Snacks - Chex Mix, Fruit and More!!!

I love to cut up pieces of cheese of all varieties and have that as a snack anytime. Pistachios and cashews are a favorite of mine as well. This time of year I love to make my own smoothies and add ground flaxseed for an added nutrition boost, they're quite refreshing. Fresh pineapple, cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon are big in my house. I love to snack on crackers and hummus as well.

I take frozen cherries (target brand) and put them in a bowl and cover them with strawberry Kefir. THe cherries freeze the kefir a little bit and make it almost like an ice cream. If you haven't tried kefir you need to. I can't believe I went 45 years without it! Much better for you than even greek yogurt and my boys even love it-and they only like junk yogurt like trix so that tells you something!

Rinse off red grapes and then put them in a plastic bag with sugar free strawberry jello. Shake so jello coats the grapes. Stoe in fridge.

Laughing cow on wasa rye crisp is extremely filling for like 70 calories.

KAle chips are amazing-just cut up the kale and coat with olive oil and a little sea salt. Cook at 350 for 15-20 minutes. You won't get a more healthy snack.

Strawberries dipped in melted dark chocolate.

Homemade black bean salsa
(black beans rinsed, can of rotel, half can of shoepeg corn, diced red onion, cilantro) Eat this on a corn tortilla because one is only 50 calories and its not fried like tortilla chips from a bag-I like to crisp it on the grill and then add the salsa and a little cheese. Very filling and lo cal.

Fresh cherries, fresh pineapple, cantaloupe, watermelon, trail mix, kiwi, peaches, plums, nectarines, pistachios, homemade granola, granola bars, Oreos, ice cream, freezer pops, strawberries, FlipSide crackers, Cheez-It crackers,chips, pretzels, Ritz crackers with cheese
& pepperoni, homemade brownies, cookies from our favorite bakery....

Fruit-wise, those you've listed are probably our least frequently eaten, and they're not exactly at their seasonal peak right now like peaches, plums, nectarines, melon, etc., although my husband takes a banana every day for his lunch.

I'm on a cherry kick right now, the season is so short, I LOVE them.

The figs and cherries right now are to DIE for! And the white nectarines! Have you tried freezing the grapes? Champagne mangoes - they're absolutely delicious. Also, you gotta try the canary melons (they're super bright yellow, almost like a spaghetti squash). We call them candy melons because they're so sweet. I try not to keep any junk food in the house - mainly because a box of cookies or a bag of chips wouldn't even last half a day. My kids have absolutely no self control, I have even less. So no junk food. Fruits and cut up veggies, with small amounts of cheese or nuts (not for my allergic child, though!)

Of course, we're not deprived of sweet treats. We'll occasionally go out for ice-cream or frozen yogurt and indulge. But not everyday.

My personal favorites (DON'T JUDGE ME!!!) are a heaping load of creamy (or whipped) peanut butter in a bowl smothered with chocolate syrup...or dried mango slices (wow, yum). Neither is very healthy...but with the mango you can sort of tell yourself you're eating fruit. :)

I don't do healthy snacks...I figure my meals are ridiculously healthy and I'm tired and still nursing a toddler and a million other things, so let's see...

...I only snack when my children are asleep so they don't know my secrets. However, their snacks are more healthy.

Now is the time to be buying cantaloupe...great when it's ripe. I love grapefruit, too, but sprinkled with a little sweetener (Splenda, sugar, whatever you like.) Plums are awesome, and I LOVE prunes. That's about as healthy as my snacks gets. My children eat all kinds of fruit, and for other snacks my oldest has yogurt or granola bars, and my youngest has rice cakes (she likes the white cheddar and I have to say they are yummy!)...

...OH! Have you tried Larabars? AWESOME!! The number one ingredient is dates, but they have about 50 different flavors and they are all natural, high in fiber and protein, with no added sugar or preservatives. For example, I have on hand right now four different flavors...

Cherry Pie (ingredients...dates, almonds, unsweetened cherries.) That's it.

Coconut Cream Pie (ingredients...dates, unsweetened coconut, almonds, cashews, evoo.) That's it.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (Cashews, Dates, Chocolate Chips (which are made from unsweetened chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla) and sea salt.)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip (Dates, peanuts, Chocolate Chips (again, the natural ones) and sea salt.)

There are lots of other flavors...lemon bar, key lime pie, on and on. They really are VERY yummy...maybe a little pricey (.88-1.80 a bar, depending on where you buy them) but a healthier "bar" that my gf toddler can enjoy. I don't feel guilty giving these to her.

I also like to bake. I make cookies and cakes, mostly, and I used to make muffins but I haven't figured out a good gf recipe for those yet.

