During this crazy time (yes, crazy is an understatement), it is inevitable to fall into habits of binge eating and gorging, while completely overlooking the healthy food goals you set for 2020. This can still be your year. Despite the current pandemic, we have created a list of healthy and yummy snacks (and a list of indulgent desserts), because we all need a break once in awhile. Hopefully, these snacks will help you power through the days of virtual school.

First, let’s start with two healthy snacks. An all-time favorite is the smoothie bowl because it gives you the right amount of energy to start your day. You can be creative with the bowl by tossing fruit, nuts, honey, and granola on top. Get ready to create your masterpiece!

“MIX UP” SMOOTHIE BOWL
The “mix up” smoothie bowl is ideal for those who are adventurous eaters an

d want to try and eat what is remaining in your fridge and freezer. You need fresh or frozen fruit, a liquid of your choice (fruit juice, milk, water), yogurt or ice, and then toppings. Grab your blender and throw in a ½ cup of liquid. This is essential to put in the liquid first so the fruit will not get stuck at the bottom. Next, put in 1 cup of fruit, ranging from berries to mango to banana; whatever fruit you have in your freezer is ready to be made into a crazy combination. Then, to get your desired consistency, put in some ice to make it thinner or yogurt to make it thicker. For a smoothie bowl, I recommend yogurt, as it will have an ice-cream-like consistency, making it easier to eat. Lastly, throw on your toppings! Nuts, honey, Nutella, fresh berries, chocolate, dried fruits… Throw it all on! Grab a fun spoon, take a cute picture, eat your masterpiece, and bask in the glory of staying thrifty and using the ingredients in your very own home.

Your Instagram feed is most likely filled with pictures of avocado toast with a perfect sunny side up egg, some drizzled olive oil and a dash of sea salt, clear of imperfections. While imperfections are inevitable in the kitchen, it is what really makes your dish unique. This next recipe is to help you create just that, all while using ingredients that you fancy and are also nutritious.

CRAZY TOAST
Crazy toast is a great morning breakfast or a mid-afternoon snack. Our specific recipe includes two variations. For both recipes, you will need two slices of toasted bread.

First is a sweet rainbow fruit toast. Grab your toast and for your base, smear on cream cheese, Nutella, honey, or butter. Next, you will need five different fruits each featuring a color in the rainbow. For red, apples, cherries, raspberries, or strawberries are ideal. For orange, oranges or clementines are perfect. Yellow is fit for bananas and green is great for either grapes, kiwi, or green apples. Lastly, blueberries are the best to top off your rainbow toast. Drizzle some honey on top to add to the sweetness and your delicious rainbow toast is complete!

For a more savory toast, grab cream cheese, meat or salmon, and vegetables. Smoked salmon or sliced turkey is delicious, and for vegetables, cucumbers, carrots, or celery are preferred. The same process as the sweet toast is used: layer your cream cheese first, meat second, and sliced vegetables on top. I typically eat two slices for a nice lunch or a hearty afternoon snack!

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Sometimes, you need a sweet to keep you going. These desserts may not be the healthiest, but they are easy to make. Don’t panic about getting ingredients, and don’t beg your parents to brave the barren grocery stores, because there are easy fixes to missing an ingredient or two.

HOMEMADE RICE KRISPIE TREATS

Rice Krispie Treats are many Harriton students’ favorite cafeteria dessert food, and will be missed when eating lunch at home. Fortunately, Rice Krispie Treats are also a great snack to make at home, and fun to personalize. To make Rice Krispie treats you need cereal, but you don’t necessarily need actual Kellogg’s Rice Krispie cereal. Rice Krispies work just as well with your favorite plain cereal such as cheerios. And if you don’t have marshmallows, one jar of marshmallow crème works just as well.

First, heat butter and marshmallows in your microwave on high for three minutes, stirring once halfway through. Once the three minutes are done, stir until smooth. And your cereal of choice and stir until cereal is coated. Now, comes the fun part. To make your Rice Krispie Treats even more delicious, add small chocolate chips, mini M and Ms, or any other small chocolate, which makes your treats even more delicious. Then, evenly press your mixture into a greased pan, cut into squares, and enjoy! Fun fact, you can freeze your homemade Rice Krispie Treats for up to six weeks.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH FOR ONE
Put around 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave for 15 seconds, then stir in one tablespoon of brown sugar and one tablespoon of granulated sugar, also known as white sugar or “regular” sugar. If you don’t have brown sugar, use two tablespoons of granulated sugar, and the recipe will turn out fine, if slightly less tasty. Mix the sugars in well. Next, stir in three tablespoons of flour until the dough is smooth, add a pinch of salt, some chocolate chips (as many as you want), stir again, and voila! Chocolate chip cookie dough for one. (If you specifically say the recipe only makes enough for one, it’s easier to get out of sharing with siblings.)

ACTUALLY BAKED CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES (WARNING- MORE WORK!)
If you want to make actual chocolate chip cookies, be forewarned, it takes more work, and you need to be able to use the oven. If you’ve kept reading, I’ll assume you’ve decided to give it a shot. First things first, preheat your oven to 350 F. Now, look above at the cookie dough recipe.

This recipe is very similar to the previous recipe, which means that the sugar substitute method still applies. (Note that if you only use granulated sugar in cooked cookies, they will end up crispier than if you use both sugars. Also note that when making cookies, you will need more amounts of your ingredients, so if you’re running low, I suggest resorting to cookie dough.) Melt the butter first, around ½ cup for 40 seconds. In a large bowl add in

both sugars, ½ cup granulated and ½ cup brown, and mix well. Then, add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and 1 large egg (make sure to get permission before taking a precious egg, those are hard to come by nowadays, and if you don’t have vanilla- use maple syrup, it sounds weird, but it works.) Finally, add 1 ¾ cups of flour, ½ teaspoon of salt, and ½ teaspoon of baking soda (If you don’t have baking soda, use baking powder, it doesn’t really make a difference. If you do use baking powder though, use 1 and ½ teaspoons, and don’t put any salt in your cookies.) Mix the dough until combined, it should be soft and slightly sticky. Use a spoon to scoop out your cookies (however big or small you want) and place them on a baking sheet. Make sure there’s a good distance between each, around 2 inches. Bake for 7-10 minutes. The cookies should be puffy and look slightly gooey in the middle. Then, there’s nothing left to do but enjoy! The recipe should make around 24 cookies, so there’s enough dessert goodness in this recipe to share with your family.

Whether you eat these for breakfast, afternoon snack or a midnight snack, or somewhere in between, we hope that you enjoy these creative foods. Whatever the case, they will definitely give you something cute to post on your sorrowfully empty social media pages.