We eat three squares a day, or do we?

Many of us graze all day long, going from snack to meal to snack to meal.

Since it seems we eat everywhere, from the opera to the gas station to the bank, let's at least make sure that what we're eating serves our wellness.

Let's get back to the cutting board and snack well, today, on Christina Cooks.

(theme music) ♪ (female announcer) Underwriting for Christina Cooks is provided by Suzanne's Specialties, offering a full line of alternative vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne's Specialties.

Sweetness the way Mother Nature intended.

Additional funding is also provided by Old Yankee Cutting Boards.

Designed for durability and custom crafted by hand with Yankee pride and craftsmanship.

Jonathan's Spoons.

Individually handcrafted from cherry wood, each designed with your hand and purpose in mind.

Additional funding is also provided by: Hi, I'm Christina Pirello, and this is Christina Cooks, where each week, we take fresh, seasonal ingredients and whip them into amazing dishes.

Will everything be plant-based?

Yep.

Will everything be delicious?

You bet--and wait till you see what we have in store for you today.

Did you know that 3/4 of Americans would rather snack than eat three meals a day?

Everyone thinks that speed and convenience is the way to eat these days, and they always go towards something that is... how do I put a fine point on this?

Junk food.

We're gonna show you three snacks, easy to make, you won't break a sweat, and you will actually satisfy your need for snacking in a healthful, delicious way.

We're gonna start with my favorite, favorite snack of all time, invented by my best friend and me.

So, we're gonna take into a pan-- this is very easy, it's one, one, one, and three, that's the ingredients.

One cup of brown rice syrup, which is a glucose-based complex sugar sweetener that's fermented, so it's easy to digest and really delicious.

Tastes like butterscotch.

So we're gonna put a little heat under the pan to start to soften the rice syrup.

This all gets done in one pan, by the way.

Next goes a cup of peanut butter.

Now, if you store peanut butter upside down, on the lid, it stirs itself.

So I've even saved you that work.

Cup of peanut butter.

You can use creamy or chunky, salted, unsalted, whatever floats your boat.

You can also use sunflower butter, almond butter, any nut butter that you like.

I like peanut butter, because then these taste like peanut butter cups with crunch.

It doesn't get better than that.

So, the peanut butter's in.

And now, a cup... ...of stevia-sweetened chocolate chips.

They're fair trade, no added sugar, they're everything we love about chocolate and more.

And now you stir this over a medium heat until everything melts together and becomes, to coin my dear friend and my, who invented this technical phrase, "goopy."

My girlfriend Cynthia and I invented Asteroids.

She used to have a kitchen, a natural foods store with a kitchen, and I was her cook, and we used to make these rice crispy treats that had chocolate chips in them.

And one day, I was working and I was in a hurry, and I added the chocolate chips too soon and they melted.

And I ran up to her, I'm like, "Cin, I ruined them, I ruined them!

The chocolate melted and they're like these fudgy bars," and she went, "Yeah, not exactly ruined."

So then we rolled them into little spheres and Asteroids were born.

So once it melts, which happens pretty quick, turn off your heat, and you add three cups of brown rice crispies cereal.

Look for the ones that have no added sugar, but do the best you can.

If you want these to be fudgier, more like truffles, you can back off a half cup of the rice crispies.

But I kinda--I'm attached to classic Asteroids, so these are the ones I make.

And then you just stir the rice crispies in until they're well incorporated into the chocolate- peanut butter mix.

You can see so far that this is a really, really challenging recipe, designed only for the finest chefs.

Okay.

So now that it's all mixed together... ...bring it over here, and then you have two things that you can do with them.

You can take them in wet fingertips so they don't stick to you and roll them into like walnut-size spheres.

This is how they got their name, this is a classic Asteroid.

So, you can do this with them.

This is a really, really fun job to do with kids, once you have them cooled down just a little bit so that little hands don't get burned.

And you just roll these up, and in about 15 minutes, they'll be set.

If you feel like you'd like them to look like classic rice crispy treats, then you take them and you press them into a square pan... ...like this.

