Once in a while, my kid goes through an “ants on a log” kick. In our house, “ants on a log” refers to a banana slathered with peanut butter and liberally sprinkled with chocolate chips.
I am willing to overlook the sugar in the chocolate chips in favor the protein and fat in the peanut butter and whatever nutrients a banana has; all I’m coming up with is potassium. (A deficiency in potassium, so I’ve heard all my life from potentially questionable sources, is the reason I sometimes get leg cramps. Let me tell you, I would rather wake up screaming in pain than eat a banana. My husband may feel differently, but so far he’s never smashed a banana into my shriek hole, so I think we’re okay.)
The hardest part of making my version of ants on a log is getting the peanut butter to adhere to the banana. That’s the main reason I switched from cutting the banana lengthwise down the center (which is also difficult; bananas tend to snap around their waistline) to cutting them into disks. Much easier to dollop peanut butter than to spread it, when you’re dealing with a sticky paste and a slippery fruit surface.
It’s also difficult to determine how many chocolate chips is The Right Amount. My daughter and I have wildly differing views on chocolate chip quantity. I would like to say that one chip per disk is enough; Carla would disagree. Did you know that there are approximately 2.5 million ants per human on the earth? That fact makes it sound like a couple million ants are born every time a human appears in a delivery room, but you get the idea. Anyway, my daughter would appreciate that kind of ant-to-human ratio for her ants on a log. Whether we’re talking about insects or chocolate chips, that’s way too many ants.
When I was a kid, “ants on a log” was a horrific combination of celery, peanut butter, and raisins. I do like celery, but I don’t like peanut butter and I abhor raisins, nearly as much as I abhor bananas. Also, if I stop to think about it for more than two seconds, it’s pretty gross to offer children “ants on a log” as a snack. Who wants to eat a log, whether or not it has delicious ants crawling all over it? I mean, xylophages, but as far as I know humans are not xylophagous.
Other important ants-on-a-log questions: What in nature is the peanut butter supposed to represent in this scenario? Who decided this would be a great name for a snack? Whether or not it’s appealing or depicts nature in an accurate way, it’s sure managed to insert itself into American culture.
Now I’m curious about my non-American friends, and whether ants on a log is a thing in your neck of the woods. If not, is there a similar snack food? And, if so, what is it called?
If I’m eating celery – and I do enjoy a celery snack – I’m eating it with ranch dressing or cottage cheese. NOT peanut butter. My mom likes to make “rabbit food” every afternoon around three, which is some combination of celery, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, and bell peppers with a little ranch on the side. I don’t know that rabbits eat celery in the wild, but I do delight in envisioning myself as a little bunny nibbling my way through a garden, rather than as a middle-aged human using sliced veggies as a conveyance for absurd quantities of ranch dressing.
While I enjoy the rabbit food, and have tried with middling success to incorporate it into my own home routine, I have fond memories of an altogether different pre-dinner snack when I was growing up. My mother would melt cubes of Velveeta together with some salsa until it was a creamy, spicy puddle, and then we’d use tortilla chips to scrape up every last molten morsel. She called this “chips and dip.” Occasionally since reaching adulthood, I have tried to recreate this snack. I have found that Velveeta is its creamy, delicious best in my memory.
Some snacks are so delicious that they transcend time. Some even appear, fully formed, in the mind of a child without her mother ever mentioning them to her. Specifically, my teenage obsession with microwaved pepperoni. There was nothing like crispy pepperoni, still sizzling in a sheen of its own fat, dipped into yellow mustard. My own child discovered this delicacy on her own – sans mustard – and only my husband’s dismay at a microwave and kitchen smelling like fried pepperoni keeps her from eating this snack on the regular.
She does, once in a while, crisp up some pepperoni and add it to her scrambled eggs. In which case, I overlook all the concerning aspects of delicious, delicious pepperoni and focus only on the high protein goodness of scrambled eggs and the joy of a child who can make herself food.
If ants are going to make a log more delicious, let’s add some ants.
You have cracked the ants on a log code! The old school celery/PB/raisins is garbage.
I join you in your avoidance of bananas. Everyone else in my house loves them, but they just don’t do it for me.
Yes to crispy pepperoni in scrambled eggs! What luck that I’m reading this right before breakfast.
Crispy pepperoni makes many things better! I like to use it in stuffed mushrooms, too. Yum!
