Quick, Easy & Healthy Snacks
As part of our #teacherwellness #musicianwellness discussion, I thought I’d share my favorite quick, easy and nutritious snacks that are my absolute go-to before teaching or in the midst of a long day. While cooking a big meal over many hours is wonderful for perhaps a Sunday or holidays, we usuaully don’t have too much time to devote to eating well. Sadly, this lack of time can invite dangerous and unhealthy options: a frozen bagel slathered in creme cheese, a slice of pizza, a deli sandwich, or greasy take-out (eaten standing over your kitchen counter, obviously).
Steve and I used to fall into this trap often, which led to feelings of guilt and even physical illness. To combat this culinary crisis, we decided to opt for a vegan food delivery service, which brought nutritious food to our dootstop. It was wonderful to have fresh, healthy food in the fridge at all times. However, this option is expensive and only available in certain cities and should only be resorted to if you truly 1) can’t cook healthy food, 2) don’t have any extra time to go shopping/prep food (in which case you may need to re-evaluate your entire schedule).
Here in Austria such delivery options do not exist. Plus, I’m personally enjoying taking a moment each day to connect with the food we put into our bodies (which I think of as medicine). We love going to the farmer’s market, picking up our co-op farm food each week, and thinking of fun new recipe ideas.
Here are our favorite go-to snacks/small meals for mid-day when you have very little time but still want something nourishing!
#1 Sourdough Bread with Avocado, Tomato or an Egg
If you’ve been on the internet the past 5 years, you know the craze of “avo toast” is real. And with good reason. Avocados contain 20 vitamins and minerals, as well as healthy fats and fiber. In fact, one study showed that adding avocado or avocado oil to either salad or salsa can increase antioxidant absorption 2.6- to 15-fold *, meaning that your body will absorb many more nutrients when eaten with avocado. HOW FUN!
Sourdough bread, along with fresh sprouted seed bread, is our personal favorite. Sourdough contains health benefits due to its fermentation process. You can read more about that and sourdough’s benefits here. Furthermore, the slightly bitter (delicious) taste of sourdough goes beautifully with fresh avocado and sprinkled with Maldon Sea Salt. Depending on what’s in season, we will add fresh tomato slices, a drizzle of honey (UTTERLY YUM), cut roasted potatoes, or sometimes an egg (which we eat occasionally).
#2 Hummus & Veggies
I discovered a big secret this year: buying hummus is unnecessary and making it at home is insanely cheap and easy. The two main ingredients are chickpeas and 1-2 teaspoons tahini, which you add to a blender along with olive oil, lots of lemon juice, garlic and salt. It’s literally that easy. If you’re feeling fiesty, you can add in artichokes from a jar, corn, sundried tomatoes, spinach, or grilled eggplant.
Our suggestion is to make a big batch to keep in the fridge for the next 3 days to snack on. Enjoy with carrots, cucumbers, beet/corn chips, or some toasted sourdough!
TIP: Store cut carrots in a jar in the fridge with water. They’ll stay crispy and ready to eat at any time!
WATCH: Downshiftology’s video on 3-minute hummus!
#3 Gigantic Salad
A big salad is one of my absolute favorite quick meals in the entire world. Before I became obsessed with healthy eating and its infinite joys, I was more or less convinced that a salad would never be “enough” - and skeptically opt for a less healthy and less delicious option. Those days are over. One big turning point was discovering that you need to make a HUGE salad. And I mean a family size salad bowl kind of big. And why not? Everything in that bowl will be fueling and nourishing your cells with what they’re craving to do a good job protecting your health. Further, the ingredients of a salad are BRAIN food. According to Dr. Daniel Amen, optimal brain foods include leafy greens, avocaods, & walnuts. Another dazzling statement reads: “One study by the Chicago Health and Aging Project found that older adults who eat at least three servings of vegetables a day maintain their mental abilities 40 percent longer than those who eat less than one serving a day.”**
Making a salad, which is not time-consuming generally, can be further sped up by having a home-made vinagrette waiting in the fridge, using prepped veggies + ingredients (sliced carrots, roasted beets, hardboiled eggs, ethical/wild-caught salmon), and buying JARS of organic veggies to throw in. In our kitchen, we always keep on hand jars of artichoke hearts, corn, sundried tomatoes, and cooked lentils. It’s as easy as buying them from the store and keeping them in your kitchen until the perfect salad requests their participation!
PROCESS: Chop all washed vegetables, throw them into a big bowl, toss with homemade dressing, and enjoy.
POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS:
#1: butter lettuce/beets/corn/tuna
#2: onion/pomegranate/cucumber/tomato/corn
#3: romaine/artichoke/sundried tomatoes/corn/tuna/tomatoes
NOTE: It’s my personal philosophy that almost all veggies (and many fruits) will taste wonderful together in a salad, but your salad will only be as good as the ingredients you buy. The best advice here is to always buy local produce from nearby farmers. It’s good for your brain, your body, the economy and the planet.
HAPPY EATING! xo, Samantha
Sources:
https://positivegut.com/en/the-health-benefits-of-sourdough-bread/
*https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/12-proven-benefits-of-avocado#section7