Favorite Chex Mix

I mentioned that we were on vacation with my husband's family and posted a picture of all the food it takes to feed 24 people.  Well, you better believe we had some amazing food while we were there!  My husband's family has a tradition of making Chex Mix every Christmas.  While I realize it wasn't Christmas, we still had the Chex Mix while on vacation, so I decided to share the recipe with you!

Favorite Chex Mix
13 cups Chex (5 cups wheat, 4 cups corn, 4 cups rice)
3 cups pretzel sticks
1 lb spanish peanuts
1/4 cup bacon grease
1/2 cup butter
1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp Tabasco
1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp savory or poultry seasoning

Preheat oven to 250.

Combine cereal, pretzel sticks, and peanuts in a large roasting pan.

In a separate bowl, melt the bacon grease and butter.  Add worcestershire and Tabasco to butter mixture; pour over cereal mixture and toss to coat.

In a small mixing bowl, combine seasoned salt, celery salt, garlic salt and savory or poultry seasoning.  Sprinkle over cereal mixture; tossing to make sure the Chex mix is evenly coated.

Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

This picture was taken before it was baked.  Sadly, I didn't get a picture of the finished product, but it looks pretty similar to this.

Healthy and Frugal Snacks

One of my daughter's current favorite snacks.  She calls them cookies!

My 3-year-old has about 2 snacks each day (one mid-morning and one mid-afternoon), and each time she asks for a snack, I sit there racking my brain for what we have.  So the other day, I sat down and made a list of the snacks we usually have on hand, so I don't have to think about it each time.  I can just look at my list and get her a snack.

As I was making my list, I realized that she doesn't get very many foods that are specifically marketed as snacks.  Part of the reason for this is because we really don't have money in our food budget for most of the items in the snack aisle at the grocery store.  Additionally, most snack-type foods really aren't that healthy.  Even the ones that are typically considered or assumed to be healthy are often loaded with extra sugars and other ingredients that you probably don't want your kids eating too much of.  Don't get me wrong.  I do occasionally buy a box of goldfish or other crackers, but probably only two or three times per year.  Anyway, here's the list of typical snack options we have in our house (or at least the ones I could think of).  I'll add more as I think of or discover more!  And one of the great things about these is that most of them make great guiltless snacks for Mommy too!  Leave your favorite healthy and frugal snack options in the comments!

• Apples with or without natural peanut butter
• Bananas with or without natural peanut butter
• Oranges
• Grapes
• Other seasonal fruit we happen to have (pineapple, strawberries, grapefruit, peaches, kiwis, blueberries, etc.)

• Plain air popped popcorn (sounds boring, but both she and I love it!)
• Plain Greek yogurt (sometimes I'll puree fruit and mix it in.  It's surprising how much added sugar flavored yogurts have, so this avoids that)
• Celery with natural peanut butter or hummus
• Carrot and/or bell pepper sticks with hummus

• Roasted veggies (I often keep roasted cauliflower, asparagus, brussels sprouts, broccoli, etc. in the refrigerator to snack on.  Neither one of us minds eating them cold.)
• Cereal with or without milk - yes, I realize that cold cereals have added sugar, but we usually stick with plain Cheerios, which are one of the healthier cereals out there.  Just wait for them to go on sale!
• String cheese (one of the few "snack foods" I buy) 
• Hard boiled eggs - I usually boil a few at a time and keep them in the refrigerator for a quick and easy snack.  Hard boiled eggs last for a week in the refrigerator if the shells are left on.

• Almonds - yes, my 3-year-old likes almonds and sometimes I'll give them to her with her fruit for a little protein.  Just be careful when giving a small child whole nuts.  They are considered a chocking hazard. 

• Pitas with or without hummus - the recipe I posted on Near to Nothing has some whole wheat flour, but is not whole wheat by definition.  I recently started using this whole wheat recipe and my daughter loves them!
• Frozen corn or peas - no need to defrost or heat them!  She loves them frozen!
• Tomatoes - I usually chop them for her, but I have found her just biting into one like an apple!
• Whole wheat bread or toast (with or without natural peanut butter.  Yes, sometimes she asks for dry toast!)

• Beans (dry beans prepared in the slow cooker, of course!) - black, kidney, garbanzo, lima - basically, whatever kind I have on hand!

I mentioned the pitas above so I thought I'd throw in this video of my daughter watching the pitas as the puffed in the oven.  Other than being cost-effective and delicious, the entertainment your children will receive is reason enough to make these.

Crustless Grilled Cheese

At the beginning of last school year, I wrote a post about making your own peanut butter and jelly Uncrustables.  These are still one of my go-to school lunches, along with bean burritos and quesadillas.  But I am always on the lookout for new items that I can stock in my freezer.

