Sunday, December 4, 2011

RECIPES & Ideas: Snacks! YUMMY & Portable Plant-Based Snack Food--all sugar-free, gluten-free & without adding oil or fat!!

My schedule has been characterized as "insane" and I know that a lot of you can completely relate!  That said, if you are working in health care than you know how poorly "putting yourself first" and "taking breaks" is regarded!


So when it comes to snack foods I need things that include:
1) Eat Standing Up or On the Drive Home:  Quick bursts of good filling energy that makes me feel like I can keep going without having to set up a table-top to eat from!
2) Eat at My Desk:  Something I can eat without silverware and look forward to grabbing during a break from the action
3) Sweet Things:  Sometimes living sugar-free can be a bit of a challenge!  Bring on the mock desserts that I make for myself without any added sweeteners--my blueberry "cobbler" nighttime snack for example or my homemade applesauce!
4) Salty/Savory Things:  Yes this is a heart-healthy diet but I don't think a little added salt now and then is going to kill me since we aren't eating added salt in our main meals!


There are some awesome recipes for snacks in the Vegan blogosphere that I want to try:  
The Fat Free Vegan: Microwave potato chips, roasted curried chickpeas, kale chips!
Robin Robertson's Spinach & White Bean Fritters (I think I'll be able to modify these by baking them?)
Robin Robertson's "Finger Lickin' Tempeh Fingers" from her book: "Party Vegan"


AND, here are a few ideas that my husband and I use!
  • Items You Can Eat Standing Up or On the Drive Home
    • Homemade Oat Bars from dates, bananas, dried cranberries & oats
    • Homemade Trail Mix (raw rolled oats, raisins or prunes, raw irish/steel cut oats)
    • Mexican Chickpeas (we use the chickpea filling from the Happy Herbivore's Chickpea Taco's using this AWESOME homemade taco seasoning mix --you can snack on these & they are super yummy, kinda crunchy & filling!)
    • Fruit of course!
    • Air-popped Popcorn (The Healthy Librarian has a recipe here, just scroll to the bottom of the post)
  • Items You Can Eat At Your Desk
    • Homemade & Store-Bought Tahini-free Bean Dips: (with my favorite oil-free cracker: Mary's Gone Crackers
    • Salsa! (with my homemade tortilla chips)
      • garlic chipotle (my favorite Trader Joe's flavor), pineapple, fire roasted, etc
  • Sweet Things
    • Homemade Blueberry "cobbler" (thawed frozen blueberries with oat milk & toasted rolled oats)
    • Homemade Banana "ice cream" (Ann Esselstyn's recipe:  frozen peeled bananas mixed in a blender or food processor--instant ice cream.  This is seriously & surprisingly delicious!)
    • Frozen Mango (THANK YOU Trader Joes for your nicely peeled & cubed frozen mango!)
    • Sugar-free Homemade Applesauce (see my recipe from my previous post here.)
    • Dates or Figs (I try to eat no more than three of each when snacking because of their high glycemic index)
  • Salty/Savory Things:
What are YOUR favorite snacks?  I'm always looking for more recipes--any ideas?  Please post in the comments section :-)

Coming Up on Medical System Tuesday
  • Tip #8 For The Best Hospital Care:  Be Nice ~ Insider Tips on How to Get the BEST Medical Care in the Hospital ~
Coming Up Next Week:
  • BOOK REVIEW:  "29 Gifts!"
  • SuperImmunity for Kids ~Part 2~!
  • Practical Stuff:  Kitchen Tools That Help & Products I Like!!
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5 comments:

  1. Great post! I will have to try to figure out how to make your oat bars without bananas. I am allergic to them. I usually have carrots with oil free hummus for a snack or just a cold potato. I wish there was an Esselestyn approved bar that could be purchased in the store. Thanks for sharing your ideas.

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  2. Thanks!! I think you could do the oat bars with any moist fruit base. I made some from extra plums without any bananas a few weeks ago and they were pretty good. I wonder if you could do blueberries? I might try that! I forgot to mention that I add a tsp of baking powder to the bars' batter and mix in our food processor--keeping it thick but cutting some of the oats into smaller pieces (essentially making a rough oat flour!).

    I share your feeling on the bars! I have to say though I've never been a huge fan of storebought bars because they are SO sweet and I like swettnes, just not crazy sweet! I'm going to try to keep figuring out a way to make bars--my issue is that I need to do both Esselstyn and sugar-free which can be tricky! Let me know if you hear of any brilliiant ideas!

    Thanks for sharing your snack ideas:-) I like carrots and hummus too (and green pepper and cucumber sliced)! I haven't tried a cold potato before--thats a good idea with some real sticking power! my biggest issue is everytime I see a baked potato I want to smother it in sour cream and toppings (including butter)and thats not going to fly! So I've been sticking to mashed potatoes (we make them with oat milk) for now:-)Maybe I'll try to make a vinegar based german potato salad with apple cider vinegar and take that as a snack!

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  3. Wow! I'm making a lot of typos today! Sorry!

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  4. Please post your recipe for the oat bars and the trail mix.

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  5. Sure thing Anonymous! As you know, I'm a doctor and not a chef so my little recipes I'm sure are not as yummy as other folks, but:

    For the trail mix I just get a ziploc bag and throw in 1 cup raw rolled oats, 1/4 cup steel-cut oats (raw), 1/4 cup dried cranberries (sweetened only with apple juice), 1/8 cup sunflower seeds or walnuts. I like to eat it with my hands or with a spoon since it can get messy! The oats really stick with you--I like sprinkling raw oats randomly in everything from salads to main courses because it adds so much fiber which makes oats very filling.

    For the oat bars, I'll have to make them again this weekend to make sure I tell you the right proportions for all the ingredients. I'm so used to just throwing things in the food processor and adjsuting it to what I want to taste like as I go along! This weekend I promise I'll write down what I do! I don't have time to cook until then but I'll let you know as soon as I finish making them this weekend! :-)

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