I have talked to you about how I try to minimize the amount of junk that I eat. I try to eat as little processed food as I can…..other than my sweets, I will admit those are less than ideal, but if we all have a little part of our diet that is not perfect (hey! Its called balance right? ;p), and that is mine.
So that being said, I talk a lot about eating real food, and we hear that we need to eat “real food” all the time, but what does that even mean?
Yes, we know we need to eat lots of organic fresh fruit and vegetables, consume grass-fed beef, and organic free range chicken, but how does that apply to the snacks we have?
I am a big snacker, you kind of have to be when you run as many miles as I do. As much as I do enjoy a nice giant apple bigger than my hand, sometimes, you just want something that has a bit more substance, and that is where this post comes in for what I ate wednesday.
I try to make almost everything we have homemade; sauces, nut butters, hummus, dressings, gnocchi, bread. You name it, I probably try to make it.
For me, that is enjoyable, and I like the challenge. Most of the time, I just google a recipe if I have no way to go about it, but when it comes to cooking, a lot of it is just experimenting.
I will explain more about cooking itself another time, but let’s get back to snacks. What are my go-to homemade snacks?
Right now, my biggest obsession is these 5 ingredient granola bars from Minimalist Baker. Steve loves them, I love them, and you would not guess they are healthy, they are just delicious! I intend to experiment a bit with the recipe in future, but right now, I am just loving them for what they are.
I also really enjoy these protein bites from Maisymak. I have featured an apple cranberry version on a meatless monday post before, and if you are a crunch person, you will LOVE these! Just as I said before, be careful not to eat them just before a run, or you may have an upset stomach!
Nuts
Okay, so these are not homemade, I certainly did not go pick them from my garden, but these are my go to snack, and you can pack them into a little tub or bag to take the ideal size. I like to mix cashews, macadamia nuts, almonds, walnuts, dried cranberries, dried pineapple, and some seeds into a tub. Yes, that does make it easy to grab more than you realize, but I would rather eat a healthy snack than reach for the chips and not be able to stop those!
On the note of nuts, another favorite real food snack of mine is Nuttzo, straight out of the Jar. I cannot get enough of this stuff!
In another meatless monday recipe, I shared Sriracha tempeh tacos, and as good as those are, I do just love to snack on the tempeh. It gives me protein and tastes delicious!
If you haven’t tried tempeh, its time!
And that, my friends, is all I have for the day
I do eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables as snacks, as well as cottage cheese with pineapple, smoked salmon pieces (when we splurge) or hummus. I know that is not very exciting, but I really do enjoy eating them, but the times when I do want something a bit more special, these are my go to “real food” snacks!
What are your favorite homemade snacks?
PS. Check out my post The Running Obsession on Belle Lap! If you do not follow this blog by my good friend Charlotte Browning, you need to!
15 Comments.
As you know, I also love to eat and snack but I don’t love to cook. My eyes light up when I see things like “5 ingredient bars!” I pinned them and will be sure to make. I’m really into making whole food bars and balls right now so I can pop them after a tough workout instead of a packaged bar. Thanks Tina!
I’m the same way as Allie…I just love to eat in general but am a terrible cook. The bars look great for work when I’m constantly moving. Smoked salmon is one of my favorite snacks and foods too. It’s so underrated!
I also like to make my own snacks because I know exactly what ingredients are in them! Those granola bars look perfect. I usually try to make some sort of muffin, bites, bars, etc over the weekend so that I have snacks to bring with me to work during the week!
Those granola bars look awesome! I have been wanting to make some myself and this might be a good prompting. I’m currently at home most of the time (changing careers and studying for a certification) and my go-to afternoon snack is an apple with PB. It’s the right balance of a little sweet, a little salty, and some protein.
I need to get back to making my homemade snacks, but it is just so easy for me to grab something now that I’m AT home. I actually got a bunch of snacks right before I was let go, and now our pantry is PACKED to the gills. No idea when that will get taken care of!
I am all about eating real foods too! Hosting meatless Monday has given me lots of opportunities to explore cooking new and different things.
Thanks for sharing the granola bar recipe- I was just looking for a new one to try! And you can’t beat 5 ingredients. I like to snack on homemade bars like this, or coconut flour muffins, nuts/fruit, yogurt, and sometimes if I’m really hungry, a mini-meal over 5 mini snacks.
Just hopped over to that tempeh recipe. I LOVE tempeh. Seriously, will eat it right out the package. That is getting made asap! I’ve become less of a snacker lately – but have finally hopped on the homemade hummus bandwagon so cannot help digging into that!
I don’t really make homemade snacks, but I always snack on fresh fruit or plain yogurt (nuts make me pretty bloated and so I just have a lttle amount of them in the morning with my oatmeal). It’s SO easy to eat healthy if one wants to! I remember an interview I read a while ago about Desi Linden. In the interview, she mentions not following a particular diet and just not eating anything that comes out of a package. It is really that simple if you think about it!
My go to snacks are usually nuts, greek yogurt, or an apple. I tend to get lazy about prepping anything more elaborate, but those bars sounds delicious, so I’ll have to give them a try!
I love those granola bars – I make them often. Have you tried any date energy bars? One of my favorite recipes is this one… but beware, very addicting! http://detoxinista.com/2015/11/snickerdoodle-larabar-bites/
I love making my own hummus, breads, healthy baked goods, etc. Those granola bars look delicious and I love that they only have five ingredients!
Those granola bars look amazing!! My kids will be so excited! I love to eat apples with almond butter, berries, greek yogurt, popcorn and nuts. Isn’t food awesome? xo
I made the granola bars at the weekend after you mentioned them in a post last week. The only drawback – because they are so delicious, the whole family loved them and they disappeared almost instantly! Will definitely be making more in the next few days, but I’ll be hiding them away in the cupboard this time! 🙂
I have been making Laura’s (Mommy Run Fast) Almond butter fudge…OMG, if you haven’t tried them, you definitely NEED to!