Snack Hacking with Nosh & Co. and Devin Connell

Snacking and food hacking are two things that I have a lot of experience in. As you may know, a couple years ago I was Kraft Canada's Official Food Hacker for their Food Hacks campaign, which meant scouring the internet for every possible food hack I could find. I learned so many different food hacks during that time, some good, some not so good, and it was clear to see that the best food hacks were those that were simple, convenient, and made cooking more enjoyable. Having ended the Food Hacks campaign a couple years ago, I still love coming across new food hacks that I haven't yet discovered.

I was super pumped to have the opportunity to add a few more hacks up my sleeve, when I was invited by Rexall Canada and Nosh & Co. to join TV personality, entrepreneur, and recipe developer Devin Connell as she led a mini cooking demo on her favourite snack hacks. What I loved about Devin's snack hacks was that they were not about utilizing gimmicky methods or kitchen tools just to be "hacky." Devin's type of hacks were about real life tips and tricks that make healthy and guilt-free snacking easy! 

The first recipe that Devin led us through was how to make the dry mix for her Pumpkin and Sunflower Seed Banana Bread. The banana bread, which Devin baked into mini, individual loaves (perfect for those snack cravings!), allowed us to understand how we can utilize other healthy ingredients in our kitchen to sweeten up and add flavour to healthy treats. The banana bread contained zero added sugar, allowing the natural sweetness from the overly-ripe bananas to sweetened the loaves. The addition of Nosh & Co. Unsalted Roasted Shelled Sunflower Seeds and Roasted & Salted Pumpkin seeds added a fantastic crunchy texture to the loaves, with the pumpkin seeds adding just a hint of saltiness. 

The second recipe that Devin led us through was how to make her Fruit & Nut Mix Power Balls. Not only were the Power Balls insanely simple to prepare, they were also delicious, and actually very filling! This was definitely my favourite hack of the day, and one that I can see myself using all the time! I've been turning to those Power Balls ever since the event, as my new favourite late-afternoon treat to sustain my appetite before dinner. 

The final hack of the day allowed us guests to prepare our own signature trail mix using a selection of Nosh & Co. nuts and trail mixes, as well as some other healthy and tasty ingredients. Devin loves to layer her ingredients into a mason jar, shake it up to disperse, and keep the jar in her car for snacking emergencies. More than just sweet ingredients, Devin also gave us the great idea of creating our own savoury trail mixes. With ingredient such as spiced chickpeas, shredded seaweed, and salty pumpkin seeds available, the savoury trail mixes were just as satisfying as the sweet ones! 

I had such an awesome time at this event, and more importantly, I really loved the tips and tricks I learned from Devin that I can actually see myself applying to my daily routine! I have included the recipes for you below and encourage you to try them! Let me know what you think in the comments! 

Pumpkin & Sunflower Seed Banana Bread

Ingredients:

Dry Mix: This mixture can be kept in an air-tight container at room-temperature for up to one-month. Double or triple the recipe to have some on hand for last-minute muffins

1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour

1 Tbsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 cup Nosh & Co. Unsalted Roasted Shelled Sunflower Seeds

1/4 cup Nosh & Co. Roasted & Salted Pumpkin Seeds

Wet Mix:

4 very ripe bananas (like really ugly and brown)

1/2 cup melted coconut oil, plus more for greasing the tin

2 extra large eggs

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease loaf pan or muffin tins with melted coconut oil.
2. In a large bowl, sift together gluten-free flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Push any remaining kosher salt through the sieve. Stir in sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.
3. In a separate bowl, mash bananas very well with a fork until very soft and almost liquidy. Whisk in coconut oil and eggs until well incorporated.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir with a large spoon until just mixed together. Do not over mix.
5. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pan or muffin tins until 3/4 full.
6. Bake 45-minutes for the loaf or 20-minutes for muffins. 

