Friday, June 14, 2013

Beat the Heat

My Five Fave Summer Snacks
 to keep you cool on the hot summer days

1. Refreshing Lemonade with Mango
A. If you don't a have tumblr by now... please go get one. These amazing sweat-free adult-sized sippy cups are honestly life-changing. I have never drank the appropriate amount of daily water intake until I had one of these. They keep your bevs cool for hours on end. Go to your local Bed, Bath, and Beyond, use a 20% off coupon, and invest. B. I have become obsessed with juice throughout my pregnancy.. mostly because water with lemon became a bit boring over time. I recently discovered Simply Lemonade with Mango and let me tell you... it's amazing. I am like a kid, so I dilute my juice with H20. I fill my tumblr with ice, then half water, then half juice. It's the most refreshing drink you'll ever have. Trust. Sometimes I even add a little fresh lemon slice to jazz things up. 

2. Apples & Yummy Yogurt Dip
Dice up a nice, juicy apple. Grab a cup of non-fat vanilla greek yogurt, then mix in 1 tbsp of PB, a dollop of agave, and a dash of cinnamon. Stir together then dip your slices. And there you have it... a delish, protein-packed snack. 

3. Summer Salad
My favorite summer salad consists of no lettuce at all.  Dice up a tomato. Grab half a cucumber, remove the skin and dice. Dice up one whole avocado. Add in about 1.5 tbsp of reduced-fat feta. Finely chop up about one tbsp of red onion. Toss into a bowl, dash with salt and pepper. Then add a bit of oil and balsamic, mix, and serve. 

4. A Very Berry Smoothie
For starters, I use a magic bullet. I purchased it from Bed, Bath, and Beyond for around $40. I truly think it has been well worth the price. This little handy-dandy machine takes up little space on your counter top and acts as somewhat of a food processor. It puts your standard blender to shame. It's great for home-made salsa, chicken salad, and, of course, fruit smoothies. My favorite summer treat is a very berry smoothie. I use 1/4 cup of frozen blueberries, 1/4 cup of frozen raspberries, and about 3-4 frozen strawberries. I then add in about 1/2 cup of vanilla greek yogurt, a heavy dollop of agave nectar, and about 3/4 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. Mix and viola!


5. Vanilla Frozen Yogurt with a dash of cinnamon, topped with amazing fruit salsa.
For the salsa, one kiwi (peeled and diced), one golden delicious apple (peeled and diced), 8 oz. of red raspberries, one carton of strawberries (diced). Mix in a large bowl with 1.5 tbsp of strawberry preserves, 1.5 tbsp of white sugar, and 1/2 tbsp of brown sugar.