Blogger Boggle: Favorite After School Snack
Editors’ Note: Blogger Boggle is the new ES interview series. You know, it’s hard thinking of snarky commentary every day, so we’ve opened up the labor pool to our fellow food bloggers.
This week we’re reminiscing about our favorite after school snacks.
Banana with peanut butter & chocolate chips. Hot damn that was a great combo. Runner up: Ants on a log (celery with peanut butter & raisins) Apparently I liked snacks that were “playful.” No “Doritos” or something generic for me— it’s all about Moms who take the time to prepare the fun stuff.
—Jon Eick, So Good
Back in High School I used to make this sandwich that I just called “The Egg Sandwich.” There was only one egg on it, but it also had like 4 or 5 slices of cheap American cheese, and I buttered both sides of the bread. Delicious. Then I would go play soccer for two hours. These days I’ve substituted the sandwich with beer and the soccer with watching my cat chase a laser pointer.
—Nick, Macheesmo
I grew up in Macon, Ga. so you have to excuse me and since I’m fucking old, I date myself with a really cold bottle of Coke (glass with the name of the bottling company on the bottom) with M&M’s added til they would make the coke fizz over the top … and then drink it fast and eat the candy …
—Michael Birchenall, FOODSERVICE MONTHLY’S Sauce on the Side
Back in the day, a simple sandwich would do me fine… as I got older, it got more complicated. I think now when I get home from school, I just rummage in the fridge and at most, fry an egg to slap on top of rice and/or leftover veggies and I’m good… wait, that’s not a snack is it? (ummm, this is probably the part where someone jumps in and yells “This is why you’re fat!” right?)
—Yvo Sin, Feisty Foodie
Growing up we had the most unhealthy, non-nutritious snacks you can imagine waiting for us when we got home. Yodels, Ring Dings, Entenman’s chocolate donuts: that was our after-school diet. I’d grab one or two processed chocolate cakey things and sit on the couch and watch “Tiny Toons” and “Animaniacs” and bliss out on my chemical sugar high.
—Adam Roberts, Amateur Gourmet
As a kid, the minute my mother’s car cleared the driveway, I went straight for the peanut butter jar with a spoon. (Kids: don’t try this at home! It turns out you can choke to death that way! For reals!)
—Kristen Bonardi Rapp, gezellig-girl.com
I lived for watching Batman the Animated Series while munching on a Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls. I’m not sure how it all started, but perfectly deconstructing a Swiss Cake Roll was the highlight of almost every afternoon. A fairly involved two stage process, it began by carefully removing the outside chocolate coating, ideally in one, solid layer and nibbling the bottom ends and sides of the harder to reach chocolate. Once thoroughly “cleaned” it was only a mater of unrolling the swirled cake from the cream enjoying only a half a roll at a time until there was nothing left. I doubt I do, or will ever do, anything as meticulously as I did while eating that treat and watching the caped crusader.
—Bliz, A Moveable Feast and Endless Simmer
What was your favorite after school snack?
The place to go after school during high school was Burger King. I was vegetarian at the time and would get “veggie” Whoppers and some of those fake-ass onion rings. Veggie in quotes because it was just a cheeseburger minus burger patty. I dipped the onion rings in bbq sauce and tried to eat them as quickly as possible before my friends helped themselves!
To this day I always eat my fries/onion rings first to make sure I get some.
peanutbutter on a spoon. Hands down my favorite snack after school from age 3-10
Ritz crackers slathered with peanut butter were always a hit with me after school. After reading previous comments, it sounds like peanut butter was a favorite for a lot of people!
Mayonnaise sandwiches! I used to eat Hellman’s mayo on Arnold’s white bread after school before my mother came home.
My mother didn’t often buy snacks … no Little Debbies in our house (and I loved the peanut butter stix). I typically made a concoction of equal parts crushed potato chips and cottage cheese, stirred together. While I’m sure this sounds disgusting to everyone, it’s delicious and one of my favorite after school treats!
White cheddar popcorn, eaten by the bag.
Cheese and crackers – Nabisco crackers and Kraft cheese slices, you could break the cheese slices into four pieces and they fit perfectly on a cracker.
My parents were hippies, so it was rare to have true “snack food” in the house. I remember slowly nursing a Capri Sun orange drink while watching the news after school….that was a real luxury to me. If I was hungrier, my favorite snack was a simple sandwich of lettuce and seedy mustard on whole wheat bread. When I got older and we got a microwave, I switched to bean burritos or bowls of garlic-cheese grits.
@Hugging Mayo Sandwiches?! That sounds like one of the worst things I can imagine.
However, if you deep fried it, it would probably be delicious.
Give me a chocolate Moon Pie or a little can of Vienna Sausages (ick!) and an episode of Saved by the Bell and I was in HEAVEN. I <3 Zack Morris (sigh)
I know this seems really strange but my Mom use to make these things called Turkey Roll Ups. She would take a slice of smoked turkey and roll it around a piece of VT cheddar cheese. That was my favorite snack. Oh and Smartfood! I loved Smartfood!!
Mm, I like hummus and club crackers. Call me crazy!
i was a yodel and butterscotch krimpets girl. sometimes i tried to remove the thin, chocolate outside coating (like Bliz) and other times i scarfed down the entire package (2 yodels) in about 2 minutes. i also went through a phase of entenmann’s danish cake. and if my oma had made her marble cake or cheese pie (with chocolate chips!) or lady fingers or chocolate moose… i would of course eat that.
wow, i miss after school snacks.
Growing up in Singapore in the 60’s I used to come home to homemade steamed pork buns. My mouth waters whenever I reminisce about my school years. Not quite the same experience as my nieces growing up in the U.S.
