Yes, hard on the heels of our (50 minute) bus trip to Lower Hutt is another road trip!
Photo by @sift666
This time, I’m going over the Rimutaka Hill road with my friend “Posh”, in her BMW Z3 sports car, to a choir festival in Featherston. (Only about three people reading this post will know where any of those places are, but that’s what Google maps is for.)
BMW Z3 - Image - http://www.vfengineering.com/z3-1997-02/
Two days of singing and sharing songs with five other community choirs - see my post on the Benefits of joining a community choir - and a workshop with gospel song leader Tony Backhouse.
We’re staying overnight on Saturday. In the evening, we’ll be having a hangi on a marae (only three people will know what those are as well, but that’s what Google is for) but the rest of the time I’ll need to provide my own food.
It’s all good. I’ve been meaning to do a post on real food snacks, so I’ll incorporate that here.
As well as my own food, I better leave some snacks at home for @sift666 who will be staying behind to mind the fort and Gone Wild Christopher Columbus (our Maine Coon cat, aka Christo).
Photo by @sift666
Here’s my plan:
Breakfast both days will be a smoothie made with homemade cashew milk, raw eggs (free range), fruit, my own protein powder made from collagen hydrolysate and some extras, and I usually throw in some liquid vitamin B and mineral drops. One day I’ll do banana and one day blackcurrant - see my Choc Blackcurrant Smoothie recipe. One of them I’ll make ahead of time and freeze it in an old 500ml coconut oil jar. That way it can do double duty as a cold pack to help keep everything else cold on the road, will be defrosted by Sunday morning, and I can recycle or throw the jar away, as we always have heaps.
I don’t usually need anything for morning and afternoon tea, but this will be an active weekend. So I’d rather have my own snacks that might not be needed, than find myself eating crap, and feeling bad later. I already have a couple of pear and carrot muffins in the freezer. These were a version of the Grain free Vegetable muffins I posted recently. I’ll also bake up a batch of cheese muffins, made with coconut flour. Two or three of these will go with me and the rest can be left behind. I haven’t posted this recipe yet, but look out for it coming soon.
For Saturday lunch, we need to take a contribution to a shared lunch. So I’ll do a variation on the mini kebaby things we took to Lower Hutt last weekend. I’m thinking just three varieties:
- Lamb chorizo chunks with either cucumber or cherry tomatoes
- Cheese with the same vege (technically I know they’re both fruits, but let’s not get picky)
- Cheese and pineapple
Sunday lunch is being catered at $12 a head for those who’re keen. But since it will probably be gluten central, I’ll take my own. I’m thinking a bento box with a couple more sausages (or maybe a small tin of salmon), slices of cheese, carrot sticks and a small apple. Maybe another muffin.
I wouldn’t normally need a bedtime snack, but after the hangi, we’ll be going back to the hall for a Barn Dance. After boogying about all evening, I’ll need a little something as Pooh bear always says. Yes, there are always more muffins, but I’m inclined towards the gelatin carob slice that I posted about recently. I’ll be making some for @sift666 anyway.
I’ll also make him some Grain free Creamed Coconut Fruit & Nut bar) but that can be a bit melty, so I might not take any of that.
More ideas for whole food snacks
You may not need snacks. If you get the right balance of foods at breakfast, you shouldn’t need to eat for up to 5 hours. Having three to four meals a day with a decent gap in between, gives your digestive system time to fully process the meals.
But I like to be prepared, so it’s better to have some real food snacks available than to find you have nothing healthy to eat.
I’ve been a GAPS practitioner for years so I have lots of my own recipes, and lots of other links to other suitable recipes. But I want to increase the traffic to other steemians too, so have been keeping an eye out for suitable recipes. Go send them some love.
