3pm – AKA The Danger Zone. The time of day most likely to have us reaching for chocolate or biscuits or (oh dear) biscuits coated in chocolate. Of course the issue is that by the time we hit The Danger Zone it’s not just hunger that we’re contending with. It’s also boredom and dipping sugar levels. It’s an energy slump. It’s the fact that we just like eating darn it!
Fear not, I have a solution.
Last weekend I was flipping through Lola Berry’s amazing new book ‘The 20/20 Diet Cookbook’ when I came across a recipe for a fruit and nut mix. It seemed simple enough, and while the particular mix she’d put together wasn’t quite my cup of tea, it looked easy enough to adapt to suit my needs.
Off I went last Sunday to stock up on ingredients. Coles in Bondi Junction has an amazing Scoop & Weigh system these days, so you only purchase what you need instead of being forced to spend a fortune on huge packets of ingredients that will probably be infested by weevils before you get halfway through them. I’m also super keen to try out bulk supplier Naked Foods, who have literally just opened in Bondi Junction, so I reckon I’ll head there this weekend for round two!
Anyway. After my grocery expedition (and a short sojourn to Lululemon of course) I headed home to do my un-cooking:
Fruit, Nut & Choc Energy Snack
Ingredients:
1/3 cup chopped raw Brazil nuts
1/3 cup chopped raw walnuts
1/3 cup raw almonds
1/3 cup goji berries
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2 sticks dried banana – chopped
3 heaped dessert spoons sunflower seeds
1 heaped dessert spoon cacao nibs
Method
1. Place all ingredients in a large jar.
2. Put lid on jar.
3. Shake jar.
4. ENJOY!
All up I only spent around $11 on ingredients excluding the cacao nibs, which are around $15 per bag (but you can always leave them out if you want). As far as I’m concerned that’s pretty cheap for a decent sized container of goodness!
It was probably the easiest thing I did all weekend (if you don’t include the episode of Gossip Girl that I sat on the couch to watch) and it set me up for a week of healthy snacking. There really are so many uses for this mix too – whether you want to eat it out of the jar as is, add it to your smoothie for a bit of crunch, use it as topping for your breakfast cereal, mix it through yoghurt for a more filling snack, add some to your protein pudding…. the list goes on.
I highly recommend you give this a go over the weekend – obviously you’re welcome to play around with the ingredients to suit your taste. Let me know how you go and send me some pics!
Have a great weekend Team.
p.s I thought you might be interested in some of the health benefits of the individual ingredients I used. This is by no means a definitive list and I am not a doctor or nutritionist, but it’s here if you want a stickybeak anyway!
Health Benefits:
Almonds – good source of protein, fibre, calcium, magnesium and healthy unsaturated fats
Walnuts – good source of protein, fibre, Omega 3 fatty acids; highest levels of antioxidants of all nuts
Brazil nuts – good source of Omega 6 fatty acids, protein, selenium and other minerals
Goji berries – rich in antioxidants
Cranberries – rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin E, fibre and antioxidants
Shredded coconut – good sourse of fatty acids, selenium and manganese
Banana – good source of potassium, magnesium and fibre
Cacao nibs – good source of magnesium, fibre, antioxidants and fibre
Sunflower seeds – excellent source of Vitamin E, selenium, magnesium and antioxidants
christina Hernandez says
Looks yummy!