This week, Kimiko’s nieces and nephews started at a new school.  Unfortunately for their mom, the school has a nut-free policy.  She is not allowed to send anything in their lunches that contains nuts of any kind in any form.  Since she can’t rely on pulling PB&J’s out of her freezer, she asked if it was possible to make and freeze grilled cheese.  While I didn’t see any problem with it, I didn’t actually try it until this week.  And I was met with success!!

Beforehand, the main obstacle I could foresee was trying to get the cheese big enough to fill the sandwich without getting into the edges.  When I went to actually make the sandwiches, it was a no-brainer!  I simply folded the corners of each slice of cheese into the middle and they fit perfectly into the center of my sandwich cutter.  If you have a different size cutter, you may need to experiment to see what works best for you.

The one problem I did encounter was ripped bread.  I bought Iron Kids bread because I happened to be at Costco and that’s what they carry.  It wasn’t as soft as it needed to be to keep from ripping.  However, it ended up not being a problem.  I just buttered right over the cracks and they sealed themselves closed when I cooked the sandwiches.

Don't worry about the cracks if they occur.

Just butter over the tears.

Yesterday I picked up some Oroweat Soft Family 100% Whole Wheat bread, but haven’t tried it yet.  Extrapolating from my experience with PB&J, I’m guessing it will work better than the Iron Kids bread.

As far as reheating goes, it will vary depending on whether or not the sandwich is still frozen or has thawed by lunch time.  Either way, it doesn’t take long.  Pulled straight from the freezer, they only take about 30 seconds in my microwave.  If they are thawed, I imagine about 15 seconds would be sufficient.

And I don’t suggest microwaving them in the plastic wrap.  It just traps all the steam, making the sandwich soggy.  I will be sending these to school in plastic containers.

Crustless Grilled Cheese

Bread

Sliced American cheese

Margarine or softened butter

Heat skillet over medium to medium-high heat.  Fold corners of each slice of cheese to middle and place in center of bread.  Top each with second slice of bread.

Cut and seal with sandwich cutter (mine is from Pampered Chef, but you can find other kinds elsewhere).

Butter tops of sandwiches.  Butter bottoms and immediately place in pan, top down.

This is the messy part.

Flip when top is browned; continue to cook until bottom is browned.  Cool completely on wire rack.

Wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap and store in zip-top bag in freezer.


And don't throw those scraps away!!  Save them for croutons and bread crumbs (recipes to come in the near future.)

UPDATES:  The Oroweat Soft Family 100% Whole Wheat bread was much softer and didn't tear!  The only problem I had was that it is slightly smaller than the Iron Kids bread so I had parts that didn't seal because the crust was in the cutter.  I'm guessing it would work with the cutter that Pampered Chef currently carries.

Someone had asked about eating them without reheating them.  I pulled one out of my freezer when the kids left for school and left it on the kitchen counter until lunch time (to simulate being in a lunch bag until lunch time).  Surprisingly, it wasn't bad!  I still prefer them warm, but I'd eat them just thawed if I had to.  And I'm sure my kids wouldn't notice the difference.

Welcome to the 2011-2012 School Year!

Keanna with her 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Inloes!

For the public school kids in our area, school starts today.  Robbie and Keanna have already been back for two weeks.  And Lukas and Koda started preschool at that time!!  They are absolutely loving it and don't want to go home when I arrive to pick them up at lunch time.

Most moms cry when their little ones start preschool.  I have to admit that I was ecstatic!  I now have two mornings every week with just April at home--I didn't realize how many usable hours there are in the day!  And the boys are really in need of some outside-of-the-house-without-mommy structure.

Koda (left) and Lukas with their teacher, Miss Lauren!

This does make Tuesday and Thursday mornings quite interesting.  Keanna can pretty much get herself ready for school, but the boys are another story.  More than ever, we need organization and efficiency in our mornings.

As most of use dive into this new school year, I thought I'd re-post last year's post about school lunches.  With a few additions and changes.  For example, since then, I've added bean and cheese burritos to the list.  Last week I made 50 bean, cheese, rice, and corn burritos and froze them.  And my over-estimation is that it cost me about $20!!

So to help you help your kids start the year off right, here are my school lunch strategies (note:  prices have not been updated for this year, but I'm sure they all went up!):

**************************************************************

To save money and feed my family more nutritiously, I do not buy pre-packaged snacks.  Though individually packaged snacks are super convenient, they can cost three to five times more than if you bought a regular package and divided it up yourself.  For example, I checked the price of goldfish crackers at WinCo last week.  If you buy the 100-calorie packs, you will pay over $0.70 per ounce.  However, if you buy a big box and divide it up into little containers or bags, you will only pay $0.21 per ounce.  The same is true for just about all pre-portioned snacks:  raisins, applesauce, fruit cups, pudding cups, crackers, chips, cookies, cheese, and drinks.

