Kid Approved Snack Bars

Ravenous!  This has been my children lately…absolutely ravenous!  I mean seriously, you’d think that we didn’t feed them or something.  I have to believe that they’re going through a growth spurt…yes…all five…at the exact same time.  It could happen.  And their pants?  Seriously.  When did the kids suddenly start preparing for a flood?  How are we supposed to keep up?!?!?!

Aaron and I have quickly realized that we have to be thoughtful about our choice of snacks for the kids.  Too light of a snack and they’re begging for more in 10 minutes.  Too much and they’re “ughh…soooo full” when it comes to dinner (until suddenly it’s dessert time—then miraculously, they’re hungry again!).  The kids are perfectly happy when we open a box of crackers or cut a piece of fruit, but they love it when they get a homemade snack.  I mean, who wouldn’t want a fresh from the oven, made with mom’s luvin homemade snack?  Really?  Who wouldn’t?

These bars definitely meet these requirements—they’re delicious, full of good for yous, and keep you satisfied much longer than the store bought granola bars.  When you make them, the bars originally puff up and look cakey, but as they cool, they settle into themselves, becoming a thicker, scrumptious, yum-packed bar.  At first, I thought that the bars looked like they were dried out a bit, but it was an optical illusion…one bite and you sink right into dense, moist yum.  The recipe below calls for dark chocolate chips, but you could really put any “additional” item in there that you want.  I’ve done raisins, dried cranberries (until Jax declared that dried fruit is really just dead bugs…ummm…what?  Way to ruin that one buddy), and M n M’s.  So far, the M n M’s have been the biggest hit, but for some reason, I feel a little better about chocolate chips.  Maybe because they’re not “really” candy, so they must be healthier.  Who’s with me?

 

Oatmeal Protein Granola Bars

½ cup + 6 TBSP softened vegan butter

¼ cup coconut oil (not melted)—I’ve also used peanut butter which works great, but one of the girls “says” she doesn’t like peanut butter, so I change it up for her

1 cup brown sugar

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 flax eggs (2 TBSP flax meal + 6 TBSP water mixed together)

3 TBSP water

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour

2 scoops protein powder

3 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup chopped nuts

1 cup add in (chocolate chips, dried fruit, etc)

Preheat the oven to 325.  Line an 11×15 baking pan with foil, leaving two inches hanging over the short edges.  This will help to lift the bars out of the pan.  Spray the foil with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, coconut oil (or peanut butter), brown sugar, and granulated sugar until well mixed.  Whip in the flax eggs, additional water, and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, protein powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.  Stir the flour mixture into the butter/sugar mixture.  Stir in the oatmeal, nuts and any add-ins until thoroughly mixed.

Place the dough into the prepared pan.  With slightly wet fingers, press into the pan, spreading the dough out.  Bake for 15 minutes.

At the 15 minute mark, lightly cover the pan with foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes.  Because the mixture poofs up a bit, the edges may get a bit darker, so the foil will prevent too much darkening.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan.  The bars will “give” if touched but will firm up as they cool.  Once the bars are cool, remove them from the pan, using the hangover foil and cut into bars.  Makes 20-25 bars.

Cinnamon Apple Muffins

This morning, we woke up to a big cloud of fog all around.  I admit that I didn’t actually go outside, but just looking out of the window, you could tell that it was chilly and would be a perfect morning for something warm and comforting.  What’s better than eating something still warm from the oven, with melted butter, and a cup of coffee on a cool morning?  Not much, I’d say!

Of course, the kids love to “help” when it comes to creating something yummy to eat, and without fail, there was a chorus of “What’s my job to help make dinner?” (yes—dinner—somehow everything is termed dinner :-)).  So with ten little hands measuring, pouring, and grating, we made these delicious Cinnamon Apple Cider Muffins.  We had fun, but this was definitely not a mess free venture!  I think at one point, I saw apple gratings fly through the kitchen, flour “somehow” get from the bowl to the table to the floor, and the cup of apple cider that was waiting to be mixed in disappeared (into someone’s belly I’m sure!).  Even with the chaos, the end result was well worth it—Z, who can be quite the critic, took one bite, gave me two thumbs up, and with his mouth still full, said it was great.

The muffins cooked beautifully, and the cinnamon brown sugar topping cooked on the top and melted down in to the middle of the muffins, creating a yummy sweet center of delight.  Along with Z’s critique, there were many mmm-mmm’s and requests for seconds and thirds around the dinner…er…breakfast table!

Cinnamon Apple Cider Muffins

Makes 2 dozen muffins

Muffins:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

¾ cup vegetable oil

1 flax egg (1 TBSP ground flax meal mixed with 3 TBSP water)

1 TBSP almond milk

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

1 cup apple cider

¾ cup vegan sour cream

2 tsp vanilla

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and grated (drain before mixing in)

Topping:

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350.  Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, and almond milk.  In a small cup, whisk together the ground flax meal and water.  Let the flax egg sit for 3 minutes; then whisk into the sugar/oil combination.  In another bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  In a third bowl, whisk together the apple cider, vegan sour cream, and vanilla.

Add one third of the flour mixture and one third of the apple cider mixture to the sugar mixture, folding with a spatula to combine.  Add the rest of the flour and cider mixtures in two more additions.  Stir to ensure that there aren’t any lumps.  Fold in the grated apples.  Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffins cups, filling each cup three quarters to the top.

Mix together the brown sugar and the cinnamon for the topping.  Sprinkle onto the tops of the muffins.

Bake, rotating the muffin tins halfway through, 30-35 minutes.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes.  Pop the muffins from the pan and let them cool on the wire rack (or enjoy them still warm!)

Eeek!

Welcome to…my first blog entry?!?!  It seems so weird to be writing this.  I’ve thought for a long time about creating a blog, but I’ve been torn as to what to really write about.  Kids?  Cooking?  Baking?  Afterall, what do I have to say that hasn’t already been said before?

As I was pondering this—wondering if it’s worth my time, would anyone even stop by to read, how do the others get their pictures to look so darn good—my husband pushed me to start writing.  Gotta love those supportive spouses!  So, this brings us to “It’s Truly Scrumptious” (can you guess what I decided my topics would be on?)  Yep—you guessed it—yummy treats!  Those who know me know that I love to bake, and any excuse that I can find to create something scrumptious, I’ll take it!

Now that I settled the bigger question about what to write about, I have decided to take it a bit further.  I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 13 years old, but I’ve continued to eat eggs and dairy.  As two of my children are lactose intolerant, and in an effort to be more health conscious, I’ve decided to work towards a more vegan lifestyle—for me and my family (hubby’s the harder sell on that one).  To help with this effort and to continue in my quest to create scrumptious treats, I’m going to work to make this blog about vegan baking (along with other yumminess)!

So, please come back often and leave comments while I attempt to tickle your palate!  Thanks for stopping by!