Quick and Healthy Snack Ideas

In an effort to be more healthy and lose those last few, ahem...ten...ahem, pounds of baby weight, I've been working on cutting back on processed foods.  (In case you were wondering I decided to stop blogging about my weight loss adventures because it's boring to write about and probably even more boring to read about).  This week I tried two different quick, easy, and very healthy snack recipes.

The first one was baked kale chips.  Gwyneth Paltrow made some on the Today show last week and I was intrigued!  I couldn't find her exact recipe, but used this one (which seemed very close to hers).  They taste like potato chips (almost)!  My husband and I ate the whole batch in one night!  (I don't recommend this, however, because I did get a bit of a stomach ache from all that kale.  Apparently, there can be too much of a good thing!)  Here's the recipe:

Baked Kale Chips

(We were so excited to try this recipe that I forgot to take a picture of what it looks like prepared...)
Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of kale
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt

Preparation:

• preheat oven to 350 degrees
• with a knife or kitchen shears remove the leaves from the thick center stems and tear into bite size pieces
• wash and dry kale with a salad spinner
• drizzle kale with olive oil and add salt
• bake until the edges brown (but not burnt), 10-15 minutes

Enjoy!

I found the next recipe in Tracy Anderson's 30-Day Method.  I bought the book on clearance (for $4!!) at Target.  I love her post-pregnancy workout DVD, so I thought I'd check the book out.  I don't know if I'll ever be able to eat as little or exercise as much as her "method" suggests (especially while breastfeeding and taking care of a 3 month old).  However, the recipes included in her book are pretty simple and extremely healthy.  I will definitely be trying more of them!  Here is my adapted version of her recipe:

Cucumber Mint Relish

Ingredients:

• 2 mini-cucumbers, chopped
• 1 cup mukimame, thawed
• 4 tablespoons coconut water
• 4 teaspoons chopped fresh mint

Preparation:

• toss all ingredients together (it doesn't get much easier than that!)

As you can probably tell from my picture above, I forgot the mint.  (Hey, grocery shopping with an infant is not easy)!  It was still really good without it, but I'm excited to make it again WITH mint since it seems to be a pretty key ingredient...