Snack recipe
 

For a delicious alternative to carmeled apples, try this:

Mix a 3 to 1 ratio of fresh ground organic dry roasted peanuts from Whole Foods (I posted the Nutrition information in the "Nutrition and Labels" catagory) to honey. you've just made "Poh Butter" (in honor of Winnie the Poh).

Cut an apple into slices. Dip the slices into the "Poh Butter" or, if it's too thick, just spread it on and . . . ENJOY!

This is an easy, healthy treat for boys and girls of any age, from 1 to 100! I hope you like it as much as I do. Let me know.

- PEACE -

I like the taste of graham cracker crumbs in my yogurt instead of granola. Since one is only about 60 calories it can be a real calorie saver. Yogurt, berries and graham crackers. Yum.

I've always like the mini rice cakes by Quaker. My favs are the caramel, creme brule, ranch (taste just like a chip) and my new found fav the wild blueberry! OMW!! They are low in calories and fat and curb the sweet tooth as well as taste really good with coffee, if you're like me and enjoy tasty treats with coffee.
The husband just started replacing the ranch doritos with the ranch mini rice cakes.

Soup. I usually add a splash of lemon juice, for flavour more than anything, but I've read that it can reduce hunger.

Salt bloats, it's true, but it also cuts hunger... Parents in my grandfather's poor, 'old country' village gave their children salt, or salty broths, to stop them asking for food. Blew my mind.

Cucumber slices, carrot sticks, celery sticks fit the description...but how bleh! Dip in fat-free yogurt, maybe.

Air popped popcorn is carby but good for you and low cal.

Anything that takes a long time to eat, like nuts in the shell (I love pistachios), dry cereal (choose carefully), pomegranates.

Reduced fat cheese, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, hard boiled eggs, jerky, and tuna.

I snack on sliced turkey or chicken a lot; it's not technically a "snack food," but it helps me balance my carb-protein-fat ratio for not a whole lot of calories.

Almonds

Here is a simple snack or meal add on. I heat up my George Forman grill and put portabello or other med to large size mushroom pieces on it to cook about 5-10 min (check them), I don't use oil but you could. When they are cooked thru put them on a plate, close together, lay 1 roasted red pepper (from a jar or you cook your own) on top and break feta cheese all over it. I heat it in the microwave on high for 30 seconds and voilà!! It is super colorful and meaty and satisfying to nosh on.;)

I buy a bottle of pickled roasted red peppers in the pickle aisle for about 6.00 Canadian and a container of goat feta cheese for the same, 6.00. I use whatever mushrooms look best, sometimes portabello sometimes white 'button' . If you are new to feta cheese be sure to dump the water it comes in and refresh the tub every second day or so to keep it fresh. :)

Snack Combo
 

My commute home has been a minefield, walking to the subway past bakeries who exist to tell me how hungry I am, and how I deserve a treat because I worked hard today.

I've figured out a food I can have at 3 PM which works great to keep me from gobbling at 5:30. On Sunday, I pack up five of these bags - and take one for each day, it really works to keep the trip home monsters at bay....

3 dried plums (51 Calories)
8 raw almonds (56 calories)
12 squares of Shredded Oat Cereal (60 Calories).

You could use craisins, or raisins if you wish. The plums appeal to me, and yes, they are prunes, but the marketers want to change that association.

The cereal has more sugar than I'd like, I'll try switching to shredded wheat squares when I next buy a box.

Hope this helps!

Abby

Variation on Abby's Snack Combo
 

I have a variation on that:

1 oz peanuts (160 cal)
1/2 serving raisins or craisins (65 cal)

This is more calories than the one above, but it is great in the afternoon when I get a little over-hungry. The salt from the peanuts, the sweet from the dried fruit kind of get all my cravings and the fat takes the edge off the hunger. You do have to measure it out, otherwise it is too easy to overdo.

Hard boiled eggs are a great PM stack. About 80 cals apiece, great protein and some fat to slow the digestion so they tend to hold me until suppertime.

Also, I'm a big jerky fan. Beef, turkey, ostrich, salmon... whatever. Also dairy, especially cheese. Those little laughing cow cheese triangles have 35 or 50 cals and are lovely w/o a cracker or bread. Also the baby bells are somewhere around 75 calories. I eat a lot of 1% cottage cheese. Often with dices veggies or sliced fruit.

For fiber, GG crackers are - well, they are pure bran, basically - very filling. Fiber is very satiating. What happens when I eat a GG cracker (you can find them at Whole Foods or buy them at Amazon) with some peanut butter: I am no longer hungry.