Scooby Snacks - an experiment

Meet my 2-yr old daughter: She's loves "Soogie-Doogie" (Scooby Doo) & is crazy about our next door neighbors' dog, Charlie. 

Charlie deserves a special mention here because he is the stuff all bedtime stories, bribes and disciplinarian actions are made of: "finish your dinner & Charlie will come sit with you on the swing" or "Charlie thinks you look so pretty in that dress, please don't take it off" .. and "Ssh! Keep it down, Charlie's napping and we can't disturb him". 

Other than constantly trying to appease "Charlie-Doggie", much like Scooby & Shaggy, my little girl will do anything when bribed with food - especially the sweet kind. 

I try to keep the tendency in check, but a treat once in a while is okay. This week I wanted to do something fun so I searched online for ideas for a  'Scooby Snack'. All searches pointed to the recipe here.

I couldn't be sure if this recipe was actually for kids or meant for dogs. Walnut extract and ground herbal medicine? In a cookie? For kids? 

I don't think so. 

The base recipe sounded mostly like any other recipe for oatmeal cookies and so I decided to play around with it a little create my own version of a Scooby Snack. 

I have lost my sense of smell and taste (again!) so  had to rely on feedback from my 5-yr old. I followed the original recipe - substituting applesauce for the butter and adding hazelnut concentrated flavoring instead of walnut extract. The recipe didn't ask for any baking powder, but I added half a teaspoon, and added 1/4 cup of semi-sweet mini morsels. 

We made a test-batch of 5 cookies. The end result: So-so. 

My son said he could not taste any chocolate. So we went back, chopped up a bar of dark chocolate and mixed that into the batter. The second test batch received better reviews because of the additional chocolate. But I'm guessing, at best - these cookies are just okay. Not really outstanding in any way.

I will re-visit this recipe when I have more time. I'm sure there must be a way to improve it and don't regret having made it - it was a good way to divert the kids with a fun indoor activity while it rained this morning and they weren't able to go out to play. 

The next time around, I want to make a crispier cookie since that is how I always imagined Scooby's snacks to be. 

For now, here's the recipe (adapted from the original here):

Scooby Snack

2 cups, all purpose flour

1 cup quick cooking oatmeal

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup applesauce

2 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp hazelnut flavoring (concentrated)

approx. 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate mini morsels and a 100 g bar of dark chocolate, chopped )

Beat the applesauce, eggs, sugars and flavorings for a few minutes to blend. 

Add in the dry ingredients and blend well. This batter is very, very thick and you might want to add a tbsp or 2 of milk for ease in blending. I didn't, but I will try that next time. 

I scooped out and rolled 1/2 tbsp-sized balls, flattened a little and baked them for 6 minutes in my Bakery Express cookie mould (which is so good that it deserves a blog post dedicated to its review - I've been meaning to get to it and will soon). 

When baking in a regular oven, preheat to 350 and bake for 12  mins.

Strawberry Crisp

 

I guess that Tres Leches French Toast wasn't enough.

I want dessert for breakfast every day! 

This one is simple, and it makes two servings. Perfect, don't you agree? 

And yeah - I'm selfish: I won't make breakfast for anyone else without a fight, but I'll happily labor over guilty treats for myself.

This morning I was a selfish & hungry person with intense carbohydrate cravings. And no, I'm not pregnant. Although my son said to me on the way back home from school yesterday, "Mama, I want 3 more babies. You can get me one right now & get two more when we move to the new house next month because we'll have more space there to play" . . . uh, yeah!

Who doesn't need a little soothing carbohydrate love after a demand like that?

I was down to my last box of strawberries and adapted this from a recipe on Recipezaar. The only change I made was adding an additional tbsp of butter. 

Assembling and baking takes all of 20 minutes, so I treated myself to warm strawberry crisp for breakfast today. I just told myself I was eating Granola ;-)

Strawberry Crisp

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup quick cooking oatmeal

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup sliced strawberries

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the oatmeal, sugar and cinnamon. Mix well. Remove from heat.

