Tuesday Tip of the week #2

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1023404

Yep I am reviving my cooking tips this week. About time don't ya think?

Anyway, I have been posting about snacks for kids for the summer time over the last few days. So I think to round out that line of conversation I am going to talk about making homemade chips. All kids love something crunchy to munch on. We have been experimenting with various types of homemade chips lately and so far they are all winners here.

• Potato
• Tortilla
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Carrot
• Squash
• Spinach

Ingredients:

• Veggie of choice or tortilla cut into pie shape
• Homemade cooking spray (spray bottle filled oil of your choice)
• Sea or Kosher salt, seasoning of choice

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
2. Spray a cookie sheet with oil
3. Thinly slice veggie. If you are using kale or spinach remove the stem.
4. Place on cookie sheet in a single layer.
5. Spritz with oil and add seasoning of choice.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Voila! Store them in an air tight container or they will get soft.

Egg Pie

In our house we don't eat quiche, we eat egg pie. This wonderful concoction looks and tastes much like a quiche, go figure. It is a quick simple recipe that will fill your family up and makes a wonderful breakfast, lunch, dinner or even a snack if you make minis.

Ingredients:

• Pie crust
• 6 Eggs
• 1 cup Cheese
• 3 TBS Milk
• Salt and Pepper to taste. 

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray your pie plate with cooking spray (put a little oil in a spritz bottle and voila! you have cooking spray you can mist).
3. Place your pie crust into your pie plate.
4. Beat your eggs with the other ingredients, reserving 1/4 cup of cheese for topping.
5. Pour your egg mixture into the pie crust and top with remaining cheese.
6. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a knife goes into the center and comes out clean (make an allowance for gooey melted cheese on top. You don't want to see uncooked egg on the knife.)
7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool 10 minutes before serving.

You can add meat and veggies to your egg pie. Experiment with different cheeses for different flavors. 

To make mini quiches I use a muffin pan and make small pie crusts to fill. 

Summer Snacks Part 2: Traveling with kids

Ants on a log borrowed from the craftycrow.net

School's out or you have little ones or you homeschool or you are going on vacation, no matter the scenario when you have kids you are running around with them in the car. The inevitable happens, "I'm hungry." "I'm thirsty." What is your first instinct? Pull into the drive through stop at a convenience store?

Been there, done that in the past myself and from time to time it doesn't hurt to go grab an Icee or if you are lucky a Slurpie especially in the heat of the summer. But on a regular basis not only does it get expensive it isn't healthy. What's a parent to do? It is hard to concentrate or get anything done once the hungry or thirsty or worse yet hungry and thirsty mantra starts coming out of the back seat. That lovely child you gave birth to turns into something evil when it gets this way. Our solution is to pack a lunch box for short trips and a cooler for longer ones.

But I drive a small car! There is always room to put a small cooler, you don't have to get a huge one unless you have an army to feed or teenagers. If you have an army of teenagers you will more than likely have a large vehicle and fit in a large cooler.

I like to stock mine, thankful now for the Big Blue Beast, with snacks and drinks the kids have  picked out. Some of the things we carry along with us are:

• Bottle water
• 100% no sugar added juice boxes
• Iced Tea
• Cheese chunks
• Crackers
• Fruits such as apples (whole or cut up), raisins, bananas, oranges, berries, grapes
• Veggie sticks or even just plain old baby carrots and even lettuce and spinach
• If we have had a whole roast, chicken or turkey breast I will slice these up like sandwich meat
• Granola bars
• Trail mix
• Homemade chips 
• Peanut butter

Letting the kids pick out their own snacks to take with us on the road is fun. I have small containers for various dips or to have single servings of something. I keep ice packs at the ready all the time and have been known to throw juice boxes in the freezer as well. Nothing like a cold slushy juice box on a hot summer day. 

The variety and amount varies depending on whether or not we are on a road trip, planning a day at the beach or just running errands. I don't know about your kids but I know mine presume that getting the vehicle means it is time to eat. Healthy filling snacks will avoid melt downs with your little ones if you have to spend all day running around. 

I tend to keep more drinks than snack food on errand days, especially in the summer. For fall and winter when it is colder invest in a couple of thermoses and make some hot chocolate to take along or a favorite herbal tea. 

Ants on a Log

Ingredients:

• Celery 
• Peanut butter
• Raisins

Directions:

• Cut celery stalks into 2 inch sections
• Fill with peanut butter
• Place raisins on top of the peanut butter

Quick easy and can be made on the road.

Summer Time Snack Ideas

Frozen smoothies healthy, delicious snacks.

Summer time is just about upon us and if you have kids running around they are going to want snacks. Since I have become more conscious of what we eat, especially my Super Hero, it almost seems like things are limited but really they aren't if you become creative.

We are a nitrate and food coloring free home. Sugar intake has been reduced as well all with awesome results for everyone I might add. So what I am feeding them for snacks?

First and most importantly in the warm weather is plenty to drink. We are converting from your standard brewed tea to herbal teas, which offer flavor and require less sweetener. Water is definitely first option. Why is this under a snack tip? Kids dehydrate faster than grown ups and we often forget this. They are running around more in the hot weather and sweating. This if perfectly ok if we them well hydrated. There are snacks that work wonders to help with hydration:

• Homemade Popsicle
• Melons
• Cucumbers
• Oranges
• Apples
• Grapes
• Tomatoes
• Berries

These fruits all have a high water content. So when the kids come breezing through have some of these on hand. 

Homemade Popsicle Recipe:

Ingredients:

• Fruit juice or fruit puree

Directions:

1. If you are using fruit puree chunk up your fruit and place it in the blender.
2. Pour juice or puree into freezer safe container. I do need to replace my Popsicle makers. Make sure to leave space at the top for expansion.
3. Place in freezer. Depending on your freezer settings and how full it is, Popsicles can take anywhere from 2 to 3 hours to become frozen. I try to make mine the night before.

Get the kids involved in making these tasty treats. The kids are more likely to enjoy something they have created. Don't be afraid to mix flavors either. You can add some vanilla yogurt to make an awesome smoothie Popsicle treat. 

We will cover travel snacks soon. 

Light, Love and Peace!

How to Roll an Egg Roll

Ready for cooking.

Not everyone but I am sure there are a few who are intimidated by rolling up and making their own egg rolls. It's fast an easy actually. We have used a no fry recipe here twice now and love it. Totally non-greasy which let's you enjoy the flavor of the filling more. We will be experimenting with various egg roll fillings. The girls are wanting to try something more Mexican in the near future and I am thinking some kind of dessert.

1. Layout your egg roll wrapper on a flat surface so that it looks like a diamond.

2. Add your filling to lower 1/3 of the wrapper. (Make sure excess liquid is drained first to avoid a soggy egg roll)

3. Roll the bottom of the egg roll wrapper up and tuck it under the filling. This one didn't want to stay put while I took a picture.

4. Fold the corners in to make the egg roll wrapper look like an envelope.

5. Roll the egg roll up so that you tuck the top flap under.

Keep a small bowl of cold water handy. Dip your fingers into it and then moisten seams to help them stay together. Fry or bake, whichever you prefer and enjoy! 

Total time to roll 20 of these little beauties is 10 minutes, unless you have your chefs in training helping, then 20 minutes and don't count on making 20 egg rolls, some of the filling will be enjoyed prior to rolling. Add to the roll time how long it takes to make your filling.