After School Snacks

Both Eli and Isaac were having friends over after school and I wanted to make something that wasn't going to take all afternoon to prepare.  I am obsessed with this one book right now, 125 Cookies by Elinor Klivans.  I am obsessed with it because it is out of print.  I am now in my 3rd renewal from the library and I am trying to make as many things as possible from it before I have to give it back, for good!  

I have a few of her other books and happen to like most everything that I have made.  I have tried to contact the publisher as well as Elinor herself, but to no avail.  I have thought of accidentaly "loosing" the book, but that is a whole karma thing.  I just wouldn't be able to look at the book in the same way knowing that I may have obstructed a little old lady from making her favorite shortbread recipe for her grandchildren.  So, in the meantime, I am scanning the recipes that I want to save and baking the recipes that sound oh so yummy.

These are the D.C. Oatmeal Toffee bars.  I choose a bar because a) I had all the ingredients in the house and b) easy peasy!  One of my favorite candy bars as a kid was a heath bar.  I love California Brittle from Sees and I can never pass up an almond rocca candy.  Especially when the almond roccas get old and when you bite into them they are soft and almost chewy.  My Aunt Harriet always had these in a bowl in her living room. I always ate more than I should have.  My problem with candy, is that I cannot eat just one.  I have no self control.

So...when I saw that this recipe  had crushed heath bar in it, I was sold.  Baking really is so very easy.  All it takes is a little organization and some preparation.  It isn't like cooking a meal.  So many more steps in making Coq au vin or even a pasta dish.  The chopping, the cutting, the pan frying.  Baking is a mixer, 5-10 ingredients and in less than an hour you have something really tasty.  Plus, your house smells oh so good.  

What made these bars so good is the combo of oats, pecans and the toffee pieces.  Just the right amount of chocolate, the oats add an earthiness and the pecans add the crunch.  If you can get your hands on this book or this recipe, I highly recommend it!

I always make my kids a "meal" when they get home from school.  So this day was no different.  My kids, except for Levi, inevitably come home with a full lunch box.  I threaten them, at least once a week, that I refuse to pack them another lunch and that if they want to eat, they have to get up in the morning and pack their own.  Well, 7:50 a.m. rolls around and they are doing what boys do best, nothing, and there I am, frantically packing something healthy in their lunch box.  

The first thing they say to me when they get into the car after school is "what's for snack".  Snack they call it.  It is a full on meal.  I always have something hot, some sort of veggie and always fruit.  They scarf it down as if they haven't eaten in a month.  Then they look at me and say, "what's for dinner".  

More and more I feel like a short order cook.  So many new ideas for more types of blogs!