I immediately shuddered when I saw Ants on a Log, because I loathe celery. I guess this makes us perfect together because I like both peanut butter and raisins. Although not together. But celery! I won’t even have it in the house. The smell. The texture. The everything. Even thinking about celery makes me want to cry. Literally cry.
You can have ALLLLL my celery!
I remember a snack that would also be popular, the ants-on-a-log variety, but with Cheez Whiz instead of peanut butter and MY GOD WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE.
I would totally eat your version of ants on a log! We do enjoy a banana around here. *insert sexytimes eyebrow wiggle*
I can only enjoy celery raw. If it’s cooked: NO. I do use it in soups and things but mince it almost into invisibility.
Lol to your banana enjoyment!
When I was growing up there was also a version with Cheese Whiz instead of Peanut Butter too! Is this a Canadian thing? That was… a very specific taste.
This is definitely an elevated version of ants on a log, because the one I know is the old fashioned celery/peanut butter/raisin version. It’s funny that everyone seems to have strong feelings about different parts of these concoctions… except me. I love peanut butter! I also like bananas, celery, chocolate chips (obviously) and raisins. The combination of the celery, peanut butter and raisins is a good one. i haven’t had it in a while, but this would be a good way to get more celery into my life.
I often forget about celery, but I do go through bursts of buying it and snacking on it!
You sound like a very easy going eater!
We do bananas and peanut butter a lot as a before bed snack! My kids would love this version.
I hope you try it!
I can tolerate celery if there are peanut butter and raisins involved, or sometimes for soup, but otherwise, no thank you. I used to feel as strongly as Nicole about celery, but I have mellowed a bit I guess. I do love peanut butter. My favorite way to eat it (perhaps a breakfast idea for Carla?) is on whole wheat toast, covered in fresh berries. So delicious.
Snacks. Your solution to ants on a log looks quite delicious. My daughter used to eat them at Girl Scout meetings. Another tasty snack at GS was graham crackers with peanut butter and thinly sliced strawberries.
When I was a kid, the snack I remember most often was very inexpensive but had probably zero nutritional value – saltines and kool aid.
Hey, you know what has more potassium than a banana? Sweet potatoes! Also, I think, dried apricots. Do you like dried apricots? What about OJ?
Graham crackers with peanut butter sounds yummy to me, but I am the only one in my household who will even look at a graham cracker! My husband does enjoy peanut butter on matzoh though!
I think potatoes also contain potassium! And I do love potatoes.
What a funny read, about a parent who covers one eye about the choco chips and the pepperoni, and tries really really hard to only see the banana and eggs!
I appreciate the stray chocolate chip that has no log—was that to appease your teen?
Ha! Usually I would say yes, but this time I think I just miscounted.
I think peanut butter and raisins on celery is the classic ants on a log and I do like all the components separately and together. I sometimes make it with cream cheese instead of peanut butter, though. This dates back to when I’d be snack mom at the kids’ preschool and I’d need to bring in something allergy-safe. I like it that way, too.
I do put various nut butters on banana or apple slices frequently, too. Chocolate chips sound like a good addition.
Yes! I love apple slices and almond butter, with a drizzle of honey.
Microwave pepperoni is great! I thought I was the only one who did that. (And parmesan too — cheese crisps at the store are too expensive!). I love the idea of ants on a log. Our grands are coming next week — this would be a terrific snack for them.
I have never microwaved parmesan but I have done cheddar and that is delicious all bubby hot and chewy crisp!
PS — don’t know if this would work but before you put the peanut butter on the banana slices, would it help to put a piece of paper towel over the banana to pick up any additional moisture from the slice? I’ll have to try it, but it works for pepperoni and pizza grease!
I will have to try this!
I also hate bananas. I wish I liked them. Such a handy fruit. I do put them in my protein shake, but there’s so much other stuff in there they don’t bother me. I think for me it’s a texture thing. I love your mom’s rabbit food snacks. My mom was a picky eater and as a result I was not exposed to a lot of things – celery, cottage cheese, tacos, tomatoes, peppers, etc. The list goes on and on. I remember being envious of the kids who served us bug juice when we went to play. Yum!
Inquiring minds need to know what your favorite type of ranch dressing is! Hidden Valley used to be my go-to, but the last few bottles have been unsatisfying and I’ve been experimenting without any success…
Growing up in Ontario, Canada, ants on a log referred to celery, cream cheese and raisins. I almost never think of eating it as an adult, but I quite like it when I do. The related snack I used to prefer as a child was Ryvita crispbread crackers spread with cream cheese with raisins on top.
