I hear these words often.
Occasionally it’s a less civilized grunt from Bug, or simply the sound of the seal on the refrigerator door breaking, compliments of miss Bean, but without a doubt, it would seem I am raising two little loin fruit who have the uncanny ability to nibble enthusiastically throughout the day.
Which, admittedly, can ruin their appetites…but hey, some healthy snackage here and there is good, right?
They’re not meal-hungry…just in the mood for munchies. What we’ve always referred to as “peckish” {as in, peck, like a bird}.
And because I refuse to load them with the readily accessible slew of packaged, processed, sugary junk…it demands a little creativity on my end, and I love the challenge. So assuming you face the same dilemma, I thought I’d share some of the munchies our kiddos chow on when they’re… well, peckish.
While they love the little granola bars we make, zucchini coins, or the hummus we whip up (they love it with mini sweet bell peppers or pita chips), fruit smoothies, or cheese sticks (which we cut from a 5 pound block of mozzarella from SAMS – so much cheaper and yummier!), we’ve discovered a new favorite…
Kale chips, dried papaya and walnuts (almonds are a favorite too!)
I must confess…this was the first bunch of kale I have ever purchased. I just wasn’t a fan. But after hearing a few times about these “kale chips”, and the promise that this method would turn this leafy green into something considerably more palatable, I decided there was always room for a change of heart.
My heart is changed.
We first tried baking them, and while those were pretty stinkin’ delicious…the fragile ends did burn easily. So a friend suggested microwaving them, and those were great too, and much quicker {albeit a little less flavorful}.
So whichever route you decide to go {simply click on the options above for the recipes to each, baking or microwaving}…you’ll need to wash the kale well, dry it even better, pull the leaves off of the stem and into little bite sized pieces, spray lightly with olive oil (or cooking spray) and sprinkle with seasoning salt…then crisp those babies up! Yum!
I sadly did not snap a picture of this next one before it was devoured, but we decided to use up a bunch of apples we’d been given (and a few that we’d snagged from our tree) to make homemade applesauce. We simply peeled, chopped and simmered the chunks in a little water (I never measured, sorry) overnight on our woodstove, then tossed in a pinch of cinnamon and gobbled the smooshiness up the next morning! No sugar, no pureeing, no left-overs! Just delish!
The next new thing we’ve tried recently – while our little peach tree was dropping all sorts of goodness this summer – was homemade peach roll-ups {otherwise known as: fruit leathers}. These are fabulous for slipping into school lunches.
To say life at our house was peachy right about that time, would be an understatement of apocalyptic proportion. It literally rained peaches for a couple of weeks. And I loved every minute of it!
So while I’m sharing the roll-up recipe with you (as seasonally inappropriate as this may be)…I might as well throw the other peach-inspired madness at you. Which means 6 tasty peach creations coming your way!
1. Peach Roll-Ups: so cool, and can be created with other fruits too! (recipe here)
2. Peach & Company Parfait: as simple as it sounds…layer fruit, yogurt & homemade granola, and drizzle with honey
3. Peach Muffins: because muffins happen to rock my face off (recipe here)
4. Peach Butter: peaches + sugar + spices = holy yum! (recipe here)
5. Canned Peaches: this was my first ever canning experience, and being as
lazyadventurous as I am, I decided to try the easy method: steam your bottles in the oven, face down in a little water in a jelly roll pan, and the heat of the jars and the heat of the peaches creates sufficient vacuum to call these suckers good! Follow the initial steps here, and then simply heat/sterilize your jars and you’re set!
6. Ginger-Peach Clafouti: I simply used peaches instead of blackberries in this recipe here (I love Aarti!)
Keeping with the orange theme, I keep looking out my front window and eyeballing the pumpkin on the step. One of these days I’m going to run out and grab it, cut her up and make all sorts of yummy pumpkin-infused goodness out of her. I dream of cream soups, pies, muffins. And toasted seeds {cue salivation}.
So the next snack I’m going to try – and I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes – will be these gorgeous maple roasted pumpkin seeds. Oh my!
