snack

Homemade Granola Bars (freezer friendly)

These delicious homemade granola bars can be made ahead and frozen. This makes them perfect for school lunches or snacks. They are so much fresher and healthier than what you can buy in the store. The week before my kids went back to school, I spent an afternoon making things ahead that they could take for school lunches or snacks. I made these granola bars, mini corn dog muffins, mini pumpkin muffins, and I froze bags of rhubarb for making rhubarb muffins in the future.

I’m so glad to have these snacks made ahead. It’s making our mornings so much easier. I’m not getting complaints about there being “nothing to put in my lunch” anymore either!

If your child attends a school that is peanut-free and nut-free or if there are any allergies in your house, you can substitute the peanut-butter for SunButter or WowButter.

Homemade Granola Bars Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar
3 cups honey
2/3 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 cups peanut butter (or SunButter)
4 tsp. vanilla
8 cups Rice Krispies
5 cups old fashioned oats
chocolate chips
optional: flaxseed, pumpkin seeds, or hemp

Instructions:

In a medium pot on the stovetop, bring the brown sugar, honey, coconut oil, and salt to a boil. Boil for 1 minute.
Add in the peanut butter and vanilla. Stir.
Put the oats and Rice Krispies in a large mixing bowl. If you’re adding any of the optional ingredients, mix them in.
Pour the mixture from the pot over the oats and Rice Krispies. Stir.
Let sit for 5 minutes or so.
Spread parchment paper onto two cookie sheets.
Lay the granola bar mixture on the parchment paper.
Press a second cookie sheet on top to flatten. Sprinkle chocolate chips over and press again.
Cool in the fridge. Cut.
Freeze flat on the tray. When frozen, transfer the granola bars to freezer bags, remove the excess air, seal, and freeze again.

You may also be interested in these other make-ahead snack recipes:

Corn Dog Mini Muffins for School Lunches English Muffin Pizzas

Mini Pancake Muffins

Homemade Granola Bars

Course: Breakfast, Snack

Keyword: granola

Servings: 24 bars

Calories: 327 kcal

Ingredients

1 cup brown sugar
3 cups honey
2/3 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 cups peanut butter
4 tsp. vanilla
8 cups Rice Krispies
5 cups old fashioned oats
chocolate chips
optional: flaxseed pumpkin seeds, or hemp

Instructions

In a medium pot on the stovetop, bring the brown sugar, honey, coconut oil, and salt to a boil. Boil for 1 minute.
Add in the peanut butter and vanilla. Stir.
Put the oats and Rice Krispies in a large mixing bowl.
Pour the mixture from the pot over the oats and Rice Krispies. Stir.
Let sit for 5 minutes or so.
Spread parchment paper onto two cookie sheets.
Lay the granola bar mixture on the parchment paper.
Press a second cookie sheet on top to flatten. Sprinkle chocolate chips over and press again.
Cool in the fridge. Cut.
Freeze flat on the tray. When frozen, transfer the granola bars to freezer bags, remove the excess air, seal, and freeze again.

Recipe Notes

You can make these homemade granola bars peanut-free by substituting the peanut butter for WowButter or SunButter.

Corn Dog Mini Muffins for School Lunches (freezer friendly)

By Sharla

Last Sunday, we hosted a BBQ for a few families. We ended up with three packs of hot dogs leftover. I didn’t want them to go to waste, but I also didn’t feel like it would be healthy to feed my kid’s hot dogs for breakfast, lunch, and supper every day. Thus, the corn dog mini muffins were born!

The timing could not have been more perfect because my kids start school on Tuesday. Now, I have bags of these in the freezer ready for them to pop into their school lunches. I’ve been stocking the freezer with make-ahead breakfasts, ready-to-go sandwiches, mini muffins, and homemade granola bars.
My kids and even my teens thought these were adorable. They are excited to take them in their lunch bags or to grab them as an after-school snack.

This recipe makes 10 dozen mini muffins, so if you have a smaller family or don’t have much space in your freezer, you may want to half the recipe.

Corn Dog Mini Muffins Recipe:

1 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
8 eggs
1 cup honey, melted or softened
2 2/3 cup milk
4 2/3 cup flour
3 Tbsp. baking powder
1 cup cornmeal
2 tsp. salt
24 hot dogs

Assembly instructions:

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and softened butter with an electric beater at medium speed.
Add the eggs, honey, and milk and mix.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cornmeal, and salt. Stir with a spoon.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and use the electric beater to combine well.
Grease the mini muffin trays.
Spoon batter to fill about half of each cup.
Slice the hot dogs into chunks.
Place a hot dog chunk into each muffin cup on top of the batter and press down slightly.
Bake at 400° for 10 minutes.*
Remove from the muffin tin after a few minutes and allow to cool before transferring to a large resealable freezer bag.
Remove the excess air from the bags, seal, and freeze.

