Snack Week! - Zucchini Bread

The only photo I have, because they ate it all...

Happy Friday everyone! Where has the week gone? From the sounds of it, half of the world has been sick this week with some cold or flu virus or another. I know that I was. Luckily I had all these tasty snacks in my fridge, ready for that mild hunger pang of a sick person. You know how it goes, you’re hungry, but you just can’t manage to eat something tangible? Snack week couldn’t have come at a better time.


Did you also hear that everything was ready for me? I prepared all of these foods on Sunday! So maybe you have a crazy work week ahead, maybe the kids have an insane amount of obligations or maybe you want to have some free time this week. Take a few hours on Sunday and you’ll be all set for the week. All of the baked goods require nothing more than a bowl and a big spoon.

This last treat for snack week is something that I never actually ate. I brought these loaves into work and they were gone before I even had a slice. It was three o’clock in the afternoon and I was feeling hungry. Thinking, nobody was eating the zucchini bread, I bet I can get myself a snack. Walk walk walk to the break room. Noooo! An empty container! Where did it all go? According to one of my labmates, if it’s there after three, it’s going to disappear quick. Nuts, maybe I should have hidden some.

Tomorrow, for the last day of Snack Week! I'll be posting many of my favorite pre-packaged healthy snacks.  Because sometimes you just don't have the time!  Thanks for tuning in this week!  Oh, what to do next week, last week of healthy January.  Have you been behaving?  Detoxing from all those cookies?

Snack Week! - Fruit Dip

While I really hate being sick, I love the feeling of being well again. I’ve spent the last few days in a fever-induced haze, floating from home to work and back home again. Spending the evenings staring at the TV and eating ice cream. What? Ice cream is good sick food, there is calcium, protein and sugar. Everything a sick body needs. Plus it’s soft and a sore throat likes cold, soft food. Thankfully the haze has lifted and today I have been incredibly productive.


While sick, the dishes piled up in the sink and clothes lay strew across my apartment floor. If I lived with anyone else they would be disgusted with me, or they would have at least picked up after me. Maybe I should wait to be sick again until I move in with boyfriend. After a long, and productive, day at work I decided to clean it all up! Dishes, into the sink! Besides, they were starting to smell. Clothes, into the washing machine! Get rid of all of those sickness viruses. Ooo, I should wash the sheets while I’m feeling productive.

I’m healthy, almost, and ready to get back into the world! I’ve missed working out! It’s so hard to go for a run when your lung capacity is down to 50%! Lifting weights with sick muscles seems so much harder. But that all has changed! Bolstered by my week of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, I’m ready to hit the treadmill, rock my Bodypump bar and bust a move at Turbokick. Ready ready ready! I might be a little hyper from all this energy that got bottled up during my bout with the virus. Forgive me and have some fruit dip.

Snack Week! - Ham & Cheese Scones

There are good scones, and there are bad scones. I’ve been unfortunate enough to have had many, many bad scones. In the winter months in Madison, WI, the Dane county farmers market migrates inside. If you head to the beautiful Monona Terrace, overlooking lake Monona, you can still get local produce, fresh baked deliciousness and dog treats. Although I think it’s mean for them to sell dog treats, when dogs aren’t allowed at the farmers market. Such a tease for the pooches.

It was during one of these cold, wintry weekends that my parents came for a visit. As we’ve discussed before, winter is not the most desirable time of year to visit Madison. Unless you like ice fishing, apparently ice fishing on lake Mendota is amazing. So ice fishers, head to Madison. Back to the parents, I decided we should head to the farmers market, because there isn’t much else to do on a cold Madison Saturday. We stocked up on jams, carrots and cheese then picked up some pastries from the Amish table.

Nothing against the Amish table, I’ve had lots of their baked goods. The pies are amazing, the cookies are perfect, but these scones… let’s just say the dog would have loved them. They were dry and lacking flavor. I was so sad, we stopped at Starbucks and got some cookies. The Amish cart redeemed itself later in the summer with another knock-out pie.

So, while I’ve had some pretty amazing scones, they are so heavy and calorie laden that I try not to indulge that often. The average (delicious) scone from Starbucks has over 450 calories. More of a meal than a snack. Here I introduce a protein rich, lower calorie scone. It’s not filled with sugar and dried fruit, it’s filled with ham and cheese, yum.