Earth Day treats

[Jolie Rouge]

Earth Day Bars

Celebrate the planet's natural delights by baking a batch of these sweet snacks filled with a harvest of ingredients from all around the world.
Here's some background info on the tasty add-ins:

Raisins: California, the only place in the United States that harvests the grapes used to make raisins, is the world's No. 1 supplier.

Pineapple: Thailand produces approximately 20 percent of the world's pineapple crop, surpassing the Hawaiian Islands.

Brazil nuts: The complex growing environment this tree crop requires prevents it from being grown on farms. Instead, it's harvested directly from the rain forests of Brazil, Peru, and other South American countries.

Chocolate: Africa's Ivory Coast is the largest producer of cocoa beans, the ingredient that gives chocolate its unique, irresistible flavor.

Coconut: The Philippines and Indonesia are the world's leading producers of copra, or coconut meat.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups baking mix (we used Bisquick)
1 1/2 cups instant oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

ADD-INS:

Coconut flakes
Chocolate chips
Chopped dried pineapple
Raisins
Chopped Brazil nuts

Instructions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the baking mix, oats, brown sugar, butter, egg, and cinnamon.

Stir the mix with a wooden spoon until you have a crumbly dough. Next, customize your international treats by folding in 1 cup total of the add-ins of your choice.

Press the dough into an ungreased 9- by 13-inch pan and bake for 17 minutes or until the center is set and the bars are slightly brown. Allow them to cool for 10 minutes before cutting. Makes 1-1/2 dozen 2- by 3-inch bars


Balls of Energy

These nutritious bites are easy to mass-produce and just as easy for players to pop in their mouths during halftime or whenever they need a boost.

Ingredients

1 small banana
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
Finely chopped peanuts, mini-chocolate chips, or shredded coconut for coating

Instructions
In a medium bowl, mash together the banana and the peanut butter.

Stir in the wheat germ. Roll individual tablespoons of the mixture into balls, then roll the balls in one, or a mix, of the coatings listed above. Chill until firm. Makes 14 balls.

Variation: For a peanut-free version, substitute sunflower-seed or soy-nut butter for the peanut butter, and omit the peanuts and chocolate chips (which can contain traces of peanut).



Snail Snack

This silly-looking snack may appear to be moving at a snail's pace, but it goes together -- and disappears -- quick as a wink.

http://familyfun.go.com/back-to-scho...-snack-686884/


Ingredients

Mayonnaise or whipped cream cheese
Large tortilla (square if possible)
Lettuce or baby spinach
Sliced deli meat of your choice
Sliced cheese of your choice
Gherkin pickles
Chive stalks

Instructions
If necessary, trim the rounded edges of the tortilla to make it square, then spread on a thin layer of the mayo or cream cheese.

Layer on the lettuce or baby spinach, then the meat and cheese, and roll it up tightly.

With the seam on the bottom, slice the tortilla into 2-inch-wide pinwheels. For the snail's heads, cut a pickle in half at an angle. Poke two small holes in the uncut ends and stick pieces of chive with knots at one end in each for antennae.

Slip each pickle half under the edge of a pinwheel, securing them together with a toothpick, if necessary. Makes 4 to 6 pinwheel sandwiches.

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