OH! Something else that's super yummy...Terra Chips. I like the exotic vegetable ones. The ingredient list reads "taro, sweet potato, batata, yuca, parsnip, expeller pressed canola and/or safflower and/or sunflower oil, salt, beet juice concentrate." What I like is that you get a full serving of veggies per ounce, it's only 150 calories, and only has 50mg of sodium. Way better than regular chips. Again, a little more spendy, but SO worth it! They also have other flavor varieties, but I like these the best.

We love plums, peaches, nectarines, all kinds of berries, and melons. We have a looong growing season here, so fruits are available locally pretty much all year long. We love mixing ranch dressing spices to plain greek yogurt and dip veggies. We always have Laughing Cow cheese wedges on hand. I like to spread that on cucumbers, zucchini, and squash. Also, on crackers. I frequently eat avocados for a snack. I eat them with a little salt and scoop them right out. Guacamole, is always a favorite. We LOVE eating kale chips. Here is the recipe I use:
http://weelicious.com/2010/03/31/kale-chips/

We eat lots of plain blueberries, stawberries and red grapes. My daughter also could eat her weight in watermelon, and she likes cantaloupe sometimes too.

Other snacks we enjoy are baby carrots and cereal (Smart Start). She's not a fan of celery for some reason. I also let her eat Pringles on occasion and mini-ice cream cones.

watermelon is a favorite
hubby loves blueberries, this is the best time of year for them
cherries
strawberries
we all love cheese, so there's always some in the fridge
rice crispie treats
frozen yogurt

I make a cereal mix with shreddies, multigrain life, multigrain cheerios and a little goldfish crackers - I toss 'em all with a few Tbsp of butter and worshteshire sauce and toast in the oven, mixing frequently until crisp.

I make granola with oats, walnuts, almonds, whole wheat flour....I then melt some butter and honey together and toss into the mix to coat well. Toast in a 300 degree oven until toasted to your preference, mixing every 3 minutes or so. This tastes SO amazing on a cut-up banana with a drizzle of milk.

We also do a TON of fruit - apples, bananas, grapes, berries and melons of all sorts - cheese and yogurt. Homemade banana or apple bread, using whole wheat flour and apple sauce instead of butter with a 1/4 cup of cocoa if we're craving chocolate.

For a non-healthy treat I bought mini ice cream cones (they're about 2 inches tall and 5 cal each) that fit about a Tbsp of ice cream. I love them because my kids are happy they can have an ice cream cone every day in the summer, but I don't fel guilty about the sugar/calories involved :)

We love kiwi as well as all those things you like - you are probably familiar with them, but incase not, they are oval and brown and fuzzy - probably not something you would pick up b/c it looks so good, but inside it's yummy. We also like avocado, apricots, berries. This time of year we like peaches too.

One of my kids fav snacks are mini-muffins - you can make them yourself or buy them from the bakery section and some type of fruit. If I have a few pieces of fruit that need to be eaten, we make fruit salad - pretty much anything goes together.

We also like dipping veggies in Ranch dressing - all kinds. Celery, carrots, broccoli, snap peas, tomatos, cauliflower. Cut up some cheese cubes and yum!

Granola bars - again, you can make them yourself or buy them.

Have you tried frozen grapes? I think they are wonderful, especially in the summer. My hubby also just bought a huge nag of dried mango from Costco and it is really good, too, although pretty high in calories.
Or try
banana with peanut butter on it (sometimes add sunflower seeds too)
Greek yogurt with some berries mixed in

Here's some out our go-to snacks for myself and my preschoolers--
-Apples, whole or sliced
-Bananas
-Whatever fruit is in season--watermelon is a huge hit right now
-Bowl of yogurt, with or without berries topped.
-Bowl of cottage cheese, with fruit cocktail, or Knudsen cottage cups with fruit sauce on the side.
-Peanut butter pop = dip a spoon in PB. Opt cover it with raisins.
-Carrots dipped in PB, and rolled in raisins
-100 calorie packs of anything. My fav: yogurt covered pretzels.
-Try freezing your grapes for a summer treat
-Red white and blue fruit salad: strawberries cut, sliced bananas, and blueberries. Or just the berries topped with a dollop of cool whip!
-Crackers topped with PB & J
-Toddler style trail mix: goldfish, craisins, and mini pretzels, maybe even some yogurt chips.
-All fruit Popsicles.
-Granola bars (for on the go days)
-Fruit leather, fruit twists/rope, or the like (for on the go days)

*We eat no more than one "treat" per day (except special occasions) which would be Popsicle, cookie, brownie... And they are not allowed for morning snack, only after lunch or dinner.