snacks!

I have (yet again) joined a challenge; an 8-week "Whole Life" personal game/challenge.  Not only does it focus on fitness and nutrition, but also your daily lifestyle habits: The Whole Life Challenge.  But this blog isn't really about the challenge...it is about snacks!

Since I have been eating super clean and ancestral type diet for two plus years, people often ask me what I eat. Many of my Whole Life Challenge peers are asking for snack ideas. So, this is just the nudge I need to get a post up!

Typically, every Sunday is my weekly meal prep day for the upcoming week.  In addition to preparing a few dishes for the week, I like to prepare some snacks that are easy to grab on the go.

Before I share some of my favorite snacks, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• A well balanced meal with fat, protein and some good carbs should keep you full. You may find you won’t need to snack.  If you keep needing to eat a snack...add a little more protein or good fat (gasp!) to your breakfast or lunch...
• To reiterate myself, protein and fat will keep you full longer than just carbs.
• Pre-portion out your snacks: e.g. I put 2 tablespoons of nut butter in small containers for ease! Sandwich bags and containers like snapware will become your BFFs!  
• Veggies like carrots and celery stay fresh longer in water, so pre-slice them and toss them in a container with some water in the fridge.  
• Buy nuts and dried fruit in bulk. This is a great way to save some cash and buy only a certain amount.

 
 
 Leah's Favorite Snacks {just a few}

• sliced veggies and/or fruit (I pair this with some sort of fat or protein)
• banana w/ nut butter or hard boiled egg
• unsweetened applesauce with nuts mixed in.
• hard boiled egg(s)
• 2ish tablespoons of nut butter, pre portioned out and paired with some veggies or fruit
• olives, Trader Joe's green olives are my favorite!
• 1/2 (or more) avocado, sprinkled with some S & P
• smoked salmon
• canned salmon, drained & sprinkled some pepper
• sliced chicken sausage (Uli's is my favorite!)
• sliced chicken breast, paired with a dip or sauce like this one- it is to die for!! or try some pesto.
• jerky (gluten-free!) - I like to go to a butcher and get their house-made jerky
• guacamole with some jicama or salsa de manzana y jicama with avocado
• trail-mix: coconut flakes, nuts and dried fruit
• Larabar OR make your own LeahBars
• gluten free muffins, blog post is in the queue
• baked sweet potato or yam with a scoop of nut butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon{heaven}
• leftovers!

There are endless options for snacks- get creative and have fun with it! 
What are some of your go to snacks?

Ginger Carrot Salad
This is another recipe inspired by my (many) trips to the prepared food section at Whole Foods and other stores here in Seattle.  It is a nice, tangy salad that is great by itself or as a side dish.  

Salad:
6ish carrots, grated
¼ cup dried currants or raisins
nuts of choice- you could add cubed chicken to make it meatier. :)  
 
Dressing:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
juice of 1-2 lemons
ground/grated ginger, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
1-2 tablespoons orange juice (optional)

Method

In a large bowl, mix together the carrots, currants, etc.

For the dressing, whisk together all the ingredients and season to taste. (You can also throw these ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake until well combined.)

Pour dressing in the bowl and toss until mixed.  Cover and chill for 30 minutes to let the flavors blend.

Variations:

• This is great served on top of spinach or arugula.
• Add thinly cut kale.
• Shredded beets are a great addition to this salad. I often use golden beets to avoid the entire salad (and your hands) from turning bright red. :)

I love ginger!

The other day my fabulous roommate, Vivian, came home with a lot of ginger.  I could not have been more excited. I.love.ginger - ginger tea, ginger ice cream, gingery soup, pickled ginger, gingery smoothie or just ginger by itself! It is pretty amazing. Not only is it tasty, but it comes with some great health benefits.

Vivian had no idea what we would do with this much ginger.  I knew pretty instantly.  I would make a ginger paste and freeze it.

photo courtesy of www.mydorot.com

Clearly, I love ginger and consequently I cook with it a lot.  It can be a pain to peel and grate.  I recently bought this great product -who wouldn't want the ease of of a tray of teaspoon crushed ginger cubes? It makes cooking with ginger much more convenient.  It was perfect timing for Vivian to come home with all this ginger. I had just used the last cube. :-)

 This is just some of the ginger Vivian came home with.

My empty ginger tray. :-(

Give me a VitaMix and a minute....

 

  With a flip of a switch on the VitaMix, 

I now I have myself some ginger paste!

 This couldn't have been any easier or cheaper! 

I threw some rinsed, cubed and unpeeled ginger in the VitaMix (a blender would be fine). Processed it for about a minute and voilà! I filled up my handy little tray and stuck it in the freezer. I still had at least a half cup of the paste, so I laid a piece of saran wrap on a plate and placed rounded spoonfuls on it. I put this in the freezer until they were frozen then popped the gingery spoonfuls in a ziploc bag.  I think we are set on ginger for a while!

Tips/tricks:

• Add a little oil to the paste mix. This keeps it from getting rock hard in the freezer. I just learned this after the fact- oh well!
• If you don't happen to have a little tray like mine, you can use an ice cube tray instead. Place 2-3 teaspoons in each compartment. Once frozen, remove from tray and place cubes in a ziploc back.
• OR you can fill a freezer ziploc bag with the ginger paste and make a thin layer. Freeze the bag and when you are in need to ginger just break off the amount you need.

Variotions:

• You can also do this with garlic. You could even do a garlic-ginger paste!
• Other options: finely chopped cilantro, basil, parsley...