8 Worst Snacks

After work yesterday I ran to the grocery store to pick up some Viactiv calcium chews since I was all out (I take one of these every morning).

While I was there, I nabbed a small spaghetti squash… Kinda like a personal pan pizza, but a personal puny spaghetti squash. 😉

I cooked it up last night to enjoy for lunch today.

Friday's Lunch

I topped the spaghetti squash with marinara meat sauce, Parmesan and ricotta cheese and stirred it up until the sauce coated every last strand of squash.

Friday's Lunch

Though there’s a lot of volume in this lunch, I knew I would probably feel hungry in no time without some additional protein.

For dessert, I had overnight oats prepared with old fashioned oats, Greek yogurt, strawberries and instant chocolate pudding mix.

This concoction was suuuuper tasty!

Chocolate and Strawberry Yogurt Pudding

8 Worst Snacks

Today WebMD compiled a list of the 8 worst snacks. Check ’em out and see if anything you eat made the list!

8 Worst Snacks:

1. Chocolate-coated doughnuts and mini doughnuts (Entenmann’s Pop’ems)
2. Snack pies (Hostess fruit pies)
3. Movie-theater butter microwavable popcorn (Pop-Secret Extra Butter)
4. Lunchables by Oscar Mayer
5. Regular chips and Cheetos
6. Packaged frozen snacks (Jimmy Dean biscuits, Hot Pockets)
7. Tyson Fun Nuggets
8. Cheese crackers (Ritz Bits, Cheez-Its)

Though I wasn’t shocked, I was sad to see Cheez-Its on the list.

They’re just so darn delicious!

Free TCBY Waffle Cone

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Top 12 Healthiest Frozen Dinners

My dinner tonight was not a frozen dinner, but more on that in a sec… 

First, let’s tackle my dinner highlights, shall we? 😀 

Dinner 

Since Ryan had a soccer game tonight, after we took Sadie for a 2.5 mile walk, I was all alone for dinner. 

You know what that means… Breakfast for dinner!!! 

Today I opted for chocolate protein pancakes like the ones I made for breakfast yesterday, but I changed up one of the ingredients. 

Instead of cottage cheese, I added a little less than 1/4 cup of pumpkin to the mix and blended the protein powder, pumpkin and egg whites into a thick batter. 

Blend Baby Blend

While the ‘cakes were cooking on the griddle, I added slices of frozen banana and strawberries to the griddle to heat up as well. 

Cookin'

Strawberries + Banana

In no time at all, dinner was ready. 

I placed the pancakes in the bottom of a bowl before cutting them up and topping them with the sliced strawberries, banana and syrup. 

Waiting for Toppings

Yummy

'Cakes + Fruit + Syrup

Not to toot my own horn (Toot! Toot!), but this dinner was delicious! I think it would actually make a fantastic dessert if I added a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. YUM. 

While doing the dishes, I also snacked on several handfuls of raspberry Galaxy Granola. 

Raspberry Galaxy Granola

This stuff is addicting… 

Top 12 Healthy Frozen Dinners 

When I first graduated from college and entered the working world, I lived off of oatmeal, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Lean Cuisines and Lean pockets. 

This wasn’t due to a lack of interest in nutrition or healthy eating, but I felt overwhelmed at the thought of cooking meals daily and preparing homemade food. 

Now I realize that I can make nutritious meals in no time at all. It typically takes me less than 20 minutes to prepare a dinner and my meals are more well-rounded and nutrient-dense. I feel more satisfied and know I’m giving my body good fuel to keep me energized through my daily workouts and everyday life. 

That being said, we all have days where pre-packaged meals are our saviors! I definitely gravitate toward the convenience of frozen meals (Hello CPK pizzas!) every now and then. 

I found this list of the top 12 healthy frozen dinners (compiled by the director of nutrition for WebMD) quite interesting. The list might be helpful to those of you who are looking for the healthiest options out there in the frozen entrèe arena. 

Top 12 Healthiest Frozen Dinners

Do you eat frozen entrèes?  

I don’t eat frozen meals very often, but I  definitely use them in a pinch. (The frozen Kashi southwest chicken meal is aweeeesome!)

Latest Examiner Article 

Click here for additional information about healthy frozen entrèes, as well as tips from the experts to use when selecting the most nutritious frozen meals in my latest Examiner article!

Deserted Island Foods

Today a WebMD dietitian created a list of 10 “survivor foods,” also known as the shelf-stable foods you should bring with you if you ever anticipate that you’ll be stranded on a deserted island.

Her list included:

• Canned beans
• Nuts
• Blueberries
• Whole grain cereal
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Red wine
• Tea
• Oranges
• Tomatoes

Which “survivor food” is your favorite?

Mine is definitely nuts (and nut butter… peanut butter… mmm).

Lunch

My lunch today actually included two of the survivor food stand outs!

Broccoli and tomatoes (in the form of marinara sauce) were included in my pasta bowl, along with mushrooms and Parmesan cheese.

Survivor Pasta

Love that Parm!

It was delicious and fit for a meal on a private island. If only… 😉