You’ve packed the bathing suits and the suntan lotion, the towels and everything else from the 4-page list you’ve made for your entire family in anticipation for your upcoming trip to the Frio. Meals have been planned to a tee and as you arrive at your first night at Rustic Retreat, you feel that you’ve got everything well in hand. And then it happens. The next day comes and with it your first fun-filled day of swimming and tubing at the Landing. The water and cola are in the cooler and after a hearty breakfast, you depart for the fun. Enjoyment ensues and you’ve been swimming and enjoying the cool waters of the Frio when the children descend upon you ravenous from all the physical activity they’ve been engaged with and you have prepared for everything else but the constant- SNACK ATTACKS!
Yes, the dreaded ‘snack attack’! Children can’t get enough snacks when they’re in constant motion but fear not we have a list of recipes ideas that are sure to make you the greatest defender against snack attacks the universe has ever known, or at least your family has ever known.
7 Snack Attack Defender Recipe Ideas
1. Goldfish Crackers
Make your own delicious batch of these little goldfish, but don’t let them loose in the Frio because they don’t look like very good swimmers!
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup (120g) plain flour (note 1)
8 oz (220g) sharp/ extra sharp cheddar cheese – shredded (note 2 & 3)
60g unsalted butter, cold (cut into cubes)
¼ -½ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons cold water
DIRECTIONS:
- Using a pastry blender, cut butter into the flour until it forms coarse crumbs.
- Add salt to mix together.
- Add shredded cheese and cut into the mixture.
- Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Use hand to form dough and divide into 2 portions. Wrap them in plastic and chill for 20 minutes (or longer).
- Preheat oven to 170°C. Line baking trays with parchment papers.
- Take out one portion of the dough from the fridge. Work with one portion at a time. Place dough in between two sheets of wax paper or cling wrap. Roll dough out to 3mm (1/8 in) thickness. Cut out shapes with your choice of cookies cutters (note 4) and transfer to baking tray.
- Use chopstick or toothpick to make the eye balls, and the prong of a fork (I used crab forks) to carve a curvy lip. (This step is optional)
- Gather all the trimmings and re-roll. Repeat until all the dough is used up.
- Bake for approximately 15-17 minutes, until the crackers are crispy and golden around edges. Timing will vary according to size and shape of your crackers. Cool for 10 minutes on baking tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
Notes:
- You can substitute it with 50-100% whole wheat flour.
- Shred the cheese finer than what is shown in the photo so that you can easily cut them into the mixture.
- Get orange cheese if you can.
- If you have food processor, pulse everything (except water) together until the dough resembles coarse sand. Then follow with step 4.
- Thinner dough means crispier crackers; thicker dough means puffier, more bread-like crackers. But, the dough must not be too thin or else the crackers will be difficult to handle.
- If you don’t have cookie cutter, you can use a pizza cutter or knife to score the desired shapes. Refer to THIS POST.
- Crackers will turn soft pretty fast even they are kept inside an airtight container. Best to be eaten immediately or within a day or two. To extend them for a week or so, I keep them in the fridge. Lightly warm them up in the toaster oven when I want to eat them.
2. Granola Bars
3. Mini Pancakes or Waffles 
INGREDIENTS
- 3 cups air-popped popcorn
1 cup whole-grain cereal squares or “O”s
- 1/2 cup dried apple rings, torn into smaller pieces
- 1/2 cup peanuts
- 1/4 cup almonds
- 1/4 cup raisins
DIRECTIONS:
Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl or resealable plastic bag. Stir or gently toss.
6. Make-Your-Own Fruit Leather
Making your own fruit leather is easy, with just a few tools. A Silpat is needed – it is a silicone baking mat that prevents delicate things from sticking as they bake. A kitchen scale is also key to weigh your fruit – this ensures accuracy and consistency for perfect fruit leather every time.
Frozen fruit, thawed, works best for fruit leather, in terms of consistency in texture, taste and bake time.

DIRECTIONS
1. Thaw the fruit in a strainer over a bowl, to allow any excess juices to run out.
2. Preheat the oven to 175ºF and line a large baking tray with a Silpat. Puree the fruits with the orange zest until smooth. Spread the puree evenly over the entire Siplat, taking care to make it as level as possible. Bake this for 4 to 5 hours, until dried but still pliable. Allow the fruit leather to cool, and then peel it off the Silpat and slice it into pieces.
3. The fruit leather will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
7. Pretzel Sparklers
This particular recipe is for pretzel sparklers for “Canada Day” but we here at the Frio felt that the creative Texans reading this can give it a Lone-Star makeover and we would love some pics when you do. Share them on our facebook page and you’ll be the most famous pretzel maker in the world! Well, not really, but we’d sure love to see your pics!
Here’s the recipe:
INGREDIENTS
1 ½ cups finely chopped white chocolate12 pretzel rods28.5 g cherry popping candy
DIRECTIONS
1. Heat white chocolate in a double boiler set over medium heat. Keep over heat until chocolate is fully melted, about 5 minutes. Pour chocolate into a tall pint-sized glass.2. Dip one pretzel rod into white chocolate. Allow excess chocolate to drip off. Sprinkle cherry popping candy onto pretzel rod while white chocolate is still wet. Set onto a baking sheet lined with parchment. Continue with remaining pretzels. Tilt the glass of chocolate when necessary to allow tops of pretzels to fully immerse in chocolate.3. Heat red chocolate rounds in a double boiler set over medium heat. Keep over heat until chocolate is fully melted, about 5 minutes. Pour chocolate into a bowl. Dip the end of one pretzel rod into the red chocolate. Flip pretzel rod upside down to create a dripping effect with the chocolate. Hold pretzel rod still for 3 seconds to allow chocolate to set. Set onto a baking sheet lined with new parchment paper.4. Allow pretzels to set in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.
Read more at http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/canada-day-pretzel-sparklers/18516/#hFz0tbkhfcrc8U4s.99