Divide the strawberries between two ramekins and sprinkle the oatmeal mixture over both. 

Bake at 375F for 15 mins. 

Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

That's how the cookie crumbles. .

I had an awesome Thursday. In my own opinion. 

All stay at home moms will agree with me: as much as you love your kids and as much as you love staying home with them, there are so many times when you just need a break from the physical and emotional energy that they require. And you need to do something for yourself that is not baby-related in any way. 

Sometimes, all you need is a little time on your own. 

Feeling all of that more and more strongly as the year rolled along, some time towards the end of last year I told hubby I'd really like it if I could just stay home for a weekend while he takes the kids and stays at a hotel. Just so I can get a break from my daily routine, organize my thoughts,and relax. Basically: get my groove back. Even one whole day would do. 

It was a bizarre proposition but he agreed. He's been traveling a lot the past several weeks so he thought he would get some quality time with the kids, and I would get to do my own thing. Win-win situation. 

What a great guy! Seriously. 

The kids were so excited at the prospect of going on a 'trip' with their father that they didn't even turn around to say bye to me. After forcing asking them to give me hugs and kisses I saw them out the door, feeling both elated and a little bewildered at the prospect of 24 hours on my own. 

What was I going to do with myself?

Bring out the Sun!

With everyone around me falling ill including myself, there really hasn't been anything interesting going on food-wise or otherwise. And I do so dislike cloudy winter days: they make me plummet into the gloomiest of moods right away.

Our apartment doesn't get a lot of bright sunlight. At least the living area, where we spend our entire day, doesn't. And so, on cloudy days, it gets dark and oppressive indoors. And that makes me crabby. Add to that picture: whiny kids. And the beginning of a much-too-long Spring Break for my Kindergartner.

Playing Florence Nightingale to 2 little children and a grown up man can make anyone crazy. However, I do suppose I should get their perspective on it at as well since I don't have the most charming bedside manner when I'm unwell. 

In order to retain my sanity, I've taken a week-long hiatus. I've been sleeping till noon with the kids, reading a lot, thinking a lot and watching old movies. I haven't cooked or cleaned or lifted a finger to do anything else that needs to be done & have laid all anal-retentive tendencies to rest while I get through this phase. Which will be over as soon as we have that first, completely sunny day! 


Since I didn't cook or bake, there's nothing blog-worthy to post. However, I dug out an old photo of something I will be making tomorrow. I won't get any good photos under fluorescent light in the dark and gloomy kitchen, so this old one will have to do. 

I just didn't want to take too long a break from blogging when I've just managed to start and who knew Facebook-addiction can be cured by blogging? ;-)

So, here's what I'm going to make tomorrow: Jessica Seinfeld's Blueberry Oatmeal bars. 

Ingredients

Non-stick cooking spray
2 cups old-fashioned Oats
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup trans-fat free soft-tub margarine spread, chilled
1 cup low sugar blueberry preserves
1/2 cup spinach puree

Preheat oven to 375F. Coat an 8x8 inch pan with cooking spray. 

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and vanilla and stir to mix well.  

Add the margarine and cut it into the dry ingredients with two knives until the mixture resembles coarse meal and is no longer powdery. Do not over-mix: bits of the margarine should still be visible. 

Set aside half of the oat mixture; press the rest firmly into the pan. Bake until slightly browned along the edges, 13 to 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, mix the preserves with the spinach puree in a small bowl. 

Spread the blueberry mixture over the partially baked oat layer, then sprinkle with the remaining oat mixture. Bake until the topping is slightly brown, 20 - 25 minutes. 

Set on a rack to cool completely before cutting into 12 bars. 

(Note: when I took this photo, I had used quick cooking oats in place of old-fashioned (I think I had run out of the latter), which is why the bars look crumbly and mushy. But otherwise, they were pretty darn good and you can't taste the spinach at all. Not even a trace.)