Weekly Playgroup Snack: "MUD" (No-Bake Cookies)

Good Morning Wonderful Parent-Readers!
This past week at our PLAY GROUP, we read about dirt and mud, and decided to eat some "mud" afterwards!
(not really, we just had some delicious no-bake cookies)
This is a great treat for your children, especially to give them a little more whole-grains in their diet... there is oatmeal in this recipe and your kids won't even notice!!

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut-Butter Cookies
I got this recipe from The Food Network

Photo Credit

Here's What You'll Need:

- 3 cups of quick oats

- 2 cups of sugar

- 1/2 cup of milk

- 4 Tbs of cocoa powder

- 1 stick of butter

- 1 cup peanut butter

- 1 Tbs vanilla

- Wax paper

*TIP* Some kids may not like the texture of the oatmeal in the cookies. I had some oatmeal ground up (in a food processor, so it was more like flour) and did half n half in the recipe.

Here's What You Do:

• First, combine the sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa in a big sauce pan and bring to a boil.
• After boiling for 1 minute, add the peanut butter, vanilla and oatmeal.
• Mix until all even, and then drop teaspoonfuls onto the wax paper to cool and harden.
• (I placed them in the fridge to speed up the cooling process)
• And that's it! All ready to eat!!

*TIP*: although this snack is not all nutritious (lots of butter and sugar) it does have oatmeal and peanut butter, here are some healthy facts about oatmeal and peanut butter:

Oatmeal is a good source of Fiber, something that children (and adults!) struggle to have in our diets. One cup of oatmeal equals 4 grams of fiber. Other high-fiber foods can be found HERE.
For more information on fiber and the benefits of whole grains visit QuakerOats.

Peanut Butter can also be beneficial to us. Natural peanut butter is much better than refined, because it does not have as much sugar and other additives. Nonetheless, peanut butter, natural or refined, contains protein and is good for the heart. Click HERE for more facts about peanut butter.

 Here are some pictures of the play group this week:

 See you next time!