My Foodie Call

Category: Snacks

• 

  Back in first grade…Healthy Soft Serve Sundaes

  Posted at 8:00 pm by myfoodiecall

  May 31st
  

  Nom nom.

  I make banana soft serves at home A LOT. So easy. It’s just frozen banana (sliced and peeled), then whipped down in a food processor. This dessert is so versatile and the internet is exploding with different yummy variations you’d be crazy to not give it a go if you haven’t already. My go to recipe is usually some sort of peanut butter and chocolate soft serve but I do make berry concoctions for the kids quite frequently. Here is  this recipe from a while back, but seriously, the sky is the limit when you start with your basic frozen bananas.

  So….I headed back to first grade. If you remember, I have been there three times now. We have done pumpkin smoothies and chocolate pudding and green smoothies so far. This last treat Landon has been asking for all year. We did this in kindergarten as well and it was a big hit.

  

  Banana Soft Serve Sundaes

  

  Kindergarten Landon. Poor guy must get so sick of being my model all of the time.

  So here is what we do and why the kids like it. We start with our banana soft serve as our base and the kids get to pile it with healthy toppings. A healthy sundae bar if you will.  Healthy topping choices were strawberries, blueberries, crushed peanuts and even crushed whole grain pretzels. woot woot! To make things even more tasty the kids made a raw chocolate sauce to drizzle over the top. So naturally Landon would be excited for this snack in first grade as well.

  As usual, we had a lesson on one nutrient that was in our snack.

  

  Bananas=potassium. We talked about overall heart health and potassium’s role .

  Then we got to work.

  

  The kids sliced their bananas…

  

  Popped them in a freezer bag.

  

  These bananas went into the cooler that I brought. I pulled out my “magic” bananas that were ready to go, pre-frozen.  

  

  Frozen bananas, whirring in the food processor.

  

  Here the kids are watching them get whipped down.

  

  See how creamy and custardy it becomes?

  Kids chose their toppings…

  

  Vaughn, getting ready to go for it…

  

  Landon, killing it.

  This year was no different. Kids wanted seconds.

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  Posted in Desserts, Snacks | Tagged banana, berries, peanuts
• 

  10 Healthy Snack Options you can find at Target

  Posted at 8:00 pm by myfoodiecall

  May 5th

  How are your school lunches looking these days?

  Feeling less than enthused?

  Are you done packing thoughtful lunches?

  Have your Ants on a Log turned into one big celery stock wrapped in plastic?

  Let us moms unite, throw in the towel and just buy packaged snacks for these final 4 weeks of school. Pinterest moms need not apply.

  The fine print: No Lunchables. I’m not that desperate. We can still pick healthy packaged things.

  Remember my post about good snack choices from Walmart? Did you pay attention? Well if not here is another shot. Today is the same idea, but this time I using Target.

  10 Healthy Packaged Snacks from Target

   1) Fruit Burst Squeezers

  

  Del Monte Fruit Burst Squeezers

  

  Not too shabby of an ingredient list. I’ll take it.

  2) Simply Balanced Popcorn

  

  When you can’t be bothered to make your own.

  

  Only 3 ingredients, and a 3 cup serving size is only 100 grams of sodium? Your Baked Lays can’t make those claims.

  3) Fruit Cups (that are actually in their own juice.)

  

  Pineapple Tidbits. These are in straight up juice, not syrup. Of course fresh fruit is best, but if you are going with a fruit cup?? Go with the ones in syrup.

  4) Salmon or Tuna Packets (Admittedly, this is a weird snack, but keep an open mind.)

  

  This one is for all you high protein people out there. If you are a protein junkie, try to keep away from those protein bars and get your fix from somewhere that doesn’t have 20+ ingredients, all of which are produced in some lab.The cool thing about these tuna pouches are that they do not need to be drained, just have a disposable fork nearby and you are in business.

  5.) Clif Kid- Z Bar

  

  Speaking of bars, you can buy these in bulk. Sugars in these babies are not so bad and if you are going to stock an arsenal of granola bars, these should be at the top of your list.

  6) Siggi’s Yogurt Tubes

  

  Yogurt tube anyone?

  

  Nothing artificial and only 6 grams of sugar. Have you looked at how much sugar is in your yogurt lately?? I bet it’s double and for some even triple this amount.

