Snack foods!

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ecrim2977
ecrim2977 Posts: 9 Member
in Recipes
Hi! I’m a person who loves small, crunchy snack foods with plenty of flavor! This can mean anything from munching on carrot sticks to peanut M&Ms. The problem comes in when the snacking consists of candy, chips etc ;) any healthy flavorful low-calorie snack ideas out there??!

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  • kemoon0915
    kemoon0915 Posts: 113 Member
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    Here are some of my go to crunchy snacks:

    - Dry honeycomb cereal. You get a pretty decent amount of it in a serving for the calories, and you definitely want to weigh it out to make sure you're not shorting yourself since it's an odd shape to measure with a cup.
    - Quaker apple cinnamon rice cakes. You can have 2 for 100 calories!
    - a big plate of raw veggies with Greek yogurt ranch (1 cup Greek yogurt, 1 cup buttermilk, 1 packet ranch dressing powder). I usually go with broccoli, carrots, and radishes for their crunch and a variety of textures
    - Sugar free twin pops or frozen grapes (I know not technically crunchy but it's a good texture)
    - Air popped popcorn with just enough melted light margarine to get the salt to stick. There's a bunch of microwave air poppers online that are great.

    Hope this helps!
  • ecrim2977
    ecrim2977 Posts: 9 Member
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    This is awesome!!! Thanks so much! I especially like the idea of of the honeycomb cereal and the veggies with dip.
    Just got back from a party with a ton of crunchy snack foods and I've decided that I'll take carrot sticks over those greasy bbq chips
  • kkimpel
    kkimpel Posts: 303 Member
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    Carrots have crunch, rice cakes have crunch apples those are my favorite crunch snacks
  • ecrim2977
    ecrim2977 Posts: 9 Member
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    Thanks! I also have to watch my sugar intake; any ideas on sweeter crunchy low-cal snack foods? Made the mistake of having way tooo much carmel corn last night; I’m thinking kettle corn would have been better
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,606 Member
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    If you crave potato chips, you can do a pretty good facsimile in the microwave with no oil. Slice potato thin in the food processor or a mandolin. Lay onto silicon mesh or silicon baking paper, season, and microwave 5 minutes on high. Check your potatoes. If some are turning gold remove. Continue to microwave stragglers on 1 minute intervals. You need to be careful because the time between cooked and burnt is marginal.

    These chips continue to crisp up as they cool. They really do taste like potato chips to me. If doing slices on a flat plate is too small a batch, you can use the same idea with a potato spiralized on the widest setting.

    Another crunchy salty snack is roasted chick peas. Google for recipes, but I do these in an air fryer because it is more energy efficient than the oven.

  • ecrim2977
    ecrim2977 Posts: 9 Member
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    @acpgee
    Thanks! Those do sound good!! Have any ideas for sweet low sugar/low calorie snacks?
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,606 Member
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    ecrim2977 wrote: »
    @acpgee
    Thanks! Those do sound good!! Have any ideas for sweet low sugar/low calorie snacks?

    A nice low sugar treat is banana ice cream. Peel, slice and freeze a ripe or over ripe banana. Puree frozen banana in the food processor for a result similar to soft serve ice cream. I puree a few frozen berries with this, which makes it have a more attractive colour. Haven't tried this myself, but have read putting in some cacao powder gives a nice result. If you can afford the calories, a few tablespoons of commercial custard adds creaminess.
  • Phaewryn
    Phaewryn Posts: 142 Member
    edited March 2018
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    My favorite "snack cheat" is substituting cheese and garlic flavored texas toast style croutons for chips. Just as satisfying and the smaller size bags mean even if you eat the whole thing you're still WAY ahead as if you did the same thing with a bag of chips. They have MUCH less fat than potato chips and all the flavor.
    https://www.amazon.com/New-York-Cheese-Garlic-Croutons/dp/B00GM8AKXQ/ref=pd_bxgy_325_2/141-0064522-6130373

    I can't help you with the low sugar "sweet" craving issue. I can't tolerate artificial sweeteners, so I just try to limit my sweet snacks to apples dipped in caramel sauce (which is super easy and quick to make, just melt half a cup of sugar (I mix half white and half brown) on the stove on medium-high heat, remove from the heat, then whisk in a tablespoon of butter and then whisk in a few tablespoons of half & half, putting back on the heat on low-medium to stir and melt back in any solid clumps of sugar). It's definitely not low sugar, but it's better than a box of Andes candies, since apples actually have some nutritional value.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,606 Member
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    I have a dehydrator and sometimes dehydrate thin slices of honey dew or cantalope melon which come out as sweet as candy. But if one is honest, these have as much sugar as candy, albeit with more fibre. If you have a hot air fryer or convection oven you could do the same with any sweet fruit at low temperature.
  • mbminx
    mbminx Posts: 21 Member
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    I just picked up some "brownie batter" hummus at the store, and I've seen recipes online. If I like the way it tastes, I can see that fitting nicely into my sweet snack list. One of my favorite snacks was a Nutella sandwich (I know, I know) and chocolate hummus just might give me a version that has actual food value.
  • maryjennifer
    maryjennifer Posts: 124 Member
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    Tons of snack ideas here: https://www.changeinseconds.com/160-clean-eating-snacks/
  • AlyssaPetsDogs
    AlyssaPetsDogs Posts: 421 Member
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    I love celery!!! I recently made kale chips and loved them!
    Other crunchy foods not mentioned: sunflower seeds in the shell. These are just fun, but the calories can add up! The shell may slow you down though!

    I have read of people roasting chic peas until crunchy! That sounds good!

    I munch on plain Cheerios too! You get a lot for the calories! I make my own potato or sweet potato chips in the microwave using this nifty microwave tray.
  • PixelPuff
    PixelPuff Posts: 901 Member
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    Any veg with some low-cal dip or hummus is my absolute favorite. Or even just a bit of ozuke stuff lightly sprinkled on it, then eaten with a fork. Mm, beet kraut over brocco and mushroom! <3

    King Soopers currently has a sale on Simple Truth dips, too. 2/$5! I bought two of the Mediterranean cauliflower dip since they were on an extra sale ('expires' within the week). 30 cal for 2 tablespoons! They had all kinds of flavors, along with regular hummus.

    I don't use much hummus. xD Just a small poke into the hummus for some flavor and I'm set.

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