With the coming of warm weather comes the urge to eat, and eat, and eat some more. At this time, we expect to see funny memes with things like “eat what you want and if anyone lectures you about it, eat them too.” If you are not careful though, you could eat yourself to damnation, and that would be serious.
It is quite possible for you to have yummy, yet healthy snacks at home. In this short post, we shall explore a few healthy snacks that you can make at home, and ditch that bag of chips. It is not going to do your waistline any good!
Healthy spring snacks to make at home:
Vegetables and salads
When you feel the need to eat something between meals, take a vegetable. We all know that nutrient-rich vegetables are the holy grail of good health. It is sad that we do not enjoy eating them as much as we enjoy indulging our sweet tooth. Thankfully, with a bit of style and panache, you can prepare vegetables for snacking on, and actually, look forward to eating them.
If you are a light snacker, something as simple as popping a carrot in your mouth can be all the snacking that you need to do. Some vegetables can be eaten raw, some have to be steamed or cooked. As long as you eat vegetables, it really does not matter. Just remember to keep ingredients fresh, you can find more details on warmchef.com.
Another way to eat vegetables for snacks is to prepare salads. You can then sprinkle the salad with your favorite sauce and then eat them yummy and fresh. You can even prepare more salad than you can eat and preserve it in your fridge to eat later.
Made the right way, a salad can also pack your body with enough energy-giving nutrients such that you do not even have to take lunch. Just throw hummus and avocado into the mix and you will have a great snack.
Plantain chips – baked
When you have children and you need them to eat healthy snacks, it might be a bit tough for you to sell them the raw vegetable snacks. However, you can always bake them something that is rich in minerals, vitamins and other nutrients and is very tasty to boot. Bake them some plantain chips.
These are quite easy to make. What you need is a couple, or several of semi ripe or green plantains, of course depending on the number of people that you are going to feed. You also need vegetable oil, and a pinch of pepper and salt for taste.
To prepare, just peel the plantains and slice them into 4mm thick slices. You may preheat the oven to 180°C, take a baking sheet and spread your plantain slices out. With a small cooking brush, sprinkle them lightly with oil, salt and pepper. Make sure you do this on both sides of the plantain chips.
You can then put them in the oven and bake for 10 minutes for each side, costing you a total of 20 minutes. Both preparation and cooking need not take more than 30 minutes of your time.
Frozen yoghurt – banana or strawberry
Everyone loves yoghurt. It is delicious and it has this deeply sating feeling. Luckily, you do not have to spend your money at the stores buying some because you can make yours at home, and easily too.
To pull off this sugar-free yoghurt, you need just a few ingredients. You need a couple of ripe bananas. Slice them and freeze them. You also need a half-cup of strawberries, 2 tablespoonfuls of Greek yoghurt and if you like, you may toss in a pinch of mint for taste.
To prepare your banana and strawberry yoghurt, you will just need to toss in everything into a blender and whip it smooth. Just that! You can then pour the mixture into a plastic bowl and keep it in the fridge. Give it some time to freeze and then serve it cold.
You will realize that we have not mentioned anywhere that you will need an ice cream maker. This is one of the easiest recipes for homemade yoghurt and everyone can pull off a perfect job with it. With these three snacks that we have discussed here, you need never eat unhealthy snacks again.