Fruit & Nut Mix Power Balls

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Nosh & Co. Raw Fruit & Nut Mix

1/2 cup dried coconut (unsweetened)

1/2 cup sunflower seed butter (may sub almond butter)

2 Tbsp. honey

1 Tbsp. water

1/4 cup chia seeds

1 cup rolled oats

Directions: 

1. In a food processor, combine the fruit & nut mix, dried coconut, sunflower seed butter, honey and water. Periodically stop the machine, and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
2. Once blended, the mixture should not be chunky, but still have some texture to it.
3. Place the mixture into a large bowl. With a large spoon, mix in the chia seeds and oats. The mixture will resemble a loose crumble.
4. Grab about 2-Tbsp. of mixture and, using your hands, form into a ball. Continue with remaining mixture. Power balls can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week. 

Listening To:

Portugal, The Man - Noise Pollution

When Life Hands You Bagels, You Make Everything Bagel Butter

What do you do when life hands you an obscene amount of plain, grocery store bagels? You make Everything Bagel Butter! This past weekend I had the chance to escape the city and head to beautiful Minden Hills near Haliburton to celebrate my good friend Rommi's bachelorette. Though the prospect of spending the weekend on a dock with a bunch of like-minded and hilarious ladies is enough to get me pumped about going away, in typical Danielle fashion, the thought of getting permission to binge eat all weekend using the "calories don't count on vacations" excuse, was always in the back of my mind. 

Though I arrived at the cottage a day later than most of the group, I couldn't believe how much food and snacks were still decorating the cottage. Everywhere you looked you would find gummies of every shape and flavour, Kettle Chips in just about every seasoning, hard candies shaped like dicks (it was a bachelorette weekend after-all!), Oreos, brownies, bagels, fruit, vegetables, I could go on and on! I was in snack-attack heaven! Come Sunday, upon our time of departure, I was amazed at how much food ten small women had consumed in only a few days. It was downright impressive! But as is true with any girls getaway, our eyes were much larger than our stomaches and despite our impressive consumption, we ended up with quite the haul of leftovers by the end of the weekend. 

With so much leftover food about to hit the trash, along with my recent extreme budging and fear of food waste, I happily accepted any of the leftover food that no one else wanted to take. Though I was thrilled to go back to Toronto with a kitchen full of food, I somehow ended up with over a dozen bagels for just myself and my boyfriend. I'm not just talking about any kind of bagels here, I'm talking the plain, ol' grocery store kind, devoid of any flavour or appetizing texture. Sure, you can call me a food snob, but I've grown up eating some of the best bagels this city has to offer, and plain grocery store ones just do not do it for me. Despite my distaste for the brand of bagels, I was still grateful to have free food, and knew that I would be able to think up a creative way for making those sad excuse for bagels edible. 

Once again, I find myself thanking the heavens for giving me the gift of Pinterest, as all I had to do was quickly scroll through my board of Recipes To Make to find an easy-as-can-be recipe for Everything Bagel Butter! Pure genius and just what I needed to give my plain bagels a much-needed flavour boost! This trick for making a compound butter, enhanced with the flavourings from an everything bagel, was the kind of idea that had me thinking "why didn't I think of that?" The Everything Bagel Butter took all of 5 minutes to make (maybe even less!), and only two hours in the fridge, and most definitely did the trick in making my bagels delicious! It's safe to say I've eaten at least one bagel per day since returning thanks to my new favourite butter! 

WARNING: Do not eat this butter before a date! It contains both dried onion and garlic and will leave you needing a very good tooth-brushing, flossing, and mouth-washing session. You have been warned! 

Check out the blog Spend With Pennies for the full recipe for making Everything Bagel Butter! 

Listening To:

A #createlounge podcast! 

