Simply Live-Snack foods

I love to snack. Crackers and chips with dips galore! I could eat a million calories in one sitting. As part of my attempt to eat healthy and more simply, I have been working to find some snack foods that I can make using whole ingredients. My favorites so far have been whole wheat crackers and graham crackers. Both of these recipes are basic and can be easily messed around with to include different flavors (for example: the wonderful black bean salsa crackers that came from the leftover salsa in the fridge).

I am finding out that the key is to stop buying snack food from the grocery store. The truth is that I am lazy and given the chance, I will just eat what I get from the store. I also love my old favorites so much that it is hard to get motivated to make something new. So I stopped buying snack food at the grocery store. Eventually I want a snack bad enough to get my rear in gear and make one. Once I find a recipe that I like, I make large batches and store them for easy accessibility.

For another easy grab food I prepare most of our fruits and veggies from the co-op on the day that we get them. I wash and cut them and put them in containers. Then it is easy to grab them on the way out the door or throw them on a plate for the boys to snack on throughout the day (I try to leave one such plate out every day-lazy little eaters will gobble up the good stuff before searching for the other). Even foods that will need to be cooked are washed and cut to make make meal prep easier. This cuts down on food loss from spoilage since I am a lazy cook and will cook what is easiest.

Dips and such made from yummy homemade yogurt can be made up and stored in small individual size containers that are, again, easy to grab. Do you see the pattern here? If it is easy, we will actually use it!

Cheese is another good snack. Cut up into manageable sizes and stored in baggies, it makes a healthy, easy choice.

One last staple of our diet is peanut butter balls. This has evolved into peanut butter bars out of laziness. This is just peanut butter, or fresh ground peanuts, a little olive oil, some powdered milk, oats, a dash of sea salt and enough honey to make it all stick together. I pack this mix into the bottom of a baking pan and cool in the fridge. Then I cut it into squares and store it in a container. (Tip-as you are throwing all your ingredients together taste it to see if you like the mix and then try to squeeze a ball of it together. If it will not stay in a ball add some more of your wet ingredients. If it is too mushy add so more powdered milk.)

Granola, granola bars (easy to make), toasted and seasoned nuts, and healthy cookies are also a part of our good-for-you snack plan.

Now, I have to be fair and say that we all are still getting used to healthy, homemade alternatives. The boys sometimes decide starving until they see Grandmother next is a better option. I get tired of making things and long to pick up something at the grocery store (and sometimes do). T is a truly lazy eater and will sometimes just do without rather than have to get a baggie out to bag his own. So we are all still very much in a process.

I am finding out that I feel better and am naturally losing weight just by avoiding processed foods. The boys behavior is also better when they don't have High Fructose Corn Syrup coursing through their veins. So I am convinced it is both a cheaper and better lifestyle choice for us.

I encourage you to make a homemade snack this week and enjoy its inexpensive, simple goodness.