Grateful for Snacks

You know what I like about pregnancy? Eating. I can eat like the hungry, hungry hippo I always am and now it’s considered a good thing. (Interesting side note – looks like my normal caloric intake is just right for growing babies… I still have barely gained any weight even though I haven’t passed a dessert without sampling in the past 16 weeks. Go team.)

I’m trying hard to be smart about my food choices, which comes relatively easy at meal times. Snacks are a little more difficult, particularly since it seems like I am eating more of them. You’ve got your standard go-tos, like a banana, a handful of peanuts and raisins (a la the official Randy Trail Mix recipe), or a string cheese, but there are few that have really made my tail wag.

Cheese Curds

Only in Wisconsin would you pick up these delicacies – sometimes on their own, sometimes covered in dill – along with your produce, fresh bread, and smoothie at your Saturday farmer’s market. These guys keep well in the fridge and (since it’s condensed cheese?) you only need one or two to get your fill. Many thanks to Randy for turning me on to this one. Mad props to Clock Shadow Creamery for producing the best I’ve found so far.

Starbucks Chocolate Smoothie (with or without the cookie)

Chocolate_Snack_from_StarbucksI try to start each morning with a smoothie. My homemade concoction has spinach, banana, yogurt and flax seed…all sorts of good stuff. This version from Starbucks was a good stand-in when we didn’t have a kitchen. It doesn’t have the spinach, but it does have protein powder. So all in all, it’s better than ordering a hot chocolate (and much more refreshing on a hot summer’s day.) The Starbucks by my house doesn’t often have chocolate chip cookies (blasphemy, I know), so when they do, I just have to get one.

What’s your go-to coffee shop snack?

Natural Fruit Leather/Roll-Up

“Wait a sec, let me get a fruit snack.”

This sentence has been uttered by me no less than a million times since Memorial Day. I really shouldn’t call this fetus “Eggroll”, it should be “Fruit Snack”. Do you get the idea of how much I’ve eaten these recently?! Big fan. I’m not really sure why… At 60 calories a pop, they are barely worth the energy it takes to ingest them. And the ingesting happens in about 12 seconds. Chomp, chomp, chomp…done. Better than another piece of cake, I suppose.

For as much as I try to fight it, my favorite version is that produced by Target’s Archer Brands (now called something else…perhaps just “Target’s Food”, though I think it’s “Simply Balanced”.) Reasonably priced and the ingredients are all things found in nature.

Brownie Brittle

Friends, Romans, Countrymen… please let me be the one to introduce you to Brownie Brittle. The best “oops, I guess we have a product” since the nacho. I’m guessing these were created when the baker left a batch of brownies in the oven too long, but needed to give something to paying customers. Here we are, but I’m not complaining.

Sheila_Gs_Brownie_Brittle_ReviewI found these at my local Sendik’s (because if I’m now the type of person that takes exercise breaks at 9:30am, I should be the type of person that gets her groceries at a fancy store apres zumba) on an end cap for sale for $2.50/bag. I choose the toffee flavor, but there were a couple other options (maybe one plain and one with nuts?).There were a decent amount of brittle pieces in the bag, but they went down way too easy. This would be a great snack to have in your office if you have better self-control than me.

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If you need more advice on snacks, I would suggest the Mike and Tom Eat Snacks podcast. Very funny and educational. Just don’t get stuck on a long car trip with a driver who doesn’t like to make unnecessary stops while listening to the episode on Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. You may get a little hostile. Or so I’ve heard.

What’s your favorite snack?

P.S. As a bonus to my Facebook fans, I’m starting to offer a PM snack every weekday. Not all guilty pleasures need to be filled with calories. Sometimes a good waste of time is just what the doctor ordered. So come Like me on Facebook and join in the party. We can all feel guilty together.

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