We’re there. We are officially at the end of summer. How did that happen? I don’t want to be a complainer, but I have to say, this was the worst summer of my life. And that’s saying a lot, I mean, I was pregnant in Winnipeg, in the summer… With no air conditioning lol.
I feel like I missed summer, I DID miss summer. Before I got sick and suffered a pseudo relapse, the last thing I did was Ninja’s birthday. Canada Day and Ninja‘s birthday are the kick off of summer. And now it’s over. I can’t even force final fun activities into the last 2 weeks because I still don’t have the energy to do anything! I am slowly building up muscle and stamina that I’ve lost by basically sleeping for the last 2 weeks of July and the first 2 weeks of August! Lame. I am grateful to all my extended family for being so understanding of the situation. I hated missing their visits, but as I said to them, there is always next year. That’s the way I have to think now. The goal, is always my life.
Usually August is spent preparing for September. I’m a big believer that New Year’s Day happens twice a year, January 1 and September 1 lol. The Kids spend 10 out of the 12 months a year at school. For 13 years, their lives revolve around school, perhaps more if they, go to University. Therefore, starting on the right foot is super important! Labelling all the school supplies, cleaning out your lunch bag and backpack, going through the sock bin so that you’re not rushing around in the morning to find socks that match, doing a full purge of your bedroom so that you can start the school year off without the clutter, and revisiting chore charts, and activity schedules.
Summer is over and school begins one week today. Flabbergasted. Just blown away by how fast the summer flew by. I hope everybody enjoyed their summer and everybody is buckled in for the 2024–2025 school year!
One way that I prepare for school is by preparing healthy and delicious school snacks! By June, Ninja and I are throwing processed granola bars, bags of dyed fruit gummy’s, and other prepared foods that provide no nutritional benefit, but a whole lot of convenience, into the Kid’s lunch bags! However, in September, we always start out with the best of intentions, lol.
HBear loves granola. She eats it up as fast as I can make it! This Homemade Granola recipe is super simple and extremely satisfying! HBear loves snacking on it as it is, adding it to her yogurt or even topping her ice cream dessert with it after dinner. Small note, this recipe contains almonds, which are allowed at my Kids school, but may not be allowed at yours, so make sure you check!
I would consider these bars, more of a treat than a snack, and there is a difference lol, but despite how much chocolate are in these Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Bars, I still feel like a good Mom giving these to my Kids for lunch. They taste delicious and use real ingredients AND I believe in balance lol.
My Mom used to make raisin bran muffins for us as Kids. I hated them and until becoming parent, I never considered them as “treats“. However, now that I’m in my 40s, I think bran muffins are a bigger treat than a glass of Metamucil, so there is that lol. Also, the first month of school can be stressful, and not to give too much information, but I find that when my Kids are stressed, they’re not as regular as they could be. By adding some delicious spices and some sweet raisins, these Raisin Bran Muffins taste delicious, help keep us all balanced and less bloated and everybody can be their best selves when they have help in that department lol.
Ingredients
5 cups oats
⅔ cup canola oil
½ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup coconut
½ cup almonds, slivered
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup hemp seeds
Directions
Preheat oven to 300°F. Line or grease a 15x18 pan and set aside.
Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl and stir until combined.
Spread granola mixture out evenly onto a greased pan.
Bake for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and stir. Put back in the oven for 7-10 more minutes or until it reaches desired crunchiness. It will harden more as it cools, so be careful not to burn. Remove from oven, stir and let cool.
Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup M&Ms
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8x8 metal baking pan with parchment paper and/or spray the pan with nonstick cooking oil.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
In a larger mixing bowl, whisk together melted butter and brown sugar until evenly combined. Whisk in egg and vanilla. Pour dry ingredients over wet and stir with a spatula or wooden spoon just until no dry spots remain (do not overmix.) Gently stir in oats, chocolate chips, and M&Ms.
Pour batter into prepared pan, scattering any reserved mix-ins over top.
Bake 24 to 28 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned.
Let cool in the pan until the bars can be easily removed. Once cool, slice and serve.
Ingredients
2 1⁄4 cups All-Bran Original cereal, divided
1 3⁄4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1 3⁄4 cups sour cream, at room temperature
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 eggs, at room temperature
2⁄3 cup brown sugar, packed
3 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup raisins
Directions
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Preheat oven to 400°F.
Take about half of the All Bran cereal, place it in a food processor, and process until finely ground. Alternatively, you can place half of the cereal in a large Ziploc bag, and use a rolling pin or mallet to crush the cereal into fine crumbs. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, oil, eggs, brown sugar, molasses, and vanilla.
Stir in the crushed cereal and the remaining whole cereal. Let the mixture sit until the cereal is evenly moistened, about 5 minutes.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir just until combined; do not over-mix. Gently fold in the raisins.
Divide the batter into greased or paper-lined standard muffin cups, filling each cup to the top.
Bake for 16-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
Cool muffins in the pan for about 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire cooling rack.
Check out last weeks episode of How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #392 Malfunction Junction Last week, we fought through more equipment issues to discuss: summer visits, bridge diving, new slang, Bernie’s Supper Club, SOW, Bel Air, & classic songs.
Check out the LATEST How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #393 Where’s the Garlic? This week, we get together to discuss: car covers, clowning, Syd’s bedroom, Elderberry cocktail, Sephora, back to school shopping, Zipzone, Oasis, SOW, Fedx Cup, & actors as singers.
Another week has come and gone, and I have the pictures to prove it lol. HBear I went to the movies twice last week! The new Deadpool and then we went on a family date to Bernie’s Supper Club and Cinema in Kelowna! We have been wanting to try it out for a long time and thought this was the perfect date night that I could do! It was amazing! Fantastic menu, full service throughout the movie, awesome atmosphere, comfortable seating, and a truly unique experience! The Kids loved it and so did we! SBean had her final gymnastics camp of the summer, as the temperatures drop I am able to spend more time on the balcony reading, fantastic but heartbreaking books that I can’t wait to share with you, SBean and I watched Taylor Swift’s new video the moment it dropped, Ninja brought me beautiful flowers and I sadly broke his Our Liner Notes coffee mug. We participated in Burgers for MS, $2.00 of each burger from A&W goes to MS research, I had a much needed coffee date with my MMBesty, took the Kids school supply shopping and got them new indoor/outdoor shoes. Ninja and I took the Kids back to school clothing shopping in Kelowna, I received a ton of bountiful vegetables from my client’s garden, and Oliver gave up all illusions of me being in charge and just started doing whatever he wants lol. To end the weekend, Ninja took HBear to Zipzone BC in Peachland to do the Six Line zipline course! They had a fantastic time and capped it off with Costco hotdogs!
1 thought on “End of Summer & School Snacks”
Love the healthy granola
Thank you for popping over and for participating and sharing at SSPS 325. See you again next week at #326 https://esmesalon.com/tag/seniorsalonpitstop/