by Matt Weik
No matter the time of year, people seem to enjoy cold treats. When night-time falls and you’re unwinding from a long day, what do many people reach for? Ice cream. Then after they polish off a hefty size bowl of ice cream they are left feeling regret. Why did they just totally blow their calories for the day on something like ice cream? Everyone is in search for a healthier alternative to the frozen dairy treat. Below are 5 great frozen snacks that you can eat whenever without the feeling of regret.
Frozen grapes
This is by far the easiest treat to prepare on the list. Grapes are loaded with health benefits such as antioxidants and polyphenols. They are also primarily made up of water which makes these a perfect frozen snack. Simply toss them in your mouth while relaxing or grab them and take them with you on the go.
All you need to do is wash the grapes and put them in a container or Ziploc freezer bag. You don’t even need to dry off the grapes if you don’t want. The water gives some added crunch to the exterior of the grapes if you so wish. If you want less crunch, then dry them off before putting them in the container/bag. After you’ve packaged them, simply throw them in the freezer and you have yourself a great healthy snack option. I’m not sure what could be much easier than this healthy choice other than something that’s already prepackaged. You could have a constant supply of frozen grapes in your freezer with minimal effort put into prep.
Frozen strawberries dipped in yogurt
Sticking with the fruit theme, strawberries are another amazing fruit that can go from your freezer to your belly in no time flat. Strawberries are a great source of antioxidants as well as vitamins and minerals. Add some Greek yogurt to the mix and you have one heck of a snack. Greek yogurt contains protein, probiotics, as well as vitamins and minerals. This combo is also great if you want to impress your friends at a party by pulling these out of your freezer for everyone to enjoy.
Creating this treat is quite simple. Wash your strawberries and cut off the end with the green stem so you have a flat portion to work with. Here is where you can either be neat or messy (your choice). If you wish to be neat, you can take popsicle sticks and break them in half. Stick the popsicle stick through the flat part of the strawberry that you just created. Dunk your strawberry into your Greek yogurt of choice and put it inside a freezable container. If you had your hand raised to be part of the messy group, you can simply use your fingers to dunk the strawberries into the Greek yogurt before placing them into the container. Once you’ve done all the strawberries you wanted to prepare, throw a lid on the container and pop it in the freezer. Not only will the strawberries have an amazing taste and texture, but the frozen Greek yogurt covering the strawberries simply tops off this amazing treat.
Go Bananas for Yonanas Frozen Treat Maker
For this snack you would need a Yonanas Frozen Treat Maker (or something similar), but in all honesty, it’s worth the money. Not only does this machine handle bananas, but also other fruits as well as nuts. So if you’re in the mood for peanut butter and bananas, simply throw them in and you have yourself a cold healthy snack. Or maybe you want to mix a whole bunch of berries into a frozen treat like strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries? Add some chocolate chips? Go for it. This machine is extremely versatile and allows you to make frozen treats that are full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber.
All you need to do is make sure you wash the fruit you want to use, and then put them in the freezer. Once frozen, you’re ready to create your tasty masterpiece. Simply put whatever frozen fruits you want to use in your Frozen Treat Maker, add in any nuts or dark chocolate chips you might want, push the fruit through the machine and it comes out looking and tasting like a delicious fruity ice cream.
Protein powder ice cream
Are you craving ice cream? You have three choices: fight the urge and not eat anything, get a bowl of real ice cream, or make your own healthy ice cream substitute. You can make healthy ice cream with two simple ingredients. Take a large container of Greet yogurt (which if you are using the above option, you already have sitting in your fridge) and dump it into a large square container (preferably something like Tupperware). Mix in some of your favorite protein powder (whatever flavor you are in the mood for) and stir it up, mixing it all together. Once everything is mixed throw it in the freezer for an hour. After an hour pull it out of the freezer and churn it. Try to break up any protein clumps you find. Then, throw it back in the freezer for an additional thirty minutes. Check the consistency of your ice cream after the thirty minutes and see how it’s looking. If you find it’s not quite to your liking, then simply churn the mixture again and put it back in the freezer. Repeat that process until your healthy protein ice cream is the consistency you desire.
This healthy ice cream can be any flavor you desire. Unlike many of the options found in this article, this protein ice cream can be “unique”. Want a chocolate mint flavored ice cream? Go purchase that flavor protein powder. Maybe you’re in the mood for coffee flavored ice cream? Grab that flavor of protein powder. The sky is the limit with flavors you can turn into a delicious protein ice cream.
Frozen amino-acid pops
This is an extremely simple and tasty treat if you want something cold and healthy. We all know the benefits of BCAA products. Many people use them intra-workout. Others use them between meals to give the body a constant supply of amino acids. Whichever use you prefer, you can use the same BCAA powder that you love in this amazing snack option.
Simply mix up your favorite flavored BCAA powder with water like you normally would. Now you have a few choices. If you have popsicle molds, you can pour the mixture directly into them and put the whole thing in the freezer. If you don’t have molds, you can simply dump the liquid into ice cube trays. In order to make eating your treat easy and less messy, I’d recommend putting a row of tinfoil over the ice cube tray. Then gently push small popsicle sticks through the foil and into the liquid so when it freezes you have yourself a handle to hold rather than simply eating them with your fingers. To save space and resources, break the popsicle sticks in half before putting them through the foil.
More ideas with flavored BCAA powder:
For those of you who use BCAA powders, you can also turn your beverage into a cool beverage. Make your BCAA drink like you normally do. Now if you wanted it cold, you could put in some ice cubes but that just dilutes the taste. What you can do is prepare BCAA ice cubes. Follow the same procedure as you did with the popsicles, only don’t put the sticks in them. That way, when you want you BCAA mixture to be cold, all you need to do is pop out some BCAA ice cubes and plop them in your BCAA drink and you’re ready to roll.
Another idea would be if you wanted to drive ice water but wanted to add just a little bit of flavor to the water but not too much. You could take the same BCAA ice cubes that you prepared like above (without the popsicle sticks) and simply dump them into your water to chill it and add a little bit of flavor to the beverage.