healthy snacks, week 1 (or “little miss happy goes overboard….. again.”)

i have a snacking habit.

sometimes it’s healthy snacks and sometimes i get in a “let’s shove cheese and crackers in my face as fast as possible” rut and sometimes the terrible, practically plastic cookies in our staff break room at work begin singing my name and i eat them and regret it even mid-bite.

the only successful way i’ve found to counter my impulsive snacking on awful things is to pre-plan a bunch of tasty treats that are actually good for me.  single-serving portions, preferably with a bit of protein for sticking power.

i was thinking about how nice it would be to have a set of snacks for the week, but not all the same thing every day. and i was thinking about how the snacks i eat are probably not (all) going to appeal to my family members. and i was thinking about how successfully my salad swap is still going (wow!  that link is a year old!) and i wondered if maybe i could arrange a snack swap.

i think that maybe most people were daunted by my personal definition of “healthy” snacks (for now at least, i’m going to attempt to keep them gluten-free, dairy-free and processed sugars free) and so my first invitation to a swap didn’t get much response.  so i decided this time to try doing it more like a CSA, but instead of being Community Supported Agriculture, it could be Community Supported Snacking.  In essence, people could sign up for a snack subscription from me.

finding interesting snack ideas that fit my narrow definition of healthy was more challenging than i’d thought it would be and so i decided to start listing my weekly menus here in case it would help anyone else (and to have as a personal reference when i’m feeling uninspired in the future).

here are my first week’s menu items (note to self for the future…. this combination was way too time-consuming for one week. next time, at least purchase pre-made hummus!):

  peanut butter bites + apple

green deviled eggs (smash 1/2 avocado with 4 hard-boiled egg yolks.  add a little salt and a little apple cider vinegar, smash it smooth, then tuck back into the empty egg whites)

lemon chia pudding with fresh berries (1 can coconut milk + 1/4 c. chia seeds + juice and zest of one organic lemon. i might add more chia seeds next time.  add sweetener if desired, but i prefer it tart like this.)

sriracha hummus  (just my regular hummus (except i was out of tahini, whoops!) with a swirl of sriracha on top) + sugar snap peas

granola no. 5 + banana

fresh garden mint (I recommend just stuffing it into a mason jar with some cold water and letting it sit overnight. Add sweetener if you want to, but I find it’s quite refreshing even without!)

i packed it all into cute, insulated lunch bags that i picked up at a discount store for easy carrying to and from church.

p.s. i haven’t forgotten the tidying up series, i just got a little distracted.  it might get finished someday.