A couple times now I have made homemade tortilla chips by quickly
deep frying corn tortillas.  They actually a little cheaper than the
bagged version, and they taste WAY better.

My question is this:  

Anyone have any ideas for other snacks that are simple to make, inexpensive
and taste so much better than store bought that it's worth the effort?

12 responses total.

Popcorn!  :-) 

(I'm not touching that one...)

 Popcorn is pretty cheap, gets excited very easily (just blow some hot
air or rub some hot oil on popcorn's tough shell...), & tens of thousands
of people enjoy the taste of popcorn.

        But be advised that eating popcorn can be very messy, & depending
on how popcorn was buttered up, you might have to wash your hands & face
afterwards!

<valerie throws mung beans at everybody>

Do they make a good snack?

They work nicely in rice pudding!

Re #0: Lately I've been really happy about home made chocolate pudding.
It's surprisingly easy, and you can make it totally nonfat.  Here's the
recipe I use:

1 cup skim milk
heaping, packed, 1/8 cup of brown sugar
1 slightly heaping tablespoon cornstarch
splash of vanilla (my cookbook says 1/2 teaspoon, but I use more)
1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

Put 3/4 cup of milk in a small pot.  Add sugar and cocoa.  Heat it until
almost boiling, stirring occasionally.  Meanwhile, mix the cornstarch into
the remaining 1/4 cup milk.  Stir that into the hot milk.  Stir constantly
until it boils, and for a minute or two afterward.  You're supposed to let
it cool a bit at this point, but I usually skip that.  Add vanilla.
Devour!

A variation I like is to substitute a chopped banana for the cocoa powder,
and cut the amount brown sugar in half.  Put the bananas in toward the end,
and stir it with a whisk so the bananas sort of share their flavor with the
rest of the pudding.

Another pudding variant is to use hot cocoa mix, cornstarch, and milk.
Yummy!

How would it work with some other kind of starch?  For example,
arrowroot?  (I read somewhere that those two starches are not 
exactly equivalent, one thickens more than the other, but I didn't
officially take note because normally I avoid corn starch recipes 
anyway ...)
Our children have never tasted pudding, chocolate or any other kind,
& it would be *neat* to be able to make it for them.
(They might not like it, of course)

Rice pudding is definitely easy & tasty - I grew up eating the stuff.
If I made it today, I'd want to use brown rice; but I'm not at all sure
how it would turn out that way.  But I would be tempted to try it with
sweet short-grain brown rice...

Re 8: The pudding recipe works fine with arrowroot.  You can substitute
it one-for-one with cornstarch.  I switched from arrowroot to cornstarch
because of vague tummyachey feelings after pigging out on pudding made
with arrowroot.  It seemed like the arrowroot was continuing to absorb
liquid even after I'd eaten it, or something weird like that.
According to a jar of arrowroot I once bought, arrowroot thickens most
at a temperature slightly *less* than boiling.  So you would want to heat
the pudding to nearly-boiling and then keep it there while it thickens,
rather than letting it boil.  (I've boiled it anyway, with arrowroot, and
it seems to work OK anyway.)

Re 9: I've made rice pudding with regular brown rice.  It comes out wonderful!

If you stay away from cornstarch this recipe works.

1/4 c cocoa
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c nonfat dry milk solids
2 1/2 c water (I just use 2 1/2 milk and leave out the powdered stuff)
2 Tbs butter or margarine (leave it out if you prefer)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix dry ingredients; add a small amount of water (or milk) & stir to form
a smooth paste; add remaining water.  Cook until thick over hot water or
in a heavy pan, stirring constantly (I cook in a 4 cup measuring cup in
the microwave for 1 min at a time until thick, stir well after each min).
Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla.  Cool and serve.

I have used this recipe and it is great, though the recipe I usually use
came off the back of a cornstarch box it is basically the same, just 
cornstarch instead of flour (same amount) and 2 3/4 cup milk and 2/3 c sugar.
I don't usually add the salt and sometimes add a pinch or 2 of cinnamon for
Mexican Chocolate Pudding.  For vanilla pudding decrease the sugar by half
and omit the cocoa.

Back to this snack item...  A good friend and I have taken to making
airpopped popcorn and to keep the calories down but with still wanting
that buttery taste, buy some of that "I can't Believe Its Not Butter"
spray that says it doesn't contain fat/calories.  As you're popping
the corn and the popcorn is pouring into the bowl, spray it with the
butter spray. Add salt when you're done.  Its not quite the "real"       
thing [as in using oil and using REAL butter] but its not bad, either!

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