ohdeardrea mara natha healthy Vegan snacks

I’ve talked a lot about food + diet lately. And it seems the more I talk, the more you guys ask— which, as you guys know, is a-okay (and actually appreciated) by me. I’ve gotten a lot of emails this week about transitioning to a healthier diet / vegan lifestyle– and I totally want to write a proper post on that. But for now, lets focus on another, easier question: SNACKS.

It was late the other night and Alex looked at me and said, “great, its getting late and I’m getting hungry.” I joked, “you going go to eat some junk food?” and he sarcastically replied, “yeah great, let me go pig out on some dates.”

To be honest, I’m not sure what he had that night, if anything. But if he did have something, I know he didn’t have anything bad for him 🙂 We keep a really healthy pantry in our home. As I mentioned in my last blog post about my current diet, we don’t keep a lot of high fat foods in our home and are certainly minimal on the processed things. The worst thing we probably keep in our home is a bag of tortilla chips for nachos. Outside of that, everything is super clean, not fried, and pretty good for you.

As you guys know, I’ve been avoiding nuts since I got sick– they don’t seem to do well in my gut. But Marlowe and Alex? They freaking LOVE peanut butter. And I don’t blame them. I miss it. I mean, I still eat my fair share of tahini (thank god that does well in my body), but not my beloved peanut butter. As I also mentioned, I watch my fat intake, not for calorie reasons, but for blood sugar reasons (it doesn’t mesh with he high fruit lifestyle). But with Marlowe, I don’t limit her. I just be sure that she’s eating fats, then she’s eating healthy fats (with the exception of those occasional tortilla chips).

Marlowe two main sources of healthy fats? Avocados and peanut butter. Loads of it lately. Peanut butter smoothies, peanut butter on top of acai (I’m told its like peanut butter + jelly flavoring– makes sense), and loads of peanut butter snacks. Honestly, a night she often just asks for a spoon of peanut butter for her snack, and I’m like, “get it girl, make it happen.” And she happily eats up a giant spoon of peanut butter.

We LOVE MaraNatha brand. We’ve bought it for years. We had transitioned from the overly processed peanut butter brands to MaraNatha after I got sick and we never looked back. They have a ton of different kinds— organic of course. We usually aim for the oil free version, but are totally happy being the one with oil in it as well (it’s sustainably sourced palm oil) when that’s the option on the shelf. And creamy, always creamy 😉

So one of our all time favorite snacks (usually reserved for post dinner treats– but totally acceptable for any and all the time) has been fully loaded rice crackers. So delicious. This treat is gluten-free, vegan friendly, and really fun and delicious.

Also, Marlowe has been back in a decorating our table set up phase. I love it when she does that– sometimes she picks flowers or grabs decorations from her room. Lately she’s been requesting the “special glasses” from our hutch for a fancy meal set up.

And she sets up… and she waits. Patiently waits 🙂 And I run back and forth and grab all the different toppings I could want. Diversity is key 🙂


And we make.

Marlowe’s favorite rice cracker snack:
MaraNatha peanut butter
-slices of strawberries
-raisins
-drizzle of honey

My favorite rice cracker snack:
-smashed banana
-sometimes MaraNatha tahini (depending on my on my fat intake for the day)
-shredded coconut
-cacao nibs
-goji berries
-drizzle of honey
-hemp seeds

But of course, we mix it up from time to time– this is just our go to combos 🙂

It’s just that, snacking is fun. And eating healthy doesn’t have to mean skipping out on snacks.We just do our best to keep our snacks clean and healthy. And it’s pretty easy to jazz up a rice cracker with all the best toppings to make it personal and really good too.

MaraNatha is natural + organic, sustainably focused, with no trans fat, hydrogenated oils, and zero preservatives. It’s just real, good food. Eating fat is essential in life, we just make sure to only (or mostly) eat the good stuff, not the bad stuff.

I love these little snack dates with her. And if I’m being completely upfront here, we often pair these dates with an episode of Gilmore Girls too 🙂

What would your ideal rice cracker have on top?  Tell me! Give me ideas!

Also, finishing up this post just reminded me that I forgot to ask my mom to buy rice crackers for our visit… hmm…

Alright friends, I’m off to finish packing– though this post will go live as I’m waking up and heading to airport. I hope your having a great week so far! 🙂

 

*this post is sponsored by Mara Natha 

2 Comments

  1. Are you near the Peace Pagoda in Leverett? I live across the street. Want to visit? I am a 67 mandala artist and grandma of 5. You would have a blast here…

  2. Any particular brand of rice cracker that you buy? That snack looks delicious! Love your blog 🙂 and the new site!