  7) Simply Fruit- Fruit Rolls

  

  These are not fruit roll-ups, although they are pretty dang similar. Minus the high fructose corn syrup.

  

  But hey, wow, this actually has fruit in it. How about them apples?

  8) Single serving Cashew or Almond Packs

  

  These are great for anyone that has zero self control and would eat triple this amount.

  9) Vita Coco- pure coconut water

  

  Coconut Water. Super hydrating and way more potassium than a banana. Try to steer clear of the ones infused with juice. Keep it clean people!

  

  Check out those percentages.

  10) Chobani yogurt

  

  Love these packs.

  

  There are many greek yogurts on the market, but this one does not have as much sugar as some of those others.

  Happy Shopping. 4 more weeks, let’s do this!

   
  Posted in Random stuff, Snacks
• 

  Whole Wheat Zucchini Muffins (vegan)

  Posted at 8:00 pm by myfoodiecall

  Apr 29th

  Guess what? Zucchini season is upon us. You know what this means? I will use and make zucchini dishes for the next few months and drive my family crazy. As a matter of fact, I think I may have to revisit zucchini cheese casserole recipe. But for today’s post I am sharing a recipe that I made last week that is completely vegan and is very low-fat.

  

  Vegan Zucchini Muffins

  Vegan Zucchini Muffins

  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 cup flaxseed meal
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 cup grape seed oil (or canola)
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 3/4 cup agave nectar
  • 3/4 cup almond milk (or soy milk, or any other non-dairy milk)
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups shredded zucchini

  1. Preheat the oven t0 325 degrees.
  2. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, flaxseed meal, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger.
  4. In a smaller bowl, combine the oil, applesauce, agave nectar, almond milk, and vanilla.
  5. Slowly add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until the batter is combined, being careful to not over mix.
  6. Add the zucchini and gently fold into the mixture.
  7. Distribute batter into muffin tins.
  8. Bake the muffins on the center rack for 20-24 minutes, pretty much until the top is lightly browned.

  

  Not bad for an eggless, healthy muffin.

   

  Posted in Breakfast, Snacks | Tagged vegan, whole wheat, zucchini
• 

  Spring Break Vegan Feast

  Posted at 8:00 pm by myfoodiecall

  Apr 22nd

  Yikes. It’s been a week since my last post. I don’t like to go that long between posts.

  Three days is usually the longest I like to go.

  We just wrapped up Spring Break. I was busy. Wish I could say busy doing what, but I guess I’ll just go with busy doing the mama thing. At least I can recall one fun thing we did.

  

  We had another Kids Taste and See.

  Do you remember what the Kids’ Taste and See is? I blogged about our February Kids Taste and See here.

  This event was no different from last. Different home, but still…

  Chaos ensued.

  Of course.

  What would a Kids Taste and See be without a little disorder?

  

  Here is a picture Landon took of his buddy, Vaughn. Quite the photographer, Quite the model.

  For our meal preparation, we had three stations.

  Station 1: Our Spinach Mango Salad

  

  Kids got chopping….

  

  …And a certain little lady was stealing the roasted corn. She is cute enough that we will still invite her back next time.

  

  And Miss Victoria posed with our mango…

  Station 2: Our Vegan Pesto Pasta

  

  Here is the “pesto” station. That Vitamin B-12 sign was there to represent the benefits of that jar of Nutritional Yeast. I am pretty certain that the kids did not notice or care about this. At all.

   

  

  In this picture, Devyn scoops our creamy vegan pesto into our whole wheat rotini. Nice to have some older kids to help. Kind of like another grown up!

  Station 3: Sesame Cherry Chewies

  (Dessert= All the kids care about.)

  

  We whirred up some peanut butter.

  

  I “second” this reaction. This is exactly how I feel when I am making peanut butter. Or any nut butter for that matter.

  Next, our peanut butter was combined with dried cherries, oats and our dessert was born.

  

  Here Corbin scoops our chewies with precision. Well sort of. They were pretty sticky to work with.

  

  We had extra peanut butter so each kid got to take some for later.

  

  Although later turned into “right now.”

  

  Hey, as long as they are content. 🙂

  

  Can’t believe we pulled off a group picture.

