Homemade Snacks

As a special request, here are a few recipes, 2 healthy, 1 not so much!

Banana Oat Cookies
-1 cup quick oats
-2 super ripe bananas
-handful of raisins
-swirl of honey
-couple dashes of cinnamon

mash oats and banana together with a fork until banana chunks are gone.  Add other ingredients (nuts, protein powder, craisins, whatever) and mix.  If it looks too mushy and wet, add in a bit more oats.

Grease cookie sheet with spray and plop little balls evenly spaced.  Bake about 12 minutes at 350 until they are not soft.

No Bake Energy Balls
-1 cup oats
-1 cup brown rice cereal (like rice krispies, but brown rice)
-1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
-1/4 cup raisins
-1/4 cup chocolate chips
-2 heaping spoonfuls of peanut butter
-couple dashes of cinnamon
-1/4 cup brown rice syrup

I never make these exactly the same b/c I don't really measure, so the above is approximate.  Substitute or add anything you like - nut butter, nuts, chia seeds, etc.  Mix all of this together in a large bowl (mixing with your hands works well) and refrigerate for a few hours.  Remove from fridge and mix in about 1/6 cup of applesauce.  This wasn't called for in the original recipe I modified to make mine, but I found that little balls were too hard to make unless I added a bit of moisture.

Store in tupperware and use as a quick snack all week!

Baked French Toast Casserole
adapted from the Pioneer Woman recipe

Ingredients

• Butter, For Greasing
• 1 loaf Crusty Sourdough Or French Bread
• 8 whole Eggs
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
• Topping
• 1/3 cup Flour
• 1/3 cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• Freshly Grated Nutmeg (optional)
• 1/2 stick Cold Butter, Cut Into Pieces

Preparation Instructions

For the French toast: Grease the baking pan with butter. Tear the bread into chunks, or cut into cubes, and evenly distribute in the pan. Crack the eggs in a big bowl. Whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Pour evenly over the bread. Cover the pan tightly and store in the fridge for a few hours.  Most suggest overnight but I found that made the bread too soggy!


For the topping: Mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and some nutmeg in a separate bowl. Stir together using a fork. Add the butter and with a fork, and mix it all together until the mixture resembles fine pebbles. Store in a plastic bag in the fridge.
When you're ready to bake the casserole, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the casserole from the fridge and sprinkle the topping over the top. Bake for 45 minutes for a softer, more bread pudding texture or for 1 hour-plus or more for a firmer, crisper texture.