TIP OF THE WEEK

For teens and tweens, after school snacks can pose a bit of a problem. Many options are geared toward younger (and smaller) bellies, while others may pack too big a punch, affecting appetites for dinner. One deliciously satisfying solution? Snacks they can make themselves.

DIY after school snacks let kids push their creative limits. One way to get creative is using favorite breakfast cereals in familiar types of recipes for a whole new taste. For example, a lightly sweetened corn and oat cereal such as Honeycomb has a one-of-a-kind playful shape that makes it an instantly recognizable and flavorful addition to treats.

You can go simple with a snack mix or give muffins a playful and unique twist, as with these Cereal Muffins.

— Family Features

EASY RECIPE: Cereal Muffins

1 cup flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup cold butter or margarine

3 1/3 cups Post Honeycomb Cereal, divided

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 teaspoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12-cup muffin tin.

Mix flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl; cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Mix 3 cups cereal and milk in medium bowl; let stand 3 minutes. Stir in egg. Add to flour mixture; stir just until moistened.

Spoon evenly into muffin tin, filling each cup 2/3 full.

Mix remaining 1/3 cup cereal, 1 teaspoon sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over muffins.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool.

— Family Features

NUMBER TO KNOW

5 percent: A recent Gallup poll found that 5 percent of Americans identify as vegetarian. Among that group, unmarried adults were more likely to be vegetarian than their married counterparts, and vegetarianism is slightly more common among women than it is among men.

— More Content Now

FOOD QUIZ

Which fruit is the most commonly consumed fruit in the United States?

A. Apples

B. Bananas

C. Strawberries

D. Oranges

Answer at bottom of rail.

WORD TO THE WISE

bottarga: Often called the poor man’s caviar, bottarga is the Italian word for a dense cured fish roe made from tuna, gray mullet or swordfish. To make bottarga, the roe pouch of the fish is massaged until its air pockets disappear. It is then dried and cured in sea salt, hardening into a dense tablet after a few weeks. The bottarga is then cut into logs and coated in beeswax, resembling a petrified sausage, a technique which has been traced back to the Phoenicians.

— Cookthink

THE DISH ON…

‘Lighten Up, Y’all: Classic Southern Recipes Made Healthy and Wholesome,’ by Virginia Willis

Virginia Willis is not only an authority on Southern cooking, a French-trained chef and a veteran cookbook author; she is also a proud Southerner who adores cooking for family and friends. So when she needed to drop a few pounds and lighten up her diet, the most important criterion for her new lifestyle was that all the food had to taste delicious. The result is “Lighten Up, Y’all,” a deeply personal collection of Virginia’s new favorite recipes.

— Ten Speed Press

FOOD QUIZ ANSWER

D. Oranges are the most commonly consumed fruit in America, due in large part to Americans’ love for orange juice.

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