Best of 90s Food: DIY Lunchables

This year, the Baltimore Sun's Mobbies is asking each blogger to blog about the thing that she would like to bring back from the 90s. Being that this is a food blog, I went straight for everyone's favorite snacks from the 90s. Earlier this week, I posted a recipe for Hot Pockets and Dunkaroos. Today is a "recipe" for DIY Lunchables. Enjoy!

Roasted Kale Chips

My partner is damn good at making kale chips, so I had him teach me how and it's surprisingly easy. So, this week, head to your local farmers market, pick up a bag of kale and make some healthy and delicious kale chips. Warning: it is highly likely that you will eat an entire batch in one sitting.

Low-Fat Peanut Butter Dip

I think it's safe to say that I am addicted to peanut butter. I can eat (and have eaten) peanut butter as a part of every meal of my day. I realize that this isn't a sustainable model, especially if I am trying not to gain a million pounds simply because I can't cut out Jif. I found this recipe on FitSugar and it promises to be much healthier and lower calories (40 calories)** than peanut butter, but still has the same taste. I tried it out and was pleasantly surprised. The dip doesn't have the same consistency as peanut butter, but it does taste similarly! I'd suggest eating it the same way you would peanut butter, with fruit, veggies, sandwiches, etc. (although I haven't tried eating it on anything warm yet, not sure how that would go). Enjoy!

Roasted Garlic Deviled Eggs

It's that time of year again: Deviled Egg Pageant! I know you've all been on the edge of your seat, waiting to see what I'd make for this year's competition. If you remember, last year I totally won for my dill & stone ground mustard deviled eggs. This year, I decided to move toward something a little different: roasted garlic deviled eggs.

I didn't win my entered category, but I did get an honorable mention for eggs "Just Like Grandma Used to Make." Now that's a compliment. This recipe uses a dozen eggs (so the yield is 24 deviled eggs), so be sure to adjust for the amount that you want to make.

Homemade Trade: Coconut Almond Granola

I joined a group called Baltimore Homemade Trade, organized by the lovely Martine (who just guest-blogged this recipe for me). Each month a group of folks get together and trade homemade goods (check out the end of this post for a photo of all of the awesome things I left the event with!). For our inaugural month, I was debating between three or four recipes when I settled on this delicious coconut almond granola. I chose this for two reasons: I ran out of time to make some of the other things on my list, and I am obsessed with pairing almond & coconut flavors. This recipe makes 3 cups of granola and is based off this recipe from Kath Eats Real Food.

Guest Post: Old Bay Cheese Crackers

This weekend, I want to welcome a good friend, Martine, as my guest blogger. She's an amazing (!) cook & is always trying something new in her kitchen. In fact, be sure to go check out her awesome vegetarian food blog. I am thrilled that she offered to guest blog for me (and keep an eye out because I'll be guest blogging something for her this month too!).
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Despite being born and raised in Maryland, I've never eaten crab. What can I say? I was a bit of a picky kid, and then I became a vegetarian fairly early in life. And you know, when I hear people gushing about crab season, I think I'm probably better off not knowing what I'm missing. As a way to cope, I've convinced myself that what everyone's actually excited about is just using the crabs as a vessel to consume hypertension-inducing quantities of Old Bay.

Like any Marylander, I'll pour Old Bay over my french fries and popcorn. I'll put it on anything involving eggs. I'll dump it in a bloody mary, and I even used it to infuse vodka for holiday gifts last year. I brought a can with me when I studied abroad in college because I couldn't bear the thought of five months without it.

And yet, non-Marylanders just don't seem to have the same fervor for my spice blend of choice. My main squeeze Andrew, who is from Ohio, claims that his mother has had the same dusty can in her kitchen cabinet for "probably like twenty years." How does that happen?

Old Bay and sharp cheddar is one of my favorite combinations, so it only made sense to add it to a zippy cheese cracker. I like to use the 30% less sodium version, but the regular will work -- you just will want to start at 1/2 a teaspoon and give your dough a taste test before adding more, because the cheese is very salty as well. This recipe is adapted from smitten kitchen's cheese straws.