Hello my beautiful people! I hope you have all had a lovely week. I am so so glad it's Friday! Friday is my happy day…Anyways, today I wanted to do a little post for you to give you some inspiration for some yummy and healthy snack ideas as an alternative to crisps, sweets, chocolate etc… These are some of my favourite recipes ever and I love eating them as they make me feel so good about myself- I can eat something that both pleases your cravings and is also very healthy. Eating healthily is very important to me personally and I always try my absolute hardest to make these snacks instead of eating something less healthy. As well as eating healthily, I think it is so so important to exercise as regularly as possible and hopefully I will be writing a post on that very soon. Also I would like to apologize in advance for my awful photography skills- I was attempting to cook and photograph at the same time which wasn't the easiest thing ever but I hope that they're okay. So I hope you enjoy this post and I would love it so much if some of you made some of these recipes or made variations of them so if you do make sure to post them on Instagram/Facebook and tag me so I can take a little look at them. Make sure to leave your comments and opinions on this blog post and these recipes (which I devised/adapted) below. I hope you enjoy this :)
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Greek yoghurt with granola and berries
Serves 1
This first recipe is my favourite of this whole post! It is just so tasty and also very healthy at the same time so it is guilt-free. I find sometimes this recipe can be a little large to be a snack so occasionally I will have it for breakfast if I am having breakfast on this particular day.
You will need:
• Low-fat Greek yoghurt
• Granola
• Fresh berries-strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries
Method:
Step 1: Firstly, place your Greek yoghurt into a bowl so it is about 3/4 full
Step 2: Secondly, cut up your berries into small pieces
Step 3: Next, place your granola on to of the yoghurt in your bowl
Step 4: Finally, place your fruit into the bowl on top of the granola and yoghurt. You can also add a little honey if you want.
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Green tea, mint and like smoothie
Serves 2
I am absolutely in love with this smoothie. It is so so tasty and makes you feel as if you're on an exotic beach! Oh my gosh this is just so yummy! Thanks costa for the inspiration for the flavour blend :)
You will need:
•Green tea
• Green tea bags
• Mint leaves
• 2 limes
• Spinach leaves
• 1 kiwi
• Melon chunks
• Apple juice
• A blender
• A juicer
Method:
Step 1: Firstly, place your green tea bag into a mug, boil the kettle and pour hot water over it. Allow to diffuse for 3-5 mins
Step 2: After diffusing the tea, remove the tea bag and place mug in the fridge or maybe freezer to cool for a little.
Step 3: Next, cut both limes in half (which lets out the most gorgeous smell and makes you feel as if you are on an exotic island! )
Step 4: Now it is time to juice your limes which again makes your kitchen smell amazing! If juicing is new to you, all you need to do really is place the lime on top of the juicer (inside down) and press down and twist until all the juice possible is in the container below.
Step 5: Then, place all your leafy greens (spinach and mint) into your blender with all your liquids (green tea, apple juice, lime juice). Also just so you know I have deliberately left the amounts blank so you can vary your recipes according to how sour or sweet you like smoothies.
Step 6: When your ingredients are smoothly blended and you have created a nice base, cut up your remaining ingredients (kiwi and melon).
Step 7: Place these into the blender with a few pinches of green tea until the mixture has reached your desired thickness.
Step 8: Pour smoothie into two glasses and season with a little green tea.
Step 9: Enjoy! I absolutely love these
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Lemonade ice-lollies
Serves 2
These lollies taste so lovely and are a healthy cold treat ready for the summer. These are quite sour so you may want to add more water than I did or maybe a little sugar.
You will need:
• 2 lemons
• 150ml of water
• 2 plastic bottles
• Juicer
• Lollipop sticks
Method:
Step 1: Firstly cut the lemons in half. I am absolutely in love with the smell of lemons and could literally stand there smelling them all day even though that sounds a little weird! And also remember to use a chopping board, unlike me who just decided to cut them on the table and leave marks
Step 2: Secondly, juice the lemons using your juicer.
