The most snack-tastic post!
I say “I’m not much of a snacker,” but after putting this together I think I need to rephrase that. I’m not one to nibble all day long – I need a real meal in my stomach to fill it up. But rarely a day goes by when I don’t need some kind of snack to get me from lunch to dinner. The way my body works, I often go from breakfast –> lunch without putting a single thing in my mouth. But when mid-afternoon rolls around, I almost always need something.
On days when I exercise more or have a later dinner planned, I need something more substantial like yogurt with fruit and crunch or a tasting plate of nuts, fruit, cheese or a big smoothie. Other days I can get by with a small handful of roasted almonds or a solo apple. That’s always easier for me to do when I know dinner is just around the corner!
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I have evening snacks (aka desserts) a few times a week. I try my hardest to make sure I need something (more than a taste of dark chocolate) and often go to a small mug of cereal + milk. It always hits the spot. Other times it’s hot tea with milk, maybe some yogurt with a fun crunchy topping or a banana mashed nut butter.
My goal with snacks is always to pair a carbohydrate with protein and/or fat for ultimate satiety.
Here is a showcase of some of my favorite combinations:
Peach – roasted almonds – trail mix
Cottage cheese – blueberries – granola
Cheese stick – watermelon
Plain ole trail mix
Green smoothie [Often 1 cup milk, 1 banana, 2 handfuls spinach]
Cottage cheese – blackberries – graham cracker
Trail mix – chocolate sunflower seeds – cherries
Gina’s Pumpkin Amazeballs [I store them in the freezer and thaw in the microwave for 10 seconds]
Pear – trail mix
Grapes – cheese – roasted/salted almonds
Cereal – milk
Homemade Maple Sesame Almonds
Toast with nut butter
Baked Oatmeal Snack Bars [KERF’s second most famous recipe! I bake these and freeze them too]
Fresh fruit!
Yogurt with whole wheat muffin crumbles
If you have a juicer [or a nearby juice bar] – fresh vegetable juice!
Simple oatmeal made with milk and a spoon of nut butter [Best in the winter. I used to have this for a snack everyday when I worked in an office!]
Carrots – nut butter
Pumpkin – ricotta – flax – spices heated in microwave
Shout out to eggs!
Hard boiled with salt + pepper – fruit on the side
Grapes – cheese – animal crackers
Berry smoothie [1 cup milk, half banana, 1 cup frozen berries]
Fruit – bread – cheese [This was a lunch, actually, but great snack in a smaller portion]
Hummus and veg [I admit I never eat this and should more!]
Emily’s Coconut Energy Date Bites [Also great from the freezer!]
Date bite paired with apple
Cville Cluster Granola by the handful!! [Portion control….]
Yogurt with crumbled granola bar
AnneP’s 5 Minute No Bake Peanut Butter Granola Bars [which I love to make with sunbutter and turn into balls!]
This post is brought to you by Ocean Spray Diet, which is made with real fruit juice and has a big, bold taste. Get more out of your diet.
Those look like some amazing snack ideas. Similar to what I go for.
I think I’ll have to check out that baked oatmeal snack! Om nom nom…
How do you feel about food conbining? Generally I feel fine when I conbine fruit with protein and fat except when the fruit is really juicy…so that pic of watermelon and cheese makes my stomach curn!
Trailmix and fruit are my go-to snacks…as long as the fruit isn’t too juicy.
Yeah that combo wasn’t the best but it worked one at a time : ) I love food combining… Leaves me most satisfied
Snacks! My favorite! I always love new snacky ideas. I could eat snacks all day- no meals necessary!
Now that’s a lot of snacks!!
Fun post! Your oatmeal baked snack bars are one of the first recipes I ever made from a blog. 🙂
Thanks for the link love, too!
I’m curious as to the appeal of juicing. Don’t smoothies provide more fiber and all the benefits of eating the entire food? Thanks.
wow some amazing snacks! I love fresh fruit with yoghurt and granola or nut butter in a mug of course or a raw ball is great for a sweet treat hit! Also loving sweet potato with cinnamon and SunButter at the moment!
This post is JUST what I needed right now! Thanks for the plethora of ideas!!
doesn’t ocean spray diet contain artificial sweeteners and colors? AKA not real food?
I am not much of a snacker between breakfast and lunch but I always have to eat a little something between lunch and dinner–especially if it’s yoga night. If I have to be quick, I’ll just grab a dried date and dip it in some kind of nut butter, but if I have a little more time I’ll make a small bowl of yogurt with a little peanut butter and granola. Both snacks feel like a fun sweet treat but in really they’re very satisfying!
god i need a snack.
