After School Snacks

The kids are ALWAYS famished when they come home from school. Always! Sometimes I just let them grab something from the SNACK bucket in the pantry, or a fruit, and sometimes I made them a snack to eat. It all depends on how much time I have and when we will be eating dinner.

Today I took 5 minutes and put together this plate of snacks for them when they came home from school. They gobbled it up in minutes. (It is amazing that they can put away so much food sometimes.)

 

A few days ago I had made some banana bread in mini loaf pans. I cut up the last loaf and spread it out on the plate. I broke apart some graham crackers and spread peanut butter on one side and then turned it into a little sandwich. That's it graham crackers and peanut butter- it kinda tastes like a quick and easy peanut butter cookie. Finally, I sliced up a green apple (somehow the kids developed a preference for green apples over the red- so that's what they got). 

Then it was done. They walked through the door... saw the plate, said hello and then I didn't hear much from them til there were only crumbs left on the plate and they were saying, "That was an AWESOME snack Mom!" (Mission Accomplished!)

Then it was time to do homework.

Banana Bread Pancakes

{{Banana Bread Pancakes}}

(printer friendly version)

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2/3 to 1 cup milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

2 tablespoons butter, melted

mini chocolate chips, optional

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Measure out the milk and add the vanilla extract to it. Whisk together the dry ingredients and add in 2/3 cup milk and vanilla, stirring to combine. The mixture will still be dry. Add in mashed bananas and mix. Add in melted butter and stir until batter is somewhat smooth (add the additional 1/3 cup of milk here as needed to make the batter a smoother consistency).

Heat a skillet or grill on medium heat. Using a 1/3 cup measure, spoon batter into rounds and cook until bubbles form on top – about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook for a minute or two more. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve hot with butter and syrup.... Mmmmm....Or to make it even better yet.....sprinkle with mini chocolate chips... sprinkle to your little hearts content.

Another fun way to serve the pancakes... turn them into a monkey! I pulled out about 1 cup of batter and added 1/2 tablespoon of cocoa powder to make darker pancakes. Grill up a large monkey head, a medium sized mouth and two smaller ears. Decorate with 2 regular sized chocolate chip eyes and mini chocolate chips for the mouth. Accessorize the monkey with the monkey's favorite treat... a banana!

Mmmmmm.... I love breakfast! Don't you?

Banana Bread

Mmmmm... banana bread. A great way to use up ripe or over ripe bananas.

This recipe was given to me by my sister in law, and I think it came out of the Lion House Recipe Book. Instead of making one large bread loaf of banana bread, I like making the mini loaves of banana bread. It seems like you can eat several slices and feel like you had a lot, when really you probably only had the equivalent of one slice from a larger loaf. Seems like a pretty good deal to me! I'm just sayin'....

So after you have made the batter as described in the recipe below, you have to grease your pans. You can use shortening or butter. Make sure they are well greased. They seem to come out better with a little extra lovin'.

In my family growing up, we sugar coated our banana bread pans. After you grease, you sprinkle white granulated sugar into the pan and coat it, kinda like you do for a cake with flour. But you are using sugar and it creates a yummy sweet crust on your bread.Oh but wait....don't put that sugar away yet.... now we are going to fill the pans with batter (about 3/4-1 cup for the mini loaves, it works the same with the larger loaf, you will just put all the batter in after you grease and coat the pan). Next we sprinkle some of that sugar on TOP of the banana bread batter, before it goes into the oven to bake.
I had a lot of bananas to use up, so I doubled the recipe and made 8 small loaves of banana bread. I made half of the loaves plain banana bread, and then the other half of the batter I added some semi-sweet chocolate chips. Then after pouring the batter into the pan, I sprinkled a few more chocolate chips on top. The chocolate chips tend to sink to the bottom so I like to give a few of them a fighting chance by letting them start out on top.
After the pans are all prepared, place them into the preheated 350 degree oven. These smaller loaves also have another great benefit. The larger loaf pan always takes about an hour to bake, and sometimes the crust gets overdone before the insides are fully cooked. However, with small loaves, it only takes about 25 minutes for the center to test done and the crust is perfectly browned and not overdone. Below you will see a picture of the plain banana bread without nuts and WITH the sugar crust.... See that lovely crusty, sugary top!And here is the chocolate chip banana bread... with no sugar crust. You can sugar coat this one too, but with the chocolate added, I always feel like it might be a bit of sweetness overkill.