Step 3: Next, pour the lemon juice into a measuring jug.
Step 4: Now add in about 150ml of water or a little more if you prefer it less sour.
Step 5: Then, cut the top off your bottle, about where it starts to get thinner and the base of your bottle.
Step 6: This next step is a little hard to explain but I will try my hardest- discard the middles of the bottles are place the top of the bottle onto the base to create a mini bottle like the one above and place a lollipop stick in each one
Step 7: Pour your lemon juice into the containers and place in the freezer for a few hours
Step 8: When your lollies are frozen leave them in the freezer until you want to eat one then take off the top of the bottle and attempt to cut the lolly out of the base of the bottle
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Pesto dip and salad
Serves 1
This dish is so so yummy and also very healthy at the same time. I have a massive obsession with pesto so this is one of my favourites. I usually eat this as more of a meal than a snack because it's quite big. Also you can use this dip multiple times because there is much more of it than the salad.
You will need:
• Salad ingredients- lettuce, cucumber, tomato, spring onion
• 1/3 of a cup of Pesto
• 1/2 a cup of low fat sour cream
• 1/2 a cup of mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
Method:
Method:
Step 1: Firstly, measure out all your ingredients (except for salad foods) and place them in a small bowl.
Step 2: Secondly, mix it all together until it forms a dip-like substance and looks like the pic above.
Step 3: Next, prepare and cut up your salad.
Step 4: Finally, place your dip in the center of a large plate and arrange salad around it. I also love to add a few basil leaves on top to make it look super cute and also to allow the basil-taste to diffuse which makes the dip 100 times more tasty! Leave this in the fridge for at least 2 hours before eating.
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Healthy-ish yoghurt biscuits
Serves 23
These yoghurt biscuits are not the most healthy snack in the world but they are a much healthier alternative to other biscuits and are so so tasty too so I had to include these. I could literally live off these! Also when I found and adapted this recipe to make it more healthy, I mis-read it and bought a real coconut instead of desiccated coconut which made it a little more difficult so it would probably best if you went for desiccated coconut.
You will need:
• Low-fat Greek yoghurt
• 3/4 of a cup of brown sugar
• 125g of low-fat butter
• 1 and a 1/2 cups of plain flour
• 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• 1 cup of oats
• 3/4 of a cup of raisins
• 1/4 of a cup of desiccated coconut
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Method:
Method:
Step 1; Firstly, pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees C or gas mark 3 then line a baking tray with bakinf paper.
Step 2: Secondly, cream together the butter and sugar until a creamy substance is created.
Step 3: Next, break an egg into a separate bowl and beat until an amber liquid.
Step 4; Now, place the egg, flour, bicarbonate of soda, oats, raisins, coconut and cinnamon into the bowl containing the butter and sugar (sift flour, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon through a sieve to create a light, fluffy texture) and mix with an electric whisk.
*make sure that your dough does not look like this (I completely forgot to add in flour before I took this pic)
Step 5: Then, roll out your dough and use a cooking cutter (or just freestyle like me- hehe) to cut out your cookies. You could also use cute heart-shaped cookie cutters or other cute shapes to make your cookies look even more appetizing. Place your cookies on top of the baking paper on a baking tray and place in the oven for 20 minutes.
Step 6: After 20 minutes, if the cookies are fully-baked, leave to cool for about five minutes on the tray before placing on a wire-cooling rack.
Step 7: When your cookies have fully-cooled, place a small blob of yoghurt on top of each one and leave for about an hour to set or maybe put them in the fridge to speed up the process.
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I hope you have enjoyed this blog post and has given you lots of inspiration on how to make your lifestyle a little more healthy. Make sure to leave your comments below and I hope to see you again very very soon.
Beauty Flutter
Natalie x
Make sure to look out for my next blog post:
