School Recess ideas - Brownie Cookies

One thing that has challenged me recently is the whole concept of what to put in the kids' lunchboxes for their recess. I tend to have the lunches down pat or they are getting used to making their own - yippee!! I want to cut down on the package foods that are so easy to purchase, but aren't really good for them and are really expensive when you think about it. Even if you are an Aldi shopper, if you add up your what you spend on snacks for school and at home you could be a little shocked.

I have really thought a lot about this lately because my grocery bills were getting higher and higher and I was realizing that my kids were always saying that they were hungry and couldn't find anything to eat. I thought I was being creative with my purchasing, but when I thought about it, I was just buying crap that wasn't good for them. That being said, I do allow some packaged crap now and then to keep me sane!! What I have realised now, is that in the desire to do better for my kids I have added to my work load - not yippee!! Well, not really. I do like to bake and baking or making your own snacks is really better for everyone in the long run, and if you do a bunch of snacks that are freezable then you really will be laughing!

As you know I have embarked on the freezer meal trail and in so doing, I have added a recess recipes that can be frozen or made the night before with ease, to my list. some recipes are from scratch and other incorporate cake and brownie mixes that can be purchased - not super natural, but super easy and sometimes you have to cut corners and make it easy for yourself. Some recipes are littler healthier than others, but at the end of the day you want to have a little control on what and how much (size portion) they consume and you can do that best if you are making them. Here in NSW, we have school holidays coming up as of next week and I will endeavour to use the holidays to make a bunch of treats that are freezer friendly so that most of next term will be sorted out - well that is the goal anyway. Cookies, slices, brownies, cakes, muffins, and cupcakes are on the list. I will post when I can and share what I am doing so that you might find something that could work for you.

I do want to share one quick recipe that I found great and my kids loved them. Making cookies from your brownie or cake mixes (store bought) is something new to me. I discovered this on Pinterest and it seems to be something that has been doing the rounds in North America for some time - why are we so slow here in Australia?? Well this inspiration led me to a blog, "I Take Joy". Sally, who is the author shares a recipe on how to use your Ghirardelli brownie mix to make cookies from it. It just so happens that Ghirardelli is the brownie mix you can get from Costco and since the box has like 6 pouches in it, I figured I can do this!! The hyperlink above takes you to the recipe, and this is the result:

I added butterscotch chips as I had a friend bring some back for me from the USA - again why don't we have these here in Australia?? I don't get it!! That being said, Nestle do sell caramel chips which is a nice change and a good alternative. The recipes yields about 30 cookies. Its so easy and it is something a little different and a lot cheaper than packaged muffin bars. Best of all my kids have been asking for them - which is what you want! If you didn't want to do the store bought brownie mix, there are dime a dozen recipes making them from scratch which you can easily find via Google.

PS, Just to be clear, these treats are in addition to their fruit break and other things like vege sticks and cheese etc.