And then, to serve them, you simply take your Asteroids onto a plate, get a nice, sharp knife, and cut the Asteroid bars into squares.

Now, I will give you one piece of advice when it comes to Asteroids-- well, actually two pieces.

First and foremost, make a lot.

They don't last, and you're gonna want them.

Once people eat them, you'll be asked to bring them to every party, every potluck, every Halloween-- you name it, you'll be asked to bring Asteroids.

Second rule: Never, ever, ever put them in the fridge, because they never get really soft again and you'll break your teeth.

So I'm gonna dive into these Asteroids, and up next, a granola-based, really lovely treat.

See you in a minute.

-Can a vegetable be a fruit?

-A fruit can be a vegetable.

What?

It can be both?

What happens if you swallow the seeds?

(unintelligible).

-I don't get it.

-I am so confused.

♪ I don't know about you guys, but while I'm expert on a lot of stuff, I still get a little bit confused with GM, BT, BE, and the labeling doesn't make it any easier.

So I'm here with my friend, Todd Napolitano, who's the Director of GMO Services at Mérieux NutriSciences, and he's gonna try to clear up what's happening with labeling.

Just give us, like, some quick-- what should people look for?

(Todd) And this is a perfect time to start talking about this, because we have recently put into effect the final version of the new US GMO law, called the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard.

And I can touch very quickly for your viewers on what they need to know and take with them from here.

First is, it is not about non-GMO.

Making a non-GMO claim is largely the same process.

What the new US law is about is the inclusion of GMO in a product in any form.

So they have to be transparent about it.

(Todd) Uh, it's not--well, they have to put a disclosure on the label, but this law, point number two, is not about transparency as much as it is about what's in your finished product.

So, whether or not you have a GM or modified ingredient in your product, the only thing the US law is concerned with is whether or not the DNA, the GMO DNA, is detectable in that product.

If it is not, it is considered non-GMO or non-BE, and you do not have to disclose on your label.

However, if you have any detectable GMO DNA in that product, you may have to disclose it, it depends.

The devil is in the details, -as we know.

-Of course.

Is corn grown for human consumption safe?

Is it glyphosate-enriched?

Is it BT?

And there's a lot of confusion on what we should worry about.

(Todd) It's definitely a convoluted environment, so to speak, and pun intended, because what goes on in the ag industry by sheer volume is exponential.

So, when we're talking about safe for human consumption, we really do need to understand that if it is approved by FDA, it's considered safe for human consumption.

Now, you need to understand that as your starting point, no matter what your politics are, what your feeling is, or what your concerns are, because everything else hinges on that.

All regulations, et cetera, hinge on the fact that it's, quote-unquote, "safe for human consumption."

Now with regard to corn specifically, there are a variety of different modifications that are introduced into corn from other organisms that would not happen otherwise in nature, which is important to understand what the definition of GMO.

It is in vitro DNA technology in the lab, human intervention to develop a trait that's desirable that you would not otherwise find in nature.

(Christina) So, not to interrupt you but to say, you could not have what's occurring in corn -in GM in nature.

-And that's key to understanding the concerns.

It's also key to understanding the benefits, because what you're doing is you're taking some of the positive characteristics from, say, the cauliflower mosaic virus and introducing that into corn or soy, -for example... -To what end?

...to give it, um, better yield, resistance to herbicides, resistance to pesticides, sometimes vitamin fortification.

(Christina) But are they clear in this modification of the impact long term on human wellness -and the planet?

-This is really the rubric that needs to be unpacked further.

Simply because FDA has approved it as safe for human consumption doesn't mean the data will warrant that five years from now.

It's ongoing.

We don't know.

And that's part of the problem.

So, for example, if you introduce an herbicide resistance into corn, what you're allowing to happen in theory is to administer, say, Roundup Ready or glyphosate, Roundup Ready 2, we hear a lot about that today.

And if you can administer glyphosate to your cornfield and not hurt your corn, what you're really doing is, you're killing the weeds, et cetera, and you are not damaging the corn.

Now, there's two problems with that.

The first is that originally, the goal was to reduce, to minimize your pesticide use, -your cost of product.

