Healthy Snowmen Snack

Meet a warmer, more health-conscious Frosty....

With all the junk goodies we've been eating lately I started craving something healthier. I remembered an idea from FamilyFun years ago where they made snowmen out of banana slices and pretzels. I didn't want to take the time to hunt down the whole recipe so we used what we had and created our own edible snowmen.

My boys had these for after school snacks and they kept wanting to make more!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pizza

Now this is my kind of pizza!!  

We are big chocolate paired with peanut butter fans around here and we tried a new recipe over the weekend that was a huge hit!  I got this recipe from a booklet of Christmas recipes that my mother-in-law gave me years ago.  Now you can find the recipe at  Betty Crocker.com.  I'll include it as well...

Chocolate Peanut Butter Candy Pizza

Makes 16 servings

1 c packed brown sugar

1/2 c butter, softened

1 egg

1 1/4 c flour

1/4 c baking cocoa

1/2 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

Peanut Butter Pizza Sauce (see below)

1/4 c Spanish peanuts

1 bag (1.63 oz) M&Ms

1 package (1.6 oz) Reeses peanut butter cups (2 candies), cut up

1/4 c semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix brown sugar, butter and egg in medium bowl with spoon.  Stir in flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  Pat dough in ungreased 12-inch pizza pan.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until edge is set.  Cool at least 30 minutes.  Make Peanut Butter Pizza Sauce.  Spread over cookie pizza.  Top with peanuts and candies.  Drizzle with melted chocolate chips.

Peanut Butter Pizza Sauce

1 bag (10 oz) peanut butter chips

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

Heat ingredients in 2-quart saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth.

Enjoy!!

Rudolph Cookies

As a Cubscout leader at church I get to come up with fun ideas for about twelve 9 year-old boys.  For the Bear achievement 9f they needed to make a dessert for their family.  I couldn't picture us making a cake or something like that without envisioning a chaotic mess so I adapted an idea from Pillsbury.  And it was a fun, yummy and easy dessert.

(Side note:  Later I laughed as I told my husband the scene in the kitchen at church when we first arrived: one scout was scouring the drawers for knives, some were trying to "skateboard" on the pushable carts for serving, another couple were pushing buttons on the microwave and a few were turning on the fan and blowing things around.  This was IMMEDIATELY as we walked in the door.  These guys are busy!)

These would be fun to make with any group of kids!

All you need for ingredients are:  Oreos (or similar cookie), almond bark, cherry sours, mini-chocolate chips and pretzels.

First, melt the almond bark according to package directions. Then dip the cookies in the melted bark until completely covered in white gooey yum.  Fish them out with a spoon and set them on a plate or wax paper.  Stick on a cherry sour for a nose, mini chips for eyes and pretzels for antlers.  (You can break the pretzels if you like.)

You may need to let them harden before eating or handling. (If you can wait that long!)

Watch out reindeers!  We're mass producing Rudolphs! 

Turkeys & Pilgrim Hats

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2010/11/oreo-turkeys-and-cookie-pilgrim-hats/

Halloween Oreo Pops

http://www.momendeavors.com/2011/10/halloween-oreo-pops-bats-pumpkins.html

Skeleton Cookies

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/10/skeleton-gingerbread-men-cookies/

Glow in the Dark Drinks

http://makingmemorieswithyourkids.blogspot.com/2011/07/glow-in-dark-drinks.html

Hot dog octopus & shells

http://makingmemorieswithyourkids.blogspot.com/2010/08/octo-dog-and-shells.html

Ice cream ideas

http://www.thecraftycrow.net/2010/08/ice-cream-treats-and-fun.html

Fall Leaf Cookies

My mother-in-law sent me a book with this cookie recipe in it. We've tried them and they are tasty and fun to make, not to mention oh-so-cute!

Cheesy Volcano Meatballs

These were very yummy, easy, and my three-year-old loved helping make these! (I just had to watch closely to make sure he wasn't sticking his fingers in his mouth after touching the raw meat.) I got this from a free magazine that kraft sends out quarterly- you can get a subscription at www.kraftfoods.com.

1 lb lean ground beef
6 Ritz crackers, finely crushed
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 c spaghetti sauce, divided
about 12 cheddar cheese cubes (I cut up a block of cheese)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix meat, cracker crumbs, parmesan cheese and 1/4 c of the spaghetti sauce in bowl. Shape into 12 meatballs, using about 2 T meat mixture for each. Place 2 inches apart on a greased shallow baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Press 1 cheese cube deeply into center of each meatball. Bake 14 min. or until meatballs are cooked through (160 degrees). Meanwhile, microwave remaining spaghetti sauce to serve over top of meatballs. Enjoy!