My teenagers are always rummaging throughout the cupboards for a snack.  I make Pumpkin Snack Cakes and store them in the freezer.  Better than cookies, one little cake has over a gram of fiber and provides 20% of the RDA of Vitamin A.  Dry milk powder and chopped apricots replace the sugar to add extra calcium and Vitamin C.

INGREDIENTS:
(Beat all together with electric mixer in large bowl)
1-15 oz. Can pumpkin (1 ½ cup cooked pumpkin)
½ cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup canola oil
1 ½ cup skim milk
½ cup fat-free dry milk powder.

(Mix together in a medium bowl)
½ cup wheat germ
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons baking powder

1 cup chocolate chips
½ cup finely chopped dried apricots

DIRECTIONS:
Stir dry  mixture into pumpkin mixture.  Stir in chocolate chips and finely chopped dried apricots.

Preheat over to 350 degrees.  Spray mini-muffin pans with cooking spray.  Spoon batter into pans and bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool on rack.  Store in tin, plastic bags, or plastic containers, or freeze.  Makes 72 cakes.

Nutritional analysis per cake:  83 calories, 2 grams protein, 10 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fat, 1 gram fiber, 29 mg sodium.

[Reprinted with permission from chef Cheryl Wixson, www.cherylwixsonskitchen.org ]

It’s back to school time again, and another great opportunity to load up your child’s lunchboxes with healthy fare. The Belfast Co-op can help make it easy for you to choose lunchtime foods that are delicious and wholesome if your children are brown-bagging it (90% post-consumer waste, that is) this year. The following information can help guide you in your choices.

Pesticides: Go organic whenever possible. The Environmental Working Group is a not-for-profit environmental research organization dedicated to improving public health and protecting the environment by reducing pollution in air, water and food, and these researchers conducted a study in 2007 to rank common produce items according to levels of pesticide contamination. Their findings include the “dirty dozen,” or the 12 fruits and veggies that you should always buy organic: peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, imported grapes, pears, spinach, and potatoes. (more…)