Homemade snacks

I love making homemade snacks--partially because I love baking. I also love that I can give my family food that is healthy, and I see exactly what is in it. I do buy prepared stuff, too (I don't have THAT much time on my hands), but when I can, I have a few things that I try and do myself.

1. Popcorn. We've all heard about the crazy chemicals and health issues associated with microwave popcorn. I found a great way (via a Facebook friend) to make it. Take 1/2 cup of regular popcorn kernels, put it in a brown paper bag and fold the top over. Microwave for 2-3 mins (depending on your  microwave), and then you can add whatever toppings you want when it is done. My 2 favorites--butter and brown sugar, and butter and Parmesan cheese. Yum! And thrifty, too--way cheaper, and less packaging to throw away.

2. Homemade granola bars. This is my go to recipe.

What I LOVE about these is the ingredients, oats, wheat germ, honey, brown sugar, and I use whole wheat flour. This recipe is very forgiving when you add ingredients or modify. I often add pumpkin and use applesauce to replace the oil. I also love adding chocolate chips. I put in flax seeds sometimes, too--for some reason Lori gets very excited when she sees me pull out the flax seeds. These never last long around my house, and I make them at least once a week.

3. Muffins. Which variety depends on what is available and what everyone is eating. Lately, this recipe for Pumpkin What Honey muffins is the favorite, especially for Lori. I take out the raisins and put in chocolate chips, and usually don't include nuts. Lori has a nut free classroom, so if I want to send this in for snack, I can't include nuts. I used many of the recipes for muffins in the Jessica Seinfeld "Deceptively Delicious" cookbook, too, but haven't used them lately now that I'm not making baby food very much.

4. Kale Chips. These are my favorite snack for me. I haven't made them since last summer, when I had a huge abundance of them from picking a friend's CSA food for the week. LOVE these. So easy to make and delicious. I basically eat them over the pan after I make them and finish all of them. My kids don't like them--I'm okay with that.


5. Homemade popsicles. My cousin got the kids little freezer pop molds, and I found some more to make these in. I have 3 varieties that I make. The first kind is just plain old freezing fruit juice. Sometimes I put little chunks of fruit that is just about done in it (like chunks of strawberries). The second kind is basically a smoothie that I put into the pop molds. Our favorite during the summer, and I can sneak in some veggies--usually butternut squash--into them. The third (and not as healthy kind) are these:





Yes, homemade pudding pops! My favorite are vanilla. 

Looking forward to having more time in the summer to discover some more homemade snacks that are easy to make and healthy.