Small steps food series
Snacks
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Snacks and pantry staples
Are you a snacker? Why do you snack? Hunger or boredom? Either way, I am a big fan of having something on hand for those moments. You know, THOSE moments....
When you just need something to eat along with your peppermint tea. Or you're making dinner and feeling peckish and a big handful of salt and vinegar chips would have been peeeerfect.
Yes, THOSE moments.
I'm bringing you lots of different ideas in this Snacks and Dessert series but today we start with my favourite sweet treats. Now, this is not to say that everyday I have a baked sweet treat but they are my go-to's for when I’d like to indulge.
There's no doubt we all need to be thinking more about our sugar intake - don't worry - all those sugar-free ideas are coming in another module.
I would love for you to start thinking a little differently about snacks - that they are EXACTLY like every other meal and should be made from real ingredients that your body recognises as food.
Let's face it, after all these years I am a creature of habit and instinctively turn to an apple for a snack most days. Boring, but real, and for me hits the spot. I also love a handful of nuts (tamari almonds are my go-to salty hit).
Oh and I'd just like to mention that often when I find myself sniffing around for something to stuff in my mouth, I have a BIG drink of water. So often I'm just thirsty. Have you ever found that?
It’s no secret I'm a bliss ball fan. The technical description of a bliss ball is: whole heap of stuff whizzed around in a blender and shaped into balls, watch me do it in the video. I give you my recipe below.
The ideas below are not necessarily every day snack options. Let’s face it, we should be filling ourselves up with wholesome, filling meals so that we don’t need to reach for snacks. But as I said in the beginning – there are always ‘those moments’.
This is a really good time to check out the super quick videos in the Pantry Staples Mini-Course, especially if anything is unfamiliar to you in the recipes below.
Recipes to try
Ingredients
- 200 g almond meal
- 10 medjool dates
- 30 g fine coconut
- 50 g sunflower kernels
- 20 g raw honey
- 30 g raw cacao or dutched cocoa
- 20 g chia seeds
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to the blender and mix until a fine, crumbly texture is achieved. If you want the mixture wetter, add some coconut oil or a little more honey, but this amount should be fine.
- Roll into small balls and keep in the fridge.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup / 170g wholemeal spelt flour (or wheat, buckwheat or gluten-free flour)
- 1/2 cup / 60g LSA (ground linseeds, sunflower seeds, almonds) *
- 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup / 70g maple syrup **
- 1/3 cup / 70g macadamia oil **
- 1 tsp vanilla (extract, vanilla bean paste or seeds of half a vanilla bean)
- 40 g dark chocolate chopped in large chunks (I like Green and Blacks or Lindt – both 85%)
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees.Add all the ingredients, apart from the chocolate, to a mixer and beat until coming together.
(Tmx – speed 4, 15 seconds)
2. Then add your chocolate chunks and mix through until distributed
(Tmx – reverse, speed 3, 5 seconds)
3. Place walnut sized round balls on a baking tray lined with baking paper and flatten gently.
Cook for 10-12 minutes
4. Remove from oven and leave to cool (if you can) before eating.
Variations:
* Instead of LSA you could use – almond meal OR ‘Magic seed mix’ OR extra flour
** Instead of maple syrup and macadamia oil you could use raw honey and melted coconut oil
I have also tried this using 120g room temperature butter and 50g rapadura sugar. They were crumblier but totally delicious.
A short watch
Meet Bianca Slade, the creator of one of my favourite wholefoods website and cookbooks. We talk about her transition from ‘conventional’ childhood to wholefoods household. I LOVE her honesty about her husband and his eating habits – see – no family is perfect!
Added Notes
- I LOVE buying from the Wholefood Collective. And we have exciting news for Small Steppers who are looking to stock their whole food pantry coming VERY SOON!
- My advice - don't buy everything at once! Start small and begin experimenting. I have bought loads of things and never finished using them. (Rice Malt Syrup is a great example - it is used in many recipes for low sugar snacks, but I just personally don't like the taste so it sits there in my pantry!). Find things you enjoy and continue making them.
- My favourite sweet pantry staples are Rapadura Sugar (dehydrated cane juice - can also be found as Panela at the supermarket, Coconut Sugar, 100% Maple Syrup, Raw Honey. Don’t panic if these aren’t familiar to you. If you make a cake with white flour, white sugar, vanilla, milk and eggs you are still WAY better off than if you bought a cake from the supermarket packed with additives, colours and preservatives. Remember: Small Steps!
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