Road Tripping Snacks

The girls and I had a fun little road trip last week, and we prepared some snacks to take along with us. When planning road trips, I envision frequent scenic, peaceful stops on the way. But it isn't always like that with little kids, is it? I wrote a quick post on road tripping several months ago, but this will give additional options plus recipes (or links to recipes) to along with them.

First are energy bites. I blogged about them here and included a recipe but we haven't made them in a while. And really they are a great make-ahead snack. 

These breakfast cookies are a big hit around here - with grownups and kids alike! I love them with pistachios but they are also very good without. They are from the Weelicious website.

When we make green smoothies, I try to fill up a smoothie pop with any little leftovers. We use whatever we have in the fridge for smoothies. Just as a general rule, I blend together: 2 cups of greens, 2 cups of fruit (frozen is perfect!), 2 cups liquid (almond/cocunut milk or water) and usually throw in some rolled oats, flax meal, chia seeds, honey, nut butter, cinammon, and/or greek yogurt. Sometimes, I will just make smoothie pops for lunches or snacks, instead of using leftovers from smoothies, and the girls love them. They are also great because they keep other stuff cool. :)

This is a new recipe for us - apple leather - and we pretty much followed it to the letter. The girls LOVED their homemade fruit roll-ups.

We have made chocolate beet muffins a handful of times after a friend introduced them to us while we were wading in a creek a couple of summers ago. My girls love them, especially if I make bigger muffins instead of mini ones, but I find the mini ones are best for a quick snack and/or to pop into lunches. We haven't yet made them grain-free but my friend has and they are just as good! This one is adapted from the Cake Student recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 10 oz bag of bittersweet chocolate chips, divided
• ¼ cup butter or coconut oil
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• ¾ cup honey (I use a little less)
• 1 cup beet puree
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ⅔ cup plain greek yogurt
• ¼ cup milk

Instructions

1. If you haven't already, prepare the beet puree. 
2. Preheat the oven to 375F. Prepare muffin tins with paper liners.
3. In a small saucepan, melt ⅔ cup of chocolate chips and butter/oil over low heat. Stir occasionally, until melted. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pecans, and the rest of the chocolate chips (or a little less if you want).
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, beet puree, vanilla extract, yogurt, and milk. Stir in the melted chocolate.
6. Finally, carefully stir the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients until just combined. It should look very fluffy. Don't over mix them. A few streaks of flour is fine.
7. Spoon mixture into the prepared muffin tins, fill the cups to the top. 
8. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center and when pulled out should be clean. Or lightly press down on the top of a muffin and it should bounce back up.
9. Let them cool for at least 5 minutes before handling.

I also cut up a bunch of vegetables to take along, which are easy to snack on alone or dip in hummus cups. And I try to take along some easy to eat whole fruit - apples, clementines, and bananas are easiest. What are your favorite road tripping snacks?