Driving safely and eating are not necessarily incompatible. For those who commute to school or work, drive-time often coincides with mealtime.
Last fall, my daughter, Barb, 21, was on the road at supper time once a week. She left her job at 5 p.m. and headed for a class in a nearby town that started at 6:20.
Since it was rush hour and traffic was sometimes slow, she didn`t stop to eat. Instead, she packed a supper sack consisting of a sandwich (cutup for easy handling), carrot sticks and a candy bar for dessert-and for energy, she said.
But she soon got tired of this pattern and asked for some other ideas.
”Something that`s good for me, but something that`s good,” she said.
Here are some ideas we came up with for on-the-road food that is more healthful than a candy bar or a bag of chips:
– A whole-wheat pita loaf is a low-fat bread that will hold a wide range of fillings. What`s more, it is chewy, and the longer you chew, the sooner you feel satisfied. Try a pita pocket spread with butter or margarine, rather than mayonnaise, filled with turkey or turkey ham and a thin slice of cheese-Muenster and Monterey Jack or Cheddar or whatever you like.
– A piece of luncheon meat spread with cream cheese and rolled into a tube is an easy-eating treat. It`s high in fat, however.
– A piece or two of cold pizza makes a change of pace from a sandwich-and it contains all four food groups. So bake a larger pizza on purpose and wrap it in the amounts you`ll want for a take-along meal.
– Fruit-filled quick bread, like the date scones below, matched with sticks of cheese.
– If time permits, you could put together little one-bite cheese sandwiches. Try pieces of Cheddar or Swiss between two Wheat Thins or Triscuits.
– Carrot sticks are a good idea, providing something moist, yet chewy. Celery sticks, or the old favorite, celery stuffed with cheese spread, are also easy to take and eat.
– If the budget allows, strips of fresh red pepper are delicious as a nibble, much sweeter than green pepper. I like these strips with cheese on whole grain bread; they add wonderful color and crunch.
– Peel an orange and put the sections in a plastic bag, ready to pull out. Apples are a wonderful source of sweetness and needed liquid. Bananas work well, too, with the stem as a natural handle.
If you have to eat in the car often, it`s a good idea to put together a
”nibble box” to take along. Fill it with individual boxes of raisins, prewrapped cookies and bars, napkins and/or moist towelettes and some straws for milk cartons from vending machines. If desired, packets of salt and pepper, mustard and ketchup hoarded from fast-food stops could be tucked in.
It`s a temptation to buy individual bags of such snack foods as corn chips, cheese curls and potato chips to keep handy in the car, but such salty foods soon demand a beverage, and sipping away on a can of pop or fruit juice can impair your driving safety.
It`s easier to find alternatives to the candy bars than to the sandwiches.
It doesn`t take long to whip up a batch of goodies-cookies or bars-then slip them into sandwich bags and stash them in a big jar or tin ready for the time when you`ll assemble your meal.
DATE SCONES
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 12 to 15 minutes
Yield: 8 scones
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup quick rolled oats
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon each: baking soda, salt
6 tablespoons cold butter or margarine, cut into pieces
1/3 cup each: mashed ripe banana (1 small), buttermilk or soured milk
1 cup chopped pitted dates
1 tablespoon milk
Granulated sugar
1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly butter 7-inch-diameter circle in the center of baking sheet.
2. Mix flour, oats, baking powder, allspice, soda and salt in large bowl. Cut butter into 1/2-inch cubes and distribute them over flour mixture. With a pastry blender or two knives used scissors fashion, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Puree banana, buttermilk and 1/4 cup dates in container of electric blender. Add banana mixture to flour mixture and stir to combine. The dough will be sticky. With floured hands, knead in the remaining 2/3 cup of dates. Gather dough into ball; knead 12 times on floured board.
4. Pat dough into 6-inch-diameter circle in center of prepared baking sheet with lightly floured hands. Brush with milk; sprinkle lightly with sugar. With a serrated knife, cut into 8 wedges.
5. Bake until top is lightly browned and a cake tester or toothpick inserted into center of a scone comes out clean, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from baking sheet to a wire rack and cool 5 minutes. Using a spatula, transfer the scones to the rack to cool. Recut into wedges, if necessary. Serve warm with butter or whipped cream cheese, or cool completely and store in an airtight container. Wrap any leftover scones individually for brown bags or take-along snacks.
PECAN PRUNE BREAD
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 50 to 60 minutes
Yield: 1 loaf
This bread, a switch from the popular banana or pumpkin breads, makes excellent snacks when slices are sandwiched together with a flavored cream cheese. The recipe was developed by the National Pecan Marketing Council, Atlanta.
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon each: baking soda, salt
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup coarsely chopped cooked prunes
2/3 cup orange juice
1 large egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9-inch loaf pan. Sift dry ingredients together. Add orange rind, pecans and prunes; mix until fruit and nuts are coated with flour mixture.
2. Beat orange juice, egg and oil together. Pour liquid mixture into dry mixture. Fold until well-blended; do not overmix. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from oven.
3. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen edges with spatula and turn loaf out onto a wire rack. Loaf will slice better after being wrapped and refrigerated for 1 day. Loaf also freezes well. Cut thin for 16 slices, or not so thin for 12 slices.
Note: If you have a set of six little individual loaf pans, you can bake this batter in them, reducing the baking time accordingly.
SAUCEPAN PEANUT BUTTER CRUNCHIES
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 2 minutes
Yield: 4 dozen
2 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, not cocoa mix
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
3 cups quick rolled oats
1 cup chunky peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1. Mix sugar and cocoa in large saucepan. Add butter and milk. Heat to boil. Boil 2 minutes while stirring. Remove from heat.
2. Add oats, peanut butter and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper. Cool until set.
