Easy Cheesy Bread Snack

Is your belly grumbling for something tasty to eat? Is your mouth tired of eating the same things all the time? Let’s try a fun but simple way to liven up some bread! We’ll call it Easy Cheesy Bread! Doesn’t this look delicious? 🙂

Let’s start out with some Italian bread, though feel free to try whatever bread you have on hand. I found this little loaf of Italian bread at our local grocery store and it seemed the perfect size for 2 people.

This snack only needs some butter, grated parmesan cheese and maybe garlic powder in addition to the bread. Another item that will make it extra tasty is some pasta sauce…but I’m getting ahead of myself! First cut the bread into slices and place them on a cookie sheet with some parchment paper covering the pan for easy clean up.

Spread some softened butter on each slice of bread.

If you like garlic flavor, sprinkle some garlic powder on each piece of bread next. The Easy Cheesy Bread is still yummy without the garlic powder if garlic is not your thing.

Sprinkle a generous amount of grated parmesan cheese onto each slice of bread.

Pop the tray of bread slices into the oven on broil. Keep a close eye on the bread so it doesn’t burn! The time needed to toast the bread will depend on the broil temperature you use and what type of oven you have. Just watch the bread till it starts to turn brown and smells delicious! It only took a few minutes when I made these.

You can eat the Easy Cheesy Bread just like it is or for an added bonus, heat up some pasta sauce in a cup and dip your bread in it. MMmmm! So tasty!

That’s how simple it is to make Easy Cheesy Bread! Try some and make your mouth AND your stomach happy! 😉

Easy No-Bake Snack for Valentine’s Day

Hello again! Hope you are “enjoying” winter (does anyone enjoy winter?!) and are staying healthy! We have been busy busy bees here! We tore up the old carpet in our living room and hallway and hope to lay down a new floor soon! As most remodeling projects go, we keep running into snags and things that have to be fixed first and the days have been flying by without me getting to chat with you. I am determined to change that today! 🙂 So how about an easy snack idea for Valentine’s Day that you probably have the ingredients for and makes up pretty quickly? It’s called Peanut Butter Energy Bites. There are many ways to make these and I have a couple of suggestions that depend on the age of your children. Here we go!

If your kids are a little older, you can make these with uncooked oatmeal. If your kids are pretty young yet, I would go with crushed graham crackers. The oatmeal makes them more chewy, but blending the oatmeal in a food processor or blender helps with that some. My favorite way is using graham crackers.

You will need 1 Cup oatmeal OR crushed graham crackers, 1/2 Cup peanut butter or your favorite nut butter, 1/3 Cup honey, 1 teaspoon vanilla, a dash of salt and 1/2 Cup mini chocolate chips. To make these a little fancier for Valentine’s Day you might also want to have some sprinkles on hand.

Put all the ingredients into a medium sized bowl.

Mix well. It will be a stiff dough. Take a couple of minutes to make sure all the dry ingredients are completely mixed in. The dough will look different depending on which ingredients you chose. Here’s with the oatmeal…

Here’s with the graham crackers…

Using rounded teaspoon sized portions of dough, make the dough into balls. Place on a cookie sheet on a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper.

To make them pretty for Valentine’s Day, roll them in some sprinkles. Pop them in the refrigerator to make them more firm and easier to handle. No baking required! I also stored mine in the refrigerator.

Whether you choose to use oatmeal…

Or crushed graham crackers…

I think you will find these little snack balls to be very addicting! (We won’t mention how many I may have eaten today!) 😉 You can switch these up by trying different ingredients. Use a nut butter in place of the peanut butter or instead of chocolate chips add raisins, cranberries, white chocolate chips, chopped peanuts, coconut flakes, cinnamon, etc…the sky’s the limit! 🙂 Enjoy!

Easy Banana Pops

Wow! Summer is speeding by soooo fast! We have been so busy! We plant our own vegetable garden every spring and we have been super busy processing all the veggies we’ve grown. But now I want to take a minute and share a quick snack idea with you. 🙂 Let’s call them Banana Pops!

The main ingredients you’ll need to make them are a banana, peanut butter, assorted toppings and cookie sticks. You might like to also use some strawberry jam and yogurt.

Slice the banana into chunks and place on a plate.

Spread some peanut butter on the top of several pieces of banana.

You can put peanut butter on all the banana chunks or spread some pieces with strawberry jam or your favorite yogurt.

Put a cookie stick in each banana chunk. I cut my sticks in half.

Add your favorite toppings to each banana pop and they are ready to eat! I used multi colored sprinkles, raisins and Teddy Graham cookies. You could also use chopped nuts, chopped dried fruit or chocolate chips.

