Fall is really a much better season for foodies than Winter. You have your candy corn, your pumpkin spice, fresh apples—what more can you need? Besides, can you ever remember anyone making a recipe with fruitcake or ribbon candy that you just loved? Didn’t think so.

I’m not typically a big snacker but when I do feel like something to nibble on I have the hardest time deciding. Salty or sweet? Nutty or candy? Healthy or… not? There’s a lot to consider.

Lately I’ve been digging this Chex mix since it hits all the marks. It has candy corn—my all-time favorite candy—, spicy Chex cereal, salty gluten-free pretzels and sweet almonds. It’s a little healthy with whole grains and nuts and a little not. It’s easy enough to make for yourself but also fun enough to bring to a party.

If you don’t feel like making your own almonds, you can buy honey roasted or cinnamon sugar almonds and use those instead.

Salty-Sweet Halloween Chex Mix

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 5 cups)

• 2 cups cinnamon Chex cereal
• 1 cup salted-maple almonds(recipe below)
• 1 1/4 cup pretzel sticks*
• 3/4 cup candy corn

*I used Snyder’s of Hanover gluten-free pretzel sticks

Method:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and enjoy.

Salted-Maple Almonds

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 1 cup):

• 1 cup almonds
• 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.
3. Pour the almonds on top of a non-stick baking try in a single layer.
4. Roast for 20 minutes, disturbing the almonds about halfway through. Don’t worry if they still look sticky after 20 minutes; as they cool down they’ll become less wet.
5. Break the almonds apart while they’re warm. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks at room temperature.

A note about candy corn: Last year I found out through error that most name brand candy corns are not vegetarian because they have gelatin in them. However, CVS store brand is vegetarian so if that’s a concern you can still go ahead and enjoy this.

When you’re a food blogger, you end up having some pretty weird “snacks”. Leftover cheesecake in the afternoon? Sure. Chocolate granola for lunch and dinner some times. Anything goes.

That’s all great and delicious but there are times when I wish I ate a little bit healthier. Of course, the answer’s simple; if you want to eat healthy you need to buy and make healthy meals and snacks. So to start I made one of my favorites: peanut butter chocolate chip larabars.

Most pre-portioned snacks at the grocery store are overpriced; they’re even pricier if you get them from kiosks or snack stands. By making your own, you control the costs and quality of the ingredients. Larabars have pretty clean and simple ingredients as is, but by buying dates and using other ingredients I already had I was able to bring the cost down.

You could make your own and use almonds instead of peanuts to adapt these for someone with a peanut allergy.

Copycat Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Larabars

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 6 bars):

• 8oz pitted dates
• 1/2 cup peanuts
• 2 Tablespoons peanut butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Method:

1. Combine the dates and peanuts in a food processor and blend on high until the ingredients start to form a paste.
2. Add in the peanut butter and salt and continue blending until a dough begins to form.
3. Lastly, add in the chocolate chips and pulse a few times.
4. Line a loaf or baking pan with plastic wrap.
5. Drop the dough on top of the plastic wrap and press the dough into a square or rectangle about 3/4-inch thick.
6. Cut into bars or squares. Wrap individually and refrigerate until ready to eat.

I left mine in squares. You could make bars or balls or really any shape you could think of with these.

Glad to know I’m not the only one who thinks peanut butter and baked beans are a delicious combination. But I forgot to mention the best part! If you leave a comment on the recipe page on Peanut Butter & Co.’s All Star Recipe Blog you’ll be entered to win a jar of their deliciously sweet Smooth Operator peanut butter.

And speaking of peanut butter…

As soon as I made chocolate almond granola bars I knew I wanted to make a version using peanut butter. What goes better together than peanut butter and chocolate? But when I finally got around to making it, I thought of improvising and using white chocolate; if anything beats peanut butter and chocolate, it’s peanut butter and white chocolate.

White chocolate’s one of those things I don’t like so much on its own but goes great with just about anything. It adds a rich, buttery flavor to these granola bars that make them taste like they’re so homemade you grew the oats yourself.

