When you’re going camping, the three most important items to bring are marshmallows, Hershey’s chocolate bars and Graham crackers. They are a requirement. But why can we only have s’mores while camping? What can be done with those tasty fixings at home? Well, s’mores, meet breakfast. Breakfast, meet s’mores.

It’s time for something more sweet and gooey to start off the day, and some S’mores French Toast is just the place to find it. Your sweet tooth will thank you for it.

Ingredients
Half of a batard (wide) size French bread or Challah loaf
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. milk
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. vanilla
Butter
5 large marshmallows, diced
1 1.55 oz. Hershey’s chocolate bar, chopped
One Graham cracker sheet, crushed
Chocolate syrup

Directions
Slice three 1 ¾” slices off of the bread. Slice each one of them almost in half, making sure not to cut all the way through. Stuff each pocket with the marshmallow and chocolate pieces, and push the two sides together. Scramble the eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla. Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Dip each bread pocket in the egg mixture, making sure to cover both sides. Cook over medium heat for two-three minutes per side, until they are browned and the mixture inside is melted. Remove from pan, and slice if you wish. Drizzle the French toast with chocolate syrup, and top with plenty of Graham cracker crumbs. Enjoy with a knife and fork, or use your hands as you would when eating a traditional s’mores!

Posted by Rachel Teichman

Salads are a big deal at our house. We all have our favorite ingredients, from fruits and veggies, to nuts and seeds. But we all agree that a little crunch makes any salad more interesting and delicious. And Harvest Snaps provide a great salad addition!

When I got my box full of Snapea Crisps and Lentil Snaps, I was immediately inspired by the Wasabi Ranch ones!

Luckily I had all the makings for an Asian salad, and I got them all out.
Wasabi Ranch Snapea Salad
Ingredients
Romaine lettuce
Scallions
Celery
Almonds
Sesame Seeds
Shitake Salad Dressing
Wasabi Ranch Snapea Crisps

Directions
Chop and combine all of the vegetables. Chop the almonds, and sprinkle them and the sesame seeds over the salad. Top with the dressing. Crush the Snapea Crisps and sprinkle them over everything. Enjoy!

Any of the other Snapea Crisps or Lentil Snaps would make great salad toppers too!

Have fun designing your own lunch on the Harvest Snaps Lunchspiration site!

Posted by Rachel Teichman

What is Sunday brunch without a signature cocktail? Mimosas and Bloody Marys are great, but sometimes it is nice to bring something new into the mix. Enter the HobNob Frozen Sangria! It is a fruity refreshment, with a Pinot Noir flavor too. This recipe from HobNob is so easy to whip up, and is a fun grown-up twist to the classic smoothie. It would make a great dinner or happy hour drink as well. 


    


Ingredients
1 cup HobNob Pinot Noir wine
1 Tbsp. lime juice
1oz. Licor 43
3/4 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup frozen mango
3/4 cup ice
Orange and lime wheels (optional)

Directions
Over ice, pour the wine into a blender.
Next add lime juice, Licor 43 and the frozen fruit.
Blend well and pour into a hurricane glass.
Garnish with orange wheel and lime wheel (optional).

Please drink responsibly. 
I received sample products, but all opinions are my own. 
Posted by Rachel Teichman.

In January I chose my word of the year. It was "Sweet." I wanted to savor the sweet things I bake, my sweet experiences and of course my sweet kids. While life is still sweet, what I eat is not. At least not because of traditional sugar and sweeteners. I am on Day 13 of the "Fed Up" Challenge. I have not had sugar, or chocolate (a big deal for me) in thirteen days. And I don't miss it. 

I have not had a chance to see the film "Fed Up" yet. But I am always up for a challenge, and thought this one would really be hard for me. I already don't eat any meat or poultry, but maybe in a way I am naturally able to just cut out another thing. I am also really known for baking, and my name is almost synonymous with Banana Chocolate Chip Bread! But I have just come up with new things to cook with my kids. I have not taken sugar away from my kids, but by virtue of my not eating it they have benefitted as well.