These are great for a quick and easy snack or even for breakfast! Enjoy! 🙂

Taste Testing Tuesday #71 – Super Quick Snack

Here we go again with Taste Testing Tuesday! I hope your Tuesday is going well! We’re getting close to the end of the school year and things are getting crazy busy, aren’t they? Today’s post can help you whip up a yummy snack in just a couple of minutes! Really? Yes, really! 🙂 This is a super quick snack and you’ll wonder why you never tried it before! (We had this for a snack occasionally when I was a kid back in the dark ages.) 😉

Yes, those are graham crackers. All you need for this snack is graham crackers and frosting! Homemade frosting is great but if you don’t have time to make frosting, the kind in a tub from the grocery store works perfectly.

All you do is break a graham cracker into the size you’d like them to be and spread frosting on one side of one piece.

Add a second piece of the same sized graham cracker to the frosting side, making a little sandwich. And that’s it! You have a snack for those hungry kiddos! Any flavor of frosting should work great!

Now, if you want to fancy things up and you have the time to do so, put the frosting on one side of a piece of graham cracker and then sprinkle on your favorite topping. Like…

Chocolate drink mix like Ovaltine…

Colored sprinkles…

Colored sugar…

Or chocolate sprinkles…just to name a few things you can use.

Even if you choose to go the “fancy way”, preparing this snack is sooo quick! What if you don’t have graham crackers on hand? This snack also works with other crackers. For example, Ritz crackers work fine too!

Feel free to experiment with whatever similar items you have on hand. I’m betting vanilla wafer cookies would be great too! Have a great Taste Testing Tuesday making super quick snacks! 🙂

Taste Testing Tuesday #61 Teddy Grahams

I’m finally back with another Taste Testing Tuesday! This week we’re looking at Teddy Grahams snacks. These are little graham crackers made in the shape of Teddy Bears. 🙂 Very cute and quite yummy! I only have 2 flavors to use for my taste test due to being in quarantine for weeks because of my hubby and I catching Covid-19 at different times. (I haven’t been to a store since October 15th!) Teddy Grahams come in a few more flavors so check your grocery stores to see what is available near you.

As you can see, the flavors used for our taste test were Honey and Chocolate. You might want to use some cupcake liners to serve your Teddy Grahams in.

These snacks are so cute! Can you see the two different poses the teddy bears are in? Here’s a close up of the Honey flavor.

Here are the chocolate ones.

I know Teddy Grahams also come in at least Chocolatey Chip and Cinnamon so be sure to keep an eye out for those flavors too.

The boxes of the Teddy Grahams also have some fun ideas on the back of the boxes.

And it looks like there are more discovery ideas at the Teddy YouTube Channel. 😉 (I haven’t seen it myself yet.)

Which flavor is your favorite? I think I like the Honey flavor best! 🙂 I hope you can have some fun with a Taste Test of Teddy Grahams snacks!

Taste Testing Tuesday #57 – Fun With Leftover Snacks

Hello again! It’s Tuesday and you know what that means! Time for another taste test! Sorry to be so late in posting, but I’m fighting a cold and not feeling the best and my computer has decided to act up.

So, do you ever have one of those days where you want to serve the kids a snack but all you have left are odds and ends of different kinds of snacks? And there isn’t enough of any one snack to go around? Here’s a fun idea to save you! 😉 Collect up a few of your small amounts of leftover snacks and turn them into a fun snack time!

Start with a cup, plate or small bowl for each person who will be having a snack. I like to use the 5 oz. Dixie paper cups.

Take each type of snack food and put a small amount in each cup. For example, maybe you have enough Cheese Puffs to give each person 3 pieces.

Continue adding small amounts of each type of snack until the cups are full.

I’m betting your kids will find this fun since it’s an out of the ordinary way of having a snack. 🙂

Maybe the kids will want to barter with each other to get the snacks they like best. Say, 1 Cheez-it cracker swapped for 1 fruit gummy.

It’s a great way to use up leftover snacks and not have to listen to the kids fight over who gets which snack…they all get ALL the snacks! 🙂 As always, you can make a chart for your taste testing and let each kiddo tell if they like each snack or not. To make it even more fun, try hiding the cups around the house for the kids to find before they enjoy eating their snack. Have fun and happy snacking!

Taste Testing Tuesday #54 Trail Mix

Yep, it’s Tuesday once again and that means it’s time for Taste Testing Tuesday! Today is also Trail Mix Day so we are combining the two and taste testing trail mix. 🙂

So what is trail mix? Trail mix is simply nuts, seeds, dried fruit and maybe some chocolate mixed together for a snack. People like to pack trail mix to eat when they go hiking or on a trail. 😉 Of course, it’s great for anytime, including school lunches or after school snacks. So let’s talk about what goes into trail mix…

sOne main ingredient is the nuts or seeds. These are just some that I had on hand but you can use any type of nuts or seeds you like. We have cashews, pecan and pistachios.

