Snacks.... are fun!

Hi! I just got home from my morning workout and watched "The Biggest Loser," finale... so, no spoilers, but I felt inspired.

Let's talk snacks:

Today I'm going to make a simple list of a few of my favorite/easy to make snacks that I think will help you enjoy your day more! These will vary in many ways to pick and choose and play around. A lot of these are so simple but also VERY easily forgotten.... but always yummy!

Things that will help you when planning/making some of these snacks:

TBSP: Measure yo stuff! You think you need more than you actually do to be satisfied.
1/2 cup: Half is a quarter cup.... 2 is a full cup.... this thing is VERSATILE.... again, measure yo stuff it isn't as hard as your brain is tellin you it is... you're being played.
Small sized bowls/plates: It makes the amount of food look bigger and thusly, you feel like you're chowing down... but really you're just being a wizard.


GET READY TO SNACK!

1. apples and peanut butter: DUH. this is the bomb. but I bet a lot of you haven't thought about this snack since you were little, well, bring it back cause it ROCKS. I prefer Honey Crisp or Gala apples with 2 TBSP of Skippy Natural Honey Peanut Butter. This PB only has 5 ingredients and it tastes like CANDY! yes. CAN-DY. Get those energy fueling carbs from the apple and protein from the PB and get ready to say, "WOW SHE WAS RIGHT... CAN-DY!"


2) Pear and Mini Babybel Light: This is my fancy parisian snack... I like to cut the pears and the cheese up evenly so I can eat them like its a fancy cheese plate. This cheese is really nice in texture and mild enough that there is a sweet/salty combination that I LOVE.


3) FAGE yogurt with pumpkin: That sounds crazy? yes. I know. I mix 1/2 cup canned pumpkin with a 6oz serving of fage yogurt. I like to add a stevia packet, and its like puddin. I eat it in the morning a lot before I workout for the protein and carbs. I know it sounds strange... give it a shot.

4 ) Fancy Fruit Salad: I mix a 6oz serving of Fage Yogurt with a handful of black/blueberries and a pear all chopped up with 1 stevia. It gives me the feeling of "this is creamy and fancy," and its sweet b/c of the fruit. I dig this. Its great late at night when I wanna eat a pint of ice cream, but I don't want my butt to look like a big ol' bear wearing white stretch pants.

5) Trader Joe's Goat Cheese with Blueberries: YOU GUYS FOR REAL. This is what I eat instead of Cheesecake because that is what it tastes like!!! Its so good. I prefer it with organic graham crackers OR brown rice crackers. It is magical. Low in cals/fat, but high on the awesome scale.

6) Kale: My trainer said to me once, "you should roast kale, its like chips!" and I said, "you're too thin to possibly appreciate chips." BUT a few months later I stand corrected. I take a big bag of kale. throw it on a cookie sheet, hit it with some olive oil, sea salt and RED ROBIN Seasoning (gotta keep it classy) and then I bake them for 14-20min at 400deg. and I MAO! They are salty and crispy and i love them. kale is the ouija board of leafy greens -- it is mystical and hard to understand and you can't believe its real... BUT IT IS!

7) Butternut Squash: I buy it pre-cubed from TJ's. The organic one.... like the kale I lay the squash on a cookie sheet splash them with olive oil, sea salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and sometimes some pepper and bake it on 400 for 40 min. I'll eat them with ketchup like fries or as a side dish to something. I let them get SUPER golden brown on the outside because then they are SUPER soft on the inside.

These are just a few that are staples in my daily life.

Let me know if you try any of them and how they went! Happy Reading and Happy Eating!