Egg Nog Punch for Fredi Magazine

How is Christmas already next week?!?!?! Insanity! Get yourself into the Christmas spirit quickly and easily by making this fantastic egg nog alternative! Though this was one of the craziest recipes I have ever heard of, the results were delicious and perfect for your next holiday party! I love the wild mix of ingredients that go into this festive cocktail, which somehow end up tasting like an expertly made egg nog, minus all of those raw egg yolks! Check out the recipe in the latest issue of Fredi magazine and on their website! 

Pro Tip:
Make a festive cocktail stirrer by stringing fresh cranberries through rosemary sprigs! The rosemary looks just like Christmas tree trimmings and will add an aromatic note to your bevvie. The stunning contrast of colour between the vibrant green from the rosemary and the deep ruby red from the cranberries add a striking detail set against the off-white drink.  

Listening To:

Vince Guaraldi Trio - Linus & Lucy

Food Hacks Spring Recap

Waffled Napoleons

Waffled Napoleons - With the new "waffling" trend that has emerged thanks to the popularity of food hacks, people have been experimenting with waffling all kinds of different foods. Though I've had great luck experimenting with waffling foods like hash browns and sandwiches, my hands-down favourite thing to waffle is puff pastry. In just 8-minutes in the iron the raw puff pastry turns golden, buttery, and wonderfully crisp! I love serving my waffled puff pastry as the classic French dessert the Napoleon, with a layer of creamy vanilla pudding, fresh raspberries, and a dusting of icing sugar. 

Bacon Mac & Cheese Sliders

Bacon Mac & Cheese Sliders - A mini muffin tin is my super-tool of choice for forming perfect and uniform sliders in only a few minutes! No slider buns? No problem! I like to use the rim of a glass as a cookie cutter to cut circles of bread the exact same size as my sliders to act as buns. Top these babies off with some leftover mac & cheese, and you've got yourself a new weeknight favourite! 

Spaghetti Squash-Crusted Quiche

Spaghetti Squash-Crusted Quiche - Making pie crust from scratch can be a pain. Skip the mixing, rolling, and mending my pressing roasted spaghetti squash into the pie plate! Not only is this crust insanely simple to prepare, it's also delicious and adds another layer of flavour and texture to the overall dish. 

Instant Ramen Stir-Fry

Instant Ramen Stir-Fry - What's your go-to snack or small meal when you're in a hurry? I like to turn to my Instant Ramen Stir-Fry thanks to it's ease of preparation and simple ingredients that are always in my fridge! Instant ramen noodles are a wonderful option because they're inexpensive, take two minutes to soften, are satisfying, and lastly allow you to make a single portion without waste.

Turkish Meatballs

Turkish Meatballs - Why take the time to form and roll meatballs by hand, when it's so much easier to use a quick-release ice cream scoop! A quick-release ice cream scoop allows you to cut down on mess, keeping your hands a whole lot cleaner, as well as keeping the meatballs nice and tender because you haven't overworked the meat. These Turkish-inspired meatballs get their flavour from cumin, mint, and a hit of Kraft Creamy Cucumber Dressing both inside the meat and drizzled on top. 

Wonton Mozzarella Sticks

Wonton Mozzarella Sticks - Bring your favourite pub food favourite home with ease thanks to my handy food hack! Wonton wrappers and string cheese are the key ingredients to making simple and deliciously-cheesy mozzarella sticks at home. Love these as a last-minute special snack or as an appetizer for entertaining. 

Stay up to date with all of my latest Food Hacks and tricks by following the @FoodHacks account on Twitter! 

Listening To:

The War On Drugs - Under The Pressure

Food Hacks Recap

Eggs-In-A-Ham Basket

Eggs-In-A-Ham Basket - Taking an extra couple minutes on your weekend morning to prepare breakfast doesn't have to be a chore, well, that is if you have a handy food hack up your sleeve! Introducing my Eggs-In-A-Ham Basket, the answer to your weekend morning hunger woes! With as little as five-minutes of prep time and 20-minutes of baking in the oven, you can deliver a delicious dish that will make your belly happy and put your mind at ease! By simply fitting slices of ham into greased ramekins, cracking an egg inside, and topping with cheese and barbecue sauce, you have done all the work required for the ultimate quickie morning bite. It's just that easy, and all the more appetizing than a bowl of cereal!

