Healthy snacks for in between meals
During a busy day at school or work, many people get hungry between meals. To avoid negative effects on metabolic health, it's important to choose healthy snacks that are nutrient-rich and provide energy, but don't cause a short-term, rapid spike in blood sugar.
On the topic of blood sugar regulation and nutrition, we also recommend our article at the previous link. There you'll learn how different foods affect blood sugar and metabolic health.
Many natural foods make wonderful snacks between meals. These include vegetable sticks made from carrots, peppers, or cucumbers, various fruits, a hard-boiled egg, or nuts and almonds.
These foods can be eaten simply and effortlessly. Of course, you can also get creative and prepare healthy snacks yourself. This offers more variety and enjoyment when snacking.
Below, we'd like to introduce you to a recipe for healthy muesli bars. You can modify it as you wish to create a variety of different bars.
Homemade muesli bars
Our muesli bars are rich in nutrients and provide quick yet sustained energy. They're an ideal snack for a stressful day that requires a lot of mental work.
Ingredients for 15 bars
- 200 g oat flakes
- 100 g dates (pitted)
- 65 g cashew butter
- 70 g pistachios (peeled and roughly chopped)
- 15 g flaxseed
- 15 g chia seeds
- 10 g cocoa nibs
- 40 g chopped chocolate pieces (dark, sugar-free)
- 1 ripe banana (as a natural sweetener and thickener)
- 1 pinch of sea salt
- Plant drink if needed
preparation
- Preheat the oven to 175 °C top/bottom heat.
- Place the dates in a bowl and pour hot water over them. Let them soak for about 10 minutes until they are soft. Then drain the water.
- Mix the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, combine the oats, chopped pistachios, flax seeds, chia seeds, cocoa nibs, chocolate pieces, and sea salt. Tip : You can easily chop the pistachios with an immersion blender. This saves you the hassle of chopping with a knife.
- Prepare the liquid ingredients: Blend the dates, banana, and cashew butter until smooth. If the mixture is very thick, you can add a little plant-based milk (e.g., 20 ml).
- Mix all ingredients well.
- Spread the mixture evenly on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. The thickness of the mixture should be about 2 cm to ensure stable bars. It's recommended to spread the mixture in a rectangular shape. This makes it easier to cut evenly sized bars and allows you to get nicely shaped bars even from the edges.
- Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes at 175 °C.
- Remove the baking tray from the oven and let the mixture cool.
- Cut even bars. The specified amount yields approximately 15 bars.
Storage and other tips
The muesli bars should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and will keep for about 2 weeks.
The recipe can be modified to suit your personal preferences. There are no limits to creativity. You can easily swap the listed ingredients for others of the same category.
Examples of alternative ingredients:
- Oat flakes: e.g. millet flakes, buckwheat flakes
- Dates: e.g. figs, applesauce
- Cashew butter: e.g. almond butter, peanut butter
- Pistachios: e.g. pecans, almonds, walnuts
- Cocoa nibs, chocolate: e.g. E.g. goji berries, chopped dried fruit