Here are the 8 mini loaves of bread... done!After letting them cool on a wire rack, I cut up on of each loaf and arranged them on the plate... in a matter of moments my kids and husband had devoured most of the bread. Guess they liked it!

{{Banana Bread}}

(Printer friendly version)

1/2 c. butter (original recipe calls for margarine, but butter just tastes better!)
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. mashed bananas
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp lemon juice
2 c. flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs and beat. Add banana’s, milk and lemon juice. Then sift in dry ingredients, and finally add nuts. Bake in well-greased loaf pan 1 hr at 350. Makes 1 large loaf or 4 small mini loaves.
(Optional: coat the greased pan with sugar and then sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons of sugar on top of batter before baking.)

Brownie Shish Kabobs

We made these yummy kabobs and the kids went gaga for them! A little bit of brownie and lots of fruit drizzled with chocolate. Perfect!

Here they are drizzled with chocolate. Mmmmmm...

{{Brownie 'n Fruit Shish Kabobs}}

(printer friendly version)

1 box fudge brownie mix (including the water, vegetable oil and eggs as called for on the brownie mix)

4 cups fresh pineapple, chunks

5 cups halved fresh strawberries

10 large bananas, cut into 1 inch pieces (Brushed with lemon juice to prevent browning)

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter

21 (10 inch) bamboo skewers

Heat oven to 350 degrees (325 for dark or nonstick pans). Line 9x13 pan with foil or parchment paper and let it hang 2 inches over the side of the pan. Spray or grease only the bottom of the lined pan.

Make brownies as directed on box. {You can also make your favorite brownie recipe from scratch... if I'm using a box, I prefer the Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies and I have noticed since we live at a higher altitude it works best if I add 2 tablespoons of flour to the mix before adding the remaining ingredients.} Spread brownie batter in prepared pan.

Bake brownies for 26-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from the side comes out almost clean. Cool brownies completely.

While brownies are cooling, start cutting up all the fruit and brush the cut up bananas with a diluted lemon juice water {I did 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and a 1/2 cup water and brushed it onto the bananas with a pastry brush}.

Lift brownie from pan and remove parchment paper/foil. Cut brownies into 1 1/4 inch squares.

Line cookie sheets with waxed paper. Alternately thread 3 brownie squares, 2 pineapple chunks, 2 strawberry halves, and 2 banana slices on each skewer. Place kabobs on waxed paper.

In a small microwaveable bowl, microwave chocolate chips and butter uncovered on high for 1-2 minutes, stirring once the chocolate is melted. Drizzle over kabobs.

***We made some without pineapple, some without banana, but all of them had strawberries. We wanted to satisfy the desires of all those that would be eating these. I actually cut the brownies a bit smaller and added more fruit when possible.

I had to include the kids... They were too busy eating to even smile! This was serious business. They were going GAGA!!!

Homemade Whipped Cream

This is really the only kind of whipped cream to have and it is sooo very easy to make. No really! It is! It is so much better than Cool-whip or the kind that comes in the squirty can. You can use this in place of any recipe that calls for cool-whip or any type of whipped cream and it makes all dishes so much better.

{{Homemade Whipped Cream}}

1 cup heavy cream, chilled (nice to put it into the freezer for about 1o minutes before you whip it)
1/4 cup confectioner sugar (a.k.a. powdered sugar... this stabilizes the whipped cream better than white sugar does)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Combine the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Use an electric mixer to whip to stiff (but not grainy) peaks. Chill until using. Best if used within one day.

Also it is really easy to make this whipped cream in a stand mixer. Place all the ingredients in and turn it on high to whip it up! Minutes to delicious-ness on top of any sweet treat.

Use it on crepes, fresh fruit, pies, or really on any dessert. Like this yummy banana cream pie! It's super easy to make too...

