Quick Snacks

 A lot of people have been asking me what I eat for snacks, which is a great question because I often asked myself what to snack on especially while I was navigating this new way of eating. I had no idea what a healthy gluten/prossessed carb free snack was. Here are a few of my favorites.

Carrot & Celery Sticks with Hummus: In my opinion, Sabra is the best hummus you can buy commercially made. The problem: it is expensive at stores like Fred Meyers and Safeway. Solution: I buy it is at Winco or Costco. Costco has a bulk size for about $6 and by my estimate it is 2.5 times larger of the regular size you can buy at Winco which is around $3 per tub. I buy regular carrots and celery. Sometimes I pre-slice a LOT of carrots and celery when I know I am going to have a busy week. If I had kids, I'd probably do that so we can just grab some when the hunger strikes. Most mornings, (I'm so lucky) Prince Sam cuts them up for our snacks. We work 10 hour days, so I always make sure to bring snacks because when 4 hits, we get hungry or I get super nauseous when my blood sugar is low.

Microwavable Edamame: My chip replacer AKA eat infront of the TV replacer is edamame. I buy the microwavable frozen edamame and throw it in the microwave for 5 minutes and toss with a little sea salt. It is super simple but it works for that salty craving! Sometimes it is even a side dish for dinner.

Lemon Soda: My lemon sprizters (as Sam calls them) are a great way to satisfy pop cravings or lemonade cravings. Look at previous posts for recipes. I  want to tell you about a fabulous experience I had:  I ordered my lemon drop stevia @ iHerb.com (lemondropstevia) on a Friday (pay day) and I recieved a shipping notification less than a half hour later! Then, I actually got my stevia (two dollar shipping) on MONDAY. It was crazy! I really only saved 2 or 3 dollars since you can buy lemon drop stevia for $14.99 at Whole Foods, but I rarely frequent a whole foods so it was cheaper and much more convinent to purchase it this way. Some people mix liquid stevia (there are all kinds of flavors and I've tried most of them) with seltzer water or club soda. I tend to find a weird after taste at the end if they aren't stirred very well. The root better + vanilla creme mixed with club soda is pretty good. I also like peppermint stevia with peppermint tea. YUM. Maybe I should devote an entire post to stevia.. at some point. Now, if you dont like mixing your own drinks and still have a soda hankering... PUT THAT DIET COKE DOWN! There is an alternative: Zevia! Zevia is the best tasting calorie free healthy soda! Down fall- the price. It is $4.99 at Freddies which is the best price I've found and then a lot of times you can find coupons on their website. The best deal is when it goes on sale at Freddies for $3.99 and I have a dollar off coupon! SCORE. I buy and buy and buy and stock up! I used to drink a lot of soda but Zevia helped wean me off of it... for two reasons: 1) it is healthier and after my withdrawls I wasnt craving regular soda and 2) because its expensiveI dont drink as much. I can't afford to drink two or three a day. Ok, I never really drank three pops a day. I love it and I wish I had some of it in our fridge at home right now, but sadly I dont. I need to stock up again when Fred Meyer's has a sale.

Apple's and Peanut Butter... OR almond butter. I buy our peanut and almond butters at Winco, in the bulk section. It isnt going to be as cheap as generic prosessed sugared peanut butter but its also not a super expensive item either. My personal favorite apples are pink ladies! YUM... I use my handy dandy apple slicer, which I bring to work, my tub of PB or almond butter and dip away! For me, I'm eating a healthy apple, with natural sugars. I generally have this for breakfast in a pinch or as a late afternoon snack because there is something about apples and PB that seem to stablize my blood sugar so I dont get feeling really sick on the drive home. This weird phenominon has happened on a few occasions, my blood sugar gets so low (I'm technically not pre-diabetic my doctor says but I'll bet since I'm overweight and pre-disposed to diabetes I am pre-pre-diabetic. One of the reasons I've found myself on this journey! Prevention!) and Sam and I drive home and I get dizzy and light headed. One time, we got home, made it through the door and ran to the bathroom to vomit. I also got a migraine so maybe or maybe not related to low blood sugar but I've made sure to have an afternoon snack now before we drive home.   I've always prefered the bulk, freshly ground peanut butter but I can see how some people might not like them as much. They are just plain dry roasted ground peanuts or almonds. No sugar, or oils to make them creamy. This type of PB is hard to spread on bread, so making sandwhiches with it is kind of hard but that isnt an issue for me since I dont generally eat sandwhiches. Peanut allergies? Well, obviously this one isnt for you but I did read  this interesting statistic from the Almond Board recently that far fewer people are allergic to almonds than peanuts.

Home Made Crackers: Speaking of the Almond Board... Elana from one of my favorite recipe websites (http://www.elanaspantry.com/)  made these crackers for the almond board: gluten free rosemary almond flour crackers. In Elana's book there are several versions of these crackers, some add cheddar cheese (if you eat it) and my favorite have a ton of sesame seeds in them. These are excellent crackers but they are labor intesive. (Isn't eating healthy in general labor intensive? You've gotta be commited) To be honest, I've never made them, Sam is the trooper and makes them for us. They are great in hummus or any other dip. Try to make them as thin as possible so that they are crispy and they dont actually fall apart as easy. They do take some practice but they are worth it. Sometimes we make her delicious soups with these crackers for a very comfort-food night. I like comfort food, as you can tell. My two top favorite soups are: mushroom soup and butternut squash soup. She has some soups I have yet to try but these are so delicious. I even made the mushroom soup for my parents and they really enjoyed it... or at least told me that!

CHOCOLATE CAKE: Ok, this isnt really a snack but rather a dessert... but I thought I'd post it on here: chocolate cup cakes! You can make these as a cake or mini cup cakes! BUT this is for sure delicious!YOU CAN HAVE FROSTING! Made of course with the much lower on the glycemic index sweetener: agave. I now buy agave in bulk from Winco. Its in a gallon jug and its worth the price! This is like GOLD in my house hold. Take a peek and enjoy... I may make this tonight! Chocolate Cake and Marshmallow Frosting! I have cooked this and try not to too much because its so delicious! And I'll admit, Sam and I have had the frosting all by its self. Its one of the first gluten, sugar free things I tried... YUM!

I also drink no sugar added fruit smoothies (thats another topic alone), nuts and the occasional Lara Bar in a pinch but please let me know if you have any other sugar free, gluten free snack ideas... I get stuck in a rut!