Anyone who knows me knows that I am a big time snacker. I would much rather eat snacks than meals. Growing up, we had a tradition of eating popcorn for dinner on Sunday nights. This tradition stemmed from my father’s childhood and grew to be my favorite dinner of the week. Now, of course, we wouldn’t have just popcorn… we’d also have salad, chili or soup, fruit, freshly baked bread and leftovers from the week before. It was a fun meal, in part, because there was a certain freedom of choice.
I just *loved* popcorn night, not only because I got to eat popcorn and the foods of my choice but also because I was allowed to watch tv while eating. This was the only night of the week we were allowed to do this. Anyway, I think my love for snacks grew out of popcorn night.
So, I thought I’d share some of my current favorite snacks with you. These snacks all have around 100 calories (with a few exceptions) per serving and tend to be fairly high in protein or fiber.
Cheese: Babybel Light, String Cheese, and Cabot’s Serious Snacks. I am so torn on my favorite of these three cheeses… I am eating at least one of these daily and some days I eat 1 of each!
Nutrition Info: Cabot’s Serious Snacking 50% Reduced Fat Sharp Cheddar Cheese – 0.75 ounces: 50 calories, 3.5 g Total Fat/2.5 g Saturated Fat, 6 g Protein, 15% Calcium. Mini Babybel Light Cheese – 21 g: 50 calories, 3 g Total Fat/1.5g Saturdated Fat, 6 g Protein, 20% Calcium. Kraft String Cheese – 28 g: 80 calories, 6 g Total Fat, 3.5 g Saturated Fat, 7 g Protein, 15% Calcium.
Bars/Muffins: Vitatops & Gnu Bars. I love these bars. They have a bit of fiber and I can easily stick them in my bag to take to work. I freeze the Vitatops, take them to work frozen and by the time I am ready to eat them they are nicely defrosted. I’ve tried a variety of the VitaTops and Gnu bars and the two flavors below (CranBran VitaTop & Orange Cranberry Gnu Bar) are by far my favorite… can you tell that I like Cranberry??
Nutrition Info: Orange Cranberry Gnu Bar - 45 g: 130 calories, 3 g Total Fat, 12 g Fiber (8 soluble, 4 insoluble), 3 g Protein. CranBran VitaTops – 55 g: 100 calories, 1 g Total Fat, 5 g Fiber, 4 g Protein.
Nuts & Dried Fruit: Almonds & Craisins. I am really into Almonds right now. I just can’t seem to get enough of them and Craisins are definitely my “sweet” snack that really isn’t a whole lot better than candy…
Nutrition Info: Almonds – 1 oz: 163 calories, 14 g Total Fat / 1.1 g Saturated Fat, 3.5 g Fiber, 6 g Protein. Craisins – 1/3 cup: 130 calories, 0 Fat, 0 Fiber, 0 Protein.
Fruit & Veggies: Apples, Broccoli, and Carrots. I prefer the broccoli cooked and I was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of protein in broccoli! I don’t really look at the nutrition info on these foods … I just eat as many of these as I want! I find these veggies & the apple to be really filling. They help keep me full between meals!
Nutrition Info: Apples, Broccoli, and Carrots.
What are your favorite snacks?
