Prepped Living Blog

This is another post for our healthy snacks series. This week we are highlighting a old family favorite - homemade energy bites. These are a protein-packed sweet snack that requires no baking and, better yet, they are a favorite of young and old alike. We usually double the recipe so that we have snacks all week. We hope you enjoy these as much as we do! Energy Bites Ingredients 1 c. quick oats 1 c. coconut flakes 1/2 c. ground flax seed 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips (you can use carob if you prefer) 1/2 c. raisins or dried currants 1/2 c. peanut butter (you can substitute any nut butter, but you may need to adjust the wet ingredients) 1/2 c. honey 1 t. vanilla Directions 1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together oatmeal, coconut flakes, flax seed, chocolate chips, and dried fruit. 2. In a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, honey, and vanilla. (Note: if your nut butter is rather dry, you may need to add more moisture to help it mix well with the dry ingredients.) 3. Stir wet ingredi...

In line with the homemade snack topics we have covered in the past couple of weeks, we are highlighting a recent snack recipe favorite - glazed nuts. We recently made another batch of glazed nuts, tweaking the recipe a bit, and it was an even bigger hit than the first batch we made. For the first batch of glazed nuts, we used the glazed pecan crockpot recipe we found at  theseoldcookbooks.com.  They turned out well. Like the instructions say, the nuts end up a little softer than making them in the oven, but they are very tasty. They also include a link to the oven baked version. If you want a very quick and easy way to make glazed nuts, I highly recommend their recipe. Below I am going to outline our recently discovered  favorite way to make glazed nuts, which requires a couple more steps than the original recipe mentioned above. Our family finds the extra steps well worth the time due to the flavor profile and texture of the finished product. Here are the steps we take t...

One of the challenges many people experience when attempting to eat healthy is having access to healthy snack options that are both affordable and flavorful. So-called "healthy" snacks at the store are not always healthy and are often much more expensive than "non-healthy" options. Making your own snacks gives you more options and more control over the ingredients, but I always struggle to come up with ideas for healthy snack options to have on hand. Furthermore, my family does  not enjoy raw veggie sticks and only sometimes enjoys raw fruit, two of the traditional healthy snack standbys. In light of this, I am always looking for healthy snack options that our family does enjoy.  We thought it might be helpful to put together a varied list of healthy snack options (and some semi-healthy options), some of which you can make yourself: Cheese with sliced apples Nuts - pistachios are a family favorite Homemade granola Homemade glazed or flavored nuts Dried fruit Jerky S...

  My mom has been making homemade granola since I was a kid. When we started a family of our own, we began making it, too. In fact, we have used the recipe so often that the recipe card my mom wrote out for me has vanilla stains, has turned a bit yellow with age, and the ink is fading.  This is a great recipe for several reasons: 1. It is a great prepper recipe - most of the ingredients are ones you will have in your food storage. 2. It beats store-bought granola hands down. 3. It has healthy ingredients (with, perhaps, the exception of the sugar) 4. It can be snacked on as-is, served as a cold cereal, or soaked in warm milk to make it more like oatmeal. Everyone has different preferences when it comes to what they believe makes the best homemade granola, but my mom's recipe is by far our family favorite, so that is the recipe we are sharing today. Homemade Granola Ingredients 1 c. whole wheat flour 7 c. quick oats 1 c. brown sugar 1 c. coconut 1 c. sliced almonds, walnuts, or...

Asian Plum Sauce During the height of the harvest season, we often freeze fruits and berries for canning at a later date. We do this for several reasons: It relieves some of the pressure of getting everything harvested and preserved all at once, especially when multiple fruits and vegetables ripen at the same time. It allows us to gather enough fruits to make jam (this is particularly applicable with items we forage - serviceberry, huckleberry, Oregon grape, etc. - when it is not always possible to get a large amount at one time). It allows us to can at a time when the weather is colder and the heat from the canning process is a welcome aid in heating the home. (Canning when it is 95 degrees out and you have no air conditioning is not always fun.) Since we had several pint size jars empty and I had a day at home, I decided to can more Asian plum sauce. Our family enjoys sauces - BBQ sauce, Hoisin, plum sauce, hot sauce, etc. - and we have been moving towards canning our own sauces (see...