Throwback Thursday: Reeling it Back to Childhood Favorites

I'm slowly taking back Thursdays as I revisit memories of the past. Pre-k classmates and family friends held birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese's.  The pizza always tasted cheap and rubbery, but I loved meeting Chuck E. and his friends.  Plus, I was a master at winning tickets from skee-ball.  Then, the Lucky Charms hype dominated nearly every household.  Despite loathing the artificial taste of the "marshmallows," I had fun singing the theme song.  At school, teachers stored jars of jolly rancher, tootsie pops, and ring pops, and only those who won weekly raffles and rounds of Around the World went home triumphantly with a candy piece in their pockets; my favorite flavor rarely deviated from being lemon or blueberry.  After school, kids bought bags of eye-watering hot fries, soft batch cookies, or baby bottle pops. Oh, and gel roll pens and milky pens were definitely the "cool things to have" back in Elementary school.  All the girls envied my friends and me because we collected those pens in our cute pencil cases.  We moved on from candy to sweet Snapple--to the point of being diabetic--in middle school when we felt like kings and queens for gaining the purchasing power to buy Snapple from school vending machines. 

Hopefully, the throwbacks have stirred similar positive, sentimental feelings.  Allow them to linger and embrace you.  Until tomorrow...

Love,

Pristine Christine

Where's Wednesday?: At Home (3-Way Pita Chips)

Ingredients: olive oil ground cinnamon brown sugar tortilla garlic salt [shredded] asiago cheese

1. Lay a sheet of foil on a baking tray. 2. Cut tortilla into strips and place them on the foil. 3. Drizzle olive oil onto the strips (doesn't have to be precise or tidy). 4. For cinnamon flavored pita chips, sprinkle brown sugar on top first. Then, shake some ground cinnamon afterward. For garlic-flavored chips, lightly sprinkle some garlic salt on the tortilla that's been coated with olive oil. For cheesy chips, sprinkle a sufficient amount of shredded asiago cheese on top. 5. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. 6. Place the tray in the oven and let the strips bake for about 20 minutes and check to see if they're ready. If not, wait for another 5-10 minutes (it's your job to check!).

Easy-peasy, huh?  These homemade pita chips are a great snack to munch because you know exactly what goes into making them.

Share any healthy recipes that you have, and I'd love to try them at home!

Can't wait to fancy you with tomorrow's Thursday Throwback.  I always have fun reminiscing about the fashion from the past, too.

Until then...

Love, Pristine Christine

Where's Wednesday?: At Home in the Kitchen

It's so difficult to come across authentically healthy, natural nutrition bars.  Even the ones sold at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods aren't completely natural.  I wanted to make my own health bars at home as a result--bars that actually made me feel full and healthy--so I decided to bake some using oatmeal!  Yes, opt out of flour and opt in with oatmeal.  For vegans and those with gluten allergy, you will sing, "Hallelujah" on this note.  But what adds to the fun of baking in the kitchen is the cute apron you can wear.  My mom has always been a fan of Williams Sonoma goods, so I naturally gravitate towards Williams Sonoma products as well, and I find the coffee icons apron rather adorable. My mom, on the other hand, owns the classic apron, oven mit, and pot holder in pink.  This is such a Julia Childs moment!

Speaking in the best cheery Julia voice, "The recipe's quite simple, and I want to share it with you."  My recipe, which has no added sugar or butter, may lack that unnatural rich taste, but it's delicious in its own way.

1 1/2 cups rolled oats (Earnest Eats Mayan Blend--has pepitas, cashews, almonds) 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I prefer walnuts) 1/2 - 3/4 cup medjool dates/cranberry raisins 1/4 cup sesame seeds 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp kosher salt 1/2 cup half-and-half + 3/4 cup black sesame soymilk (you can use almond milk if you don't like the soy taste or if you're vegan) 1 egg (substitute unsweetened applesauce for egg if you're vegan) 1 tsp ginger (you can buy already grated ginger in bottles)

Mix the dry ingredients together first, and then mix the liquid ingredients together.  Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture.  Using your hands, mix the two and continue doing so until the combination becomes clumping together.

Pre-heat for 5 minutes in 350 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes in 350 degrees. Take the pan out of the oven and let it cool for a bit, and if you decide you want it harder rather than moist, then place it back into the oven for another couple minutes.

Also, if you don't like the organic taste of the bar, you can lightly coat the bars with a thin layer of honey or almond butter while it's warm so that the coating hardens.

Hope you enjoy! :) Yum.

Love, Pristine Christine