I’m definitely a snacker– snacks are one of my favorite parts of the day, ha! I know that about myself, and try to balance out my larger meals to reflect the snacks I’ve had throughout the day. Great suggestions here for healthy snacks!
I love this post and love seeing all the options and ideas! Thanks for the links on some of the items like the bars and balls!
I love this post because I am a HUGE snacker. I actually eat some of these same snacks, but I did get a few ideas so thank you!
Wow- that is so many snack ideas!
I’m the opposite of you- I almost always need a snack between breakfast and lunch, so often it ends up being some fresh fruit or something lighter.
But I get bored of eating the same things all the time, so I will definitely be checking back here the next time I think to myself I need some new food ideas.
I’m the same way as you Kath – after having a good breakfast (which I never skip!) I can usually make it to lunch without snacking, but I need something mid-afternoon to keep me going! PS. I pack my carrots and hummus the same way as you!
Love these ideas for snacks! So much variety!
How’s the pumpkin and ricotta mix, is it more pumpkiney or cheesy? I like pumpkin with Greek yogurt, but I’ve never thought of pairing it with ricotta. Definitely want to give it a shot!
Kind of like a pie filling or dessert filling
Thank you for all these great suggestions! I too often need an afternoon snack, and I find that I fall into ruts easily. Now I have many more ideas!
Great snack options! What is your first most famous recipe on the blog?
Sometimes I like my morning/afternoon snacks more than my actual meals! 😀
These snacks look fantastic!
Great snack ideas! I usually eat 4-5 times/day, which involves 1-2 snacks. My go-tos are usually a couple of cheese sticks, a small protein bar, a pickled hard-boiled egg, cottage cheese, cheese + Kashi crackers or an apple with Smucker’s PB.
Hi Kath,
What a great montage of ideas! I’m partial to the cheese and crackers and fruit — those tend to be very satisfying for me. Just a quick question — I notice that the post was sponsored by Ocean Spray Diet. Since those drinks are artificially sweetened (Splenda), I honestly was a little surprised that you would be on board. Has your position on Splenda changed? (or maybe you were always ok with it, I’m not sure). As an RD I would love your feedback as there are so many things sweetened with Splenda that look yummy! Thanks!
Stay away from artificial sweeteners period!
I got migraines for years and years and finally realized that artificial sweeteners are my trigger. Better to drink 100% juice, but less of it.
This snack post is making me hungry! I always have something in between lunch and dinner. Sometimes if I’m at the law school for a long afternoon I bring something for between afternoon and lunch, too. I can’t have my stomach rumbling during class!
What a great post! Worth printing and keeping for a reference!
What would be your all time favorite snack of choice?!
Yum yum yum!
Cereal and yogurt/milk… Just so refreshing, crunchy and always satisfies hunger
What great ideas! I don’t know why but every time I saw a simple cheese plate with fruit I started drooling. I think I know what I’m putting on the grocery list this weekend!
I don’t really snack either but I always have a second breakfast. Normally by 10:30 or so I need something to get me to noon. I am pretty good though till dinner. Lots of great snack ideas.
Emily, I am the same way. Usually I eat a smaller breakfast — more of a snack, really — because I prefer to exercise early. Then, after my workout, I have a little something more.
Mmm, those look great! Just out of curiosity, which snacks had the cranberry juice in them? The ball things? I’m definitely looking to get more out of my diet! Anyway, those all look yummy and healthy! 🙂
So many fun ideas!! I need to make “snack balls” this weekend…they’re great to have at the office!
Kath–I always enjoy your posts so much, especially because it’s clear that you’ve made healthy choices as a lifestyle and are not just being like those women who *have* to have a salad for lunch because they are *on a diet!* I also appreciate how genuinely happy you and your family seem. It’s refreshing. But it’s so disappointing to get to the end of this great post, with healthy, REAL food, and find it sponsored by DIET ocean spray, which couldn’t be any more UNreal food. It’s kind of like having a healthy lunch campaign sponsored by MacDonalds. It makes you look like you aren’t really invested in what you talk about, which I know you are because it is clear that you live it. Maybe reserve such sponsors for posts NOT on healthy eating? I hope you take this they way it is meant, which is from a really happy reader puzzled by this decsision.
I agree
I second this comment wholeheartedly and I see others who have expressed similar disappointment/confusion above. I’d love a little insight into your thought process, Kath.
