Healthy Snacks - not an Oxymoron!

As we all know, snacking can be detrimental to our weight loss goals and our nutrition goals.  It's very easy to overindulge on high calorie, high fat, non-nutrient snacks, especially if we allow ourselves to engage in mindless eating.  One way to overcome this is to not have unhealthy snacks around - you can't eat what is not there!  Another way is to have healthy snacks available for those times when you feel you want a little something extra or need a little treat.  Below is a recipe for a snack I made last night that is so healthy you could have it for breakfast!  Also good for a pick-me-up before or after a workout!  I ran the nutritional information and find they are low in fat and sugar, a great source of fiber and Manganese, and a good source for many other vitamins and minerals (see below).  Enjoy!

Oatmeal Banana Cookies


Ingredients:
2-3 ripe bananas, mashed 
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce 
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats (can use gluten-free oats for gluten-free cookies) 
1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins 
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or almonds 
1/8 cup ground flax seeds 
1/8 cup raw sunflower seeds 
drizzle of Blackstrap molasses 
cinnamon to taste (if desired) 


Directions: 
Heat oven to 300 degrees. To mashed bananas, add applesauce and oats. Mix well. Stir in the dried fruit, nuts, and seeds. Add drizzle of molasses and cinnamon and blend well. If mixture is too wet, add more rolled oats. Take small amounts of mixture, about 1/4 - 1/2 cup, in your hands and shape into round cookies (much like you would shape a small hamburger patty). Place cookies on a non-stick cookie sheet. Bake 35 minutes. Remove cookies to a plate to cool. Makes 10-12 cookies.  Store in an air-tight container.


Nutritional Information:
Calories:  183 per cookie.  
Fat: 5 gm.  
Carbohydrates: 31 gm. 
Sugars: 8 gm.
Fiber: 5 gm.
Protein: 6 gm


Vitamins (%DV):  vitamin B6 (9%), vitamin C (5%), Folate (7%), Thiamin (17%)
Minerals (%DV):  Calcium (3%), Iron (10%), Magnesium (18%), Phosphorus (18%), Potassium (8%), Zinc (9%), Copper (14%), Manganese (79%).


To Your Health!