Healthy Snacks to Go e-book Review and GIVEAWAY

How often do you give your kids a snack that you *know* isn't good for them, simply because you need to feed them/make them happy and don't have time to make anything better?

I already struggle when out with my 2 year old - especially when someone offers him something for free. I know I would feel much better/nicer declining the free sucker if I had something yummy in my purse to give him as a consolation, but I rarely have snacks with me.

This can be especially difficult for those of us trying to avoid processed foods because "real food" doesn't usually come in pre-packaged individual servings, and often needs refrigeration anyway.

I LOVE this new e-book from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship! She is already one of my very favorite bloggers, and this e-book makes me appreciate her even more. It's a wonderfully simple to read and understand guide to making or assembling nutritious snacks for you and your family to take with you on the go. It includes over 30 healthy snack recipes and a ton of tips and extra info.

The first thing I noticed - and the thing I love most - about this e-book is how much thought she put into creating it to be user-friendly. It's designed to be easy to read on your computer or to print and put in a binder. The margins are larger on the side you'd punch holes. She has also kept recipes to one page or a front and back of one if printed double-sided so that they are easy to take out of a binder to keep close at hand while preparing your snack. It's worth printing - that's what I did - to keep in the kitchen, but you should also make sure to read through it on your computer so you don't miss all of the wonderful links she's included. I'm so glad I read this e-book while working on my own because she's given me wonderful ideas for making what I have even better.

Healthy Snacks to Go also has a fantastic key full of symbols to help you understand more about the recipes at a glance. You can tell right away if they are gluten or dairy free, if they are frugal or a little more costly to make, and if they are going to require a little or a lot of effort.

I sampled 4 of the recipes for you (a sacrifice, lemme tell you!) so that I could report back with some authority. Katie's directions are clear and easy to follow, and all 4 recipes I tried came out better than I expected! My family tried the soaked granola (picture from the ebook below), fruit rolls, basic Power Bars, and the wheat thin crackers.

The soaked granola was the most surprising success - it really clumped together well! I think I'll add a little more honey or some dried fruit next time, but I liked it better than any of the granola I make! I think the fruit rolls (we made strawberry) were my favorite, but everything has been good so far. I can't wait to try the rice pudding next time we buy milk!

Over the next few days I'll be sharing two of the recipes from the book that I tried out and posting yummy pictures of the results. Of course, you'll have to buy the book yourself for access to the bulk of them!! You can read the table of contents here to see what you have to look forward to!

Buy it:

Only $6.95 for this 44 page digital book. It's worth every penny! Grab it here.

Win it:

Katie has graciously agreed to give one of my readers a free copy of her book! This contest is open to anyone anywhere! To enter, read about the e-book and leave a comment telling me why you'd like to win it! Simple!

For bonus entries:

*Become a Fan of Kitchen Stewardship on Facebook.

*Follow Katie on Twitter.

*Tweet about this contest (please leave me a url) Here's a sample tweet to copy/paste:

Don't miss the Healthy Snacks to Go e-book giveaway from @kitchenstew and @EatFromPantry! http://bit.ly/arpJK7

*Subscribe to Kitchen Stewardship via RSS or email.

Leave a separate comment for each (five possible) entry!

The contest will be open until 11:59pm CST on Tuesday, July 6th. The winner will be notified by email and posted here on the blog. Good luck!

***Disclaimer: I received a copy of this e-book for free for the purpose of reviewing it for you, my readers. Giving a copy away was optional and I was in no way obligated to write a positive review. All opinions in this review are truly my own. I am also an affiliate of Kitchen Stewardship and will earn a commission for any e-book purchased through the links above.

Make it Yourself Monday: Sauerkraut

Reuben anyone?

I did not grow up eating sauerkraut. I think I had graduated from college by the first time I tried it! Talk about an intimidating endeavor! I almost shirked the challenge, but stayed committed for you, dear readers! I also really needed to use up the leftover cabbage from the yummy egg rolls I made. :)

I must have spent 2 or 3 hours pouring over the how-tos on my favorite blogs. They were all equally scary, so I went with the one that looked the coolest - the "no pound" method over at The Nourishing Gourmet. I also stuck a sliced cucumber in the middle a la

I initially used a large glass vase of water as the weight, but after a few days there still wasn't any water rising above the plate (you should read the directions if this sounds foreign), so I replaced it with the stoneware from my crockpot and another big pot on top of that, both filled to the brim.

After a week of my strange towel-covered tower sitting on my countertop, we had sauerkraut and pickles! Voila!

My husband ran off with my camera, so I can't post any photos for you, but they would really be pretty anyway. My cabbage became a little bit discolored - either because of the few days without enough pressure or because of the pickles. Tastes great though! You really should head to The Nourishing Gourmet if you want to see genuinely pretty kraut. :)

Check out this post for an explanation of the different ways to ferment veggies, and this beautiful e-book for recipes.

What have you been making lately that you could easily buy at a store? Make it Yourself Monday is the place to share! Link up below and read the guidelines for more info and inspiration.

A Grain-Free Day

Our family has been doing what we can to rid ourselves of a serious carb/grain addiction. We aren't strictly no grain by any means, but I'm delighted to realize that we've changed to the point that today is a completely grain free day! Most days we'd have meat at only 1 or 2 meals instead of all three, but we're eating small portions today. Thought I'd share in case you need some inspiration:

Breakfast:

eggs scrambled with avocado and garlic, bacon on the side

Snack:

dried cranberries and coconut muffins

Lunch:

chicken hotdogs and ketchup w/raw energy bars

Second Snack:

yogurt

Dinner:

veal liver, onions, arugula and black olive salad

Dessert (we're bringing this to a party):

Coconut Flour Orange Cake

PS. Don't forget to vote in yesterday's poll for me pretty please!!

Research for my E-book

I have a working title for my e-book now. It's Eat From Your Kitchen. Totally clever, right? ;)

As I mentioned, I'd love to have it released around the end of Summer and it is coming along nicely. I wonder if you would help? I may post more polls in the future, but this one would particularly help me right now. I'd love for you to further explain your answer in the comments section. If you do, and I choose to quote you or find your answer particularly helpful, you might just snag a free copy of the e-book when it comes out!

If you've been cooking at home, or cooking from scratch for a while, please try and remember how you felt when you had just begun embarking on the process of learning to cook or implementing the knowledge you already had. If you are still trying to get motivated to cook at home more seriously, please help me understand your biggest struggles!