We are a snacking society! Staying away from the easy snacks like chips, candy, and cookies…is hard. They often give us momentary comfort. But comfort snack foods, high in sugar don’t sustain our body needs and do not feed a healthy heart. We can find satisfying Heart Healthy Snacks with careful consideration and some basic strategy. Kicking a sugar habit take determination, as sugar is an addiction substance. Removing sugar from your diet will allow you to taste the sweetness of fruits and vegetables like never before.
Heart Healthy month can be a jumping off point to eat clean and give a boost to your heart, brain and overall body functions. Make a weekly meal planner to focus on heart healthy foods and snack for this month. This will give you a guide to eating clean during meals, focusing on our recommended mix of 30% Proteins (fish, tofu, eggs), 40% Vegetables,10% Fruits (fresh not dried), 10% Whole Grain Carbs (grains, quinoa, beans or legumes) and 10% Fats (Avocado/Olive oil).
My go to snacks include; Mixed Berries, Apples, Carrots with Hummus, Celery with a Nut Butter, or a hand full of raw, unsalted nuts. There are many, many Hummus brands available in the grocery stores. This is easy to make, but the already made ones are delicious. Beware that there is no added sugar or additives in the brand you buys. Reading labels is a must & be caution of portion size.
To Healthy Snacking & a Healthy Heart!
Melissa
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Heart Healthy Snacks
Equipment
- Food Processor or high speed blender
Ingredients
Homemade Hummus
- 1 can Chickpea Drain & Rinse
- ¼ cup Tahini Organic Sesame Tahini, any brand you prefer
- ¼ cup Lemon juice Fresh squeezed is best but can use bottled
- 1 clove Garlic Minced or roasted if you want a richer flavor
- 2 tbsp Olive oil Plus additional to garnish on the top
- ½ tsp Cumin To taste or optional if your not a fan
- Salt Pinch to taste
- 2-3 tbsps Water As need, to thin out the hummus in the food processor
- Paprika, Dash as needed
Instructions
- Put tahini and lemon in the food processor and blend for ~ 1 minute
- Be sure to get all the ingredients off the sides of the processor, then blend again for a few seconds
- Add Oilve oil, minced garlic and cumin and a little salt to the tahini mixture.
- Add ½ of the can of chickpeas to the mixture and blend, open scrape the sides and add the remaining chickpeas until smooth...this is where you may want to slowy add water if it gets too thick blending for 2-3 minutes.
- Serve with a little extra Olive Oil over the top and sprinkle with Paprika.
- Serve with cut veggies or whole grain pita slices.
Notes
- Any type of unsalted raw nuts & seeds.
- Nuttzo 7 nuts & seeds power fuel butter than does not have peanuts. So if you have a peanut allergy, this is for you. No added sugar, Paleo and Vegan friendly.
- Whole Gain Rice cakes with nut butter or avocado slices,
- Hearts of Palms - right out of the jar (SunPix brand from Costco),
- Oranges & Grapefruits slices, or
- Fresh Fruit Salad.