The first category is savoury snacks
Unless stated, these are all suitable for Paleo, GAPS, gluten free, or grain free diets
If you’re doing any kind of gut repair protocol, you can’t go past a mug of bone broth:
• Enjoy it by itself
• Make it into a savoury egg nog, by blending with a raw egg (free range and preferably organic)
• Or make it into a more hearty soup
• Here’s a Paleo turkey soup from @rebeccaryan
• Here’s a Warming winter soup from me
• If you’re feeling under the weather, check out all the entries in the recent recipe challenge for winter healing soups
Jerky is a handy and very portable snack. Check out my Jerky with vegetables
Savoury muffins – like my Grain free Vegetable muffins or look out for the starch free cheese muffin recipe I’ll be posting soon
Devilled eggs can be made up once a week and kept in a sealed container in the fridge for a few days
One of these crunchy crisp recipes from @woman-on the-wing – Potato crisps or Vegetable crisps – remember if you’re doing GAPS, they will need to be low starch veges
Put together a crunchy and creamy duo:
• Choose one or more of: the crisps above, crackers {see my recipe website for a starch free recipe}, celery sticks, carrot sticks, cucmber slices, nuts (preferably that have been “activated” first)
• Pair with: Nut butter, hummus, cheese, guacamole, or a dip made from cottage cheese, yoghurt or sour cream
Here’s a recipe from @ladypenelope1 for Homemade peanut and almond butter
Sweeter Snacks
Unless stated, these are all suitable for Paleo, GAPS, gluten free, or grain free diets
Other soothing or nourishing drinks are great too:
• Glass of milk kefir
• Any breakfast smoothie also makes a good snack
• Herb teas
• Check out @ladypenelope1 for her amazing range of healthy drinks and smoothies
Homemade snack bars. I’ve already posted a few recipes – just remember cacao and carob are not suitable for early stages of GAPS:
• Healthy Chocolate & Fudge
• Grain free Fruit & Nut bar
• Choco-mallow protein bars
• Look out for healthy recipes by @naturalista. This is her Caffeine free homemade peppermint chocolate
Homemade baking:
• Grain Free Banana Cashew muffins
• I’ve got some Xmas recipes coming up including Orange cranberry muffins and a Paleo / GAPS friendly Xmas cake
For us Antipodeans, it’s heading into summer. Try my Quick and Easy Snow Freeze recipe for a healthy, cooling snack.
Or how about just a piece of fresh fruit with some nuts or nut butter?
Grain based (but some have Paleo modifications)
Anything from @woman-onthe-wing’s healthy snack series, eg:
• Date & Ginger Semolina cookies – see my suggestions in the Comments for how to make gluten free
• Banana Spice Meusli bites
• Apple Crumble bites - try replacing flakes with desiccated coconut or ground nuts
• Cinnamon & Date Chews - try replacing flakes with desiccated coconut or ground nuts
These Cottage Cheese & Raspberry Cupcakes by @lyubovbar look yum – replace with a GF flour (or a grain free flour for Paleo or GAPS) and use a natural sweetener such as coconut sugar instead of white sugar
This Raw Vegan Superfood Bread by @gustavopasquini looks great for those who can tolerate oats and lots of fibre from nuts and seeds. Not so good for those with weak digestion though.
I only have two rules for snacks to be healthy
• that they are made with real food
• and that they are balanced. That means that they are not all sugar / carbs. Make sure there’s a bit of protein or fat in there too.
As always, these are just a few suggestions. Be limited only by your imagination, and I like to think Steemians have no limits in that area.
Thanks for reading
Follow me for more health, nutrition, food, lifestyle and recipe posts.
I am now on Peerhub offering one on one nutritional coaching and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) sessions by Skype.
Some of my previous posts:
RECIPES AND KITCHEN TIPS: Choc Blackcurrant Smoothie ~ Paleo Cottage Pie ~ Feijoa Pear Smoothie ~ Grain free, dairy free Pumpkin & Cashew Bread ~ Tip for storing ginger & tumeric ~ Grain Free Banana Cashew muffins ~ Warming winter soup ~ Healthy Chocolate & Fudge ~ Jerky with vegetables ~ BREAKFAST ideas ~ Choco-mallow protein bars ~ Equipment for the real food kitchen ~ Carrot Almond bread ~ Grain free Fruit & Nut bar ~ Vegetable muffins ~ Finger food for a gathering ~ For MORE RECIPES and my 15 step Whole Food cooking course, see my recipe website.