Next comes the dried fruit…raisins, cranberries, dried strawberries, cherries, blueberries, etc. If its a dried fruit, it can go into trail mix. Another popular dried fruit that is often used is dried bananas.

You can also add some chocolate, but be careful where you will be taking your trail mix if you do. If you will be somewhere the temperature is hot, your chocolate will melt and make a mess. Add in your favorite candy, crackers, yogurt covered raisins, etc. The sky’s the limit here! 🙂

So how do you taste test trail mix? Grab some small cups and lay out all of the available ingredients and let each person taste each thing and decide if they want to add it to their own individual cup of trail mix.

Put what you like in your cup…

…then place one hand over the top of the cup (so the pieces won’t fly out!) and shake your cup. This helps to mix the pieces together.

Then enjoy eating your trail mix right from your cup or pour it out onto a small plate or napkin.

Remember, it’s ok if everyone’s trail mix is different from another’s. Each person can make theirs to suit their own taste and favorite things. Maybe you’d like to make some for your next camping or hiking trip! Ziploc bags will also work great for each person to make their own trail mix. 🙂 Enjoy!!

Root Beer Float Day!

Sorry to be a day late on this special “holiday” but things were a bit crazy yesterday and I didn’t get my post up. I apologize for the delay. But root beer floats are yummy on any day, right?! 😉

Root beer floats are a very popular item at restaurants and ice cream shops, but you can also make them easily at home! All you need is a glass or cup, vanilla ice cream, root beer and a straw.

Scoop a bunch of ice cream into your glass or cup. The more you put in the better, in my opinion, but do leave a little room for some root beer!

SLOWLY pour the root beer into the glass. I say SLOWLY because the pop will foam up quickly when it meets the ice cream and it will run over the top of your glass if you aren’t careful.

Here’s a picture of the foam. Even if you pour the root beer slowly, you will get some foam. You can use a spoon and skim the foam off the top or wait for the foam to settle. (But who can wait that long when you need to be drinking your yummy treat??!!)

After some of the foam is gone, add more root beer. Pop a straw into your glass and enjoy!!

This is a great snack/drink for those hot summer days! Happy Belated Root Beer Float Day! 🙂

Taste Testing Tuesday #36 Salty Snacks

We’re back for more fun with Taste Testing Tuesday! Ok, I know they aren’t always the healthiest snack to eat, but who doesn’t get a craving for some salty snacks sometimes? Today we’re going to test a few and see what we think. We’re testing 5 kinds of salty snacks. Which ones will you test for your family?

Make a chart similar to the one we made for testing carrots so the kids can have fun adding silly faces for each salty snack you try.

#1.) Tostitos tortilla chips.

#2.) Simply Cheetos White Cheddar Puffs. (Ok, I am drooling on my laptop….)

#3.) Ruffles Cheddar and Sour Cream Potato Chips

#4.) Lays Classic Potato Chips

#5.) Doritos Nacho Cheese chips

Ok, now for the taste testing results! Which kind of salty snack is your favorite? I think my favorite of these 5 kinds would be the Cheetos Puffs. 🙂 YUM!! And what is your least favorite? My least favorite would be the Doritos. I hope you have fun with today’s Taste Testing Tuesday! 🙂

Hide and Seek Snacks

Are you looking for a way to make after-school snacks a little more fun? Maybe you need to cheer someone up after a not-so-great day at school? Today’s idea is super simple but lots of fun! Grab a cup for each kiddo and let’s make a Hide and Seek Snack! All you need is a cup for each child and some small snack items. I used a 9 oz plastic cup for my example. Gather up whatever snackies you have on hand that your child likes to munch on.

I found some fruit gummies, Cheez-its crackers, chocolate chips, cereal, raisins, cashews and Honey Nut Thins crackers. You can tailor the items to fit your child’s age. Tiny marshmallows or cheese cubes on a toothpick were some of our kids favorite items for this game. Put all your snack food into the cup.

If you have more than one child, you might find it helpful to write each person’s name on a cup. It can help solve the squabbles over whose cup of goodies it is! 😉

Now for the “Hide” part of the fun! Find a place to hide each cup of snacks. Again, depending on your child’s age how hard you make the hiding place. Here are a few suggestions to get you started. In a drawer…

In some pots and pans…

Hidden among some water bottles…

Or maybe hiding between some favorite books.

When the children arrive home from school, tell them you’ve made them a special snack but they need to search for it. You can give them clues to help them find their snack or play the game of “You are cold, you are hot”…the closer they get to where the snack is hidden the “hotter” they are. For instance, if they are in the wrong part of the house you say, “You are cold.” When they get to the right room, you can tell them “You are warm now!” As they get closer to the hiding place, you can say “You are getting warmer!” or “You are hot!” And if they are standing right beside it, “You are burning up!!” Happy cheering and lots of clapping when their snack cup is found goes a long ways towards making this Hide and Seek Snack a lot of fun! 🙂