinqo de Mayo, but here we are. I have no issues indulging in margaritas and chips+salsa year-round, so I’m not about to hold onto these until next year so they can be posted at an “appropriate” time.

Appropriate schmrappropriate. Let’s all just live our lives, shall we? I did actually make this cocktail for the first time over Cinqo de Mayo weekend. There’s a Cali-Mex restaurant near us that has the best (let’s use that term loosely) Mexican food round these parts, but what I really come back for over and over again is this one cocktail — the Rosarito. It’s basically just a spicy margarita, so given that I figured it couldn’t be too hard to make, I decided to recreate it. If you like a margarita, this version with a little kick might be right up your alley:

The Rosarito
makes one large or two small cocktails

  • 1 hot pepper, sliced into coins
  • 1/2  oz agave syrup
  • 1/2 oz orange liquer
  • 3 oz tequila
  • 2 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
  • ice
  • salt for rim (optional)
  1. Optional: sprinkle salt onto a plate, rub lime wedge across the rim of your glass, then dip into salt to create salted rim.
  2. Place 2-3 pepper coins into cocktail shaker with agave syrup. Muddle together with a wooden spoon or muddler (the more you muddle, the spicier it gets).
  3. Add orange liquer, tequila, lime juice and ice. Shake until very cold (at least 60 shakes). Strain into glass over ice. Garnish with lime wedge and/or additional pepper coins.

Notes: I have tried this with multiple types of hot peppers now. Jalapeños worked fine but were not my favorite, flavor-wise. My preferred peppers for this are Thai red chilis (also called Bird’s eye chilis). They have a solid kick to them, so keep that in mind while you’re muddling (it doesn’t take much to make this drink spicy!) I haven’t tried habanero chilis yet because I’m not a complete masochist.

In case you’re wondering why there’s a picture of a cheese board above this recipe, it’s because I realized I don’t have a picture of my finished salsa, aside from that picture above where it is very much not the star. Oh well, you guys know what salsa looks like, right?

Chipotle Roasted Salsa
makes a large cereal-sized bowl

  • 200g / 1/2(ish) lb tomatoes, quartered
  • Large handful mild peppers
  • 2 small to medium white onions, peeled and quartered
  • 4 cloves garlic, whole, peeled
  • 1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo (2 makes it spicy!)
  • cilantro
  • fresh lime juice
  1. Preheat oven to 425°f / 220°c
  2. Toss tomatoes, mild peppers, onions, and garlic in olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread onto a sheet pan and roast for 20-25 minutes, until just a little charred.
  3. Add roasted veggies and their juice to a food processor fitted with a steel blade, along with chipotle peppers, and blend together. Add cilantro and pulse to combine.
  4. Add lime juice and additional salt and pepper to taste.

Notes: I usually use 5-6 Roma or vine tomatoes, but any ripe tomatoes will work here. I use Padrón peppers for the mild pepper because that’s what is available here. Anaheim chiles, shishito peppers, or poblanos would all work. Bell peppers would do fine in a pinch, but don’t overdo it or your salsa will be overly sweet/mild. If you don’t have or can’t find chipotle peppers in adobo, add a few hot peppers to the mix before roasting (jalapenos, thai chilis, or habaneros if you dare) — remove ribs and seeds to lessen the heat.

Snack / Sweet / Vegetarian

Whole Wheat Applesauce Muffins

September 19, 2017

I made applesauce yesterday, as a sort of “making lemons into lemonade” situation after a tough weekend. Cooking and baking generally boost my spirit, and having the house smell like baked apples and cinnamon as fall is fast approaching, well — that’s a pretty good bonus.

I have been looking for some easy grab-and-go snacks for Prim lately, as we have fallen into the rut of consuming the same snacks day-in and day-out. The girl eats allll day long, so having plenty of snacks on hand is crucial. She’s in a bit of a picky phase, so any time I can sneak in anything mildly healthy I try to take advantage.

These muffins are a great dessert, but given that they’re pretty low in sugar, they’ve mostly been serving as a snack in our house. They come together quickly and make exactly 12 muffins — two things that are somewhat essential right now, given that I only have one muffin tin and very limited time where I can be out of eyesight of Lark now that she’s semi-mobile.

Whole Wheat Applesauce Muffins

makes 12 muffins

  • 1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
  • 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/2 cup milk (I used whole)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • 4 tbsp melted butter
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • big pinch of nutmeg
  • big pinch of salt
  • 1/2 cup unpacked raisins
  1. Preheat oven to 375°.
  2. Whisk together oats, applesauce, milk, vanilla, egg, melted butter, and sugar.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and raisins.
  4. Add dry ingredients to wet, stirring just to combine (don’t overmix).
  5. Spoon into muffin cups or a greased muffin tin, then bake for 10-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Modifications

  • You could probably use 1/4 of cup maple syrup or 1/6 cup (about 2 2/3 tbsp) to a scant 1/4 cup of honey in place of the sugar, but you may need to decrease the amount of milk by a couple teaspoons if you take this option. (Though it may be so minimal that it won’t make much difference.)
  • UPDATE ON SUGAR ALTERNATIVES: I have made these with one ripe banana in place of the sugar and with 1/4 cup maple syrup in place of the sugar. Both work well if you modify the recipe use 1/4 tsp salt and a scant 1/2 cup of milk. The banana addition wasn’t my favorite, but my kids gobbled up the muffins (so maybe it’s the best of both worlds — kid-friendly and sugar free, but not tasty enough for me to dive into after they’re in bed. Ha.) The maple syrup in place of the sugar tasted almost identical to me, so if that’s your jam — go for it!
  • Subbing coconut oil for butter shouldn’t be a problem.
  • Feel free to add dried cranberries or nuts in place of the raisins — both should work well.

