Easy Afternoon School Snack

Today is the first day of school for three of the sweetest pumpkins you would ever want to meet.  I can hardly believe the summer has gone by so fast.  We’ve made a lot of happy family memories and that’s what life is really all about.  Since we’re kicking off a new school year today, I thought it fitting to revisit a favorite post from last year.  My sister LiLi and Moses guest posted for me while I was on vacation.  They shared an easy afternoon pretzel snack that’s perfect for hungry littles.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do, CoCo

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When my husband and I got married I lived in Tennessee near the Smoky Mountains.   I was newly married, away from my friends and family, away from the beach and wildly miserable.   Don’t get me wrong, I now shared a home and life with the love of my life, made good friends there and my new married family was there but I just missed “home.”   I wished that Edward Sharp song “Home is wherever I’m with you,” had been out back then. It could have given me perspective.   I just love that song and it’s so true!

After a little while I realized it was up to me to make the best of where I was living.   No it wasn’t the beach but it was just as beautiful.   I stared exploring the national park and the surrounding areas, put more effort into making new friends and started intentionally dating my new husband.   On one of our dates, my Tennessee man Jesse, brought me to the Smoky Mountain Brewery and this is where I fell in love with beer cheese and soft pretzels.   Even now when we go back and visit I always try to sneak in a little brewery trip just to taste those hot delicious pretzels.

While browsing Pinterest, I stumbled upon this recipe from Half Baked Harvest.   I didn’t try the buffalo dip because my small kids don’t care for spicy and neither does Jesse.   I enlisted the help of my 5-year-old, Moses, since we are working on fine motor skills and exercising those little muscles.   He graciously donned a girly apron since I have no boyish aprons.

We followed the directions exactly and used the stand mixer to make the dough.

Then we made the dough into a ball.

Once the dough was properly kneaded, we let it rest and rise in a nice warm spot outside.   During this time we played dress up with Scout and ate a quick bite.   Then it was time to start “making the dough into worms.”  I let him roll while I formed the shape.

After this step, I took over since the rest of the steps involve boiling water and an oven. I must add one tip. I read and re-read the instructions and never saw anything about greasing the pan or using parchment paper.  However, after the first batch came out of the oven, I swear they were super glued to my pan. Rookie mistake I guess. So I put the rest of them on parchment paper and they turned out perfect.

These two gobbled them up faster than I could! They dipped them in honey mustard and ranch dressing.

Then when Jesse got home from work he polished them off. Here is a pic I posted Instagram.

After we made the pretzels, I snuggled up in bed with my nose pressed to my iPad.  While perusing Pinterest, I found THE recipe for beer cheese dip. I cannot wait to try it out!

Happy dipping everyone!
Lili