Healthier Nuts and Bolts

Nuts and bolts can be a decently healthy as far as party snacks go but all the recipes I found added almost of cup of butter. Completely unnecessary.

Preheat over to 350F.

Mix pretzels, peanuts, bagel chips, cheerios and wheat squares in a big bowl.

Melt margarine. Add Worcestershire sauce and spices. Pour over dry mixture. 

*Tip: Pour margarine mixture on edges of bowl instead of directly on mix. This allows for better overall coverage instead of the wet mixture getting absorbed by a few bagel chips.*

 

Put mixture into one or two baking pans. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes. Toss every 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

Healthier Nuts and Bolts

3 cups pretzel sticks

4 cups Bagel Chips

1/2 cup peanuts

3 cups cheerios

3 cups wheat squares

3 tbsp margarine

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 - 2 tsp spices or seasoning (ie: BBQ, taco etc)

Makes 13.5 cups

Nutritional Information: per 1/2 cup

Calories: 103   Fat: 3.3   Carbs: 16.6   Fiber 1.7g   Sugar: 2.3g   Protein: 2.9g

Bagel Chips

Bagel chips are a great way to use up old bagel s and make for a tasty snack on their own or can be added to other snack mixes. You can use cinnamon raisin or blueberry bagels for a sweet chip.

Cut bagel in half. Half that half and half it again. So cutting the bagel in to 8ths. From this, cut into thin slices. I find cutting this way gives you the most uniform chips possible.

Lay out of food dehydrator. You can season with your favorite spices but I think this everything bagel has enough flavor. Dehydrate at 135F approximately for 1-2 hours or until crispy.

 

Enjoy!

1 bagel = approximately 50 chips

Blueberry Preserve

I love jam, who doesn't? What I don't love is that most recipes call for a one to one ratio of sugar to fruit. Isn't fruit sweet enough? This is why I made this recipe. I call is a preserve because it's not quite as thick as jam but not as thin as a sauce. This is not only great on toast and pancakes but also on ice cream and definitely in yogurt. If you don't want to go through the trouble of canning it, you can either make a small batch to keep in the fridge or freeze a large batch in small air tight containers and defrost as needed!

All you need is blueberries! (And canning supplies if you are canning). 

1 cup blueberries = 1/2 cup preserve

Clean blueberries.

 Heat jars and lids.

Place blueberries in large pot over medium heat. Stir frequently. As you stir some blueberries will start to squish.

 

Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

Boil 5-10minutes or more depending on the thickness desired (boil longer = thicker)

 

Ladle hot jam into hot jars and cover with hot lid and ring. Allow to cool and make sure all jars seal. Enjoy!

 

Blueberry Field

 This is a simple, delicious, low calorie dessert that is a bit cheesecakey.

Put dates, almonds, peanuts and puffed wheat into a food processor.

 

Process until it sticks together and can be formed with your hand. About 1-2 minutes.

 

Spread mixture in bottom of 9x13 or 12x12 dish.

 

Rinse out food processor and add cream cheese, milk and lemon juice. Blend.

 

In a large bowl, add cream cheese mixture and fold in Cool Whip.

 

Spread mixture over almond mixture.

 

Layer blueberries on top.

 

Chill 2+ hours.

Blueberry Field

1 cup pitted dates

1/2 cup peanuts

1/2 cup almonds

1/2 cup puffed wheat

1 1/2 cups (1 1/2 containers) low fat cream cheese

1 tbsp milk

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 large tub fat free Cool Whip

* You can substitute almonds and peanuts for any other nut

Makes 24 servings

Calories: 112 Fat: 5.3g Cholesterol: 10mg Sodium: 88.7mg Carbs: 11/8g Fiber: 1.3g

Sugars: 6.8g Protein: 2.5g