-But that has not turned out -to be true.

-This is the problem.

Because what happens is, you get in the field-- and I've seen it, I've seen it first person.

You get resistances and mutations happening immediately, for example, with ragweed.

So your control in the lab-- so you're using ragweed as a control, you're dousing it with Roundup Ready.

I've seen it self-mutate.

So what happens is, if your weeds are developing a resistance to glyphosate, for example, do we use less, or do we have to use more?

It's shifting.

So now what's happening is you're finding that you have to use more.

Now, originally, I do wanna say, if you're-- in a lesser developed country, if you're working in a field and you actually have this pesticide strapped to your back, being able to use less is health beneficial.

-It is.

-Moreover, it is difficult for a Western country to say to a country where starvation is rampant, "You shouldn't be concerned with higher crop yield."

So there's a bit of a perspective clash there.

Nevertheless, general consumer safety and health safety, what's happening with Roundup Ready resistance, the glyphosate resistance trait is, it's backfiring a little bit, in my opinion.

We're starting to get-- example, ragweed as a control, it's self-mutating in the field, so we have to apply more.

So that pesticide residue testing ought to show more and more pesticide residue over time.

That remains to be seen.

It's easy to get those tests done, -they happen all the time.

-We should be doing it.

-They happen all the time.

-And so, as long as we're doing it--so...

I'm not sure if this helped to unconfuse you, but at least it gives you real, solid information to build your decisions on.

♪ So, you know that when you're talking about snacking, everyone's always about, "Oh, don't you eat granola?"

I don't eat granola.

I think granola's very unsatisfying.

So I thought-- and if you love it, that's fine, please don't write to me and say, "But I love granola!"

It's fine, you wanna love it, love it.

But I thought, what if we made granola into a cookie, right?

Now you're with me.

So we're gonna take eight tablespoons of vegan butter, you may use whatever brand you like.

I know what I like, but you may use whatever brand you like.

You're gonna use eight tablespoons.

And I like to use a tablespoon measure.

I use it for measuring this, and I also use it when I measure my cookies out.

Because I just think that it's easy and it gives me a nice, equal amount.

Okay, so there's eight tablespoons.

Next goes in six tablespoons of coconut sugar.

Low glycemic index, made from coconut sap, not hard on the environment, and not an insulin trigger.

And then I use also brown rice syrup, and you're thinking, "Wait a minute, Christina.

Why do you use two sweeteners?"

You are thinking that, right?

So you use two sweeteners because brown rice syrup gives me a butterscotch flavor, and also because it's a liquid sweetener, it gives the cookies snap.

The coconut sugar allows the cookies to have a nice, cakey texture, so I get the perfect cookie.

So you get your quarter cup in there.

You can use your fingers or a spoon, whatever you feel more comfortable with.

I know I use my hands for everything in the kitchen, just about.

I've been accused of having asbestos fingertips.

Okay, now some vanilla, good vanilla, about a teaspoon.

A pinch of cinnamon, which lifts the sweetness of the cookies but also helps stabilize our blood sugar, so you get to have your cake and eat it too.

Or your cookie.

Then, a pinch of salt.

Just a pinch, to make the cookies sweet.

And now you're gonna whip this with a hand mixer or a stand mixer or a whisk or a spoon.

You just wanna do-- just like you do in every cookie recipe, you wanna cream together the butter and the sugar.

And once it's homogenized... (whirring) ...like this... ...you're ready to go.

Then--and this is my own personal, I like to bring the butter and the sugar kind of to the center of the bowl again.

Then we're gonna add to it a cup of flour, whole wheat pastry or whole wheat sprouted flour.

I'm really in love with whole wheat sprouted flour.

I think that it digests better, it gives me a lighter cookie, so if you can find it, you really wanna use whole wheat sprouted, it's just so nice.

A half teaspoon each baking powder and baking soda.

And then, we're gonna add some rolled oats, about a half cup.

Sometimes, I mix the flour before I add the rolled oats, but...

I do it differently.

They're cookies, right?

These are cookies, they're not rocket science.

