I had seen a picture in a magazine for a peanut butter Cheerios cereal bar and it looked like a good idea. I started looking at the ingredients and I decided maybe it wasn't such a great recipe. The bars contained quite a bit of corn syrup. After a little more research I decided to try the recipe with honey instead. I am very pleased with the results. Enjoy!
Peanut Butter Cheerios Bars
Ingredients
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3 cups Cheerios
2 tablespoons flax seed (optional)
Mini M&M's (optional)
Preparation
In a small saucepan over medium heat combine honey and sugar. Stir constantly until mixture boils and sugar dissolves, approximately three to four minutes. Remove from heat.
Blend the peanut butter into the honey mixture, stir in the flax seed.
In a large bowl combine the peanut butter mixture with the cheerios.
Press mixture into a well greased 9x9 pan. Top with M&M's.
Cool completely. Remove from pan and cut into bars.
Special thanks to the Homesteading Housewife Blog and the Crepes of Wrath Blog for information on using honey instead of corn syrup!
With thirty apples left from apple picking I would love to just bake a bunch of apple pies, apple crisps, apple cobbler and other apple desserts. The unfortunate thing about baking all of that would be wanting to eat everything I made! I decided to try something new. I baked apple chips. I think I just found my go to snack. It is a nice mix of crunchy and sweet. Not only do they taste great they are healthy and so easy to make.
Enjoy!
Cinnamon Apple Chips
Ingredients
3 fresh apples, sliced 1/8 inch thin, seeds removed (I used red delicious)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon sugar
Preparation
Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
Place thinly sliced apples on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
Mix the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle lightly on the sliced apples
Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes, flip apples over, bake an additional 1 hour and 15 minutes
Turn heat off oven and keep apples in oven until oven cools down
Notes:
I just sliced these thinly with a knife but a Mandolin works much better. I used these in many commercial kitchens and loved them and now they have become reasonably priced so I may just need to add one to my kitchen. I put a link to Amazon below for a Mandolin.
I used an apple corer on some but think the sliced ones just looked better.
This lunch was a big hit! It is a healthier take on Lunchables. By making the Pizza Lunch myself I was able to add some more whole grains, less sodium, less fat and less preservatives.
To make the Pizza Lunch I cut some Whole Grain Nann into quarters (I used Stonefire brand as they contain no synthetic dyes, no artificial preservatives and they are trans fat free). I placed a small handful of reduced fat Mozzarella and Cheddar cheeses into a compartment. Finally, I put a few tablespoons of Marinara Sauce into a compartment (I used the Marinara Sauce recipe I have listed on this site). This was served with some fresh fruit on the side.
Note:
I bought the container from Amazon.com. So far I am very pleased with the purchase. The container came in a pack of four and each container cost less that $3.50. They seem durable, did well in the dishwasher and are easy for kids to open. I placed a link below to the product on Amazon.com.
When I was preparing lunches for children I wanted to offer a salad for school lunch. I found that my idea of what makes a great salad is much different than a child's idea of a great salad. After a few attempts of making what I thought was a great kids salad I decided it was time to bring in the experts. My "experts" were kids. I asked them what veggies they liked and took lots of notes! I then visited a grocery store salad bar with some children. I had the kids create their version of the "perfect salad." The picture above is a re-creation of one child's perfect salad.
The salad includes:
Chic peas
Black Beans
Edamame
Red Kidney Beans
Peas
Corn
Shredded Cheddar
Diced Turkey Bacon
OK so it may not have an exactly perfect mix of vitamins and minerals but it is a good source of protein and has some nice color. More color equals more variety of nutrients!
One way to vary your child's lunch to include more fruits and veggies is to go to the local supermarket that has a salad bar...usually they are pay by the pound. Give your child a container and have them build their "perfect salad".
If they enjoy the salad it could be easy to duplicate at home.
Note:
The container above was purchased from Amazon.com. I love the idea of Benito Boxes but typically do not like the price! Here is a lower cost alternative. These come as a four pack and end up costing less than $3.50 per container. Here is a link to the product on Amazon.com.
As owner of a healthy alternative school lunch program I delivered hundreds of lunches a week to seven school buildings in Hudson County, New Jersey....all of which were nut free.
I wanted to serve an alternative to the staple peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I sampled several alternatives to nut spreads. When sampling my primary goals were to: Find a spread that was healthy and that had a taste and texture similar to peanut butter.
I ended up settling on Sunflower Spread. With that said I soon realized not all Sunflower Spreads are equal. One issue is that the Sunflower Spread separates and can become oily in texture by lunchtime.... Creating a very messy sandwich!
My Suggestion for a great alternative to PB&J is to use Sunbutter Brand Creamy No Stir Spread. The no stir alleviates the oil issue and helps create a great sandwich. It even holds up on the sandwich overnight!
The no stir Sunbutter is a little tough to find in stores but is available online at Amazon.com. I have put a link below if you are interested in checking it out!
When I was a kid my mom would make my lunch, typically a sandwich. My favorites sandwiches were egg salad or tuna sandwiches. The sandwiches were typically made in the morning, put in a sandwich bag and then placed in brown bag. The lunch bag would sit in my locker from 8am until lunch time at 11:30am. OK so not the safest food handling procedures but I survived.
Times have changed! Lunch bags and boxes have become insulated. Small ice gel packs are available to keep food in lunch boxes cool. Insulated food containers to keep hot food hot and cold food cold.
When packing a lunch please consider.
Hot food needs to be hot and cold food needs to be cold. According to the FDA, harmful bacteria multiply rapidly on perishable foods when they are left in "the danger zone" which is 40 -140 degrees F. This means foods cold foods like deli meats, tuna salad, chicken salad, egg salad, yogurt and cheese need to stay under 40 degrees F. It is recommended by the FDA that perishable foods that have been exposed to the danger zone for two hours be discarded and that if the temperature is above 90 degrees F food should be discarded after one hour.
In order to keep foods cold:
Pack lunch in an insulated lunch box and then put a frozen gel pack or two in the lunch box to keep it cold. I usually store the insulated lunch box in the refrigerator so it is already cold when I pack the lunch.
When making sandwiches use refrigerated bread or wraps so you are not placing cold meat on room temperature bread.
When making items like tuna salad, chicken salad or egg salad make sure all the ingredients are cold before mixing them together. If you refrigerate the can of tuna and mix it with cold mayo the tuna salad stays out of the danger zone.
When packing yogurt I usually place it in the freezer an hour or so before school so it is extra cold when I put it in the bag.
I personally do not suggest packing a hot lunch. I have time and temperature tested some insulated food containers and have not had much success in keeping food out of the danger zone. When I questioned one manufacturer about this I was told that their standard was to keep the food at 120 degrees or higher for 5 hours. Since, the food could fall within the danger zone within the first hour and could be sitting in the danger zone for two or three hours before lunch I deemed it not worth the risk or worry. (I admit I worry a lot about food borne illness...probably sat through to many food safety classes!)
I found these icepacks at online which I thought were neat...they are sweat proof so moisture does not get all over the inside of the lunch box! See link to Amazon below.
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