Yep, this type of advertising is the downfall of America. It’s all about money and big corporations. It’s why Coke is on American Idol and sponsored/advertised at big sporting events. It’s really, really sickening…with the health and obesity crisis nationwide – when are people going to stop selling out and saying “Oh, It’s okay, it’s in moderation.” …No. It’s not okay. Other countries are saying: “America is not a country. It’s a business. It’s all about the money.”
Your snack ideas definitely gave me some “food for thought”, thank you! However, I do have to agree with the other comments in regards to the seemingly random, unrelated (to the post topic) & unexplained inclusion of a Diet Ocean Spray Juice sponsorship tucked in at the end of your post. I have been reading your blog for at least 3 years, and a Diet Juice drink definitely doesn’t sound like something you would include in your diet…especially with a blog title specifying Real Food. It would be great if you could address the concerns/inquiries that some of us have expressed about this sponsorship & how it was used within your blog post. Honestly, it’s hard not to feel like it was just slipped in there in hopes we wouldn’t notice, purely because it seems like a product that you wouldn’t normally endorse. It is puzzling, as another commenter said.
What is your most popular KERF recipe?
Whipped banana oatmeal followed by the baked oatmeal bars
I love your whipped banana oatmeal! When I started reading your blog eons ago, I ate it every day for breakfast for, like, 3 months straight. I’ve always wondered how you created the recipe! I remember you eating it before you started school again for your RD, so I know it wasn’t in class. How did you figure out that “whipping” the banana would make it so light and fluffy?! That’s the BEST part, in my opinion 🙂 The toppings too. YUMMMYYYY!
Thanks for the helpful rundown of snacks. However, I was really surprised to get to the bottom of the post and see your OceanSpray Diet sponsorship. Can you put those disclaimers at the top of the post? Also, that doesn’t seem like a product you would normally buy. I’ve been reading for years and don’t recall seeing juices or diet drinks appear on your blog.
Thanks for the snacks & love the Big Boss cup!!!! We live in Raleigh and love Big Boss!
Another great post with lots of inspiration 🙂
Just curious, if the bars are the SECOND most famous recipe, what’s KERF’s FIRST most famous recipe?
Whipped banana oatmeal!
Yum! Now I want a snack…
I am not much of a snacker either as I prefer full meals but with snacks like these I could get on board :). My go-to is a Lara Bar – not quite as exciting…
So many yummy, easy ideas in one place. Can’t wait to have a real kitchen again to make some of your recipes 🙂
Great photos of some yummy snacks! I find that when I grab a snack it’s usually a protein or fat source–a few strips of leftover grilled meat or slices of cheese are probably my favorites healthy ones. Of course there are always times when I’m craving less healthy options and will grab a small bowl of potato chips (*love* Trader Joe’s Hawaiian Sea Salt ones) and homemade ranch dip. Speaking of healthy options vs. not so healthy, to echo a couple other comments, I’d love to hear more about your sponsor and how they fit in with your brand/focus on real foods.
thank you for these snack ideas!! i’m currently shoveling handfuls of dark chocolate covered pretzels so maybe i should try one of your healthier combos instead…haha
How much cereal do you have for a snack?
Half a cup to a cup? Depends on the cereal though
YUM! I usually keep my meals smaller and therefore eat throughout the day – breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, sometimes evening snack. It keeps me feeling full and energized all day much better. And I always feel like I get to eat MORE. 🙂
Another reader puzzled by Ocean Spray Diet. Honestly I have no problem with reviews of products that are provided free by a company (and I think you don’t do those?) But this just seems weird, esp because you didn’t address it in the post or in the comments.
Love all the solid snack ideas… but, I share these sentiments…
I am a big time snacker, so this post made me hungrier than a straight up meal one 🙂 I also love to say Shnacker! #random
What a great post Kath! I’ve been looking for new snack ideas so this came at the perfect time.
Those baked oatmeal bars look perfect for my work breakfast! I can’t believe I haven’t seen them before. I love the whipped banana oatmeal, though. Great list of snacks. 🙂
Great post Kath. I was initially disappointed when you went from posting 3x/day to 1x/day to more sporadically. I missed the consistency… I had kind of grown used to checking in with your blog 1-3x daily. That said, I totally understand your reasons and respect the way you went about it. I feel like you really hit your stride with the new format in the last few weeks and I really look forward to your posts. I am loving your new content!! The posts are so informative, I am really learning from you now rather than feeling like I am just trying to learn by how you eat. Thank you for taking the time to ensure that they are so informative and balanced.
