Goodlicious

Life. Love. Food. Balance.

Ten Snacks for Summer Camp, Grad School, or the Office

One week from today I start Physician Assistant (PA) School. I’m really excited, a little bit scared, and very much in preparation mode for this new adventure. In other words … I can’t wait! Wait! No, I can’t wait! Aaaugh!

So, the first 14.5 months of the program will involve us sitting in a lecture hall for the majority of our 8-hour days listening to lectures. We get a one-hour lunch break and I’m sure other breaks throughout the day, but it’s pretty much non-stop class time during the didactic phase of the program. That, plus the tremendous cost of the program, is going to necessitate all of us bringing sustenance in the form of lunches and snacks – no time or money to adventure out to a restaurant every day. Since we’ll be sitting still for most of the day, I’m going to try to make most of my food healthy to limit the pant sizes I go up during the term.

On Monday I posted a recipe for Chocolate Cranberry Cheerios Treats and shared it with my future classmates. The post got great response, with a few requests for more ideas and, um, food. So, just to get everyone even more excited for class, here’s a list of some of our favorite to-go snacks. Many of these are kid-tested and approved, and they work for office snacks too.

 

Ten great ideas for snacks on the go - some sweet snacks and some savory. Great for students, kids' lunchboxes and office afternoon snacks - healthy food to keep you going throughout the day.


Carole’s Top Five Snacks:

1. Homemade Larabars and Laralollipops – there are a lot of versions of this energy bar floating around cyberspace and I have been meaning to try one forever. Most call for dates (which I am not crazy about), but this one from Pamela at Pamela Salzman provides some other options, like raisins  or dried cherries. I love bars like this as a quick breakfast to grab on the way out the door to take the boys to school – bonus points because they are in the back seat and can’t demand that I share.
2. Veggie-packed Pizza Rolls – I make something very similar to these from Natalie at Super Healthy Kids quite often for the boys’ lunch boxes with the dough recipe that I use for homemade frozen pizza, but I haven’t tried blending veggies to hide in the sauce. The last batch I made included chopped broccoli and cheddar, and Corbie said, ‘there’s something . . . funny in these,’ so I may give this a try next time.
3. Homemade Healthy Fruit Snacks – these snacks from Robin at Thank Your Body are delicious — not fabulous for lunch boxes since they are best refrigerated — but a nice snack to have on hand. I add a teaspoon or two of citric acid (something I saw as part of another gummy recipe), which adds a little sour to balance the sweet. My boys love these.
4. No-bake Energy Bites – I’ve made these bites from Maggie at Smashed Peas and Carrots several times and they come together very quickly and the recipe is easily adapted with dried fruits, nuts, etc.

5. Whole-grain Fruit Filled Bars – These bars are from Catherine McCord’s Weelicious Lunches cookbook (her Weelicous website is one of my favorite resources) and featured on Two Peas and Their Pod. They are sort of a healthier Nutri-Grain type bar or something similar. You can definitely cut back on the sugar and experiment with different types of jam or even fruit.

Ten great ideas for snacks on the go - some sweet snacks and some savory. Great for students, kids' lunchboxes and office afternoon snacks - healthy food to keep you going throughout the day.


Heather’s Top Five Snacks:

6. Dee’s Dark Chocolate Granola – This recipe from Dee on All Recipes is a great starter recipe for granola – it’s sweet and savory at the same time. I like to snack on it or eat it as breakfast cereal with milk. I’ve been working on a recipe that has less sugar and will post the final results eventually.

7. Zucchini Feta Fritters with Tzatziki Sauce – These fritters from Reeni at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice look like a great grown-up afternoon snack. Since I’ll have access to a microwave and fridge, I think I can warm these up a little bit and have something more substantial to keep me going. Or, if there’s a toaster oven handy, toasting them would be a great way to keep them crispy.

8. Zucchini and Carrot Fries – Sitting in class 8 hours a day is going to put a serious strain on my waistline. Hopefully snacks like these from Leah at Voracious Vander will help me stay focused without putting on so much weight that I can’t fit into my new scrubs. That’s right, I get to wear scrubs to school everyday = comfy! Again, a toaster oven would be a nice way to warm these up without making them too soggy.

9. Indian Tikkies (Patties) – These patties from Sanjeeta at Lite Bite look delicious and very versatile. I think I could come up with several interesting combinations.

10. Salted Caramel Apple Dip  – Alright, I wouldn’t really call this dip from Cathy at Lemon Tree Dwelling “healthy” because there’s a lot of fat and sugar, but a girl’s got to live, right? And salted caramel + crisp apples = YUM! Oh, and cream cheese does have some protein in it, so it’s not too terrible, is it? This recipe is delicious and will certainly have me motivated to run more so I can eat more of it.