car snack 4 (or, the banana oat bar)

Last week, I visited the middle school classroom at the Montessori school where Joey teaches and the girls learn. The middle school is in its second year, and the small group of brave (isn't it just brave to wake up and move through the world at that age?) tweens and teens have been busy planning out the year ahead. One of the projects they started last year was a snack program where they purchase snacks and sell them to the rest of the students several times a week. The money they raise through the snack program helps to fund trips and other exciting activities, and the kids get to have the experience of running what is essentially a small business.


Julie Haagenson runs the middle school program, and in the end of the summer, she asked me if I would be willing to come in and do some cooking with the kids. She thought they might be interested in making some snacks instead of buying them, and she was hoping to give them some tools as they moved into the discussion.


 The whole program is small- maybe 8 kids if that, and when I walked in last week, they were sitting around a U-shaped table. They had invited me to come for four sessions over the course of the Fall, and this was to be our brainstorming session about what we might like to make together. I started with the snacks that they already offer, and we talked about some alternatives. Popcorn from a bag? Why don't we use an air popper? The result will be far less expensive and taste a whole lot better. Everyone loves the days when the kids offer goldfish as a snack--I asked if they were interested in learning how to make their own cheese crackers.


As savvy business people, those kids wanted to provide a product that all the other kids in the school would be interested in buying. And as they considered whether they should start making food from scratch, the question arose as to whether kids would want snacks that were "more healthy".  Right now, there are healthy snack days (cucumber slices, oranges) and there are the other days (goldfish, bagel and cream cheese).  If goldfish were replaced by homemade cheese crackers, would that be a healthier choice? Or would it be perceived as one?


"Whoa, hold on a minute there!" I couldn't help but jump in. "Who said anything about making healthy food?"

I was raised on health food. I have always been able to list the seven ancient grains, and I know the difference between white and red miso. I've turned many people on to sprinkling their popcorn with nutritional yeast. But I don't think the health label is helping anyone. Honestly, I think it's just confusing. Because whether something is healthy really depends on who you ask and what their definition of the term is. Are they concerned about their weight? Then they think whole milk is unhealthy. Sugar? Then maybe diet coke is healthy. Really, I have no idea what the term means.

So what if we choose a word that is in full acceptance of that it means different things to different people? How about if the goal is good food?


I continue to cling stubbornly to the idea that taste will lead us to the right place. All summer, I worked with kids in the kitchen at food camp, and they supported this idea with every meal. There were all sorts of ideas about what was healthy and what their parents wanted them to eat, but in the end, what inspired them and made them sparkle was the first bite. So many kids went home and cooked for their parents--they left the camp kitchen saying, "I can't wait for my dad to try this. He's not going to believe how good it is!"

I'm no nutritionist. I can't even begin to sort through the constantly changing information about food and health. I start to wade through some of the mess that we're in around food safety, and I feel like the system is broken, and I'm not sure how to navigate through it. But I keep coming back to this idea of good food, and of always going towards food that tastes good to us. It seems simple, I know, but it's the best I've got. And if there's a possibility of raising a new generation of people who actually pay attention to what they put in their mouths, and who even can have a sense of whether it feels good or bad in their bodies? This could be nothing short of a revolution.

And with that, we move to the car snack. Oh yes, old friend, we've returned.
The short story is that the car snack is the granola bar, the energy bar, the bag of goldfish, the fruit leather, or whatever else you pack for your kids to ease the panicked hunger of 3:00. Of course, it's for grownups too, and you can eat it in whatever vehicle you choose. I wrote about car snacks 1 and 2 a ways back, and car snack 3 joins them in the book. But all three involve a fair amount of butter and varying amounts of refined sugar, and I've gotten a bunch of requests for a healthier car snack.

And so I bring you...the banana oat bar. No white flour, no refined sugar (except the wee bit of chocolate), and no butter or oil either. It comes together quickly, holds together well for the car, and (need I say it?) tastes really really good.

Car Snack 4 (the banana oat bar)

Makes 20 bars (about 2 1/2 x 3 inches)

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups puffed rice cereal
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup peanut or almond butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment, leaving enough hanging over on the edges so you can pull out the finished product.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, rice cereal, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon, stirring well to combine. In a second large bowl, combine the banana, honey, yogurt, nut butter, and vanilla. Stir until the mixture is fairly uniform.
3. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ones and stir until they come together into one uniform mixture. Gently stir in the chocolate chips. Transfer to the prepared pan and flatten down with a spatula. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until just starting to brown on top. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 1 hour before removing from the pan and cutting into squares.

car snack 2

Okay!
Today is a yes day. I've been on the phone and on the computer since 6:58 this morning when Joey left for school with the girls. I've sent out a message to my facebook group for the campaign, I've talked to important people who are getting things done, and I have almost fixed the rss problem so that you can start getting me on your feed again! I'm working on a few writing projects, and I am caught up. I am humming. I am still in my bathrobe and it is almost lunch, but I will soon take a shower as soon as my phone stops ringing, and then I will go get some compost! I am simultaneously advising people on their home ricotta making and participating in my local government! And today I will plant potatoes!
Somebody just remind me to eat. And to pee. In return, I'll slow down on the exclamation points.

Last week, I had just picked up the girls from school, and we were stopping by the library on the way home. The girls were hot and tired, and they really wanted to go to the library. As we got out of the car, we ran into a man who I had had a meeting with the week before on town issues. One of the side effects of running for local office is that you can't just walk down the street- you will inevitably run into someone who you need and want to talk to. I had been meaning to follow up with him, and we talked for a few minutes, while the girls quietly whined on the sidewalk. We were in front of the post office, and Rosie really wanted to cross the street to get to the library, so she did what she often does- she reached up, grabbed a piece of fabric, and pulled. This time that fabric was the neckline of my shirt, and well, let's just say that I'm following in the line of a few other Massachusetts politicians who have campaigned with less than all their clothes on. Maybe I do really need to start wearing button down's- they're just not so, well, pullable.
Is this why there are not so many mothers in government?