Serving instructions:

Grab out as many as needed and reseal the bag.
Eat cold or reheat in the microwave on a paper towel or paper napkin. If desired, you can serve with ketchup.

*If you make these into full-sized muffins, you’ll need to adjust the cooking time.

Check out these other kid-friendly make-ahead recipes:

Breakfast Sausage Hand Pies

Tater Tot Pizza Casserole

Make-Ahead English Muffin Pizzas

Pancake Mini Muffins

Corn Dog Mini Muffins

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Course: Lunch, Snack

Keyword: corn dog muffins

Servings: 120

Calories: 96 kcal

Ingredients

1 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
8 eggs
1 cup honey melted or softened
2 2/3 cup milk
4 2/3 cup flour
3 Tbsp. baking powder
1 cup cornmeal
2 tsp. salt
24 hot dogs

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and softened butter with an electric beater at medium speed.
Add the eggs, honey, and milk and mix.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cornmeal, and salt. Stir with a spoon.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and use the electric beater to combine well.
Grease the mini muffin trays.
Spoon batter to fill about half of each cup.
Slice the hot dogs into chunks.
Place a hot dog chunk into each muffin cup on top of the batter and press down slightly.
Bake at 400° for 10 minutes.*
Remove from the muffin tin after a few minutes and allow to cool before transferring to a large resealable freezer bag.
Remove the excess air from the bags, seal, and freeze.
Grab out as many as needed and reseal the bag.
Eat cold or reheat in the microwave on a paper towel or paper napkin. If desired, you can serve with ketchup.

Recipe Notes

*If you make these into full-sized muffins, you'll need to adjust the cooking time.

Make Ahead Breakfast Sausage Hand Pies

By Sharla

These simple breakfast hand pies can be made ahead and reheated one at a time for busy mornings. You can make several sheets at once (double or triple the recipe) to ensure you have many on hand.

In my house, I currently have 5 teenagers (yes, 5!). That’s a whole lot of big appetites. I can’t believe how much teen boys (and girls for that matter) eat. It seems like they are hungry all day long.

Having food in the freezer in individual portions so that they can pull out one at a time and warm them up themselves is so helpful. It really cuts back on the “mom, I’m hungry” calls!

These are great for mornings, but they also make good after school or before bed snacks for hungry teens.

Sausage Breakfast Hand Pies:

2 packages of refrigerator crescent rolls
1 lb. of ground breakfast sausage
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
optional: sliced green onion for garnish

Brown the ground sausage in a 12-inch skillet. Drain the sausage meat and add it to a large mixing bowl.

Add the softened cream cheese and mix thoroughly.

Place one of the refrigerator crescent rolls on a large non-stick baking sheet and spread to cover the baking sheet.

Put the meat and cheese mixture on top of the crescent roll and spread ¼ an inch to the edge.

Set the other crescent roll on top of the meat and cheese mixture and seal up the ends.

Using a knife, cut slits in the top to allow it to vent.
Place in the oven and cook at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Once it is done baking, allow 3-5 mins to cool before cutting.

Wrap each hand pie in plastic wrap and place in a large resealable bag. Seal and freeze.

Take out the hand pies (individually or all at once) and reheat either in the microwave or in the oven. Some people like to dip them in ketchup or hot sauce. Feel free to experiment to find how you like them best.

Check out these other make-ahead breakfast recipes:

Mini Pancake Muffins

Cinnamon Freezer French Toast

Sausage Breakfast Hand Pies

Servings: 8

Calories: 440 kcal

Ingredients

2 packages of refrigerator crescent rolls
1 lb. ground breakfast sausage
8 oz. cream cheese softened

Instructions

Brown the ground sausage in a 12 inch skillet.
Drain the sausage meat and add to a large mixing bowl.
Add the softened cream cheese and mix thoroughly.
Place one of the refrigerator crescent rolls on a large non-stick baking sheet and spread to cover the baking sheet.
Put the meat and cheese mixture on top of the crescent roll and spread ¼ an inch to the edge.
Place the other crescent roll on top of meat and cheese mixture and seal up the ends.
Using a knife, cut slits in the top to allow it to vent.
Place in the oven and cook at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
Once it is done baking, allow 3-5 mins to cool before cutting.
Wrap each hand pie in plastic wrap and place in a large resealable bag. Seal and freeze.
Take out the hand pies (individually or all at once) and reheat either in the microwave or in the oven.