Valentine's Day Cake

Valentine's Day Cake - With Food Hacks on the brain this past Valentine's Day, not to mention a busy schedule and a limited budget, I turned to my collection of hacking tips and tricks to come up with something interesting and striking for my loved one. Ever since I was first appointed the title of being Kraft's 'Ultimate Food Hacker,' I have been dying to try a hack for making a heart-shaped cake, using only one square pan and two circle pans. The hack looked so incredibly simple to execute, and the results were gorgeous! Sure enough, my heart-shaped cake turned out beautiful! It was absolutely delicious, and featured some of my boyfriends favourite flavours, pistachio and orange! 

Banana Peanut Butter "Ice Cream" In Chocolate Bowls

Banana Peanut Butter "Ice Cream" In Chocolate Bowls - I recently heard of a hack for making ice cream that sounded far too simple to be true. The hack apparently took mere minutes to make, required only a food processor, and was even dairy free! I didn't believe it was possible! The hack stated that by blending frozen, chopped bananas in a food processor, you will be left with the best ice cream! With low expectations, I began making this wild sounding "ice cream." To my complete shock, the "ice cream" turned out incredible! Creamy and sweet, I couldn't believe how much this mixture of bananas and fixings tasted just like ice cream! What was equally wild was the chocolate serving bowl that I served the ice cream in! By dipping the ends of small balloons into melted chocolate, letting it set, and carefully popping, I had created the tastiest serving bowl ever! 

Spicy Chicken Hard Tacos

Spicy Chicken Hard Tacos - How does one cater taco night to reflect both hard and soft taco shell enthusiasts without having to purchase both types? You know the answer! With a food hack! By simply draping small, soft tortillas over the bars of an oven rack and baking until crisp, you will have the most perfect hard taco shells ready to be stuffed with your favourite fillings! What I love about these homemade hard taco shells is that the width between the bars of the oven rack creates a flat base for your shells, eliminating the issue of having your hard tacos topple over and spilling the filling onto your plate. 

Waffled Has Browns

Waffled Hash Browns - Just like the waffle iron stepped in to deliver an incredibly crisp crunch to my Grilled Chicken Caesar Wafflewich, the waffle iron once again acted as the perfect tool for achieving the ultimate hash browns! When I say 'ultimate' I truly mean it, because these babies were, dare I say, better than any hash browns I have ever had at any restaurant! With the most dreamy, crunchy crust, and a light and soft interior, it's insane to think just how simple these hash browns were to prepare. What I really loved about making hash browns with this method was being able to step away from the waffle iron as the potato shreds cooked, allowing me to prepare the rest of my breakfast spread and set the table. Crispy, soft, with an herbaceous hit of ranch dressing, your breakfast table is begging for these!

Mini Corn Dog Bites

Mini Corn Dog Bites - Corn dogs have got to be one of the most fun carinal foods, but truth be told, they aren't exactly the easiest thing to make at home. They're messy, they're repetitive, they require deep-frying, and they can only be cooked a couple at a time. Let's face it, I wasn't planning on making corn dogs at home anytime soon until I came up with the easiest way to make this beloved fusion dish using a mini muffin tin. A mini muffin tin is the perfect tool for this hack, allowing you to create tiny, bite-sized corn dogs by filling the muffin cups with cornbread batter and a hot dog surprise in the middle. No mess, no repetition, no deep-frying, no problem! 