Want to take these to the next level? Try using PB&Co.’s white chocolate peanut butter.

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 8 bars):

• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup no-stir peanut butter
• 3 Tablespoons honey
• 1 cup oats*
• 1 1/2 cups rice crisps cereal*
• 1/2 cup roasted peanuts
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

*To make these granola bars gluten-free, make sure these two ingredients are certified gluten-free.

Method:

1. In a microwave or over a double boiler, melt the white chocolate.
2. Stir in the peanut butter and honey until smooth.
3. Add in the oats, cereal, peanuts, raisins, and salt and mix until everything is completely covered.
4. Line an 8 x 8 baking tray with wax paper. Dump the batter into the pan and press down into an even layer.
5. Refrigerate the bars until they’ve hardened—about 20-30 minutes.
6. With a sharp knife, cut the bars in half horizontally and into quarters vertically into 8 2 x 4 bars.
7. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

These were a little more crumbly than the other granola bars I made for whatever reason. Make sure when you cut into them they’re extra cold and you use a sharp knife.

What I’m about to say may be sacrilegious so read on at your own risk.

I don’t really like coffee. I used to love it but now I could count on one hand the number of times I’ve drank it in the past year. I’m a much bigger fan of tea now.

The one exception is chocolate covered coffee beans. I’ve probably spent a small fortune on those alone; I really can’t get enough. I’d much rather wake up to a handful of those than a cup of coffee any day.

This trail mix has all the flavors you could want in a fancy Starbucks coffee drink: Vanilla, almond, chocolate, white chocolate, and coffee. When I do drink coffee, it’s always black, but a trail mix with just coffee beans wouldn’t be nearly as exciting. I threw in some raisins, too, because those are healthy and that makes the rest of it healthy by association, right? If you don’t want to make the vanilla sugar almonds, you can always buy flavored almonds and substitute them instead or just use regular roasted almonds.

Perk Me Up Trail Mix

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chocolate covered coffee beans
• 3/4 cup white chocolate
• 1 cup seedless raisins
• 2 cups vanilla sugar almonds*

*Vanilla sugar almonds

• 2 cups almonds
• 2-3 heaping Tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon oil
• 1 Tablespoon liquid sweetener(corn syrup, agave, maple syrup, etc.)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine all of the ingredients for the almonds in a bowl and mix together.
3. Lay the almonds out in a single layer on a baking tray and roast for 20-30 minutes, jostling occasionally until the liquid evaporates and the almonds turn golden. Remove and let the almonds cool completely before continuing.
4. Toss the almonds, white chocolate, raisins, and chocolate covered coffee beans together. Store in an air-tight container for up to a month.

The best part of waking up is this in your cup.

It’s been a long time since I posted a dairy-heavy recipe. A long time. I stopped eating dairy for a while after watching foodie documentaries and getting all the info; I don’t think that was a bad choice, but recently my snacking choices have been less-than-healthy, and the idea of something tasty, high in protein, and–most importantly–tasty was too appealing to pass up.

I can’t believe how much I forgot I missed greek yogurt. Between pineapple and pomegranate Chobani and cherry Fage, I go through those 6oz containers like nobodies business. It’s becoming an expensive habit. It ends up being so much cheaper to buy the plain yogurt and flavor it myself. I don’t mind because it makes the flavor combinations almost endless.

Look for crushed pineapple—not diced or sliced—and one that has no added sugars in it to keep this naturally sweetened.

Tropical Greek Yogurt Parfait

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 1 serving):

• 2 Tablespoons canned crushed pineapple
• 6 oz plain Greek yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1 Tablespoon unsweetened shredded coconut

Method:

1. First spoon the pineapple into the bottom of a medium sized bowl.
2. Then pile the yogurt on top.
3. Drizzle on the honey and finish with coconut. Eat immediately or put back in the refrigerator for later.

Honey-Pineapple-Coconut. I’m telling you, Chobani needs to get on that flavor.