5 Delicious No-Guilt Healthy Snacks
Do you try to eat healthy foods but find yourself snacking on some allegedly "forbidden" treats? Then you feel guilty, which can sabotage your efforts. Read on for 5 delicious no-guilt healthy snacks!
Do you love snacking as much as I do? I really think I’d just rather have snacks instead of 3 larger meals.
I’ve always disliked buffets or Sunday brunches for just that reason. It costs like $24+ and I can only eat an English muffin and maybe some fruit. I feel like I’m totally wasting money!
Then for meals at home (and most of my meals are at home) if I make too much of something I love, I eat more than I should!
Enter The Healthy Snack.
They can be either sweet or savory; salty or spicy. Or salty AND spicy! My preference is salty crunchy snacks, though I do like sweet and chocolaty at times as well.
Speaking of small dessert: my hands-down favorite light dessert is a SKINNY COW Simply Amazing Salted Caramel Pretzel Ice Cream Bar. OMG, these are the BEST! I purchase them at my local Walmart, which is where I have found the best price.
They are so rich and satisfying that I have never wanted to eat another in one sitting.
First up are a couple of dip/dressing recipes. One is sweet, and the other is savory. Both are delicious!
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Blue Cheese Dressing
Blue or Feta cheese dip and salad dressing. Oh my. This one is awesome. I found and adapted it more than 20 years ago, and I honestly cannot remember where. It was before finding recipes online was a big thing, so it must have been in a magazine…maybe Cooking Light.
In any case, it sat hidden away in one of my recipe notebooks for a long time until I found it a few months back.
I brought some in with a salad to work one day and everyone smelled its loveliness and asked what it was. Needless to say, the recipe was shared and tried by all.
Next day I heard things like this: “Where have you been all my life?” And, “OMG, this is the BEST dressing ever!” Etc.
There are many was to change and/or enhance it with your favorite flavors. The basic recipe is just that…basic. I add low fat buttermilk to make it pourable as a salad dressing.
Sometimes I add a little bit of balsamic vinegar for tartness and depth. I had tried using all balsamic vinegar in place of the rice vinegar, but it was a bit too much for me. You may like it, though.
You can add other herbs along with the garlic…try rosemary or thyme. Parsley is good, and even a shake or two of Italian seasoning would work. Trust me, it’s a great canvas to begin with.
Luscious Fruit Dip
The next dip is a sweet one that I just call Fruit Dip. I got this one maybe 25 years ago from a woman whose family visited our family for dinner one evening. She brought this dip, along with some pineapple chunks and strawberries.
It has never left my repertoire since! Besides pineapple and strawberries, there is really no limit to the fruits you can use. I like apples or pears, and for those of you who like bananas, those would work as well.
Sweet Potato Chips
I LOVE these so much. If you’ve read very many of my posts, you might have seen that I grew up more or less not liking vegetables.
Even as an adult over 60, I have to find creative was to make sure I eat enough veggies. I don’t like to, for example, just have some steamed broccoli, or even roasted broccoli as a side dish.
I had read long ago that sweet potatoes are one of the most powerhouse healthy foods around, but I just didn’t care for them. My main exposure, truthfully, was thought the gooey, sickeningly sweet concoction made at Thanksgiving.
It had some syrupy goo mixed in, and tiny marshmallows on top. Disgusting.
Then many moons ago when the show The Biggest Loser first came out, they this recipe for sweet potato chips and they are awesome. They can be made in either the conventional oven or an air fry oven (I have this Cuisinart air fryer-toaster oven).
If you don’t already have a mandolin slicer, by all means get one! They are not expensive–here’s the one I use–and having one of these has been a game-changer for this reluctant veggie eater.
I do use a bit less oil than called for in the recipe (maybe 3/4 tbsp. instead of one full) and I experiment with lots of different herbs and spices. As with many of my recipes, they are fairly basic and easy to adapt to your own tastes.
These are super yummy with ketchup, ranch dressing (low in calories, of course), and even hummus and guacamole (at least I like them that way!).
Frozen Pineapple Sorbet
For another sweet treat, you can’t beat frozen pineapple sorbet. Man, talk about yummy and easy!
I love ice cream, and it doesn’t have to be full-fat for me to adore it. I’ve always liked Dryer’s Light ice cream better than the full fat version.
Don’t get me wrong here. If you can limit yourself to a serving (1/2 cup) of full fat ice cream, by all means do so if that satisfies you. But it barely satisfies me, so I’d rather eat a bit more of something delicious.
This pineapple sorbet recipe is not only delicious, it’s gorgeous as well. Unfortunately, the website with is slow to load, and it takes forever to get to the recipe, but it’s only 2 ingredients: frozen pineapple cubes and lime juice.
Easy peasy! She has recipes for strawberry and all sorts of other fruit sorbets. These are super refreshing, healthy, no added-sugar desserts.
Homemade Chips & Salsa
Another savory snack! And it’s a twofer. Because I don’t like to eat stuff that’s high in calories and fat when it doesn’t need to be, I make my own tortilla chips from corn tortillas.
I buy thin corn tortillas that only have a couple of ingredients…corn, lime, & water. Mission brand are readily found in most grocery stores, and they have a thin variety.
If you’re super-motivated, go ahead and make your own!
The Tortilla Chips
Once you have the tortillas, it’s super simple to make them into chips. Simply stack several of them and cut into sixths. I cut the stack in half, then cut three triangles from each half.
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray, then lay the triangles out with plenty of space between them. Spray lightly again, and add any seasonings you might like. The sky’s the limit here.
You can use plain salt, garlic powder, no-salt seasoning, chili seasoning, or some combination that you find yummy.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 4 minutes, turn over (yeah, it’s a bit time-consuming to do this part) and bake for another 3-4 minutes. Watch carefully so they don’t burn.
Once done, remove from the pan and lay in paper towels to cool. Store in an airtight container, or plastic bag.
Somehow I did not feel that needed an official recipe!
The Salsa
Salsa is a naturally low-calorie condiment. It’s generally made with tomatoes, peppers, garlic, onions, and some herbs and spices. You can use it for much more than just dipping chips into.
This recipe comes closest to what I make. I just wing it, so I don’t have a formal recipe. When I found this recipe, I have to admit I searched around and found a bunch of other yummy ones (like this beef barley soup).
The salsa, of course, can be used as a topping for any other Mexican food you can think of, and also baked potatoes, eggs, chicken, steak, salad…it’s pretty versatile when you think about it.
But as a dip with fresh, warm tortilla chips…man, you don’t get a much better savory snack than that.
And there you have 5 delicious, no-guilt healthy snacks. Next time you find yourself craving some “guilty” treat, think back to this post and make (or have available) one of these.
They have you covered whether you’re looking for something sweet or savory, salty or spicy.
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These snacks really look so good especially the fruit dip! Can’t wait to try these! Thank you so much for sharing!