Friday Faves: Skinny Snacks and Treats

When we do live events one of the most common things we hear from people is, “You’re gonna think I’m crazy, but I totally feel like we’re BFF’s!!”  And no, it’s not crazy- because we love you, too!  In fact, when we find and fall in love with new things; whether it be a fun new foodie idea, an awesome cleaning product, a delicious restaurant, or a great movie (Hotel Transylvania- see it!) the first people we want to tell about it is YOU all!  We do kinda feel like when we’re typing stuff out here, we’re actually sitting at our kitchen tables chit-chatting over a cup of lemonade.  We’re all friends here.

Which is kind of what prompted a new feature we’re starting called “Friday Faves.”  It’s not something we’ll do every Friday, but occasionally when we have something worth sharing.  So here’s the deal, and we want to be very clear about what this is.  Friday Faves posts are never sponsored.  Ever.  It’s simply a little glimpse into our pantries, or our DVR’s, or our brains, or whatever.  Things we love, that we think you might love too.  That’s it.  Maybe if you love it a lot we’ll give some of our Friday Faves away.  For fun. Because we’re cool like that.

Which brings me to our first installment.  I’ve been working hard and have lost quite a bit of weight in the last few months.  It’s at the point where most people who know me have noticed and everyone’s first question is immediately, “What are you doing??”  Often with an undertone of “What are you taking”  “What program did you start?” etc.  Well let me answer that right now.  It’s groundbreaking, actually.  Get ready for this one; I’ve unearthed the secret to effective weight-loss.  Ready?

Burn more than you consume.

Or consume less than you burn.

I know.  It’s shocking that crap actually works.  In reality I have some not-so-secret weapons, like my beloved BodyBugg and a fantastic trainer who puts me through the ringer a couple times a week and makes me lift heavy stuff, but there’s no getting around the fact that good nutrition makes all the difference in the world.  For the most part, I eat clean.  Meaning good, well-rounded meals.  Nothing is off limits, I just try to keep my calorie count in check.  I can’t do the whole eat-steamed-broccoli-and-a-filet-of-fish for every meal thing.  Or the no carbs thing.  And certainly the no sugar thing.  I’m a food blogger for Pete’s sake!  I just try to do the “moderation in all things” thing.  Which means that while I try to mostly eat healthy, whole-food snacks like fruit and vegetables, sometimes I want chips.  Sometimes I want chocolate.  Most of the time I want ice cream.  Plus I’m a crazy busy Mom and I always have to have things I can grab and stash in my bag for later.  So I wanted to share some things that I’m obsessed with these days.  As in- I have industrial sized cases of every one of these things in my pantry or freezer.  Fo’ real.  These are all store-bought things that I certainly don’t eat all the time and I’m not touting as “health food”, but I really like having in my kitchen for when they’re convenient.  And I’m all about portion control.  As in, I have no willpower so I need forced portion control.  So if you’re looking for some munchy snacks and treats to fit into a healthy lifestyle, here’s some things that won’t totally destroy your diet.

Pop Chips– 100 Calories

I love that ad.  I buy these in the individual bags for portion control, they are my absolute favorite savory snack.  The day I saw the “Sea Salt and Vinegar” flavor at the store, I literally yelped out loud and for the very first time ever got the “look” from my 1st grader.  The look that immediately communicated without words feelings of, “Oh my gosh I am so embarrassed to be seen next to you right now.”  I really hate baked potato chips, I think they’re a total waste of calories because they aren’t even good.  These are light and crispy and crunchy and totally satisfy the crunchy-salty craving without the fat and calories of normal chips.  They’re not baked, and they’re not fried, they are quite literally “popped”.  They come in tortilla chip varieties too, and all of them are gluten free (and many flavors vegan, too). And since this is the only savory snack on the list (Hi, my name is Sara and I have a sweet tooth.) I should mention that one of my kids’ snacks isn’t half-bad calorie wise either: Pirate’s Booty.  My only problem is that I like to buy it in giant bags from Costco and I can’t stop eating it.  but if you do really weigh out a serving size (1 ounce) you’ll be amazed at how much it is, and for only about 100 calories.

