Healthy Snack Ideas For Your Movie Night

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Movies are much more fun with snacks, whether you watch them in the movie theater or at home. However, movie theater buttery popcorn and microwave popcorn aren’t healthy snacks for you or your family to enjoy. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a nice nibble that is also good for you. Whether you buy your snack foods or make them yourself, there’s always room for improvement. There are so many recipes online that are also quite tasty. Read this article for tips to make your movie munchies healthier.

Tips to make your snacks healthier

man and woman enjoy healthy snacks
Snacks don’t have to be unhealthy.

Pay attention to these simple tips to prepare much healthier snacks.

  • Harvard Health recommends combining low-calorie and high-calorie ingredients to balance things out. For example, fruits and veggies with a side of peanut butter dip are delicious, filling, and high in nutrients.
  • Try baking and roasting instead of frying. The result will be just as yummy, but with much less fat.
  • It’s also a good idea to get an air fryer. Air fryers haven’t been around for long, but they have made their place in the kitchens of healthy eaters. Air-fried food is crispy, delicious, and healthy.
  • Be creative! Don’t be afraid of creating your own recipe. Replace ingredients high in fat and harmful carbohydrates with lighter ingredients. Kale chips can be just as good as potato chips but with fewer calories and more nutrients. Don’t be afraid of mixing things up.
  • Mix different food groups. Foods high in lean protein and high-fiber carbohydrates keep you full for a long time and give you a lot of energy.
  • Don’t just focus on calories. Pay attention to vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, etc.
  • Carbs are not the enemy. In fact, good carbohydrates are a necessary part of a healthy diet. Replace refined carbohydrates with whole grains, and your diet becomes much more nutritious.
  • Get used to less salty food. Most store-bought snacks are high in salt. Try reducing the salt in your cooking and use healthier spices to make your food tasty. 
  • Replace ingredients with more nutritional equivalents. For instance, you can go for olive oil or coconut oil instead of butter.
  • A hint of spice can go a long way toward making your snacks tastier.

Savory snacks are so popular

sweet potato chips with dip
Baked or air-fried veggies are great savory snacks

Most people prefer savory snacks for movie time. Baked or air-fried vegetables in the shape of sticks or chips are excellent as a crispy movie snack. Make sure to cut your vegetables thinly and season them with enough salt, pepper, and your favorite spices. You can coat them in some parmesan or breadcrumbs for more taste and crunch. Serve them with a dipping sauce on the side and enjoy. They are a healthier and lighter version of potato chips.

There are infinite recipes you can find on the internet or create all by yourself, but these eggplant canapes are Happy Trainer’s favorite.

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium eggplant, peeled and sliced
  • 1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup chopped Bell pepper
  • 1 cup parmesan cheese
  • Salt and pepper
  • olive oil

Brush the eggplant slices with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Heat the oven to 200 degrees C. Get an oven tray and line it with baking paper, and place the eggplant slices on the tray. Cover with parmesan and top with cherry tomatoes and bell pepper. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top it off with some olive oil. Bake for another 10 minutes and enjoy. It’s Delicious, filling, and healthy.

You can also make delicious healthy treats with different types of beans and pulses. Crispy roasted chickpeas have gone viral a couple of times on Instagram. You have to cook the pulses first, but fresh beans can go straight to the oven or air fryer. Season and coat your beans or pulses as you wish and bake in the oven or air fry until crunchy. 

Sweet doesn’t have to be bad

different types of sweet snacks
There are many ways to make sweet snacks healthier

If you have a sweet tooth, it doesn’t mean you can’t have healthy movie night snacks. While store-bought candies are usually high in refined sugar, you can make sweet treats with healthy ingredients like fruits at home. Happy Trainer’s suggestion is these energy balls.

Ingredients:

  • 100 g Medjool dates
  • 100 g walnuts
  • 50 g sesame seeds
  • 50 g rolled oat
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 2 tsp cinnamon powder

Pit the dates. Get a food processor and mix the dates, peanut butter, rolled oats, walnuts, and cinnamon powder until smooth. Get out of the food processor, add the sesame seeds, and mix with a spoon. Form the paste into small balls, place them on a tray, and put them in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. They are pretty high in calories but very nutritious and filling.

Nuts; the perfect alternative to popcorn

bowl of mixed nuts
Nuts are very nutritious snacks

Nuts are an excellent food group high in fiber, protein, and healthy carbs. They are a very healthy treat to substitute for chips and unhealthy store-bought crunchy treats. They are rich in vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals such as vitamin E, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, manganese, and selenium. In Happy Trainers, we believe the best nuts snack is a simple trail mix. Just toss your favorite nuts in a bowl and enjoy while chilling with Netflix.

Seeds, humble superfoods

different seeds in bowls
Seeds are very nutritious

Seeds are a great source of nutrients such as protein, healthy fats, and omega-3s. You can add them to salads, baked goods, and different foods. This seed cookie recipe is easy, healthy, and vegan. The nutritional yeast gives it a cheesy touch.

ingredients:

  • 2 cups mixed seeds (you can use which ever one you want but our suggestion is chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds.)
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 3 tbsp. nutritional yeast
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
  • 1/2 cup water

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C. 

Mix the nuts with nutritional yeast, cinnamon, water, and salt. Let it sit for a few minutes. Once the chia seed has absorbed the water, add the honey and mix well. Place a spoon of the mix on an oven tray or a silicone baking sheet. Continue until all the mixture is done. Don’t put the cookies too close to each other because they expand when they bake. Bake the cookies in the oven for 45 minutes. Let them cool and remove them from the tray.

fruits and infinite options

bowl of fruit salad
Fruit snacks are healthy, delicious and easy to make

Fruits need no promotion since everybody knows they are one of the healthiest food groups. The best fruit snack we can recommend to you is fruit salad. There are no rules to making a fruit salad. You just need to toss your favorite fruits together. Top off your salad with a simple dressing like a mixture of lemon juice and honey or something more sophisticated like cottage cheese, vanilla extract, or even chocolate chips. (preferably dark chocolate)

Dried fruits are also a very healthy snack option since they are packed with nutrition. A dried fruit mix is a delicious snack as well as a great source of vitamins and minerals. You can serve them alone or with sides and dips for your family movie night and enjoy. Making dried fruits is quite easy. If you’re so much into dried fruits that you are willing to spare a few bucks on them, get a fruit drier. However, you can easily dry fruits in the oven or on the radiator. Slice the fruits in medium thickness and place them on a metal tray. Place the tray in the oven or on the radiator. It can’t get easier than that.

Frozen fruits such as berries and grapes are amazingly refreshing in the summer. You can also make fruit ice cream and different smoothies with frozen bananas, mango, etc. 

salad, simple and healthy

bowl of salad
Salad can be an exiting snack

Alright, salad might not sound like a fun snack, but we bet you can find a salad recipe among these 69 salads by Delish that you find cool enough to have as a snack.

dips make everything better

platter of snacks with dips
A bowl of dip makes the snack so much better

Dips are an important part of snacking culture. Anything crunchy becomes ten times better when paired with a creamy, tasty dip. The most famous dips are guacamole, hummus, and salsa, but there are so many more interesting recipes that you can make easily. At Happy Trainers, we love this all-purpose yogurt dip.

ingredients:

  • 1 cup Greek yogurt
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 chopped garlic
  • 1 tsp. onion powder
  • Salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients and serve on the side of any snack.

Takeaway

Choosing a healthy alternative for random store-bought snacks is not that hard. There are so many nutritious ingredients that are really delicious and fun. You just need to step out of your comfort zone to discover them.

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