Please don't freak yourself out making these.

Just make them.

Add everything in the bowl all at once and mix it, it doesn't matter, they're cookies.

They're supposed to be fun.

If your shoulders are up around your ears when you're making cookies, you kinda need to rethink, right?

Relax.

People love cookies, so just do what you wanna do.

Once your dough is about 80 percent together, then you add about a cup of pecans, just coarsely chopped pieces, and again, it's about a cup.

About a half cup each raw pumpkin seeds and raw sunflower seeds.

Now you're getting the granola vibe.

And about two thirds of a cup of unsweetened dried cranberries.

Sometimes I find them sweetened with orange juice.

You have to just look around, because the regular dried cranberries are very sugary, so try to find the unsweetened ones.

And you'll also like that little bite of tartness in the cookie when you use the unsweetened dried cranberries.

If you can't find them, use raisins or currants, but the cranberry just makes this like the perfect cookie.

Once the dough comes together, you have to kinda stop mixing.

We love to mix, don't we?

We love to mix.

Oh, look how nice, it's mixing!

But you're overactivating the gluten, and then your cookies are gonna be like little hockey pucks.

We don't want that.

So now I'm gonna take my tablespoon scoop again, and I'm gonna put 12 cookies onto a tray.

And when I do it this way, I end up with... ...a lovely, perfect, same-sized cookies.

And you have to pull them together, 'cause there's lots of stuff in them.

So you just kinda, you know, mess around.

They're cookies.

Like I said, don't freak yourself out, they're cookies.

And then, once they're all on the tray-- if you have a whole sheet pan, you can do 24, but I like half sheets, because sometimes I'll make a big batch of this batter and put the batter in the freezer, and when we want cookies, just pull it out and make cookies.

If we're traveling, because they have high protein and good-quality fats from the nuts and seeds, it's good-quality flour, the sweetener will keep you satisfied.

And the other thing you can do with these cookies, and I do it sometimes and other times I don't, you can add a half cup of chocolate chips as well, and then you have this interesting, chocolatey cookie.

But you don't have to have chocolate in every single thing.

Oh wait--do you?

Chocolate, okay.

We'll do them without this time.

So these are gonna bake for about 12 minutes at a 350 Fahrenheit oven.

Now, you wanna take them out of the oven when they're still a little bit soft, so about 12 minutes, so I'll be back.

So my cookies are coming out of the oven.

They're cooled, and... ...we have our trail mix cookies.

I guess they're pretty good.

♪ What?

It can be both?

What happens if you swallow the seeds?

(unintelligible) -I don't get it.

-I am so confused.

♪ So today, I'm here with Denise Moser, who's a singer-songwriter, and a custom songwriter, and a cooking enthusiast, and I think you've brought me some questions, which I have no idea!

Here we go.

Um, so a few years ago, I was put on blood pressure medicine, and I know that I need to continue to monitor that with my doctor, but I don't wanna be on that forever.

And over the past six months or so, I've lost about 15 pounds.

I'm wanting to lose about ten more, hoping that that will help, but I'm wondering what else I can do to really focus on, you know, bringing my blood pressure down.

Well, before we get to food, where are you on the exercise front?

-Not as good as I should be.

-So, are you at least doing things like yoga, which can calm you and bring your blood pressure down before you get into strenuous exercise?

-No.

-Okay.

So you should start doing things like that.

Take a yoga class once or twice a week.

The second thing that you can do is start eating more leafy green vegetables.

Because of their nutrient combination, they help to bring blood pressure down.

Of course, you also know, lower salt use.

Use it, of course, in cooking, never at the table.

But eat some barley in your food, which will also be your sort of primary whole grain, and that should really start to bring things down.

Of course, being more plant based, less and less animal food, will get you to where you wanna go so you don't live on blood pressure meds.

Sounds good.

And you know, barley's not really in my world, so that's something that -I could definitely incorporate.

-Something new!

(Denise) Is there a best way to cook the greens for this, -or does it not matter?

-Doesn't matter.

-Lots of garlic.

-Yeah, I do like that.

Okay, good, thanks.

