Category Archives: snacks

Parmesan crisps

snacks 5 Comments

These were so much fun! Now, they’re complicated so take a minute to prepare yourself for the giant shopping list. I kid! Obviously. My awesome sister rocks a lower carb diet, but we felt the need to have a chips and salsa night so I made these as a chip alternative. As with most things I make, they’re ridiculously easy.

Parmesan crisps

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces shredded Parmesan cheese

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat
  2. Put 1 Tbsp. cheese on the mat and tap a little with the back of the spoon to flatten it out a bit; repeat, leaving a couple inches between your little piles of cheese
  3. Bake at 350F for 4 to 5 minutes, watching for the edges to start browning; this will happen quickly so don’t go anywhere. Either pull them when the edges are brown, or let them go a little bit longer for even crispier, um, crisps
  4. At this point you can either leave them to cool on the tray or you can drape them over an overturned glass or a rolling pin (as above) to give them a little shape (the better to hold your salsa with, obviously). If you go the draping route, let them cool on the tray for a minute or two till they start to harden up a bit; when you can get a spatula cleanly under them then you can move them without turning them into a ball of cheese

Enjoy!

Buffalo chicken bites

snacks 4 Comments

I always command beg ask my sister to make buffalo chicken dip for football parties, and she does — what a good kid. I wanted to make it for Vanessa’s birthday but I wanted a way to make it a little more portable, so I came up with this!

Buffalo chicken bites

 Ingredients
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, well softened
  • 1/2 cup blue cheese or ranch dressing
  • 1/2 cup Frank’s Redhot sauce
  • 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese, plus a little extra shredded mozzarella
  • one chicken breast cooked and shredded
  • 2-3 packages mini phyllo shells

Instructions

  1. Put cream cheese in a bowl and stir it up with a wooden spoon or something up to the task, then add dressing, hot sauce, cheese and shredded chicken and stir well
  2. Just before you’re ready to serve preheat oven to 350F and put shells on a cookie sheet. Scoop chicken dip into shells (I used a small cookie dough scoop) and top with shredded cheese
  3. Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes or until shells are just barely browning at the edges and chicken mixture is hot

Hello? How easy is this? Go! Go make it now! They’re so warm and yummy when one is snowed in…. which, like me, you probably are.

Myrtle Dip

snacks 5 Comments

What, like that’s not a descriptive name?

Kiddo’s Aunt Myrtle (hands seen in picture) made this for me this weekend. We may or may not have eaten it sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace and a chick flick. Ahem.

Myrtle Dip

Ingredients

  • 1 block cream cheese
  • 1 can RO*TEL, drained
  • 2 cans Super Sweet Yellow & White corn (see picture)

Instructions

  1. Drain the corn and RO*TEL, then stir together in a shallow dish (that’s a double batch in a lasagna pan in the picture up there), then pinch off chunks of the cream cheese and scatter over the RO*TEL/corn mixture; bake at 350F for 15 minutes
  2. Carefully remove from oven and stir together so it’s all incorporated; return to oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes. The end!

Y’all know how I love me some easy recipes. Plus, this is really great hot and really great cold. New Year’s Eve anyone?

Enjoy!

Hummus

kids, snacks 9 Comments

The first time I tried hummus? Not. A. Fan. I couldn’t even tell you now what I didn’t like about it (it was years and years ago) but I can for sure tell you I didn’t like it. Fast forward to this month when Kiddo’s BFF’s mom made it at her house. Seeing as how it’d been years and years I wanted to try it again, so I sort of held my breath and took a bite. YUM! I don’t know what the difference is, but now I can’t get enough of the stuff.

Vanessa sent me her recipe so I made a big batch of this for last night. Halloween night at our place is hanging out with the neighbors on the front porch with food and wine while we hand out candy; we don’t go trick or treating because Kiddo doesn’t like candy (of course) so we just make it into a party (and I LOVE it!). In the three and a half seconds I spent looking in the grocery store I couldn’t find the tahini Vanessa’s recipe called for so I used natural peanut butter instead, a la Alton Brown.

Hummus

Ingredients

  • Gather up:
  • 1 can chick peas (drain, keep 1/3 c of liquid)
  • 1/3 cup natural peanut butter (or tahini)
  • 2 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled or a couple spoonfuls of jarred minced garlic
  • Healthy pinch of salt
  • Cayenne pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Put everything but the chickpeas in a food processor and process till garlic is well chopped
  2. Add in chickpeas and process till smooth and give it a taste — adjust salt and cayenne as desired
  3. Chill; eat with pita chips and/or baby carrots

Simple crackers

baking, kids, snacks, soup 2 Comments

The Yankee and I love to have snacky suppers every so often; just some crackers, some cheese, maybe some salami or dried fruit or nuts. Browsing through How to Cook Everything today I came across a recipe for crackers. Did y’all have any idea how fast it is to make crackers? I certainly did not. I gathered:

Simple crackers

Ingredients

  • 1 cup AP flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 1/4 cup whole milk

Instructions

  1. Combine the flour and salt, then cut in the butter like you’re making biscuits or pie dough (a few pulses in a food processor will do this nicely; I used a pastry blender this time), then add in milk
  2. Either pulse till combined in the food processor or stir in with a fork or dough whisk in a bowl
  3. Roll out 1/8 inch thick and cut out into shapes, or just score it with a knife if you want to simply break them apart later
  4. Bake at 400F on a lightly floured baking sheet or on a pizza stone for about ten minutes, then cool on a rack. Serve warm or save for later

With limitless shape options, these crackers also make a very fun kid snack.

Have fun!