I don't know how, but I righted myself without even a blush. I said to myself, I'm going to do this. I can do this. I am a warrior! And even Rosie if is trying to unknowingly sabotage me by showing the world one of the things that she has always loved about her mamma, I'm really doing this so that she can see that that participation is the way to go here. Apathy has gotten me nowhere. Really, participation is the most activist thing we've got at this point. Yes!

In all this craziness I find myself repeating the things that are important. I say them in my own head, so that I don't forget. Write! Stay informed! Listen! When this all makes you mad, don't take it out on the girls! And for God's sake, Alana, feed those children at 3:00. I repeat, do not forget the car snack!

So a bit ago, I offered you car snack 1. It was good and it was whole grainy, and it had some good protein and fiber. It was a hit around here, and I hope it was hit around you too.
But this one, this one is a little different. It's sweet and desserty-er, although there is a bit of protein in there. It's a variation on a recipe for British flapjacks that Molly Wizenberg wrote about in Bon Appetit a bit ago. I made the recipe as is, and I could not get the damn thing out of the pan. I'm sure it was my fault. It usually is, but I don't know what happened. We chipped away at it with a butter knife, and it was incredibly good. But as a car snack? Uh, uh.
So, I messed with it a bit. I added almonds, and changed the moisture to dry ratio. Most importantly, I lined the pan with parchment. And then...
Holey moley. Whoa nelly. Gee Whiz. I just can't wait to get in the car so I can eat one.

Car Snack 2
loosely adapted from Bon Appetit, March 2010

1 stick butter
scant 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup Lyle's golden syrup
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 cup slivered almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8 or 9x9 square baking pan with parchment, leaving a bit left over so that you can just pull it out. Combine butter, brown sugar, and golden syrup in a medium saucepan, and heat on medium until melted. Add the oats, salt and almonds to the mixture and coat thoroughly. Transfer into prepared pan and pat down with a spatula.
Bake until the edges darken, about 25 minutes. It will be soft when you take it out of the oven, but allow to cool completely before taking it out of the pan. When it is cool, cut into squares.

Makes 12-16, depending on size of squares

car snack 1

Sometimes I feel like a real hypocrite.
I make the craziest things. I get excited about making things like cheese and puff pastry, and I feel so proud that I can stick to the raw material aisles at the store. I bypass all those bags and boxes of processed things with my head held high.
Most of the time.
It turns out, that when it comes to my liberation from expensive little packages of food that make my life run smoothly, I have a nemesis out there.

I'm talking about the car snack.
Maybe for you it's the bus snack, or the scarfing before piano lesson snack- it's all the same thing. For those of you who are not familiar with the car snack, I'm going to let you in on a little something. Screw breakfast. For kids, the car snack is the most important meal of the day. It is consumed at about 3:00, right after school, on the way home or to the next thing.
I don't know what your experience of these things is, but in my car, this is not the finest hour for my children. They are tired. They want to tell me a lot of intricate details about what happened on the playground. They do not want to speak one at a time. But most of all, they are so so so hungry.

I tuck little snacks in the outside pockets of their lunch boxes. Their school is nut free due to a very sweet boy with a nasty nut allergy, and so the girls know that they can't eat their car snack until they buckle in. It often has nuts. It sometimes has chocolate, just enough to up the appeal. And it is always wrapped in a wrapper that ends up on the floor.
When I got back from Turkey, there seemed to be hundreds of wrappers on the floor in the back seat. TLC granola bars and Cereal Bars. Koala Kids puffy rice bars. Fruit leathers. Annie's bunny snacks. All at five dollars a box, with wrappers within wrappers, and weighted with a heavy sigh when I throw a few boxes into the cart.

When they look into their lunchboxes to see what I've packed, I never know what kind of reaction I'll get. One day the mango fruit leather is a hit, and the next day it inspires a half an hour straight of really loud crying. It's all about the time of day, I guess.
So I rely on the things I know they'll go for. I look for some sort of protein, maybe a little nutritional value. But mostly, I just want it to get into their bellies.

I'm feeling pretty good about things after my trip. I've made it through the jet lag, and life is feeling fresh. I'm ready. I'm ready to face the car snack.


I'll be dueling my nemesis a few times over the next couple of weeks, just in case you need a few options like I do. But today, it's sweet nutty puffy rice things. Bad name, I know. So let's just call it:

Car Snack 1

makes 16-20 bars

1 1/2 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 cups puffed millet (rice crispies will also work here)
1 1/2 cups loosely packed chopped dried fruit (apricots, dates, prunes, raisins, ginger or what ever you have)
1 1/2 cups toasted sliced almonds
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup canola oil

Lightly oil a 9 x 13 casserole dish. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oats, puffed millet, dried fruit, almonds, cinnamon, salt, and chocolate chips. In a small saucepan, combine the brown rice syrup, brown sugar, canola oil, and vanilla. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. Continue to stir the mixture while it boils for one minute. Then pour the syrup mixture over the dry ingredients and coat thoroughly. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan, press down with a spatula, and refrigerate for an hour. Then cut into bars as needed. They will hold together pretty well, but crumbs will escape here and there, so place in a container or a wax bag when packing for the car. Store in the refrigerator to keep the bars firm, but they will also be fine at room temperature.