Appetizer / Dairy-Free / Happy Hour / Savory / Snack / Vegetarian

Homemade Soft Pretzels

July 8, 2014

How was your 4th of July?  Ours was fun.  We had a BBQ which ended up going long into the evening and involved a lot of debauchery and a record consumption of Fireball shots (Not by me.  Ew.)  If I had to gauge the amount of fun our party was by how sticky our dining room floor was the next day, I’d say it was suuuuper fun.

At the BBQ we served grilled sausages with sautéed peppers and onions, the world’s largest watermelon, and my go-to Caesar salad.  The night before I also whipped up two batches of homemade soft pretzels (because sausages + soft pretzels — so American, right?  Yah.)  The pretzels were such a hit that I figured I should share the recipe with y’all, so you too can be the talk of the town at your next party.

Soft pretzels aren’t particularly difficult to make, just kind of time consuming.  And if you cheat a little and use a bread maker to make the dough (like me), it’s even easier.

IMG_3126

Soft Pretzels

makes 16 pretzels

  • 1 1/4 cups warm water (80-90°F)
  • 1 tbsp. salt (plus additional for sprinkling)
  • 1 tbsp + 1 tsp brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 4 cups bread flour
  • 2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) active dry yeast
  • Alkaline solution: 5 cups water + 1/3 cup baking soda
  • Egg wash: 1 egg beaten with a splash of water or milk
  1. Using a bread maker: To make the dough, place all ingredients (omitting the alkaline solution and egg wash) into your bread maker in the order listed above and use the dough setting.
  2. Not using a bread maker: Combine water, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment and let sit for 5 minutes until the mixture begins to foam.  In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and salt.  With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in flour mixture until well combined and the dough comes together.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and knead the dough for 4-5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Oil a clean bowl with vegetable or olive oil and place dough in it.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for 50-55 min, or until the dough has doubled in size.
  3. Once your dough is ready, cut the dough into 16 equal pieces (cut into fourths, then cut each fourth into fourths again).  Quickly roll each piece into a long rope and twist it into a pretzel shape.  *Try to handle the dough as little as possible — the longer you mess with it, the tougher your pretzels will be.
  4. Once you have 16 pretzels formed, place them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat, cover them with plastic wrap, and let them rest for 20-30 minutes.
  5. Preheat oven to 425°.
  6. Make your alkaline solution by combining 5 cups of water with 1/3 cup baking soda in a wide saucepan, then bring to a boil (I used my Le Creuset braiser for this).  Once boiling, boil each pretzel for 3 minutes, flipping halfway through (you can do this in batches rather than going one at a time).  Place onto a wire rack to drain.
  7. Once drained, return pretzels to a baking sheet lined with a silpat or parchment paper.  Brush each pretzel with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse salt (I recommend using pretzel salt or sea salt for this — I used Maldon flake salt).
  8. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.
  9. To revive pretzels the next day, brush with melted butter, sprinkle with a tad more salt, and reheat in the oven for 3-5 minutes.

IMG_3122IMG_3123IMG_3124IMG_3119Pair these with mustard and a cold beer and you’re in business.

 

Dairy-Free / Dinner / Gluten-Free / Savory / Snack / Stay Healthy / Vegan / Vegetarian

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde

October 9, 2013

More salsa!  Hooray!  If you get a CSA box, you’re likely getting some tomatillos around this time of year, now that they’re in season.  I don’t have much expertise in dealing with tomatillos, but I do know how to turn them into a pretty delicious salsa.  And, like I said yesterday, making salsa is about as easy as it gets.  (I mean, it’s literally prep + roast + puree — not exactly rocket science).

Let’s get cookin’.

Salsa VerdeRoasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde

  • Bunch of tomatillos (about a pound), hulled, cleaned and cut in half or quarters (depending on size)
  • 1 red onion, peeled and quartered (a white onion would also work in this)
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • Jalapenos (this is to taste — I used a lot (like 8) and just removed the stem and cut them into chunks.  Use fewer if you like less spice, remove seeds and ribs to cut down the spiciness even more.)
  • olive oil
  • s&p
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1-2 tsp honey**
  • handful of cilantro leaves (optional)
  • fresh-squeezed lime juice
  1. Preheat oven to 425°
  2. Combine tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapenos in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper, then roast until tender (about 15 minutes).
  3. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
  4. Place roasted veggies into a food processor fitted with the blade attachment.  Add cumin, honey, lime juice, and cilantro, then pulse to combine until desired consistency is reached.  Taste and doctor as you see fit.*

*If the salsa is too sour, add salt + honey.  If the salsa is bland, add salt + more jalapenos.  If the salsa lacks depth, add cumin + lime juice.  If the salsa isn’t bright enough, add lime + cilantro.

**I find that the honey really makes a difference in this recipe.  Salsa Verde can be kind of boring and sour if not made correctly, but I find the spiciness of the jalapenos and smokiness of the cumin are balanced perfectly by the sweetness of the honey.  Try it out and see for yourself!

 

Somebody get me a margarita.