Pair Skinny Nut™ in-shell pistachios with sliced white cheddar cheese and crackers, veggie sticks and yogurt dill dressing or dried cranberries and a bite of dark chocolate for healthy snacking options. These snack pairings will help you start your New Year off right.
We are half way into January and I know that many of you are trying hard to eat healthy, work out more and meet those goals you set for yourself. I am right there with you.
I hit the reset button this year after a stressful few months of having my family living apart while relocating to Cleveland. Now that are we settled into our new home I am back to working out and focusing on eating healthy. Snacking is something I do a lot of throughout the day because I find it keeps me satisfied and helps break up my day. But as we all know snacking can be dangerous when it comes to eating healthy and nutritious foods.
Today I am sharing three nutritious snack pairing ideas for the New Year:
1. In-Shell Pistachios + slices of white cheddar cheese + whole wheat crackers: this snack pairing provides you calcium, whole grains, and fiber.
2. In-shell pistachios + vegetable sticks + homemade greek yogurt dill dressing: this snack pairing offers you vitamins from the vegetables, calcium from the greek yogurt dressing and fiber from the pistachios. You can create a greek yogurt dill dressing by mixing a couple of spoonfuls of greek yogurt with fresh chopped dill or use any dressing of your choice. Be careful if you use a store-bought dressing as those can have a lot of calories and other unnecessary ingredients in them.
3. In-shell pistachios + dried cranberries + a bite of dark chocolate: lets be honest, sometimes we all have a craving for something sweet throughout the day. This snack pairing will help curb this craving and provide you with antioxidants and fiber.
As you can see these are easy pairings that you can take on the-go or eat at your desk at work. I love including In-shell pistachios in my snacks throughout the week and my whole family loves them so it is a win-win.
Are you wondering what health benefits in-shell pistachios have? Here are just a few benefits (from the U.S. Department of Agriculture):
Pistachios make a great, everyday healthy snacking choice for people looking to satisfy a salty snack craving the smart way, and still do something good for themselves. Enjoy 30 pistachios for about 100 calories for a snack that offers both crunch and seasoning, making them a satisfying snack choice.
A 30g (about 1 ounce) serving of pistachios has 3 grams of fiber, more than some other nuts and many pieces of whole fruit. For example, a 30g serving of cashews has one gram of fiber and walnuts, two grams; one peach has two grams of fiber.
To learn more about the health benefits of pistachios head over to the Pistachios Health Institute Facebook page.
Are you getting healthy this year? Enter The Year of the Skinny Nut Sweepstakes hosted by the Pistachio Health Institute for a chance to win a year supply of pistachios and start 2015 in style! Sweepstakes runs from January 7 – January 31, 2015.
What snack items with you pair with pistachios to create the perfect pairing?
Enjoy!
Julia
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that make A Cedar Spoon possible.
