Snacks for Dinner - 100 Days of Real Food

Sometimes we just don't feel like cooking much. Having a frozen pizza would be easy, but we just don't usually keep them in our freezer. We made a few items from 100 Days of Real Food to see how some of their snack items are. The snacks we picked were Pimento Cheese Crackers, Cinnamon Apple Chips, and Spiced Nut Mix. Then we set up a living room picnic to watch Amazing Race our favorite show. Hubby and I have been watching it together for several years and have always talked about running it together, but we are just not exciting enough to ever be picked. Maybe someday I can run it with one of the boys as a mother/son team.

The Cinnamon Apple Chips took the longest of any of the items I made. I think that I left them in the oven a little bit too long and they got too dry. I have made apple chips before in our dehydrator and I think I prefer those.


Timing: Recipe States:  more than 1 hour, My Actual Timing: I baked them for several hours
Servings: Recipe States: 2 to 4 servings, Servings For My Family: 4 servings
Leftovers: These tasted the same after a week.


Family Ratings:
Me: I thought the flavor was good, but I overbaked them so they were a bit too crunchy.
Hubby: He thought they were too crunchy as well.
Big Man: None of the boys liked them.
Bear: He doesn't like my regular apple chips either.
Mr. T: This one did not enjoy the texture.

Will I repeat: I will probably not make these again.

What will I change: I do not add cinnamon to my apple chips, so I would probably not do it again for this recipe.

The Pimento Cheese Crackers were something I thought would be fun to try. We generally enjoy many different snacks with melted cheese. I was a little bit skeptical because of the cream cheese which we do not usually enjoy by itself. I thought there would be plenty of other flavors added to it so that the cream cheese would just make it creamy and delicious. I'm sure for many people this would be true, but it was just not something that we enjoyed. It was a very simple and quick recipe to make.

Timing: Recipe States: less than 15 minutes, My Actual Timing: 14 minutes
Servings: Recipe States: 6 servings, Servings For My Family: 8 servings
Leftovers: We did not eat the leftovers.


Family Ratings:
Me: I did not like the cream cheese in the recipe, and that's just a personal preference.
Hubby: We tried them on several different crackers and he thought they were the best on Triscuits but did not care for the spread enough to make it again.
Big Man: He took a bite and asked if he had to eat anymore.
Bear: His nibble was so small I'm not even sure if he even tasted it.
Mr. T: He also took a bite and decided he didn't want any more.

Will I repeat: I will not make this again.

What will I change: I would not change a thing, it's just not our taste.

The final item we tried was the Spiced Nut Mix. We have made these before and Hubby and I enjoy these quite a bit. The little bit of spice with the honey is a wonderful combination.

Timing: Recipe States: less than 10 minutes, My Actual Timing: 9 minutes
Servings: Recipe States: 3 to 4 servings, Servings For My Family: 3 servings
Leftovers: These are fabulous the next couple of days.


Family Ratings:
Me: I really enjoy the sweet and salty combination of flavors with the crunch of the nuts.
Hubby: He likes the bit of spice on the nuts and would probably enjoy even more.
Big Man: He was not a big fan of the nuts.
Bear: Bear likes nuts, but he didn't like the extra added flavors.
Mr. T: He did not like the spice that was added to these.

Will I repeat: I will make these again.

What will I change: I do not need to change a thing, these are perfect the way they are.

Indoor picnic night was a lot of fun to attempt, we will just have to try some other snack items next time.