Snack*O*Rama

I'm not organized enough to have a weekly or biweekly baking day. Wish I were. I do big batches when the mood strikes. I like to dovetail different recipes that use the same ingredients or dirty the same dishes. Because I'm basically lazy.

We were in and out on Thursday- dance class, skate park, yadda yadda. In all I spent about 3 houras in the kitchen, cooking through clean-up. But I cranked out muchas snack foods.

Started with kale chips. Thanks to my sister who gave me this recipe!
Kale, washed and torn- get rid of the tough stalk pieces. Dry it well.

Toss with a tiny bit of evoo (extra virgin olive oil) and your choice of real salt (pink Himalayan or unrefined sea salt)in a plastic bag.
(Always a coveted job.)

Spread on cookie sheets. I only have one. I need to get about 3 more for big batch cooking!

Roast at 350 for 10-20 minutes, until nice and crispy but not burnt.

While that's in there, chop up a dozen tortillas.

Toss these with evoo and unrefined salt (pink Himalayan or real sea salt!) in the same bag, in 2-3 bunches.

Use your oily cookie sheets and spread these out. Pop back into your 350 oven and crisp these up till you remember they're in there- hopefully that'll be about 18 minutes.

Yum.

Double yum.

The big kids didn't really care much for the kale chips, but JP and I ate. a lot. of them.

Then we whipped up some almond milk.

With enough left over for a carob latte.

Isaiah and Rosie wanted to make limeade, and away they went.

Then on to salsa.

This is
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 large can diced tomatoes (I recommend Eden brand because their cans are bpa-free, but these were just el cheapo grocery store ones.)
6 frozen jalapenos- obviously, adjust this number to get your desired heat
1/4 onion
1t garlic powder
1t dried basil
1/4t cayenne pepper
juice of 1 lime

Medium heat, very flavorful. Even Isaiah, my pickiest eater, will gobble this up.

We chopped up a veggie tray and made a mayo-herb dip. Can't remember what we used- just opened the spice cupboard and dumped in whatever.

And we made parmesan "cheez." This is a classic vegan recipe, you can find variants of it anywhere.
1/2 c flaked nutritional yeast
1/2 c ground walnuts
salt
garlic powder

Shake. Little people really like to help make anything involving shaking.

I'll use this on pizza on Monday and salads all week. Isaiah begged for some blah leftover garlic pasta to try this out.

He says, "Tastes pretty much like cheese!"

And finally- phew!- french toast with some bread that went very stale. I ground extra walnuts for the cheez and now I add 10 eggs, almond milk, vanilla-flavored stevia, a dash of salt, and some pumkin pie spice.

I bake these in the oven because it goes faster and it's hard to burn them in the oven, and they crisp up like those Burger King French toast fingers. Not that I'd know what those taste like.

With a bit of blue agave nectar for dipping.

And then all there is to do *sigh* is the dishes.

Did I cook dinner? No. We ate snacks. Which may be why my snack supply never lasts as long as I think it will....


'When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me."'
~Erma Bombeck