To be a little more environmentally friendly, I try to use cheap reusable plastic containers.  I love these Glad containers.  They hold ½ cup and are the perfect size for snacks.  I bought this pack of eight for only $2.22 at Wal-Mart.  Before sending them to school with my daughter, I used a permanent marker to write her name on them.  Hopefully we’ll end the school year with almost as many as we’re starting.  These don’t work for long, stick shaped snacks like pretzel sticks or carrot sticks.  I have yet to find small, cheap containers that accommodate snacks of this shape so I use zip-top bags.  Anyone have any suggestions?

But I have to admit that packing school lunches is one of my least favorite things to do.  I currently only have to pack two lunches (one for my daughter and one for my husband), but someday I will have to pack five.  Just thinking about it makes me tired—or maybe I’m just tired from the middle-of-the-night feedings.  Anyway, last year I kept finding myself scrounging around the kitchen every morning trying to pull healthy lunches together at the last minute while trying to make breakfast and help Keanna get ready for school.  Can we say “frazzled”?!?!

Packing snacks like this does take time.  That’s one reason why my mornings used to be so hectic.  But I am not willing to pay the extra money for convenience.  I decided I did not want to continue in this manner for the next 17 years so I came up with a system for preparing school lunches:

Sunday night:  prepare and package up all snacks for the week

Each night:  fill lunch box/bag with non-refrigerated items (including napkin and utensils); fill thermos and put in fridge

Each morning:  add refrigerated/frozen items (including ice pack)

By packaging up all the snacks on Sunday night, the rest of the week is grab-n-go.  There are some things I cannot do on Sunday such as cut fresh fruit and vegetables for the entire week—I usually portion these out on Sunday and Wednesday nights.

I never buy baby carrots.  They are more expensive and don't last as long in the fridge.

I usually send my husband with dinner leftovers for lunch.  I simply package those up for him as I am putting the leftovers away.

Good school lunch ideas:

• Bean and cheese burrito
• PB&J
• Peanut butter and banana sandwiches
• Quesadilla
• English muffin/bagel pizza
• Macaroni and cheese

Good school snack ideas:

• Crackers and peanut butter
• Hummus with pretzels or pita bread/chips
• Grapes, sliced apples or peaches, or orange slices
• Cheese sticks (cut from a block to save money)
• Hard-boiled eggs
• Pudding
• Whole wheat noodles
• Carrot or celery sticks (ants on a log!)
• Homemade trail mix/snack mix
• Raisins or other dried fruit
• Yogurt
• Granola bars
• Popcorn

This week's snacks:  grapes, cheese crackers, hummus, pretzel
sticks, chocolate graham crackers, peanut butter sandwich crackers,
and carrot sticks.

You can also get your kids involved.  Keanna made the peanut butter sandwich crackers this week.  Even small children can fill containers or bags.  Not only does this take some of the work off you, but it helps teach them that everything they eat needs to be prepared by someone.

If you have other great ideas for quick, healthy school snacks, please post a comment to share them with all our readers.

School Lunch Strategies

Keanna and her teachers on the first day of school.

To save money and feed my family more nutritiously, I do not buy pre-packaged snacks.  Though individually packaged snacks are super convenient, they can cost three to five times more than if you bought a regular package and divided it up yourself.  For example, I checked the price of goldfish crackers at WinCo last week.  If you buy the 100-calorie packs, you will pay over $0.70 per ounce.  However, if you buy a big box and divide it up into little containers or bags, you will only pay $0.21 per ounce.  The same is true for just about all pre-portioned snacks:  raisins, applesauce, fruit cups, pudding cups, crackers, chips, cookies, cheese, and drinks.

To be a little more environmentally friendly, I try to use cheap reusable plastic containers.  I love these Glad containers.  They hold ½ cup and are the perfect size for snacks.  I bought this pack of eight for only $2.22 at Wal-Mart.  Before sending them to school with my daughter, I used a permanent marker to write her name on them.  Hopefully we’ll end the school year with almost as many as we’re starting.  These don’t work for long, stick shaped snacks like pretzel sticks or carrot sticks.  I have yet to find small, cheap containers that accommodate snacks of this shape so I use zip-top bags.  Anyone have any suggestions?