♪ Now, I know you can walk into any supermarket on any day of the week and buy a container of hummus.

Sure.

Four bucks, no problem, you buy it.

But you can make it at home with better-quality ingredients, better oil, fresher chickpeas, better spices, fresh garlic, and have it be much, much more delicious.

And chips, you're thinking?

What about chips?

Should I buy chips?

No.

Buy a bag of pita bread, and I'm gonna show you how to make chips.

Okay.

So in this pan, we have avocado oil, and it's heating.

You wanna heat your oil when you're gonna fry something over low heat if it's what's called a shallow fry, which this is, or a deep fry.

And you wanna make sure that you see your oil making little patterns in the bottom of the pan, that's called dancing.

And that's how you know that your oil's hot enough.

So once your oil's doing that, you raise your temperature to like a medium-high, and then, you just drop in your cut pita.

And we're gonna let these fry while we make our hummus.

Now, because it's bread, technically, it's gonna take a little bit longer to fry.

So we're just gonna let those do their thing.

Okay?

So after a minute or two each side, your pita becomes dark golden and crispy, and you wanna get them out of the oil.

You don't wanna just leave them in there, right?

They're not really chips, it's just sort of like a crispy fried bread.

But it's better quality than chips, 'cause you decide how much oil, you decide how long they fry, and you decide how much salt, if any.

But I like to give them a little touch while they're hot.

Okay, so let's make our hummus.

In here, I have cooked chickpeas.

Yes, you may used canned organic, yes.

If you use organic chickpeas in a can, save a little bit of your liquid, about a quarter cup.

Or you can just use water, whatever you prefer, but in here are chickpeas, some garlic that's been minced-- and you don't have to mince it really, really fine, but you wanna mince it so that your food processor actually breaks it up and there's not a big chunk of garlic in the middle of your hummus.

Some tahini, about a third of a cup.

Again, you know, you make hummus more than once and you'll start to be able to eyeball it.

You won't be measuring in a cup and doing the whole thing.

A little bit of cumin, which is optional.

My husband likes it; I could really live without it.

It is on, in my opinion, the list of things I don't like to eat.

A little salt.

Some olive oil, about a quarter cup.

And the juice of half a lemon.

Which is a couple tablespoons.

All right, you want your hummus to have a nice, sort of sharp sourness to it, like a sour finish.

Then into your food processor, and you whip it until it's smooth and creamy.

And as it's doing this part, this is where you can add your chickpea water from the can, or you can add water, just regular water, to create a thinner sort of whippier hummus.

And in minutes, you have hummus.

I mean, seriously.

Yeah, you can buy it, but yeah, you can make it.

So, you have a freshly made snack in about five minutes.

The only thing I really bought was canned chickpeas, tahini, and pita chips-- or pita bread, rather, that I made into chips.

Hummus goes into the bowl.

♪ Take my nice, drained pita.

♪ And there you have it, the perfect savory snack, in mere minutes.

So what are you waiting for?

Let's get back to the cutting board and cook, and I'll see you next time on Christina Cooks.

♪ ♪ (female announcer) Underwriting for Christina Cooks is provided by Suzanne's Specialties.

Offering a full line of alternative vegan and organic sweeteners and toppings.

Suzanne's Specialties.

Sweetness the way Mother Nature intended.

Additional funding is also provided by Old Yankee Cutting Boards.

Designed for durability and custom crafted by hand with Yankee pride and craftsmanship.

Jonathan's Spoons.

Individually handcrafted from cherry wood.

Each designed with your hand and purpose in mind.

Additional funding is also provided by: ♪ You can find today's recipes and learn more by visiting our website at christinacooks.com, and by following Christina on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

The companion cookbook, Back to the Cutting Board, takes you on a journey to reengage with the soul of cooking.

With more than 100 plant-based recipes, finding the joy in cooking has never been simpler.

To order your copy for $20 plus handling, call 800-266-5815.

Add Christina's iconic book, Cooking the Whole Foods Way, with 500 delicious plant-based recipes.

To order both books for $39.95 plus handling, call 800-266-5815.

♪ (bright music)