A Twist on Burritos

One of my daily terrors is determining what I'm going to feed the boy when he gets home from school that will give him energy (can't let him nap because he's proven that letting him do so means he won't sleep at night) but not fill him up before supper (which we've had to move back to accommodate his school schedule). I don't always have time to prepare something before going to pick him up, and waiting until after he gets home can be disastrous because that's tantamount to baiting the emergence of Crankor.

Fortunately, a few weeks ago MyRecipes.com sent an email with links to afterschool snack ideas, and a few of them I determined might actually work for the boy. We decided to try out the chocolate chip cookies variation Tuesday afternoon because I wrapped up the day's editing project sooner than expected and the boy had gotten a bit of a nap at school (always a blessing).

Puffed-Up Chocolate Chip Cookies1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1/2 C applesauce
1 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C butter, softened
1 T vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 C semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prep one or two cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray.
   
2. Spoon the applesauce into a fine sieve over a bowl and let it stand 15 min. Discard the liquid that drains.
   
3. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Stir well with a whisk.
   
4. Scrape the drained applesauce into a large bowl. Add to it the sugar and butter, then beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2 min).
   
5. Beat in the vanilla and egg to the contents of the large bowl.
   
6. Add the flour mixture, beating at low speed until well-blended.
   
7. Fold in the chocolate chips.
   
8. Drop the dough by level tablespoons 2" apart onto the baking sheets.
   
9. Bake the cookies for 10 min. or until almost set. Then let them cool on the pan 2-3 min. or until firm.
   
10. Remove the cookies from pan and let them cool on wire racks.

Yield: 3 dozen
Serving size: 1 cookie

Nutritional Info
Calories: 78
Fat: 2.9 g
Sat fat: 1.7 g
Protein: 0.8 g
Carbs: 12.8 g
Fiber: 0.2 g
Cholesterol: 10 mg
Na: 87 mg

The Faudie's Futzings

• Yup, you guessed it, Gentle Reader. I substituted Promise for the butter, white whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour and Splenda brown sugar blend for the regular brown sugar.
  
• I did not use liquid egg whites in lieu of a whole egg. Since the boy was serving as sous chef and he recently discovered the thrill of cracking eggs, I let him choose an egg from the carton and crack it. Ahh, remember those simple pleasures of childhood?
  
• I used half a cup of mini morsels instead of a full cup of regular chocolate chips because I don't have any of the latter. Plus the boy thinks the mini morsels are a hoot. Again, simple pleasures....
  
• Lumpy only needed about 8 minutes to get the cookies to that "set" stage. Ovens vary, so if you opt to make these cookies, keep an eye on your oven, Gentle Reader.

The boy took one of the cookies to his teacher and generously shared one with each of his parents. He seemed to like them, as did his father. Me? Eh, they're okay. They're "lightened" chocolate chip cookies. No cookie is ever going to taste like the ones Mum made back in the day unless I whip out the Crisco. And do you think in your right mind, Gentle Reader, that I would ever do that?

Yeah, exactly. Hell to the no!

Burritos Worthy of the King
I'm fortunate that the boy doesn't have really, really bizarre food preferences. The table manners of a slug, but fortunately he's pretty easy to please when it comes to food.

The boy loves peanut butter. The boy likes bananas. The boy occasionally will eat the tortilla his father gives him on Burrito Night (always Wednesdays) at Chez Boeckman-Walker. So a recipe using those three ingredients and a few more should go over well, right?

Now if you're expect a tale of disaster, Gentle Reader, look elsewhere. These peanut butter-banana spirals were a hit when the boy and I made them Wednesday afternoon.

Peanut Butter-Banana Spirals1/2 C reduced-fat peanut butter
1/3 C low-fat vanilla yogurt
1 T orange juice
2 ripe bananas, sliced
4 8" fat-free flour tortillas
2 T honey-crunch wheat germ
1/4 t ground cinnamon

1. Combine the peanut butter and yogurt, stirring until smooth.
   
2. Drizzle the OJ over bananas, then toss gently to coat.
   
3. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the peanut butter mixture over each tortilla, leaving a 1/2" border.
   
4. Arrange about 1/3 cup of banana slices in a single layer over the peanut butter mixture.
   
5. Combine the wheat germ and cinnamon, then sprinkle it evenly over the banana slices.
   
6. Roll up the tortillas, then slice each roll into six pieces.

A Different Kind of Sushi?

Yield: 6 servings
Serving size: 4 pieces

Nutritional Info
Calories: 245
Fat: 7.7 g
Sat fat: 1.5 g
Protein: 9.1 g
Carbs: 31.3 g
Fiber: 3.9 g
Cholesterol: 1 mg
Sodium: 275 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
I only did one thing different from the recipe. Instead of honey-crunch wheat germ (whatever the hell that is), I whipped out a box of Ezekiel 4:9 cinnamon raisin cereal that I bought when I first resumed eating real food after losing all the weight. The box has been sitting, neglected but opened, in the pantry here at Chez Boeckman-Walker because, quite frankly, the stuff tastes like shit. It tastes worse than shit. It's like eating dirt. That's been wedged in the waffling of the bottom of your sneaker for a while. So, yeah, I figured the boy would go for it!

(Not only could I just not bring myself to eat the stuff based on its taste, but I also couldn't do because of the whole in-your-face religious aspect. Keep your god out of my cereal bowl and out of my bowels, please.)

And the boy did like it, so we sprinkled a tablespoon of it over two of the four tortillas. I opted not to potentially ruin all four of 'em just in case the boy decided after a few bites of one with the dir--cereal that he really didn't like the stuff after all. (He's notorious for doing that. He'll be three-fourths of the way through some dish then suddenly declare he doesn't like it. Twerp.)

Oh, now that I think about it, I actually made two changes. I used fat-free vanilla yogurt. Let me tell ya, Gentle Reader, blending PB and vanilla yogurt makes for some damn tasty goop!

While we didn't fry these things or add bacon, I do think Elvis might have liked them. Maybe. I dunno. I'm not much of an Elvis aficionado. All I know is that the boy sure liked 'em. And that's good enough for me.

What's also great about this snack is that I had three PB-banana burritos left over for the rest of the week. Woohoo! Convenient afterschool snacking!