But I have to admit that packing school lunches is one of my least favorite things to do.  I currently only have to pack two lunches (one for my daughter and one for my husband), but someday I will have to pack five.  Just thinking about it makes me tired—or maybe I’m just tired from the middle-of-the-night feedings.  Anyway, last year I kept finding myself scrounging around the kitchen every morning trying to pull healthy lunches together at the last minute while trying to make breakfast and help Keanna get ready for school.  Can we say “frazzled”?!?!

Packing snacks like this does take time.  That’s one reason why my mornings used to be so hectic.  But I am not willing to pay the extra money for convenience.  I decided I did not want to continue in this manner for the next 17 years so I came up with a system for preparing school lunches:

Sunday night:  prepare and package up all snacks for the week

Each night:  fill lunch box/bag with non-refrigerated items (including napkin and utensils); fill thermos and put in fridge

Each morning:  add refrigerated/frozen items (including ice pack)

By packaging up all the snacks on Sunday night, the rest of the week is grab-n-go.  There are some things I cannot do on Sunday such as cut fresh fruit and vegetables for the entire week—I usually portion these out on Sunday and Wednesday nights.

I never buy baby carrots.  They are more expensive and don't last as long in the fridge.

I usually send my husband with dinner leftovers for lunch.  I simply package those up for him as I am putting the leftovers away.

Good school snack ideas:

• Crackers and peanut butter
• Hummus with pretzels or pita bread/chips
• Grapes, sliced apples or peaches, or orange slices
• Cheese sticks (cut from a block to save money)
• Hard-boiled eggs
• Pudding
• Whole wheat noodles
• Carrot or celery sticks (ants on a log!)
• Homemade trail mix/snack mix
• Raisins or other dried fruit
• Yogurt
• Granola bars
• Popcorn

This week's snacks:  grapes, cheese crackers, hummus, pretzel
sticks, chocolate graham crackers, peanut butter sandwich crackers,
and carrot sticks.

You can also get your kids involved.  Keanna made the peanut butter sandwich crackers this week.  Even small children can fill containers or bags.  Not only does this take some of the work off you, but it helps teach them that everything they eat needs to be prepared by someone.

If you have other great ideas for quick, healthy school snacks, please post a comment to share them with all our readers.

Good Old PB&J Update

For those who didn’t see the comment on the original PB&J post, there is a square sandwich cutter/sealer that can be found here.  Thanks so much to Crystal for passing this on to us!!

I mentioned that white and wheat bread work better than whole wheat.  As this has always been my experience with the bread I buy, I always wondered if there was a whole wheat bread out there that would work for these sandwiches.  After my post on Monday, I received a question from a reader regarding this issue.  Kimiko advised me that the Oroweat bread she buys at Wal-Mart is softer than other whole wheat breads and thought it might work.  So off to Wal-Mart I went.  I ended up buying three loaves of whole wheat bread.  Last night I experimented with all three and even conducted a blind taste test to see which one tasted best.  Okay, the only subject was my husband, because he was the only one available at ten o’clock last night.  Here are the results:

My least favorite was Oroweat’s Dutch Country 100% Whole Wheat ($1.97).  While it did seal, the bread itself had a coarser texture than the others and was drier.  It also seemed like it wanted to rip if you put too much inside.  The loaf is wider and squattier than regular loaves, making it too short and too wide for the cutter.  This one scored lowest in our blind taste test.

Oroweat’s Soft Family 100%Whole Wheat bread ($1.97) worked a lot better.  My main issue was that the loaf I bought had a lot of large air bubbles in it which meant that many of the slices were not suitable for spreading the peanut butter and jelly.  Does anyone out there buy this type of bread on a regular basis?  Is this common for this product or did I just pick the wrong loaf?  Other than that, it was great and ranked second in our blind taste test (though I preferred the taste of this one).

The bread that worked the best was Sara Lee’s Soft and Smooth Plus 100% Whole Wheat Made with DHA Omega-3 ($1.88).  This bread looks and tastes almost like white bread.  It produced a great crustless sandwich and sealed perfectly.  My husband chose this as his favorite in the taste test.

Conclusion:  Yes!!  You can make sealed crustless sandwiches with whole wheat bread!!  I already have a loaf’s worth in my freezer.

Back to School with Near to Nothing!

It's back-to-school time!  For you parents, school mornings can be stressful.  Between getting yourself ready, your kids ready, breakfast served, lunches made, and making sure everyone has everything, getting out the door on time can be quite a challenge.  This week, we'll be offering tips, suggestions, and recipes for saving time and money on school lunches that will hopefully make your mornings a little less stressful.  Even if you don't have kids for whom to pack lunches, you might find these tips handy for "brown-bagging" it for work.  So be sure to check back!!