Weekend snacks

Weekends are often associated with time spent with family and friends, whether it’s a get-together on a Friday evening, a family moment in the park or a festive dinner with friends, and much of this time involves food.

We also tend to eat more on weekends and different compared to the rest of the week – think party foods, fast foods, candy, chips, sodas or picnics.

In my family we have a tradition that Saturday is ‘candy day’. It is the only day in the week that the kids are allowed to eat a bit of candy – but one day a week is enough. I try to associate the weekend with family and friends and good food, so instead of chips, candy and soda I make my own snacks for the family.

There are very good low-carb alternatives to make and eat on weekends. In this chapter I give you some ideas for healthy alternatives for weekend snacking or snacking in general.

I don’t give servings for snacks because the LCHF method means you generally eat until you are full and this depends on the individual and how hungry you are.

Cheese chips

• Use a good Cheddar cheese or another hard, tasty cheese.
• Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
• Slice the cheese with a cheese slicer, fold double and arrange on a baking sheet or tray. Leave some space between the slices so that they don’t all melt together.
• Place the tray on the top shelf of the oven for 3–6 minutes. Keep an eye on the cheese because once it starts to colour, it can burn very quickly. You want it to become crisp.
• You can also prepare these chips in the microwave. Prepare in the same way and place the cheese on baking paper in the microwave. Microwave at 100% power for 3–5 minutes, watching that the cheese doesn’t burn.
• As soon as the cheese chips are ready, remove from the heat and place on a plate to cool.
• Serve as is or with soup or some butter on each chip.

TIP

Spice the cheese chips with salt and/or pepper, chilli powder or any other favourite spice.

Pepper nuts

100 ml raw nuts of choice

5 ml olive oil

5 ml freshly ground black pepper

• Place the nuts in a small freezer bag and add the oil and pepper. Hold the bag closed and shake it well so that the nuts are coated with the oil and pepper.
• Heat a frying pan and fry the nut mixture for a few minutes, shaking the pan every now and then. Place in a serving bowl and enjoy.

Party skewers

Cocktail tomatoes

Peppers

Cheese

Raspberries

Cooked sausages (at least 80% meat)

• Cut up the ingredients into bite-sized pieces and allow three to four pieces per skewer.

Use any skewers you have to hand.

TIP

Use any of your favourite vegetables, homemade meatballs or olives. Use ingredients that you and your kids enjoy.

Cheese and nut balls

200 g blue cheese

200 g Philadelphia^® cream cheese

100 ml chopped raw nuts of choice

• Mash the two cheeses together and roll into bite-sized balls. Roll the cheese balls in the chopped nuts.

Herb and cheese balls

200 g goat’s cheese

200 g Philadelphia^® cream cheese

100 ml finely chopped fresh dill (or any other favourite herb)

• Mash the two cheeses together and roll into bite-sized balls. Roll the cheese balls in the chopped dill.

TIP

You can use just about any favourite spice or herb to coat the cheese balls. Cinnamon is very nice, as is chopped salted peanuts (if you eat those) or finely chopped chilli. Chopped goji berries can add a bit of sweetness.

Pear snacks with cheese

1 pear, cut into 8 slices

8 slices cheese

8 walnuts

• Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
• Place the pear slices on a baking sheet or tray. Lay 1 slice of cheese on each slice of pear. Place a walnut in the centre of each pear snack.
• Grill the cheese in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the cheese has a golden brown colour.

Chocolate and nut bars

300 g dark chocolate (70–90% cocoa)

200 g sugar-free peanut butter

Pinch of salt

100 ml chopped raw nuts of choice

100 ml chopped salted peanuts

• Line the bottom of a springform cake pan with baking paper.
• Melt 150 g chocolate in a bowl suspended over a saucepan of simmering water. Pour the melted chocolate into the prepared pan and leave to cool for a short while. Spread the peanut butter over the chocolate and spread out all the chopped nuts on top of that. Sprinkle with the salt.
• Melt the rest of the chocolate and pour it over the nuts so that they are completely covered. Place in the fridge and let it set for a couple of hours.
• Cut into pieces around 3 x 3 cm in size. Serve straight away as they melt quite quickly, otherwise store in the fridge until needed.

TIP

If you want a sweeter version, use chopped dried apricots or goji berries. Although not really recommended, the kids usually prefer this one and I’d say it’s a better choice than any bought candy or chocolate bars!

Chilli and cheese poppers

8 jalapeño chillies

Cheddar cheese

150 g pork rind snacks

1 egg, beaten

75 g organic coconut oil

• Make a small incision along the side of each jalapeño and remove all the seeds from inside. Grate the Cheddar cheese or cut into pieces and fill each jalapeño with cheese. Close up.
• Process the pork rinds until they form a powder (which you use instead of flour). Dip each jalapeño in the beaten egg and then cover with the pork rind ‘flour’.
• Heat the coconut oil in a frying pan and fry the jalapeño poppers until they have a lovely golden colour.

TIPS

• This recipe also works well with cream cheese or mozzarella.
• Jalapeños are not recommended for children. Use mozzarella cheese and make mozzarella sticks in the same way.