Yummy Healthy Snacks

Hey y'all!

I just wanted to share 2 yummy snack ideas with you and some snacking tips! You can't stay snatched without your snacks! Lol

3 Healthy Snack Commandments
1. Thy must be low in calories
2. Thy shall be under 5 minutes to prepare
3. Thy shall be really really delicious

Snack Option 1:
 Smoothie Bowl

This smoothie bowl is so good! Its cold, filling and good for you too. It is kind of like a spin off of a Sweet Frog frozen ice cream treat. If you search smoothie bowl on youtube you will find a ton of videos on different flavor combos. This one is my favorite!

Ingredients
- Silk Almond Milk (original)
-Almond Butter (we like the Justin's brand the best but it is always sold out)
-Dates (completely obsessed with these things)
-Ripe Organic Bananas (frozen is better for thick consistency)
-Blueberries
-Chia seeds (can be bought for cheaper at Home Goods or Marshall's


I found these big container of dates at the International Market for $10 such a good buy for the qty!



Preparation is really easy.
You basically just throw the frozen banana, 1 cup of almond milk, 2 big tablespoonfuls of almond butter and about 5 to 6 dates in a high speed blender.  The more dates you use the sweeter your smoothie will be. If you don't have frozen banana ready just throw some ice cubes in to make it as thick or thin as you like.

After everything is smooth and blended just pour it into a bowl. This actually makes enough for 2. then top with your favorite toppings. I used sliced almonds, blueberries, chia seeds and coconut shavings.

My fiancé and I ate this after a workout one day! Good source of protein and very filling! 
Snack Option 2: 
3 Bean and Corn Salad

This salad is very easy to make. I stole this recipe from Amber Fillerup Clark. She is a blogger and youtuber with the most adorable family! We kept this salad in our fridge for  like a week and I would always eat off of it for a snack. Really healthy and really tasty too! 

Ingredients
- 1 can of sweet corn
-1 can of garbanzo beans
-1 can of kidney beans
-1 can of green beans
-Balsamic Vinegar
-Champagne Dressing



The champagne dressing may be a little hard to find. I bought mine from Publix.

Preparation again is super quick and easy!

Step 1: Open bean and corn cans and drain and clean them with water. 


Step 2: Pour every thing into a big bowl and give it a quick mix.
Step 3: Add 1/2 cup of the champagne dressing and balsamic vinegar to taste. Toss well.

Step 4: Enjoy whenever you need a snack and you don't have to feel guilty when eating it! lol

I am the type of person that eats a snack between every meal. Eating snacks has been proven to increase metabolism and keep your energy level high. In my opinion it also prevents over eating because you don't feel as hungry at dinner. Dinner is a time when most people lose sight of portion control and eat and eat and eat even when they no longer feel hungry. Snacking is definitly strategic. I learned from my Vegan Challenge Fail that lack of strategy will have you eating mess you know you don't need.

Smart Snacking Strategies

-Prepare healthy snacks in advance 

-Keep healthy snack on you: keep a bar, banana, baby carrots or something in your purse if you know you have a busy day and of course take it to work with you if you work long hours like me. 

-Make it interesting: look at blogs, food network, youtube, pinterest! you can find non-boring cost effective snacks, trust me!

-Satisfy cravings with healthier approaches: drink hot chocolate instead of eating a chocolate bar, eat dates and figs instead of candy. Satisfy salt cravings with pretzels instead of chips. Use salsa instead of sour cream. 

I hope this helps! Healthy snacks are really a good way to manage your caloric intake! Try it! 

Love, 
April M 



Vegan Challenge Fail

Hello Everyone!

I am sure you may have already guessed it but the 7 Day Vegan Challenge did not go over so well. Day 5 is were it all fell apart. I think it went left mostly due to lack of planning on my part.

So Day 5 started out pretty good. I had my typical oatmeal in morning. Apple sauce for a snack and then ate a late lunch around 3pm of vegetable lo mien from a local Chinese restaurant by my house. Day 5 was Friday. This also happened to be one of my friends birthday as well. I promised her I would go out to celebrate that night with her and her friends and family. The plan was go to to this cute bar/restaurant/lounge here in Charlotte around 9pm.

The lo mien from earlier had me pretty full. I started to get a little hungry around 6:30pm so made a smoothie and started to get ready for the birthday festivities.

Of course we get to the lounge and the reservation was not ready so we walk over to a bar across the street and have a drink while we wait. About a hour later we finally go back to the lounge. By this time it was around 10pm. I was so hungry y'all. The lounge had absolutely no vegan options. So I broke down and got a margherita pizza. I posted a pic on my snapchat but forgot to save it. I'm not sure if was really delicious or if I was just so tipsy an hungry I couldn't tell.

What I learned most from this failed challenge is that preparation is everything. Eating a vegan diet was challenging for me. Vegetarian I can totally do because I was vegetarian for about a year in college. So removing meat from my diet doesn't scare me at all. It is the cheese and butter that seem to be the most difficult to cut out.

 It made me more aware of what I put into my body which was pretty eye opening.

That is all I have for now. I have a few healthy snacks that I will post this week.

Love,
April M.