Mexican Cauliflower "Rice:

Mexican Cauliflower "Rice" - Though there are so many fantastic new ways to prepare cauliflower that have caught my attention lately, there's one cauliflower dish that has me the most inspired. Thanks to its insanely simple preparation and absolutely delicious results, I can't stop obsessing over cauliflower "rice"! Cauliflower rice is just as it sounds - simply cauliflower made to look, feel, and taste just like rice. All it takes to achieve this wonderful rice-like texture is a quick pulse of chopped cauliflower pieces in a food processor. Cook in a skillet with a little butter until tender-crisp. That's it! Can you believe it's just that easy to hack cauliflower into a low-carb, high-fiber comfort food favourite?

Crispy Stuffed French Toast

Crispy Stuffed French Toast - There's nothing worse than soggy french toast! What makes french toast really incredible is the inside is soft and fluffy from the infused egg custard, and the outside gets nice and crisp. It's not always easy to achieve that crisp exterior, risking the chance of burning the outside or drying out the inside, and that's where the food hack comes in! By coating the egg-soaked bread in crushed cereal, you will easily be able to achieve that mouth-watering crisp exterior that breakfast dreams are made of! To enhance that textural contrast even further, I stuffed the french toast with velvety Philadelphia Cinnamon Brown Sugar Cream Cheese! Hungry yet? 

Mini Deep Dish Pizzas

Mini Deep Dish Pizzas - With pizza nights holding a special place in my heart, I was so excited to try a hack for making mini, individual deep-dish pizzas using store-bought biscuit dough baked in muffin tins! What drew me to this hack was memories of making my own personal pizzas with my family. I love that this hack encourages personal expression, allowing each member of the family to dress their pizza as they wish! 

Stay up to date with all my food hack recipes, tips, and tricks, follow me on the Food Hacks Twitter account: @FoodHacks

Listening To: 

Caribou - Can't Do Without You

January Food Hacks Roundup

2-Ingredient Pizza Dough

2-Ingredient Pizza Dough: Two-ingredient pizza dough is a thing, and it's actually really good! Check out my hack for making fantastic pizza dough with only two basic ingredients! I topped my pizza with a sweet and savoury combo of pears, prosciutto, BBQ sauce, and fresh arugula.

30-Second Meatballs

30-Second Meatballs: Hate the repetition of mixing and forming meatballs by hand? Then I've got just the hack for you with my 30-Seconds meatballs! These babies take literally seconds to form and mere minutes to cook, perfect for busy weeknights! 

Asian Sesame Salad in Wonton Cups

Asian Sesame Salad In Wonton Cups: You CAN make friends with salad, and this is just the hack to do it! Wonton wrappers make the perfect serving dish for Asian Sesame Salad when formed into muffin tins and baked until crispy!

Grilled Cheese Dippers

Grilled Cheese Dippers: Do you love taking your grilled cheese for a dip in tomato soup? This awesome fusion food combines two cheesy comfort food favourites (grilled cheese and cheese sticks!) for the ultimate lunchtime treat! 

Stay up to date with all of my food hacking tips and tricks by following me on the @FoodHacks Twitter page! 

Listening To:

Caribou - Back Home 

Hack the Holidays

Festive Ice Cubes

The tree is up, the gifts are purchased, and there is a blanket of snow collecting on my balcony (not to mention a canopy of white continuing to sail down from above. There's no doubt about it, the holidays are fast approaching! 

Peanut Butter Holiday Pancakes

With Christmas only two weeks away (where did the time go?!) it's right about now that everyone begins to freak out over everything that must be checked off their 'to do' list in the coming weeks, in the midst of what is absolutely the busiest and most stressful time of year. With so much to accomplish, and so little time, I am surprisingly far calmer than I've been in previous years. No, I haven't just discovered online shopping (but yes, that is probably the #1 stress reducer to take advantage of during the holidays), but I have discovered a not-so-secret secret to calmly and happily getting through the holidays. The secret, my friends is none other than the oh so wonderful world of food and life hacks! 

