Road Trip Snackin’

Guess who has 2 kids and a long drive ahead of them??!??! It’s ME and my LUCKY husband! For real though we really are excited about driving to the beautiful city of Rexburg Idaho this weekend because our sister is getting married!!! Yay for the beginnings of happily ever afters! I’m so excited to be with and visit with and laugh with and hug and play and just breathe the same air as family. I know…that was a lot of “ands”, it’s true though, we’re so excited to be there. The road trip however…well, I’m not sure I’m super stoked about that. It’s 17 hours and 5 minutes according to google, but according to parenting and a potty training child it’s like at least a 3 days journey. Okay, not really but tag on an extra 3 hours at least. Oh man…that’s a long drive. Don’t worry, I come prepared. Food and DVD’s to the rescue. Let me show you some of the top picks for the road!

Numero Uno: Hummus. Have you ever tried making hummus?! It is like the EASIEST thing to make in your very own kitchen. I’m pretty sure that I would be able to make this hummus quicker than standing the grocery store looking at all the different types and flavors and trying to pick one to take home! Seriously, it’s like 3 minutes. That’s it!

2 cans Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans)

1 tsp. Minced Garlic

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/4 tsp. Ground Cumin

And then the optionals: Olive oil (no more than a Tbsp.), Paprika, and Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

Ok, so all you do is open both cans of chickpeas, drain one can of the juice and pour it into your blender or food processor (I am using a Vitamix). Now pour in the second can, juice and all. Add the garlic, salt, and cumin. Turn blender on (if you have a vitamix) to the “Frozen Desserts” setting and let it run it’s course. If you don’t have a vitamix, turn blender on low, then slowly increase the speed to high, making sure all of the chickpeas are blended well. Blend for roughly 2 minutes. Once it has stopped, evaluate the softness/creaminess of the hummus. If you like it more creamy, add a little bit of olive oil. Don’t add too much though or else it will be too watery. I never end up adding any to mine and I love the texture. BUT everyone is different, so…it’s your call.   Scoop hummus out of the blender and if desired add optional toppings: a light sprinkle of paprika and a dash of crushed red peppers does the trick for me. I love it! Now just dip away!
  

Okay, these things. If you have kids I think you would agree with me that whoever invented these little squeezable pouches is a GENIOUS and should be given the “best idea ever” award. I never really knew how awesome these were until recently. I just thought they were a waste of money. I mean I could be a huge jar of applesauce and get WAY more servings. Yeah, well opinion has definitely changed. Since we’ve been in Minnesota we have done a TON of car traveling and these things have saved me over and over again. The kids start fussing, crying, screaming, want to get out of the car, are hungry or bored…open one of these babies, hand it back and life is bliss. Even my little one year old can handle these things. They love them. I love them. Of course we are bringing them.

Another car favorite. These are good to munch on while driving as it adds a little protein AND a good healthy fat. You don’t want to eat too much however because then you get gas and the whole car stinks. Ha. What?! I get gas…and let it rip?!! Yes, yes I do. And so do you, let’s be real.

I feel like I have car traveled my whole life. I mean we’ve been on a plane multiple times too but driving the car had always been so much cheaper. We used to go buy TONS of car snacks like crackers, chips, candy, granola bars, yada yada yada…all the stuff that makes you feel tired and disgusting while you drive long distances. As we’ve slowly changed our eating habits I like to make sure we pack lots of fresh foods that will help fuel our bodies and keep us alert the whole drive.

I love bringing fresh fruit on our road trips. We have a mini refridgerator built into our van to help keep things cool that need to be cool like GRAPES! We will also stick our cheese sticks, carrots, celery, peppers for the hummus, apples and blueberries in there as well. It can actually hold a surprising amount of food. Having cold fruits and veggies on hand makes it easier to eat clean on the road. You’re not always reaching for the chocolate, candy, chips, crackers, or whatever else we used to bring.

That being said…one of the things I just can’t give up yet are Twizzlers. Yep, they are my favorite candy in the car. My mom would always buys these for us when we traveled. So Twizzlers are still wrapped around my heart for a while longer. Plus…you do still want a sweet treat while on the go. I never said we were 100% healthy eaters. We still have our sweet tooths. 🙂

Pistachios are awesome for keeping you awake! You have to work at it to get to center! Plus they are kind of loud when you eat them so your driving partner can stay awake too. 😉 We LOVE pistachios.

Um, have you seen these fruit snacks yet? They are hands down THE BEST fruit snacks we have ever had. They are organic which is a plus, but also they are made with real fruit, fruit juice, and sprinkled cane sugar on top. They aren’t gooey or squishy like other fruit snacks either (which is why I don’t like the other kinds…) they are nice and hard and chewy. It takes the kids forever to chew up just one package. It’s awesome. They’re awesome. We love them. The end.

Eggs. Hard BAKED eggs. Yep, they are baked and I’m never going back to boiling. I don’t know why but for some reason I have always had the hardest time boiling eggs. I would ALWAYS forget to set a timer, or remember when they needed to be taken off the stove. They would always be over cooked, undercooked, or completely forgotten about and destroyed. Ha. I’ve been baking them for a while now and love it. Here’s what you do.

First preheat your oven to 325 F. Grab a muffin tin. I like the mini muffin tins because they are able to keep the eggs up on one end. Plus everything mini is always so much cuter. 😉 Place your eggs (as many as you’d like or will fit in the tin) in your muffin tin. One egg per spot. Bake at 325 for 30 minutes. When they come out they will have little brown speckles on them from the water…that’s ok, that’s normal.

Now place your eggs in an ice bath for 10 minutes. This will help the egg shell peel off really easily without destroying your perfect little egg inside. Also another perk of baking the eggs; you don’t have that rotten egg smell when you’re peeling them. You know what I’m talking about. It’s disgusting. When you bake them, you don’t get that.

For road trips we like to go ahead and peel all of our eggs beforehand so it’s not quite as messy in the car with egg shells flying everywhere. These provide us with good protein and energy as we drive the long haul as well. Knowing us however we’ll probably eat all of this before we even leave the twin cities. Ha. That’s just how we roll. We love good food. 😉
So like I said before, this isn’t a list of EVERYTHING that we are bringing but these are the main components. We will also be bringing homemade popcorn (always a favorite). I could literally do an entire post about my love for popcorn, in fact I probably will. I’m obsessed with the Whirley Pop and won’t stop promoting it until everyone in this world has one. Okay, not really but it’s awesome.

We also have apples, blueberries, strawberries, a couple granola bars that were left over from a few weeks ago, some gum of course, sunflower seeds, some gummy worms for the kids and water. Lots of water. I bought the kids new sippy cups and they are SO EXCITED to go on a road trip just so they can drink out of their new cups. Haha. I love little kids and the things they get excited about. That being said, I hope we don’t have to make a zillion stops for the potty. :/ Bad. Bad. Bad. Hopefully they just sleep for 17 hours straight, right?! YES! Then I will get all the food! (Enter evil laugh: Mahahahaha!) Kidding of course. I just hope we make it there alive. Lots of prayers and lots of food. We’re good to go!

Let the journey begin!