I never liked the name of that snack, nor the snack itself. The name is too long. And the celery is just too hard to bite off when it has peanut butter all over it. No Thank You. What if i gets stringy… just, no. What a mess. (Celery and ranch, yes, I will tolerate. Or hummus. Or with wings. Otherwise NO. Never in a salad.)
I do love PB with banana — in fact it’s the ONLY way I’ll eat a banana.
My daughter loves an English muffin with PB/banana; it’s her favorite breakfast. 🙂 Have never put choc chips on it – let’s not tell her about that!
I just completely enjoyed this entire post.
If I were making this snack for a child, I would put one chocolate chip on each, with three chocolate chips on “the last piece.” If I were making this snack for myself, you would not even be able to SEE the peanut butter under the number of chocolate chips I would use. This is one of the nice things about being a grown-up.
I will eat celery with peanut butter, but NOT with raisins. My favorite way to eat celery is as a vehicle for buffalo-chicken dip.
Pretty much the only time I will eat banana is in a smoothie.
Oh yum! That looks like a delicious snack for Carla. I grew up eating the celery/pb/raisin version of the snack but I would not eat it as an adult. No thank you. I do like celery with pb, though. When I make a tuna salad sandwich for myself, I usually only need 1/3 of the stalk so I eat the rest with pb (probably too much pb if I’m being honest).
I really do not remember eating many snacks as a child. My kids are always hungry for snacks. Their favorite is graham crackers or club crackers. The younger one likes a bowl of dry cheerios. Their favorite more filling snack is peanut butter toast with some chocolate chips on top! They like to place the chocolate chips themselves and they each have a very specific, strong preference for how it’s cut (2 triangle for Paul, 4 squares for Taco).
My favorite snacks are greek yogurt with a berry of some sort and popcorn!
I seriously have never heard of ants on a log, nor have I eaten any version of them. I have had peanut butter (and soft cheese) on celery but never called it anything besides a snack. LOL I don’t hate bananas, but I don’t eat them frequently for whatever reason. And raisins are not on my favorites list either, especially warm ones. (gross)
I, too, am not fond of bananas. Bananas are the only vegetable my now-grown son would eat. I don’t mind banana bread but if there is another option I’ll usually pick that. Please don’t make me eat coconut.
Celery with ** cream cheese ** is pretty darn good, I think. Not so much with peanut butter.
I would be delighted with your version of ants on a log! I was raised with disgusting raisins and peanut butter on celery. I do not like raw celery. I once read that “Celery is great, if you like eating dental floss with a little water.” Ha! Ha!
As far as I know, ants on a log does not exist in Germany (as we also didn’t really have peanut butter when I grew up, although it’s probably available freely now). I am not a big fan of bananas and I also only slightly have warmed up to peanut butter (I prefer almond butter all the way, preferably with apples… a combo which I also only learned to love since I moved to the US).
I think you should pivot to using mini chocolate chips. More “ant like” given the size of a banana round and you could put more than one on, a “win” for Carla (:
I love celery PB and raisins but all of my kids thing I am disgusting. We do banana ghosts (half a banana sitting in a glob of PB to stay upright with 2 mini chips for eyes and a milk choc chip for a mouth (insert the chips in pointy-side down)
I used to microwave pepperoni and salami when I was pregnant and craving lunch meat but hoping to avoid listeria– it really is a nasty smell (but sooooo goooooood)
We would do ants on a log with cream cheese on celery, and then raisins. Because I don’t like peanut butter (it’s also a migraine trigger, so that works). I’ve also done pimento cheese in celery, without the raisins, lol … The peanut butter + banana + chocolate chip combo sounds like a better snacky treat, if you like bananas (I hate them, with a passion, LOL!)
Well, I myself do like the old school celery, PB, and raisins. My kids like it too. They also will do apple slices with PB and raisins.
My grandfather refuses to eat raw vegetables, including salad. Calls it animal food. He’s 100 years old, so it doesn’t seem to have hurt him. He also is a big fan of bananas and Taiwanese Beer. I think exercise has more to do with his age than his diet.
At first I thought I was going crazy because I was like, “Isn’t ants on a log made with celery?!” HA. I do not like the consistency of bananas so this is a no-go for me, but I do enjoy celery with PB every now and then. It’s not something I have regularly, but sometimes it sounds good to me!
I am amazed at how many people dislike bananas. And celery. And (shudder) raisins. We had a similar snack to your Velveeta chips and dip when we were kids. Even better, it used Cheese Whiz. What a horrible name for a pseudofood.