Banana Cream Pie

1 - 1/2 cup chocolate chips, either milk or semi-sweet
Pre-made Graham Cracker Crust (or you can make one from scratch)
2 medium size bananas (pick ripeness according to your preference)
Small box of Jell-O vanilla instant pudding
Small box of Jell-O banana cream pudding
2 cups cold milk
Whipped Topping

Place one cup of chocolate chips in a microwavable bowl. Melt chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds on 70% power and then pull out and stir. Watch chocolate carefully so it doesn't burn. Continue to melt chocolate in 30 second intervals, stirring after. When all the chocolate has melted, add the last half cup and stir in. After stirring the chocolate and allowing some of the last 1/2 cup to melt, put it back in the microwave and after 30 more seconds all of the chocolate should be smooth and melted. (Saving that last bit of chocolate and adding it after most of the chocolate has melted helps to temper the chocolate a bit so it will set up nicely in the pie).

Now that your chocolate is melted, spread the chocolate evenly on the bottom and sides of the crust. Set aside.

Slice banana and then layer them around the bottom of the crust. Add more or less bananas as you like. This is your pie... make it the way you like it.

Open packages of pudding mixes into a mixing bowl and add the cold milk. Using a hand mixer, beat the pudding for about a minute. Pour the prepared pudding on top of the bananas and put into the refrigerator to set.

Just before serving you can make the fresh whipped topping and serve each slice with a generous dollop of homemade whipped cream! YUMMY!

Banana-Pillar

Adorable right! What kid wouldn't want to GOBBLE this right up! Heck... I want to gobble it up! Nice fun and healthy snack for kids.

Banana-Pillar

Banana
Stick Pretzels, broke in half
Peanut Butter
Mini Chocolate Chips
Red Gummy Bear, cut in half

Peel banana and slice. Push a half stick of pretzel into each side of the banana. Smear a small amount of peanut butter onto the banana and stick another banana onto it. Continue until the entire banana has pretzels and peanut butter on them to form the body of the cater- I mean Banana-pillar. After the body is ready, take two mini chocolate chips and using a small amount of peanut butter, stick them on for the eyes. Then using half of the gummy bear, stick that on as the mouth/tongue! Ta DAH!

Serve it to the kids and watch their eyes widen in amazement. You can also try to serve it on a lettuce leaf (you know as if the little guy was sitting on a leaf) and maybe if you are lucky the kids will be so excited about eating the adorable banana-pillar, they will eat the lettuce leaf too!

Dehydrator

I was given some dehydrators a few months ago and I have been dehydrating lots of stuff since. Here is a picture of the dehydrator that I have. You can pretty much dry anything. Some of my favorite stuff to dry has been the fruits (strawberries, bananas, pineapple, apples) and jerky. They turn out soooo yummy and the kids like them too. A good alternative to fruit snacks.

Here is what I did...

1- First wash the fruit and then slice it into about 1/4 inch slices.
2- Lightly spray the trays with PAM non-stick cooking spray. This helps during the removal process after the fruit has dried.
3- Layer the fruit on the tray in a single layer. Each dehydrator came with 5 trays.
4- Once all of the fruit is on the trays you can turn it on. It takes several hours for the fruit to dry. I've noticed there is not a specific time that can be followed. It depends on the fruit and how much liquid is in that particular one. Watch the dehydrator and check on it every hour and a little more frequently at the end to make sure it doesn't get over done. The fruit on the bottom tray seemed to get done faster so I would rotate the trays in order to get them all to finish at approximately the same time. When I would check the fruit on the trays I would pull off the ones that finished earlier than others.
5- Pull off the fruit when it is still soft, and dry. Make sure they are not wet. There seemed to be a very fine line between done and over done. I preferred the fruit to still be soft and not crunchy, but that was my preference. I pulled off the fruit when it was dry but not stiff.
6- Store dried fruit in a zip lock bag or an air tight container. I have also used my Food Saver machine to store some of them for longer storage.

Here are how they looked before they were dried.

Mmmmmm.... Strawberries...
Bananas....
And Pineapple... oh my! (the center of the pineapple isn't very good, so I cut them out using a small cookie cutter that just happened to be in the shape of a star.)
This is what these three fruits looked like dried.
The possibilities are almost endless. I have also done apples, grapes (makes raisins), tomatoes, and some herbs. Plus a few different types of jerky. It's fun to make your own snacks.

Banana Smoothie

In a blender combine:
2 1/2 cups ice
1 cup milk
1 banana
1 T. sugar or splenda (optional)

Blend all ingredients until smooth, then pour into a glass and serve immediately. Very light and refreshing banana smoothie.