Peanut butter and syrup sandwiches!!! toast that wheat bread up <never white bread at our house, the peanut butter and syrup would get all warm from the heat of the toast! YUMMMM! We never had cable so it was Bill Nye the Science guy and Where in the world is Carmen San Diego on the tube! Good times!
Remember the shoestring fried potatoes that came in a sealed tin can? Loved those. Peanut Butter on celery or fresh french bread was a favorite, too.
Two kraft slices, stacked up in little pieces, Jenga style.
I would enjoy Saved by the Bell on occasion with a fresh fruit milk shake, made just for me.I loved it!
My dad, master of the unhealthy, taught me to slice good salami & cheddar cheese on top of triscuits and put them in the toaster oven or broiler for a few minutes. Greasy, salty & crunchy all in one….mmmm. I can still make a full meal out of salami & cheese. Probably shouldn’t, though.
Also I have random early childhood memories of the flavor of cream cheese on top of graham crackers – does anyone else have that memory? While the idea is kind of gross, I’m pretty sure I liked it at the time.
Yikes…just thinking about this makes me want to hit the gym after work.
Microwave Nachos: Tostitos, jarred salsa, and pre-shredded cheese (usually cheddar).
So much for my cred as a food blogger.
La Morgan reminded me of my brother’s go to after school snack. It was a weird version of nachos I guess. He was take a plate full of Triscuits put Jarslberg cheese all over them and melt it in the microwave. You had to get the timing just right otherwise the cheese would get all weird and rubbery, Anytime I tried it, it didn’t come out as well as my brothers.
Other after school favorite that I’m just remembering–frozen pizza bagels heated up in the toaster over (the only thing in the kitchen I was allowed to use, besides the microwave).
A nice big bowl of cheddar Goldfish and a tall glass of Sunny-D or Kool-Aid. And like Bliz, I loved watching Batman – even while I was in high school.
@ Martha and all the other SbtB lovers – did you see him recently on Jimmy Fallon? SO funny! Also, SbtB airs on TBS in the mornings from 7-9 now, I watch it while I get ready in the mornings, and it totally rocks my socks. It never played after school while I was growing up though – it was on Saturday mornings. This morning was the Zack-Kelly-Jeff-breakup episode, which I still hate and just want to punch Kelly in the face… ummm, yeah. Fridays is the College Years which aren’t as good but ah well.
Anywayyyys. I was reminded today of some of my epic after school sandwiches, which included occasionally slice of cheese, ham, cheese, ham, cheese, ham, cheese (cheese had to touch the bread for some reason)… or toast, mayo, fried egg (sunny side up), ham, tomato, and the yolk would burst and run down my fingers and I would eat it all up while watching cartoons. EPIC sandwiches. You know in Spanglish, that sandwich Adam Sandler makes himself? That’s about what I used to eat a couple times a week though probably with less fancy ingredients (I’m pretty sure he’s using artisanal bread and prosciutto or something).
Saltines with Kraft cheese slices – ditto on the folding the slices to fit exactly on the crackers. Occasionally a quick zap in the microwave for a meltyish treat.
GOSH this brings back some lovely after school memories. Thanks everyone… it really brought me back to
*we’re tiny, we’re toony, we’re all a little loony, and in this cartoony we’re invading your tv!*
and *it’s time for Animaniacs…*
Elyssa reminds me that MY brother used to make a sandwich that included raisin bread, peanut butter, salami, and american cheese. There’s nothing quite like being a growing teenage boy.
I do believe I had the most unconventional favorite after school snack… knishes! Is that weird or what? I ate them alllll the time! My mom would get me frozen ones at the supermarket. Not as good as good as a fresh one, but they were good enough for me.
In middle school almost every day I would melt shredded chedder on a plate in the micro till it crisped and then peel it off of the plate and chow down. Cheese plate I called it. Just remembered that… thanks for the memories!
Half a bag of Oreos and glass after glass of ice cold milk. When the Oreos ran out I would attack the Cap’n Crunch. I still won’t buy the Cap’n because I know that I will scarf most of a box at one sitting.
This is so bad to tell to the public! Mom was a very organic crunchy granola hippy, but not home much, and we used to buy Hostess Hoho’s after school among other evils!
If you have not had them I don’t know how to explain, but basically processed chocolate cake rolled in white whipped creme frosting coated with a hard chocolate layer outside. And so delicious!
so are Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls, Hostess Hohos and Drake’s Yodels basically the same snack but from different manufacturers?
Elyssa – My mom totally made me turkey roll-ups too, right down to the VT cheddar. Where are you from?
When I got home from basketball practice, I would tear off a fourth of a sourdough baguette, smother it in peanut butter and then eat dinner 30 minutes later.
When I was way younger it was popcorn or slurpees, pina colada.
mmm a huge bowl of chocolate ice cream, frozen apple juice popsicles, or taco chips with salsa! mmmm!!! (or of course, leftover Halloween candy!)
I was just going to talk about squishing Cool Whip between two of my mom’s chocolate chip cookies, but Elyssa reminds me of something even more primal that I enjoyed. Slices of lunch meat-usually ham-wrapped around slices of cheese and about a tablespoon of my mom’s homemade salsa, tossed in the microwave for 30 seconds.
for me it was bowls and bowls of Frosted Flakes, along with heavily sugared and milk laden coffee. seriously, as a kid i had a thing for strong coffee with lots of milk and sugar.
NOTHING Beats a frozen Ding Dong! That had to be my favorite snack for years…and it still is when I have had one of those days.
I had two favs- a Dill Pickle,Potato Chip and Peanut Butter Sandwich or 2 Twinkies- both snacks downed with an iced cold coca cola straight from the 8 ounce bottle while gossiping with my girlfriends on my very own pink princess telephone!