Whipped banana oatmeal is literally the holy grail of breakfasts and that is only ONE of the greatest perks that I get from your wonderful blog Kath! And I now have a handful of new snacks to try thanks to this great post. I’m a constant “user” of most of these snacks anyway. Foodies think alike 🙂
Awesome snack post! I love fruit nut and cheese combo! My fav 🙂
Lovely gallery! I’m a real ‘snacker’.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Wow, can’t believe I’ve been reading your blog for several years ago and I never noticed the recipe for those Oatmeal Bars before. DEFINITELY on my to-do list this weekend, now!! Great ideas for snacks, too. It’s amazing how often I need a snack and end up eating the same old stuff! This page is definitely getting bookmarked!
I rarely read the comments on your blog, but today I did. Are you just going to pretend that the people who are asking what the deal is with the Ocean Spray sponsorship aren’t here? I notice you respond to all of the other questions on other topics. I think that the ones regarding Ocean Spray are, for the most part, asked respectfully and I’m also curious about this. The fact that you’re just ignoring the questions says to me that you don’t use their products, but that they pay you so you can’t say anything bad about them.
On another note, I really liked this post. Great snack ideas.
Have to agree with Courtney. I’m a longtime reader (since 2008!) and it seems a little insulting to your readers to slip in a plug for a product you would not purchase yourself and then ignore the raised eyebrows. I’m trying to hang on with you as you transition to a new format but I don’t think I can trust your posts if you allow sponsors you don’t actually support. Please read this as constructive criticism towards your blog and not you personally.
Respectfully Kath, I agree. It seems disingenuous to both your readers and your sponsor.
I have to admit, I came out of lurkerdom to agree with this sentiment. I was quite disappointed to see the Diet Ocean Spray sponsorship, and am curious how that fits in with your real food initiative. (And I’m equally disappointed to see responses to other comments, but none directed to the questions about the sponsored post. A simple, honest answer is all we’ve ever wanted.)
I love your blog but I am really puzzled by the Ocean Spray thing too. This is the second blog I saw it on so obviously they are running some sort of campaign with bloggers. You haven’t addressed it yet so you probably don’t plan to. I guess I don’t really understand why you would accept compensation from a product you won’t even talk about.
Joining the band wagon. Long-time reader. Surprised by a sponsored post from a purveyor of “not real food” but also disappointed that you didn’t flag it at the top like another commenter pointed out. Finally, agree with the others who are politely requesting an explanation. I think its sort of obvious-you get paid. You have every right to run your business as you fit and in a way that works for your family. It does seem like a break from your philosophy and one that would warrant some sort of explanation. Not trying to rain on your Sunday. Hope its a lovely one!
I agree. Kath, when people questioned your Fab web site “review” a couple of weeks ago, your exact words were: “I said I wasn’t planning to go seek out a bunch of product reviews since that’s not where the interest lies, but sponsored posts are actually something I’ve started doing in recent months (first on BERF). I kept the focus on foodie + home (my niche) here and would only choose to work with companies I actually think are cool/healthy/delicious.” You’ve also mentioned, in the past, reviewing things that fit with your brand. Which begs the questions, HOW does a diet fruit drink fit with your brand, and HOW is it cool/healthy/delicious? You need to acknowledge and answer these legitimate queries or you’re going to turn off a lot of loyal readers.
I don’t know if you’d be able to answer this, but I’m assuming that since you are a RD you’d have some insight. How do you feel about eating for your blood type? Is it absolutely necessary? I’ve been a vegetarian/vegan for the past 6-7 years and about a year ago really started craving fish. I’m careful about making sure I consume a wide variety of food, including various types of vegan protein and occasionally eggs, but according to my blood type, I should be consuming “real” animal protein. Any thoughts?
I definitely don’t think it’s absolutely necessary, but I think it’s a neat concept and do think that different people respond better to different eating styles.
About Ocean Spray – I love cranberries (I’ve used their cranberries at Thanksgiving) and I often drink cranberry juice and seltzer mocktails on airplanes and at weddings. Cosmos are pretty delicious too. The diet version was a slip on my part, but as a brand I have lots of respect for Ocean Spray. [Moreover, my brother in law recently studied them in business school and showed me lots of good things happening in their sustainability practices too].
PS. I HAVE tried the diet sparkling cranberry at my grandmother’s house and it was good – my food philosophy reflects an “all of the time” and “only on occasion” attitude.
