Snacking Squirrel's 5th Blog Birthday

Can you believe today is Snacking Squirrels 5th Birthday!

Also my 26th Birthday, so its a special day!

Thanks for all the support along these 5 years, and many more to come :)

A drawing from a friend

Nutters! Mr. Squirrel looks so cute in his birthday hat!

Bear with my many "party" photos

We like to celebrate in the Snacking Squirrel household

And that also means...

We eat pie! 

Half Deep Dish Pumpkin Pie, Nutters' favorite!

Thanks for stopping by and celebrating with me

Have an awesome day. See you next Blogiversary :)

Birthdays and Chinese Food

I just celebrated my 23rd birthday on the 8th, which also 

marks the 2 year anniversary blogiversary of Snacking Squirrel!

Reece had the cleverly cute idea to tie up my pink birthday balloon to his cat, Camille

The evil "feline" face he drew on the balloon

Growing up, my parents always let us choose what we wanted to eat 

for dinner, generally referring to what type of fast food we wanted

Each year I'd suggest Chinese Food because

 nothing tasted better to me when I was a kid

Take-out from Ginger Beef here in Calgary

Chicken Chop Suey

Stir-Fried Vegetables

Pineapple Sweet & Sour Pork

Question: Do you request specific 

foods or meals on your birthday?

Birthday Boy Cupcakes

I've been in Vancouver for the past week enjoying the chance to spend time

with my oldest brother, who in fact, just celebrated his 26th Birthday yesterday

His girlfriend baked and decorated these cute little cupcakes for him

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting and Rainbow Sprinkles

I haven't made cupcakes in a long time, so when I get back home I 

should rummage through my recipes and whip something up for you guys!

Uh oh! Casper, their cat, spotted the cupcakes!

"Sniff Sniff" Purr

I didn't take any photos of my travels, but you can check back

here to see what what I got up to the last time I was in Vancouver

Mommy's Sippy Cup

Happy Birthday to my Mom who turns 53 23 today! 

Because our family is notorious for giving unique gifts and

 my brothers and I love to joke around, we bought her an extra

 special birthday gift. Inside this "OUR Name is Mud" box is...

MOMMY'S SIPPY CUP

A goblet for adult drinks, you know, apple juice, soda, water? haha

Fun polka dot shapes and spiral designs

My Mom proudly holding her new sippy cup... 

hmm I'd say it's better than last year's gift, no?

Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Cookies

As I mentioned yesterday, my brother just had his 24th Birthday. I

was so honored when he said to me, "Kelsey, all I want for my birthday is for

 you to bake me your Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies!" 

He hasn't been able to forget these delicious cookies I made for

his girlfriend's Surprise Birthday Party. So I told him, "How about I 

do even better! Instead of chocolate chips, I'll use chocolate chunks!"

Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Cookies

created by Snacking Squirrel

1.5 cups all purpose flour

1 cup whole rolled oats

3/4 cup quick cooking oats
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
4 ounces dark chocolate

3/4 cup cane sugar 
(or your sweetener of choice)

3/4 cup almond milk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions:

A. Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit

B. Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl

C. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients together

D. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients, gently mix

E. Chop dark chocolate into chunks and fold into batter

F. Coat baking pan with oil or line with parchment paper

G. Scoop a few spoonfuls of batter onto the pan and gently

      press down with your hand to flatten cookie

H. Bake for 12-15 minutes 

I made 5 JUMBO SIZED cookies but typically each batch 

yields: 6 large cookies, 10 medium cookies, 15 small cookies

And check back here for a wheat free version of these

Gorilla Munch vs. Corn Pops

Nowadays when you're out grocery shopping and walk past the 

cereal aisle, you can't help but notice an ever increasing display of

 healthy cereals determined to rival their well-known competitors

Envirokidz Gluten Free Gorilla Munch Cereal by Nature's Path looks like Kellogg's 

Corn Pops, but does it taste like Corn Pops? That's what we're about to find out!

Ingredients: Organic corn meal, granulated organic sugar cane juice, sea salt

Basically little puffs of corn, and some sugar

Now let's compare Gorilla Munch to Corn Pops...

Ingredients: Corn meal, sugar, corn bran, corn syrup, 

fancy molasses, salt, oat flour, baking soda, colour, bht

The added food colouring in Corn Pops clearly 

explains the cereal's darker yellow/orange hue

So who better to do this Cereal Taste Test than Mr. Corn Puff

lover himself, and 24-year-old birthday boy, my shirtless brother!

Review: "Mmm wow that's definitely similar to Corn Pops!

 There isn't much of a difference. Gorilla Munch is a bit sweeter 

and also crunchier. Where was this stuff when we were kids!

Gorilla Munch Cereal gets an A+