Not Salty Nut Snack

It's not exactly Pete Schweddy's Balls, but it IS a not at all salty Nut Snack.




After developing a little bit of high blood pressure, I was advised by doctor to start limiting sodium (salt) in my diet and to try to lose a bit of weight. Bummer. Never mind that my BMI was totally in the normal range, but I digress.

I visited a licensed, certified nutritionist and she helped me set a calorie and exercise goal. One of the things she suggested was that I keep packages of healthy 100 calorie snacks around to help keep "THE HUNGRIES" (those invisible monsters that make you want to eat the whole package of Cheetos at once) at bay. After looking at the nutrition labels on a bunch of different ones, I found the sodium content to be just a little out of my comfort zone and that they could easily push me over my daily limit for sodium if I started eating more than one of them along with my regular daily intake.

So what's a girl to do???  Make her own snacks and package them up in snack-size Ziplocs for her purse and in little plastic containers for home, of course!

Here's what I came up with:

                         Not Salty Nut Snack 

¾ c roasted, without salt, Almonds

¾ c roasted, without salt, shelled Pistachios

1¼ c raw, hulled, Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

1½ c Craisins

Toast the pepitas in the oven or toaster oven. Let cool. Mix everything together in a big bowl. 

Measure 2 level-ish Tablespoons of Nut Snack into individual containers. You should get 21 containers with 1T of snack left over to put on your salad at lunch.

Each container will have approximately 119 calories of snacky goodness and only 55 mg of sodium.

  © EggFreeAtAltitude

Squapple Sauce Bread (or Cake)

This summer we really had a bumper crop of zucchini and yellow squash. Tomatoes, too, but that's another recipe for another time. See those two little squash plants? They were very prolific.

So, what do you do with a skillion squash after you've, stewed them, broiled them, sauteed them, and put them into so many salads you think you never want to see one again? There's always the chocolate zucchini cake- that I didn't tackle this year, and that one isn't really rigged for yellow squash, is it? Well, thanks to an anonymous baker over at cooks.com, there was a  recipe called Zucchini Sauce Cake that called for either zucchini or yellow squash.

Here's the link to the original recipe for all you sea-level people:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1815,138186-233201,00.html

While it's called Zucchini Sauce Cake, the ingredients said you could use yellow squash. My inner voice said "Done!"  Since then, I have made it with only zucchinis, only yellow squash, and a combination of the two. All turned out to be delicious. Of course, those made with only yellow squash were a bit more golden in color. Go figure. And it only took me about a half a dozen tries to get the high altitude/no egg thing worked out.

As for why I call it "Squapple" Sauce Bread, well, there's so much apple juice in it that it is almost an apple sauce cake. Also, "Squash Sauce" just sounds so very, very wrong.

I have only baked this as 2 loaves of bread rather than in a 13" x 9" pan as a cake. I'm also wondering how this would do as muffins? Maybe next time. I still have 3 containers of the squash sauce in the freezer!

Squapple Sauce Bread

©Eggfreeataltitude

3 c cubed zucchini or yellow squash or a combination of the two

½ c undiluted frozen apple juice

½ c soft butter

1½ c sugar

½ c buttermilk

3 c flour

¾ t baking soda

1 t salt

½ t ground cloves

½ t allspice

¼ t cinnamon

½ c thawed frozen apple juice

½ c chopped nuts

Simmer the squash in the frozen apple juice until tender. Let cool a bit. Whirl in blender until it's like applesauce and set aside. 

Cream the butter, sugar and buttermilk until fluffy. Next add the squash sauce and mix well. 

Mix the dry ingredients togeteher and add alternately with thawed concentrated apple juice. Beat well.

Stir in the nuts. 

Pour into 2 greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 375° for about an hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.

May be frosted  if you like. Can be baked as a 9" x 13" cake. It may not take as long to bake then.

I love it sliced and spread with cream cheese for breakfast.

Yum, yum, eat 'em up!

Chocolate Chip Date Cake- It Tastes Like "More!"

Well, it has been a long dry summer recipe-wise. I had terrible luck adapting ANYTHING to high altitude. It was just one failure after another, but yesterday I finally triumphed! A very successfully adaptation of Kent's all-time favorite cake, the one, the only, Chocolate Chip Date Cake.

The original recipe came from Kent's Aunt Arlene Hazlett years and years ago. I'm not really sure where she got it. This is the cake that Kent requests every year for his birthday, and sometimes we just have to have it even if it's not his birthday.  It is completely yummy and delicious. It tastes like "more"! 

Chocolate Chip Date Cake- Original Egg Free Low Land Recipe 

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 9" x 13" pan. (I like to use cocoa instead- it makes a prettier presentation for a chocolate cake)

Cake:
2 cups dates, chopped (or just use one bag of Dole chopped dates)

1 ¼ cups boiling water

¾ cup shortening ( I use butter)

1 cup sugar

Ener-G Egg Replacer and water, mixed for 2 eggs  (original recipe calls for 2 eggs)

2 cups flour

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 Tbs cocoa

Topping:

¼ cup sugar

1 bag (12 oz.) chocolate chips

¼- ½ cup chopped nuts

Pour the boiling water over the dates and let cool. 

While it's cooling, sift flour with the salt, soda, and cocoa. Also measure and have ready the topping ingredients. Instead of mixing the topping ingredients, I like to keep them separate and add them in layers. More on that in a bit.

Cream the butter and the sugar. 

Once the dates are cool, start adding the dry ingredients alternately with the date mixture.

Add the mixed Ener-G Egg Replacer at the very last.

Pour into prepared pan.

Top the cake batter first with about half of the chocolate chips, then the nuts, then the sugar, and then the second half of the chocolate chips.

Bake for 30-40 minutes. Test with a toothpick for done-ness.

Serve topped with whipped cream. 

About 12 servings

Egg Free At Altitude© Chocolate Chip Date Cake (changes are marked in bold face)

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease and flour (cocoa) a 9" x 13" pan.  

Cake:
2 cups dates, chopped (or just use one bag of Dole chopped dates)

1  cups boiling water

¾ cup shortening ( I use butter)

1 cup sugar

Ener-G Egg Replacer and water, mixed for 1 egg

½ cup buttermilk

2¼ cups flour

¼ tsp salt

¾ tsp baking soda

2 Tbs cocoa

Topping:

¼ cup sugar

1 bag (12 oz.) chocolate chips

¼- ½ cup chopped nuts

Mix and bake the same as above, except add the buttermilk to the butter and sugar mixture before adding the dry ingredients alternately with the date mixture.