By The tomatoes are setting fruit. Small green globes hanging like promises — in six weeks there will be a tomato sandwich: white bread, Duke's mayonnaise, thick slice still warm from the vine, salt. If you think a tomato sandwich needs more, you've never had a good tomato.
Made cold supper Wednesday — BLTs with grocery store tomatoes, which are not good but are what's available until the garden produces. The difference between a grocery store tomato and a garden tomato is the difference between a letter and a phone call — information versus feeling.
Connie's birthday Saturday. She turned fifty-five. Made her a three-layer chocolate cake from scratch — Betty's recipe. Butter creamed with sugar, eggs one at a time, cocoa and flour and buttermilk, frosted with chocolate buttercream beaten until my arm hurt. The layers were slightly uneven because I'm a better cook than baker, but Connie ate two pieces and said Craig, this is really good, and really good from Connie on a baked item is a standing ovation.
Gave her a garden center gift certificate because Connie wants plants more than anything from a store. The best gift is the one she would buy herself. She opened the card and said this is sweet, I can tell you wrote it yourself because the handwriting is illegible. She's not wrong. My handwriting looks like a seismograph from a moderate earthquake.
Creaming butter and sugar until my arm gave out was worth every bite of Connie’s birthday cake, but I’m not doing that again on a random Tuesday. When the chocolate craving comes back — and it always does — I want something I can pull together without a stand mixer or a prayer. This skinny chocolate peanut butter snack mix is exactly that: all the satisfaction of the chocolate-and-peanut-butter lane, portioned out at 100 calories a serving so I’m not eating a second slice of anything by accident. Connie keeps a bowl of it on the counter and calls it the birthday cake’s reasonable cousin.
Skinny 100-Calorie Chocolate Peanut Butter Snack Mix
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 5 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes (includes cooling) | Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 4 cups rice cereal squares (such as Rice Chex)
- 1 cup mini pretzels
- 1/2 cup dry-roasted peanuts, lightly salted
- 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 3 tablespoons natural peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil (or unsalted butter)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted
Instructions
- Combine dry ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, combine the rice cereal, mini pretzels, and peanuts. Toss gently to distribute evenly and set aside.
- Melt the chocolate coating. In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and coconut oil. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until fully melted and smooth — about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes total. Stir in the vanilla extract.
- Coat the mix. Pour the melted chocolate-peanut butter mixture over the dry ingredients. Stir gently with a rubber spatula until every piece is evenly coated.
- Add powdered sugar. Transfer the coated mixture to a large zip-top bag or lidded container. Add the sifted powdered sugar, seal, and shake well until all pieces are coated and the mix looks lightly dusted.
- Cool and set. Spread the mix in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Let cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, or refrigerate for 15 minutes, until the chocolate sets and the mix is no longer sticky.
- Portion and store. Divide into twelve equal portions (roughly 1/2 cup each). Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 100 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 5g | Carbs: 13g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 95mg