Over these last two weeks we have enjoyed:
-Gluten-Free Granola Cups by Molly Sims. You can omit or substitute the sugar.
-Banana Oat Pancakes from Cookie & Kate. You can omit or substitute the sugar.
-Pesto with basil from our garden, and walnuts.
-Homemade marinara sauce, minus the sugar.
-We made our pizza with both sauces. 
-Oatmeal with cinnamon and bananas. 
-Snacks: plums, nectarines, dried apricots, homemade popcorn and pure almond butter.

I have received supportive tweets from producer Laurie David. On Day 1 that really helped to keep me going. If she knew I was doing this, then I had to keep doing it! But I have not checked in since Day 10. With summer vacation here we will see what happens. But I really don't miss the sugar, and even dried apricots are starting to taste too sweet to me. 

I know at some point I will eat sugar again. But I will never look at food labels the same way again. And I will never bake the same way again. And I will never understand why mayonnaise in a jar needs to have sugar in it. There are so many other tastes and ingredients besides sweet and sugar that we can all be cooking with everyday. I plan to spend more time with those. 

"Fed Up" is a film by Stephanie Soechtig, and is produced by Katie Couric and Laurie David.

Posted by Rachel Teichman. 
I wrote this post in order to share my experience. I was not asked to write this, and was not given anything for it.  

We all know and love Punky Brewster from our own childhoods. And it is so cool that we can now bring a little of her style and spirit to parties for our kids, since Soleil Moon Frye has written Let's Get This Party Started! It is basically an easy to use manual for creative parties that anyone can throw. There are so many party themes from Carnival and Pirates, to Picnic and Rainbow. Each theme comes with ideas and instructions for snacks, favors, decorations and a game. 

I recently made fruit skewers on paper umbrellas for my daughter's Hula Party! The kids could not get enough. They will do anything for those little umbrellas! Next time maybe we will try Coconut Bowling too. Soleil takes simple ideas to the next level with just a few craft supplies, and anyone can really do this too. Happy Birthday, or whatever day you are celebrating!

Posted by Rachel Teichman. 
We were given this product to try out, but all opinions are our own.

ModernMom invited me to cook a recipe using Ragu® OldWorld Style® Traditional Sauce. Each jar of sauce contains eleven juicy tomatoes, making this Ragú's richest and thickest sauce, and making it a great choice when cooking new dishes. I put my own spin on Ragú's recipe for No-Bake Eggplant Parmesan by making Eggplant Parmesan Pops, and Eggplant Parmesan Cheese Fries. Both were a big hit in my house! I hope you enjoy them too!

Ingredients
2 cups plain dry bread crumbs
1 ½ cups grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
¼ tsp. garlic powder
2 medium eggplants (about 2 lbs.), peeled and cut into ¼-inch slices
4 eggs, beaten with 3 Tbsp. water
1 jar (1 lb. 8 oz.) Ragu® OldWorld Style® Traditional Sauce 
1 ½ cups part-skim mozzarella cheese (about 6 oz.)
Olive or vegetable oil
Lollipop sticks or skewers for the Pops recipe

Directions for Eggplant Parmesan Pops
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine bread crumbs with ½ cup Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning and garlic powder in medium bowl. Combine the eggs and water in another bowl. Cut the eggplant into ¼-inch slices. Then use your favorite cookie cutters to cut the slices into fun shapes. Poke a lollipop stick or skewer 3/4 of the way into the slice. Dip the eggplant pieces in the egg mixture, and then the bread crumb mixture. Arrange the eggplant slices in a single layer on lightly oiled baking sheets. Bake until eggplant is golden, about 25 minutes. Sprinkle 1-2 Tbsp. mozzarella cheese on each eggplant piece. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Serve with Ragu® OldWorld Style® Traditional Sauce mixed with Parmesan cheese, as a dipping sauce. You can also bread and bake the scraps that you have from the pieces you cut.