Thanks for the info Kath. It’s just a little confusing to the reader when we know you typically don’t drink and/or endorse things that are artificially sweetened, don’t mention cranberries in your entire post, and then add the tag line at the end about Ocean Spray Diet drinks. I would think the company would want you to showcase how you incorporate their product into your healthy eating plan, as I have seen other bloggers do over the last few days?
The posts are supposed to be brand-free. Ocean Spray wasn’t interested in us writing about their products but just want to spread the word on their mission of how to get more out of a healthy lifestyle. This wasn’t some kind of trick – it’s how the campaign was set up.
Well…listen, I don’t care what kind of ads you run or campaigns you participate in – blogging is a business – but please don’t really think that Ocean Spray is just genuinely trying to promote health. They want their product/brand plastered on healthy living blogs with the goal that readers/consumers will associate their brand with healthy living. Ocean Spray diet cranberry juice is not at all healthy. A treat? Sure. Some would even argue that the inclusion of Splenda makes it unhealthy. Please don’t think your readers are naive enough to believe that Ocean Spray genuinely cares about a healthy lifestyle – it’s all about the money and the manipulation of consumers. It’s almost offensive to loyal readers that you think we would believe that O.S. is doing an innocent little healthy lifestyle campaign.
I understand the Splenda issues, but it’s a bit off (to me) to assume all businesses are inately evil and deceptive. They provide a product and they also employ workers. They’re allowed to make money. They’re allowed to push their product.
Yeah Meredith, that’s not really true at all. Sure all companies have money as their top goal, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a nice way of making it. Think about companies like Viking Cruises sponsoring Downton Abbey – they want to associate and that’s how they advertise. That’s exactly what Ocean Spray is doing here.
Agreed Meredith. It’s silly practices like this that make me NOT want to support a company that thinks consumers are silly enough to believe their products contribute to a healthy lifestyle.
I agree with Meredith as well. I don’t think she is implying that all businesses are evil and deceptive, but simply that an easy way for Ocean Spray to get consumers to think their products are healthy is to have them endorsed by healthy-living bloggers. I think bloggers have a responsibility to do some investigative research before promoting products that are not healthy. In the end, Kath, you accepted money to post on behalf of a product that is mass-produced, processed and which contains artificial sweeteners. This appears to run contrary to the mission of your blog, and that is why your readers are raising an eyebrow. As a promoter of healthy living and real food, you of all people should have seen Ocean Spray’s schtick from a mile away.
If you really didn’t want to turn down the sponsorship from OS, you should have at least included a sentence about why you think this type of product is ok to consume as part of a healthy lifestyle. It makes me sad when people who are supposed to display a way to live without the whole advertising-fueled processed food business (that arguably does NOT put consumers’ health first in many cases) unthinkingly support it.
I don’t know what Downton Abbey and Viking Cruises have to do with this matter. I also don’t think all corporations are evil. I do, however, find it interesting that people believe that Ocean Spray is looking out for our healthy lifestyles. If that is the case, why don’t they simply promote a healthy product instead of one full of chemicals?
It’s like when you watch The Biggest Loser and they show all of the contestants chewing a certain brand of gum and exclaiming how it is sugar free and satisfies their cravings: a commercial embedded in a show. This ad campaign is a commercial/ad embedded in a blog post (even though it is just a blurb at the end…it is Kath’s endorsement that is the real advertising bang).
The landscape of blogging is changing and readers just have to be a little more savvy to recognize when they are being played. Once blog posts become commercials, I tend to move on because I feel like the honesty of the blog has been compromised. I get it, though, that bloggers need to make money. Once the ad campaigns start rolling in is when you know you’re hitting a more mainstream audience which really is awesome for you, Kath.
Can you tell us more about the sustainability practices?
Here’s more: http://www.oceanspray.com/who-we-are/Our-Responsibility/Sustainability.aspx
Your snacks are so simple but so beautiful, love all of the colors!
I appreciate this list, if for nothing else than modeling portion size. I think that I would feel more satisfied by an apple and a handful of almonds if I sliced the apple and put it on a pretty plate! 🙂
You have some great ideas for healthy snacks! I appreciate the list and how you put it in photos as well. The photography was very well done. 🙂
These snacks all look perfect for kids! All the fruit that you’ve mixed in with other foods that are high in protein make the snacks very healthy. Great ideas!
Great post! The pictures you took looks absolutely delightful! The pictures alone captured the essence of those yummy snacks. I will certainly try your suggestions and eat these healthy snacks. Thanks for sharing.