A French Snack

Have you ever heard of this snack? Baguette, slathered with butter, topped with radish slices and finished off with some sea salt? I've been seeing it around lately and decided I should see what all the hoopla is about. Apparently, it is a very popular snack or appetizer in France alongside a glass of white wine. My verdict? Very tasty, however I wasn't overwhelmed. It was great but I don't see myself preparing it again anytime soon. Compared to my favorite snack, I think mine wins! No recipe here, I think the photo is pretty self explanatory.

Now, guess what else! You see that fluffy bread in the photo? Well..... I made it! I baked my very own bread. I feel so accomplished :) I followed the "no-knead" bread baking recipe step-by-step, and it turned out fantastic! Here is the site I followed. No bread machine required, just time and a dutch oven (I used my crock pot bowl) and whoala! This is what came out of the oven:

Isn't it pretty? The crust is crispy and crunchy while the inside is moist and soft. I think next time I will add a little more salt. I can't wait to try other types of breads, like olive and sun dried tomato. Please check out the website and you'll be amazed at what a little time and yeast creates! One tip, make sure to use Instant yeast, otherwise it won't rise as needed. Let me know how it goes!

My new favorite snack

I had a vision at the grocery store yesterday. A utopia of creamy chocolate, salt, and crunch. And this is what happened.

I had a (too big) bag of bagel chips (I don't really know why I bought it, but it seemed like a good idea at the time) and instead of using it as a real bagel and spread cream cheese or some other dip, I wanted to make it a sweet snack. Enter Nutella! I loooove it. It goes with everything (especially a spoon). The combination of sweet and salty is my favorite. If you like chocolate covered pretzels, then you will love this. It has even a bigger crunch and you can control the chocolate/salt ratio. I like a lot of sea salt so I sprinkled a bunch. 

So, bagel chip + nutella + sea salt= a perfect salted chocolate snack. Nutella can also be spread on any type of crunchy surface, like pita chips or saltines. If you use salted saltines, then you can forego the sea salt. But if using unsalted, you gotta sprinkle on the sea salt! Trust me.

Cinnamon and chili pumpkin seeds

I know pumpkin seeds are usually eaten in the fall around halloween, but why not snack on these all year round? I found this recipe on The Peanut Butter Boy, a cool food blog with recipes that uses peanut butter as a main ingredient. When I saw this recipe for pumpkin seeds I knew I had to make it not only because it sounded delicious, but also because I've had a whole container of pumpkin seeds sitting in my pantry for months! I stuck to his recipe except I added some chili powder to give it a little kick.

Cinnamon and chili pumpkin seeds

Pumpkin seeds, however many you want

Cooking spray

Ground cinnamon

Chili powder

kosher salt

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

2 Spread seeds onto lined baking sheet and lightly spray them with cooking spray

3 In a separate bowl, mix cinnamon and chili powder together (I used 1 tablespoon cinnamon and maybe half a tablespoon of chili)

4 Sprinkle cinnamon/chili mix and salt onto the seeds

5 Bake in oven for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Let cool completely and enjoy!

Warning: This snack may cause cinnamon to stick to your fingers so grab a spoon. And maybe some yogurt. yum!