Directions for Eggplant Parmesan Cheese Fries
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine bread crumbs with ½ cup Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning and garlic powder in medium bowl. Combine the eggs and water in another bowl. Cut the eggplant into ¼-inch slices. Then cut the slices into 1/40-inch strips. Dip the eggplant strips in the egg mixture, and then the bread crumb mixture. Arrange the eggplant slices in a single layer on lightly oiled baking sheets. Bake until the eggplant is golden, about 25 minutes. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the eggplant pieces. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Serve with Ragu® OldWorld Style® Traditional Sauce mixed with Parmesan cheese, as a dipping sauce.

You can visit the Ragú Facebook page for more authentic Italian recipes. You can also enter to win a trip to Italy or other great prizes from Ragú here. 

Banana Split Bread Pudding
Ingredients
1 loaf of challah 
4 eggs
2 cups whole milk
2 Tbsp maraschino cherry juice
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
10 maraschino cherries diced
1-2 bananas chopped
¼ cup chocolate chips
Chocolate sauce to drizzle

Directions
Slice the bread into two inch cubes. Toast for five minutes on a sheet pan at 350°. Butter a 9x13" inch pan. Place the toasted bread in the pan. Combine the eggs and milk. Add the juice, sugars and cinnamon to the egg mixture. Sprinkle the bananas, cherries and chocolate chips over the bread. Pour the custard mix over the bread. Drizzle with chocolate sauce if desired. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°. Serve warm or chilled with whipped cream, ice cream or yogurt.

It is the time of year when hearts are everywhere, and people "Go Red."
This cookie is an easy way to get the red velvet cake experience in a cookie. These cookies are soft and light, and could easily be dipped into some cream cheese frosting for a sweeter treat! Like a classic red velvet cake, these cookies contain buttermilk, cocoa powder and red food coloring. The cookies in the photo come from a batch that used 2 Tbsp of food coloring. You can use less to achieve a lighter color. 






Red Velvet Cake Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/4 white sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
5 Tbsp butter, softened
2 Tbsp cream cheese
½ cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 Tbsp red food coloring
½ cup chocolate chips

Directions
Combine the dry ingredients with the butter and cream cheese in a food processor, or with a hand mixer or whisk. Add the milk, vanilla and food coloring. Mix in the chocolate chips by hand. Spoon on to a baking sheet covered with parchment paper by the tablespoon. Bake at 425° for 10 minutes, or until the cookies spring back to the touch. Move to cooling rack, and enjoy.

For our anniversary a couple of years ago I kept telling my husband how I was going to make an oatmeal bar for breakfast. "An" meaning "one." But he thought I meant I was going to make bars out of oatmeal. So he was surprised to find little bowls of fun and healthy toppings laid out on our dining room table, along with our individual bowls of oatmeal. 

An Oatmeal Bar is something you can really pull together at any time with what you have. But if you plan ahead you can make sure you have some new and interesting toppings to try. 

Here are our top ten favorite ideas. You can always mix in milk and butter with any toppings as well. 

1. Milk, butter & salt or cinnamon sugar
2. Brown sugar, cinnamon, chocolate chips & fresh banana slices
3. Dried apricots and chocolate chips
4. Pecans & dulce de leche
5. Marshmallows, chocolate chips & chopped Graham crackers
6. Berry jam, fresh berries & sunflower seeds
7. Whipped cream & sprinkles
8. Fresh pineapple, coconut milk, dried coconut & dried bananas
9. Soy sauce, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds & scallions
10. Grated cheddar cheese and chopped scallions

~ Let us know what toppings you try! ~

Posted by Rachel Teichman

I didn't know what to make for dinner Saturday night, and I saw a tweet from @Food52 just in time! This recipe for Pasta with Chickpeas looked and sounded so good. And I actually had all the ingredients, even the rosemary! I used angel hair pasta, which worked great too. It was also kid approved!

Posted by Rachel Teichman