Apples and Dip - Great Snack! (Recipe, Pics)

Here is a really great snack idea.  I was going to say it's super for after school for the kids, but then that would leave me out, wouldn't it?  I'll say it's a "good for anyone in the afternoon" snack.  I got the recipe idea from dLife, but I tell you, I never get the number of servings they say or the nutritional breakdowns they do.  We'll just go with what I got since it's going to be more accurate to how I made it.

Here's what you need:

1/4 C creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 tsp honey
1/2 C mini chocolate chips
2 Tbsp raisins
1/2 small apple per serving, sliced (my 1/2 apple was 1.75 oz, cored but not peeled)

Then all you do is mix it in a bowl, slice up your apples and there you go.  I measured seven 1 Tbsp servings of peanut butter dip.

Now, the way it was supposed to be made it you core out the apples (but leave them whole) and stuff the dip down into the center.  Then you chill them for an hour or two and make ring style slices so the dip is in the middle of the apple ring.  And the recipe says you are supposed to get 24 servings using 4 apples.  Right.  So I guess according to them 1 serving would be like 1 bite.  That just doesn't work in my world.

Here are the stats for the nutritional stuff with the ingredients I used with the amount of apple I used...  173.2 calories, 9g fat, 3.7g saturated fat, 1.3g polyunsaturated fat, 2g monounsaturated fat, 43.6mg potassium, 22.5g carb, 1.9g fiber, 2.4g protein.  It's a little high in calories, primarily due to the chocolate chips. (5 Points Plus)  But guess what I saw at my Super Wal-Mart!  Sugar Free Chocolate Chips!  I almost got them, but I only had a few dollars on me and they were a little more expensive than the regular minis.  Using the sugar free chocolate would save about 50 calories per serving, and that is quite significant.  They didn't come in the mini morsels, but they could easily be chopped up a little with a knife or put in the food processor for a quick chop.  Just make sure to measure them first and chop them up second.  If you chop them up first, you will fit a lot more into the measuring cup than if you put them in at regular size which will throw off your nutritional data.

When you need a quick pick-me-up in the afternoon, or your kids need a good snack that's a little different than the standard chips or cookies you need to give this a try.  It's super quick and easy to throw together, and it tastes heavenly.  Sara and Matthew both had some and they scarfed it down.  Definitely passed the kid taste test.  Oh!  And I forgot...I also thought it would be super tasty with some crushed peanuts or pecans in it.  Would add a little more in the calories and stuff, but nuts are really good for you.  Just a thought.  I think I'll try that next time.

Snack Away!
Lisa
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happyfairylove@live.com

Mock Baklava (Recipe, Pics)

A couple years ago my husband and I ate a few times at a little hole in the wall Greek restaurant.  One night we got Baklava for dessert.  I thought it was absolutely scrumptious.  Several times I thought about that sweet, delectable treat and that I should try making it, but all the recipes I found for it seemed very involved.  If you haven't noticed by now, I like EASY cooking.

One day I was on one of my favorite sites, dLife, and came across this recipe for Mock Baklava.  It looked tasty AND simple, so I decided to try it.  Here's what you need:

1 cup seedless raisins (I couldn't find anything labeled "seedless", so I just got generic ole raisins)
2 oz dry-roasted walnuts
8 sheets phyllo dough, thawed
Butter flavored cooking spray...I just used my canola oil spray
1/2 C honey
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp melted I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, or something similar

Here are a few preliminary instructions:

I couldn't find anything called "dry roasted" walnuts.  I got a small 2 oz package of walnut pieces in the baking aisle and toasted my own.  I chopped them up into smaller pieces, spread them out on a baking sheet, heated the oven to 375F and toasted for about 10 minutes...be careful not to let them burn.  Just get toast them until they have a nice golden color and you can start to smell them.

Second, put your phyllo dough out to thaw, but DO NOT open the package!  It will dry out VERY quickly and will be ruined.

Here's what you do to make Mock Baklava:

1.  Preheat oven to 350F
2.  Combine raisins and nuts in a bowl.

3.  I covered my baking sheet with aluminum foil, and I've VERY glad I did.  The honey seeps out during baking and will make a horrible sticky mess on your pan.  I sprayed it lightly with canola oil spray.
4.  Lay down a sheet of thawed phyllo dough.  Spray it lightly with pan spray.  Lay down a total of 8 phyllo sheets, spraying lightly every other sheet.

5.  Spread the raisin and nuts on the top of the phyllo sheets, leaving a 1 inch border on all the sides.
6.  Sprinkle with the cinnamon and drizzle on the honey evenly.

7.  Starting with the long side, roll lengthwise, jelly-roll style.  Place roll with the seam side down, and tuck the ends under.
8.  Melt the butter in a dish and brush the top lightly with it.  I don't have a kitchen brush, so I just drizzled it across.
9.  Cut shallow slashes through the pastry to the raisin-nut mixture at 1 1/2" intervals so the steam can escape.

10.  Bake for 25 minutes, or until light golden brown.  Slice the pastry, using the vent lines as guides.

This was an amazing morsel of sweet, crunchy, chewy goodness!  When I put the cinnamon on I thought it looked like an awful lot, but the cinnamon flavor comes through absolutely perfectly.  The phyllo on the outside is crisp and flaky, and the inside is a little chewy and sticky from the honey and raisins.  One thing made me very unhappy, though.  It was gone too quickly. :(  lol  But it is so sweet that even one slice of it will surely cure your craving.  Needless to say, my husband and kids loved it.  Except Sami is sick and didn't try it, but she doesn't like raisins, so I don't know that she would like it.  But Matthew and Sara did.  I definitely did!

I don't know what it is with dLife and the ingredients they use.  I never come up with the same nutritional counts as they do.  Sure, I may have used a few more walnuts than they did, but their calories and carbs weren't even close to my calculations.  Are they trying to be deceptive?  Do they use secret low calorie raisins and honey?  I have no idea.  But here's what I came up with, and I am confident my numbers are accurate for the ingredients I used.  The way I do it is I have a little chart that I made.  I list every ingredient's nutritional values for the entire recipe, then I add up the totals and then divide by the number of servings.  Pretty straight forward.  Anyways, here's what I came up with per slice:  137 calories, 3.6g fat, 31mg sodium, 96mg potassium, 26g carb, .9g fiber, 1.9g protein. (4 Points Plus)

You really must try this recipe!  It is so far beyond the typical cake or cookie.  And it was EASY!  I am making this again very soon.

Treat Yourself,

Lisa
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happyfairylove@live.com