Quick Snack Ideas For Back To School Nights
A special thanks to Pepperidge Farm for providing the Miss Frugal Mommy blog with their products for free in exchange for an honest review!
The kids are back in school and life is finally back in routine! With carnivals, fundraisers, PTA meetings, birthday parties and more that fill up the weeks ahead, it’s time to start thinking about snacks to bring along with you. I tell people all of the time that I don’t have an ounce of creativity when it comes to snack ideas, the second someone says “potluck” I am frantically searching Pinterest looking for ideas. In addition to my lack of creativity, I am also a horrible cook and baker… I can turn a simple brownie into a pile of mush. I recently became inspired by a few Pepperidge Farm products that I thought would help me to create some simple and delicious snack ideas for those busy back to school nights. They have come out with some fantastic snacks over the years and we are always buying them for the kid’s school lunches.
The variety pack of Goldfish are perfect for the kid’s lunchboxes, but even better for on the go snacks. I always make sure to keep a few in my diaper bag just in case the kids need a quick snack while we are out. They are the perfect portions and there is no need to scramble for snack containers, because we all know how mess it can get watching kids try to share a regular sized bag of goldfish!
The new pumpkin spice Milanos and pumpkin cheesecake cookies are an absolute delight, my favorite fall treat this fall! Friends and family will thank you for bringing these along to a gathering and there will not be a crumb left by the end of the night. I am a huge fan of all things pumpkin, I will literally go out and buy all the pumpkin flavored foods I can find. These two treats are officially at the top of my list for favorites for fall and will certainly be stocked in my cupboards for those school year events.
Sometimes we find an extra ten minutes in our day and take advantage of that opportunity to whip up a plate of delicious snacks. Whether the kids are in need of a healthy treat to hold them over for dinner, or you want to treat the parents at this months PTA meeting, the new Puff Pastry Sheet by Pepperidge Farm has you covered! They have a ton of inspirational recipe ideas on their website, all of which look incredibly delicious. I decided to take my chances with the spinach-cheese swirls and see if I could recreate this simple and delicious snack idea. This recipe took very little time to prep, make or cook and they were ready to eat within thirty minutes! I am so in love with these puff pastry sheets, they made the swirls crisp, light and fluffy. The texture of these are so much better than using a dough or bread, much easier for little kids to snack on as well! My kids ate these up like hot cakes and it was great to see them enjoy a healthy treat that they actually wanted more of. I can not wait to try out more recipes with the Puff Pastry sheets, I can see a lot of great Thanksgiving and Christmas treats in the future!
Spinach-Cheese Swirls
(Recipe Can Be Found on the Pepperidge Farm Website)
Thaw: 40 minutes
Prep: 20 minutes
Bake: 15 minutes
Cool: 10 minutes
Serves: 10
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp. water
- 1/2 cup shredded Muenster cheese or mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 green onion, chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
- 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
- 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1/2 pkg. of a 17.3-ounce package Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed
- 1 pkg. (about 10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
Directions
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork.
- Stir the Muenster cheese, Parmesan cheese, onion and garlic powder in a medium bowl.
- Sprinkle the flour on the work surface. Unfold the pastry sheet on the work surface. Brush the pastry sheet with the egg mixture. Top with the cheese mixture and spinach. Starting at a short side, roll up like a jelly roll. Cut into about 20 (1/2-inch) slices. Place the slices, cut-side down, onto 2 baking sheets. Brush the slices with the egg mixture.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Remove the pastries from the baking sheets and let cool on wire racks for 10 minutes.
