We’ve all been there: grueling finals back to back in the scorching heat of summer. And exam season is the time when you want to do nothing but snack indiscriminately, and cravings can range from pizza to whole bars of chocolate. Maybe this is not the best idea, but hunger is hunger and you’re going to want to snack (sometimes just to keep going, not even because you’re hungry). To make some more sound choices when it comes to snacking, here are 5 quick summer snacks you can whip up in a jiffy!
1. Avocado Toast
Your go-to breakfast, this also makes for a great snack at any time of the day and can be modified with different types of toppings. This is also easy to prep and carry around: all you have to do is mash avocado in a bowl, add some lime juice to accentuate its flavors, and add some salt, pepper and other seasoning if you’d like. To spruce it up a bit, you can choose to put a fried egg, bacon or even some goats cheese on it. Add the avocado on the freshly toasted bread and top it accordingly.
2. Chocolate Pudding
A healthy alternative for all the chocolate that you’re going to crave, this recipe is gluten-free and has no avocado.
To whip this up, heat up 2 cups of milk in the microwave with salt, cocoa powder and sugar, all of which you can adjust to your taste. Add cornstarch mixture after its heated and bring this to a boil. Keep stirring it, and put it back in the microwave and take it out in 20 second intervals. Leave it to rest for a few hours, or better yet, overnight! You can make this in bigger batches and store it to eat it over your entire finals period too!
3. Hummus Guacamole Dip
To whip up this simple yet fab combo of your two favorite dips, you can either mix two pre-mixed dips or make both at home and mix it thoroughly. To make guac, you just have to mash up some avocados and add seasoning as you’d like. Hummus, however, is a tad bit more work. Soak chickpeas overnight, boil the chickpeas for about an hour, and blend them until smooth in your blender. Top it off with olive oil, and also mix in some garlic or chili for more exciting flavors!
4. Banana Bites
Banana is my all-time favorite, and you can mix almost everything with it and it will taste great. To make banana bites, chop up a few bananas and sandwich them, filling it with chocolate or peanut butter spread, nuts, or anything else that you think would go well with bananas!
5. Bruschetta
Although this sounds fancy, it is really the simplest thing to make. Take some freshly toasted bread, add finely diced tomatoes, green chili if you want, some salt and pepper, and other condiments to take, like garlic or oregano. It makes for a great entree but is also a filling snack which will stop you from reaching out for that chocolate bar again.