It's Snack Time!

You have to have two a day--isn't that a kick, someone telling you that you HAVE to have two snacks a day??? Snacks are usually just one block. Here are a bunch of my favorites. I add the newest snacks at the bottom of the page, and snacks with a * are recipes found on the RECIPE page. Remember, when we say you are eating a single block snack, that is a single FOOD BLOCK snack, which consists of one block of carbohydrates (9 grams of carbohydrates), one block of protein (7 grams of protein) and 1.5 grams of fat (or 3 grams if you are using a fat free protein source).

One Block Snacks

1 Block Carbohydrate	1 Block Protein	1 Block Fat
1 1/2 Cups fresh strawberries, or 7 cherries	1 oz. Cheese, (the less fat the better)	3 almonds
1/2 cup lemon non-fat yogurt	(Yogurt is a combined food--1/2 cup = 1 protein + 1 carbo block)	1 tsp. almonds
9 gm. carbo Crackers (see nutritive values on cracker package)	1 oz. Cheese	6 Peanuts
1 1/2 Cups fresh strawberries	2 oz. Cream Cheese Delight*	6 almonds, chopped or 2 tsp. sliced
Fill 1 Cake-style ice cream cone (5 gm. carbo per cone) with Cream Cheese--->, top with 1 giant strawberry.	2 oz. Cream Cheese Delight*	6 almonds, chopped and mixed in Cream Cheese (or if you have been really good, you can have 2 T of whipped cream!)
Crackers or pretzels totaling 9 carbohydrates or one fresh fruit block (look for fat free crackers, or very low fat ones)	1 Mozzarella String Cheese Stick	6 peanuts (or 12 peanuts if you use fat free cheese and crackers)
1/3 cup lite ice cream (or 9 carbs worth)	2 oz. fat free Cream Cheese	2 tsp. sliced almonds
Lasche, a refreshing Indian Yogurt Drink is......2 t fructose and 1 T lemon or lime juice in blender with...	1/2 Cup non-fat yogurt blended with...	2 macadamia nut ----(add fructose to make a sweeter drink)
1/2 apple	1 "Gobblestick"	6 peanuts
1/2 apple	1 String cheese stick	6 peanuts
7 cherries	1 oz. your favorite cheese	3 almonds (or 6 almonds if you use a fat free cheese)
1/4 Cup Fresh Salsa + 7 gram carbos of chips	1 oz. grated cheese	1 T avocado (or 2 T if you use a fat free cheese)
One 1 oz. Colossal Zone Cookie*	1/2 Cup NF Milk	(the fat is in the cookie)
One Hershey's Sweet Escape Bar, either Caramel & Peanut Butter Crisp .7 oz. bar or Chocolate Toffee Crisp .66 oz bars	1 oz. string cheese	(fat is in Sweet Escape Bar)
Nature Valley Reduced Fat Crunchy Granola Bar (2 to a pkg., eat one) (16gm C, 2gm P, 3gm F)	1 oz. string cheese	5 oven roasted almonds (This snack is a generous block, about 1.5 of a complete block)
13 grams dried apples (Try putting this together in a zip lock bag for a one block "trail mix".)	1/2 oz. Beef Jerky	6 peanuts, dry roasted
"Chocolate Decadence Pudding"*	(see Recipe page)	(a balanced blocks food)
1/2 T M&M's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Baking Bits (Don't do this snack too often, as it is a little high in fat by about 1.5 grams)	Tofu Jerky *	2-1/2 Tablespoons Planter's Reduced Fat Honey Roasted Peanuts
1 T M&M's Mini's (tm) found in bulk by the chocolate chips, or in individual tubes in the candy aisle or by the individual tube or case in Karen's Kitchen Shop.	2 T Dry Roasted Soynuts from Karen's Kitchen Shop	(soynuts have fat, but CAUTION! I am reccomending the soynuts from Karen's Kitchen which have a very LOW fat content. Check the nutritional values on the brand your store carries!)
1 T Reese's Peanut Butter Baking Bits (by the chocolate chips in your grocery store)	2 T Soynuts from Karen's Kitchen Shop	(fat in soynuts)
2 T Dry Roasted Peas	1 T Soynuts from Karen's Kitchen	(fat in soynuts)
1/2 cup cubed pineapple	1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese	1 tsp walnuts (must soak overnight and oven roast these to rid them of arachadonic acid)
Nutty-O Bar*	(in bar)	(in bar)
Peanut Butter Power Balls*	(in ball)	(in ball)
Peanut Butter Soynut CRUNCH BALLS!*	(in ball)	(in ball)
2 Snickers Mini's or One Travel Size (see detailed discussion on using candy for a snack)	1 oz. string cheese	(peanuts in bar)

Just as a review...

Your best choices are REAL FOOD, but when you can't get real food, the engineered food bars are a nice alternative. You should remember, however, that bars are TWO BLOCKS EACH, if they are the ones currently on the market made for 40-30-30 or "Zone(tm)" eating. If you can't stop yourself from eating an entire bar, you may want to consider planning on eating one less block the meal before!

Karen's Kitchen is a distributor of Nature's Select Dry Roasted Soynuts. They come in 4 oz. packages for 50 cents, or 12 packages to a case for $14 or 10# for $45. They are also available in Honey Roasted flavor, 3.5 oz. bags for $1.29 or 12 packages for $14. They have a wonderful crunch to them, and the plain ones taste a bit like Cheerios(tm) cereal and are about that crunchy. The Nutritional breakdown is 1/4 cup = 12 grams protein, net 5 grams carbohydrates (after you subtract 8 grams of dietary fiber), and 4 grams of fat. There is NO OIL used in the processing of these snacks, so they will be MUCH lower in fat than any soynut you can find in your health food store! The Honey roasted have 9 grams of carbs per 1/4 cup, 12 grams of protein and 4 grams of fat. I call 1/8 cup of either one a mixed protein and fat block, but only add 1/2 a carb block to the honey roasted ones.

One of the fun ways to eat these is to buy the M&M's Mini's(tm) and mix the soynuts with them, 2 parts soynuts to 1 part chocolate M&M's Mini's(tm). I buy the tubes of the Mini's by the case at Costco (you can buy them from me if you are not by a Costco) and mix them 1 tube of Mini's with two tubes worth of soynuts, then repack the tubes. If you haven't seen them, they are these cute colorful reuseable plastic tubes with attached lids. I keep several in my car for me or the kids to snack on when away from home, and always have a couple in my purse. I like this as a snack because it doesn't seem as cloyingly sweet as the engineered food bars, it CRUNCHES, and because I pack it in individual block servings, I am not tempted to eat more than one food block at a time. Also, they are so convenient, and they don't melt in your hands OR in the tube!

Have any favorite single block snacks YOU'D like to share? Make sure you e-mail them to me!

Any of these snacks may be multiplied by however many blocks you have in a meal to make a complete meal, although I wouldn't advise you to try the 3 candy bars with 3 ounces of string cheese for a 3 block meal very often...Can I bring you anything? Perhaps you would like to look around more, or are you ready to order? If you think you might like to try your hand at baking with Karen, see what she has to say about Weights & Measure. Don't forget to stop by our gift shop, on your way out!