Travel Snacks

I decided to make up some snacks for travelling, which helped save us some money. Here are two that I absolutely love (and the rest of the family did too).

Beth's Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup butter flavored shortening (I used 1/4 c. shortening + 1/4 c. coconut oil)
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (I omitted this because the hubby isn't a fan of cloves)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, butter flavored shortening, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake 10 minutes until light and golden. Do not overbake. Let them cool for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

I think I may try adding a little coconut flake to this recipe as well, but not too much as the hubby isn't a fan of coconut either.

Seminary Muffins

• 1 egg
• 1 1/3 cups mashed ripe banana
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used raisins instead because they make less of a mess)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (none of us like nuts in foods so I omitted)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one 12 cup muffin pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine egg, banana, brown sugar, applesauce and vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
Gently stir flour mixture and oatmeal into banana mixture. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups.

3. Bake in preheated oven or 15 to 20 minutes, or until light brown. Remove muffins from pan and place on a wire rack to let cool before serving.

Crunchy Caramel Snack Mix - I was also going to try making some snack mix before we left, but with packing, cleaning, and trying to manage the two kids, it just didn't happen. If you try it let me know how it turns out.

Source: allrecipes.com