  Mango Summer Salad

  (Adapted from Cooking With Trader Joe’s-Skinny Dish)

  Ingredients:

  • 2- 5oz bags Organic Baby Spinach
  • 12 fresh basil leaves, chopped
  • 2 ripe mango, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 2 cucumbers, peeled and cut into small chunks
  • 2 medium tomatoes
  • 2 cups frozen roasted corn, thawed
  • 2-15 oz can garbanzo beans
  • 1/2 cup balsamic white vinegar
  • 4 Tbsp Slivered Almonds

  Directions:

  1. Fine chop spinach and basil
  2. Combine all ingredients in a large salad bowl. Toss and Serve.

  

  Spinach Mango Salad

   

   Whole Wheat Rotini with Vegan Pesto Sauce

  (From Oh She Glows)

  Ingredients:

  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 15-oz can navy/cannellini beans (1.5 cups)
  • 1 tbsp water
  • 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 4-6 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • You can add olive oil to taste if you prefer!

  For Pesto:
  Add garlic clove to processor and process until finely chopped. Now add in the rest of the ingredients to taste and process until smooth, scraping down the bowl as necessary.

  For Pasta:
  2-16 oz packages of whole wheat rotini

  Cook pasta according to package directions

  

  Vegan Pesto Pasta

   

  Sesame Cherry Chewies

  (From Cooking With Trader Joe’s- Skinny Dish)

  Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 1/2 cups organic natural peanut butter
  • 1 cup sesame seeds
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup agave nectar
  • 1 cup dried cherries

  Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
  2. Mix together all ingredients in a bowl. Drop 1/2 inch balls onto a cookie sheet. Lightly press cookies to flatten slightly.
  3. Bake 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned. Watch carefully as these cookies can burn quickly.
  4. Cool on a rack.

  

  Sesame Cherry Chewies

  To conclude, I thought I would include two more of Landon’s photos.

  

  Can you tell how tall he is by this mango pic?

  

  Another masterpiece. We’ll have to work on his angle for his next photo shoot.

  

  Here is the aforementioned photographer, busted making paper towel airplanes.

   

   

  Posted in Meatless mealtime, Salads, Soups, and Sides, Snacks | Tagged beans, nutritional yeast, oats, peanut butter, spinach, vegan, whole wheat pasta
• 

  Strawberry Cream Cheese Pita Pizzas

  Posted at 8:00 pm by myfoodiecall

  Apr 9th

   

  

  Gotta pita?

  Strawberry season is here in the south. A reason to celebrate! Although blueberries are my favorite of the berry family, strawberries are right up there in rank. Check out this strawberry pita treat…complete with a chia infused cream cheese.

  

  Chia seeds. You should be eating this daily. Sick of chia lectures, yet?

  

  The base flavor for the recipe. Strawberry Chia Cream Cheese.

  How to make the Strawberry Pita Pizzas

  

  Buy some whole wheat pitas. These come in various sizes. You could even get the cute little ones like in this post.

  

  Dairy-free cream cheese. You could use regular…whatever you are feelin’.

  

  Again, your chia.

  

  Pile it in a bowl with some strawberries and a tad bit of sweetener.

  

  Whip it up.

  

  Assemble and…

  

  cut.

  Strawberry Cream Cheese Pita Pizzas

  Ingredients:

  • 1 tub Tofutti cream cheese
  • 1 tablespoon chia seeds
  • 2 Tbls sugar (or stevia)
  • 1 package strawberries
  • 1 package whole wheat pita bread

  Directions:

  1) Combine cream cheese, chia seeds, sugar and 3 hulled and fine-chopped strawberries to a bowl.

  2) With a hand mixer, blend for 1 minute on high. Stop, scrape down bowl. Blend for one more minute.

  3) The rest is pretty self-explanatory. Spread cream cheese on pitas, thin slice some strawberries, arrange them on your pita and that’s it!

  

  Slice and serve.

  Posted in Breakfast, Desserts, Snacks | Tagged chia, strawberry

• You missed a call?

  • Make friends with…Bean Pasta.
  • Whole Wheat Flax ‘N Apple Muffins
  • Small changes…Eat what’s in season.
  • Whole Wheat Broccoli Mac N Cheese
  • What I pack my kid.

• Categories

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  • Desserts
  • Make friends with…
  • Meatless mealtime
  • Pancake Day
  • Random stuff
  • Salads, Soups, and Sides
  • Small changes
  • Snacks
  • What I pack my kid.

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