Skinny Cow Candy – 110/120 Calories

Another awesome moment was finding out my favorite Skinny Cow Candy is now sold in big variety packs at Costco- woo hoo!  Granted you can definitely have half a snicker’s bar for this same calorie count, these are still a good bet.  They’re great for portion control, and at just over 100 calories, they’re actually good sized.  The peanutbutter crisp bars are my favorites, with the dark chocolate caramel crispy cluster thingies coming in a close second.

Clif Mojo Sweet and Salty Trail Mix bar – 190 Calories
{Peanut Butter Pretzel}

Have you ever been to the energy-bar section at the grocery store?  It’s completely overwhelming.  There are SO many different kind of bars.  A few months ago I just decided to go bonkers and buy one of almost everything and figure out what I liked.  These came out on the top of the pack.They’re low glycemic and have 9 grams of protein.  Once you jump up to the high-protein bars you’re into that chewy-gummy-protein-y tasting stuff.  These fit into the more granola-barish genre and they’re awesome.  They’re suuuper crunchy and have lots of peanut butter flavor in there too.  Great for an afternoon snack between meals.  I almost always have one of these, or the Luna Bars below, in my purse.

Luna Bar – 190 Calories
{Chocolate Dipped Coconut and Peanut Honey Pretzel}

I’ve been a long-time fan of Luna Bars.  When I was a freshman in college my Mom would mail me big boxes of the Chocolate Peppermint Stick ones (still a fave).  But they keep coming out with new flavors that knock my socks off.  This Chocolate Dipped Coconut reminds me of Samoa cookies, and the Peanut Honey Pretzel is fantastic too (it’s softer than the super crunchy Clif Bar of a similar flavor).

Skinny Cow Ice Cream – 100/150 Calories

Not too much to say here, other than I love every single ice cream product Skinny Cow makes.  That’s about it.  I keep track of the calories I eat and I almost always save 100-200 calories so at the end of the say after my kids are in bed I can plop on the couch and eat ice cream while I catch up with the hubby and the DVR.

Weight Watchers Ice Cream Candy Bars- 140 Calories

Okay, I honestly hate mentioning the word “Weight Watchers” because every time I do we suddenly get comments and emails with “Oh my gosh!  Awesome!  We all do Weight Watchers!!  Let’s be WW buddies!!  Send me the WW points for ALL of the recipes on your site!!!”  So.  For the record.  I’ve never done WW in my life.  I don’t use points.  I don’t even know what those are.  I just like the ice cream.  Got it?  These Ice Cream Candy Bars are my fave.  Peanut Butter Ice Cream, caramel layer, chunky peanuts, and completely covered in chocolate.  How can that not be good?

Weight Watchers– Strawberry Smoothie Pops 60 Calories

These babies have only 60 calories and I totally expected them to taste like artificial fake-sugary stuff.  But no- they taste just like a fresh strawberry smoothie.  Really great flavor and only 60 calories.  Can’t go wrong!  My other favorite fruity bar are the WW Dark Chocolate Covered Raspberry Pops.  They taste like raspberry truffles, soooo good.

Snackwells Fudge-Drizzled Caramel Corn – 130 Calories

 

Lastly, SnackWell’s makes these yummy chocolate covered caramel corn packs.  Perfect for taking to a movie, or munching while watching tv or to curb a late-afternoon sweet tooth.  Love these.  The only problem is only eating one!

I hope that’s helpful for anyone out there needing some not-so-naughty treats.  Feel free to share your own ideas in the comments- I love discovering new yummies!

Totally unrelated to healthy snacking…

1.  If you missed our fun news on Facebook, our newly released book, Savoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites just landed its pretty little self on the National Bestseller List.  The Best Seller List for all non-fiction hardbacks (not just cook books).  For this, all we can say is, thank you thank you thank you thank you.  {Repeat 5 million times.}  We’re still in a state of shock and feel immensely grateful to all of YOU out there who support what we do!

2.  Very late notice, but Boise folks, I’ll be at the Deseret Book on Eagle Road (by Babies R Us, Pier 1, Old Navy, etc.) tomorrow (Saturday 10/6) from 6:30-7:30 for their “Ladies Night” event.  Bring a book and say hello!