Fruity Holiday Ice-n-Pipe

Working on the Kraft Food Hacks campaign has given me the opportunity to search high and low through the dense interweb to find all of the very best hacks to get myself through the holidays. Through my research and testing in the kitchen, I've been able to locate the most successful and helpful of hacks, as well as debunk those that unfortunately result in disappointing failures. I've come up with some really fun and clever ones that have stretched my imagination and am really excited to share with you. My first holiday food hack entry is up on the Kraft Food Hacks blog and is one that I absolutely adore! Head on over to the Food Hacks blog to check out my latest entry on creating Festive Ice Cubes, and be sure to come back over the coming weeks to see what other holiday hacks I have in store for you! Also be sure to follow me along on the Food Hacks Twitter page (@FoodHacks) for even more holiday hacks to make your life a little easier!

Do you have a great holiday hack you want to share? Tweet me: @FoodHacks and let's get hacking! 

Listening To:

Paul McCartney - Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time

Just for the Hack of it!

Just over six months ago I quit my job. I threw in the towel (er...should I say apron?) to focus on making my dreams and my goals a reality. I laid everything out on the table for all to see, which for me was incredibly scary knowing that if I failed, all within my social circle and beyond would know. I called out to friends, family, and acquaintances through various means of social media, emails, texts, and phone calls asking for their help and their guidance in making this crazy foodie dream of mine realized. Some people thought I was crazy, drawing my mind to a quote from one of my favourite songs:

"Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock." Arcade Fire - Sprawl II

 But I refused to punch that metaphorical clock! I knew this was the path I had to go on (or at the very least try!) and I knew this was something that I was good at, which isn't always easy for someone as hard on themselves as myself to admit. Yes, there were absolutely a number of occasions where I had to stop and ask myself "what the hell was I thinking?!" wondering if this vision of how I wanted my future to play out was merely a fantasy that I had created in my head, but alas I persevered. 

And here I am today, about to share with you my very first blog post on the Kraft Canada Food Hacks website, fittingly posted on my birthday! It's weird, part of me had complete blind faith that I would get to this moment, yet the very practical part of my brain is still in complete disbelief that I actually made this happen, and so quickly at that. True, I've been writing Ginger Rose for over five years now, but I feel it wasn't until I put it all on the line and voiced my ambitions that the ball finally started rolling. Put that positive energy and goals out there, and you shall receive! 

So without further ado, I ecstatically introduce to you the Kraft Canada Food Hacks blog, written by yours truly! The first blog post is a fun little Q&A that I did with Kraft about my experience and history with food hacking, getting new readers and devoted Kraft fans to learn a little bit more about myself. 

The second post is where I get cookin', sharing with you one of my favourite food hacks that I've come across, the Grilled Chicken Caesar Wafflewich! I absolutely adore panini sandwiches, allowing sandwiches to have a great moist and soft filling, while giving a fantastic crunchy texture to the outside, not to mention cutting down on mess by making the dish more compact in size (but certainly not in flavour!). Without a panini press, it's difficult to get that same panini-pressed texture and flavour that I crave from some of my favourite sandwich shops and restaurants. Say hello to the good ol' family waffle-maker, here to save the day! Who knew that an appliance that I already had in my home could create the same results as a bulky panini press that I thought was absolutely crucial in achieving a delicious panini?! With comforting familiar flavours similar to a club sandwich (substituting the chicken for what is traditionally used, turkey) the Grilled Chicken Caesar Wafflewich is sure to become your new favourite lunch-time treat! 

Check out the recipe for my Grilled Chicken Caesar Wafflewich as well as my Q&A and tell me what you think! I will be taking over the @foodhacks Twitter page, where I will be sharing all of the many food hacks that I invent and come across. I encourage you to tweet me, comment on my posts, write me on my Ginger Rose Facebook page and email me to share your own food hacking experiences! Have a hack you think I'd like? I want to know! Let's get the food hack conversation started! 

Listening To:

Sprawl II - Arcade Fire