Grazing: Portable Snacks and Finger Foods for Anytime, Anywhere

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

A quick bite on the run. Nibbles. Tiny treats for big satisfaction.
Party fare. Van Rosendaal delivers all of these and more in a great
collection of recipes for food that cries out for sampling and munching.
It’s portable food, bites to eat in the car, at the desk, while
standing up at a special event, or while relaxing in front of the TV.

Grazing, she says, is core to a healthy lifestyle, one that trades big,
heavy meals for numerous small, light snacks designed to even out blood
sugar levels and boost metabolism rates. Nibbling all day long comes
naturally; what we need—and what Van Rosendaal delivers—is a means
of making healthy grazing choices.

The substantial recipe collection includes chips, popcorn, spiced nuts,
pretzels, crackers, dips, pizza, finger food (drumsticks, meatballs),
samosas, satays, wraps, breads, cookies, candy, smoothies—hundreds of
choices. There’s a section on food on a stick. For the more
experienced cook, there are sushi, won ton, and quesadilla recipes, and
even a mini toad-in-the-hole.

The presentation is interesting, with a short editorial comment
introducing each recipe and chatty intros to each section.

Most of the recipes are extremely simple to prepare, calling for just a
few ingredients and very basic methods. A nutritional analysis is
included for each recipe—but watch out for errors here. Full-page
colour plates illustrate more than 60 of the recipes and motivate the
reader to reach for the mixing bowl. The collection is imaginative,
approachable, and packed with fun.