Quick & Easy Snacks

Wow, I have definitely neglected this blog for quite a while but with good reason.
I was SO busy in September & October with my little sister's wedding & right after that I found out that I was PREGNANT!
We are incredibly excited & Tyler cannot wait to be a Daddy (& me neither!)
But as a lot of you know with pregnancy comes SICKNESS - nausea, exhaustion, etc.
So.. to be completely honest I have not been amazing in the eating department lately. Meaning I just ate whatever I could keep down at that moment in time. Not necessarily meaning BAD things but meaning maybe just ONE apple or some saltine crackers. lol.

With that being said.. I wanted to share with you some quick and easy snacks & foods that are a staple around here.

Light String Cheese
Low Fat Cottage Cheese (props to those of you who can handle Fat Free)
Triscuits (we love the cracked pepper & olive oil kind)
Eggs, of course
Whole Wheat bread (I love the kind by Aspen Mills - the fewer ingredients the better!)
Apples, Bananas, and any other fruit I can get my hands on
Celery
Natural Peanut Butter (CRUNCHY!)
PICKLES!
Greek Yogurt
Tuna (light, canned in water)
Almonds (I get the raw unsalted from Costco)
Pistachios (I get the original or salt & pepper from Costco)
GNC Amplified Whey protein powder

A few snack ideas with these items:

*Cottage Cheese on Triscuits
*String Cheese & a piece of fruit
*Apple slices dipped in peanut butter
*Celery with peanut butter
*Whole wheat bread toasted with peanut butter & sliced banana
*Scrambled eggs on whole wheat toast
*Greek yogurt with fruit & 1/4 cup cheerios
*Tuna on crackers
*Tuna on whole wheat bread with pickles
*Banana Protein shake - milk, ice, protein powder (vanilla) & banana
*Chocolate Protein Shake - milk, ice, protein powder (chocolate)

Hope this gives you a few ideas on some quick, healthy snacks that are easy to throw together!

.Kashi w. Blueberries.

KASHI GOLEAN CRUNCH w. BLUEBERRIES

this is one of my favorite summer breakfasts.

it's balanced, healthy & will fuel your day

ingredients:

1 cup Kashi GoLean Crunch

1/2 cup Silk Almond milk

1/4 cup blueberries

.Chicken Caesar Wrap.

CHICKEN CAESAR WRAP

Sorry everyone, I have been M.I.A. with this blog the last couple months. Don't worry, I haven't quit eating healthy or anything like that ;)

This is a quick easy meal to throw together. I always have these ingredients on hand because for one - they are healthy & two - they can make a variety of different meals.

Ingredients:

La Tortilla whole wheat tortilla

shredded chicken

spinach

low fat/cal & low sugar caesar dressing (i like the caesar with parmesan kind by Kraft)

*I had cheese on this one but I have since eliminated it from my diet for the most part

.Berry Trifle.

BERRY TRIFLE

.ingredients.

1 large prepared angel food cake

2 - 16 oz pkg frozen mixed berries or 4 cups fresh fruit (I like to add bananas)

3 cups skim milk

2 large boxes instant sugar free pudding (french vanilla or cream cheese)

1 - 12 oz container of fat free/sugar free Cool Whip

Cut angel food cake up into bite sized pieces and place 1/2 of them into the bottom of a glass bowl, then pour 1/2 of the fruit over cake. Mix milk & pudding mix with beater, fold in 2/3 of cool whip. Pour half of pudding mixture over fruit & then repeat the layers again. Top with the remaining Cool Whip. Cover & refrigerate for at least a few hours.

Makes 24 servings

142 Calories 2 g of Fat

.Dill Chicken w. Wild Rice & Asparagus.

DILL CHICKEN W. WILD RICE & ASPARAGUS

.ingredients.

4 lb chicken

8 oz. fat free sour cream

8 oz. greek yogurt

1 envelope dry onion soup mix

1 tsp lemon juice

2 tbsp dill weed

2 - 10.75 oz cans heart healthy cream of mushroom soup

pepper to taste

Put chicken into a greased 9x13 baking dish. Combine remaining ingredients & then pour over chicken & sprinkle with pepper. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until chicken is white in the center (I found that it took longer than 30 min).

Serve with wild rice and asparagus! YUM!

Serves 10-14 people

.French Toast w. Eggs.

FRENCH TOAST WITH EGGS

.ingredients.

4 egg whites

1/2 cup skim milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 slices whole wheat bread

Wisk egg whites, milk, vanilla, nutmeg & cinnamon together. Dip both sides of bread into mixture and brown each side on a nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray. Enjoy with sugar free syrup & a side of scrambled eggs (1 whole & 2 whites) or turkey bacon/sausage!

Ooey Gooey CHEESEburger!

OOEY GOOEY CHEESEBURGER

YES, YOU READ IT RIGHT, CHEESEBURGER! One of my goals with this blog is to open people's minds into thinking that there is a way to enjoy healthy meals & to feel satisfied when doing so.

What you need:

1 lb extra lean ground beef (96% preferably but definitely above 90%!)

4 slices - Reduced fat cheese (should be around 50-60 calories per slice)

4 - Whole wheat hamburger buns or 2 slices granny delight wheat & fiber bread

1 - Tomato

1 - small red onion

Lettuce

Condiments of choice: yellow mustard, low sugar ketchup & 1/2 tbsp olive oil mayo

You all know how to construct a cheeseburger I am sure so I won't go into detail. But through experience I have learned - Make sure you mush up the hamburger well with your hands before separating to make into patties. This will help keep the hamburger in one piece while cooking!

This makes 4 servings & when I calculated how many calories the cheeseburger pictured above had it came out to be about 400 calories! Serve with a side salad with low calorie/low sugar dressing & you've got yourself one heck of a meal!

ENJOY!