Snack to your heart’s contentNewsrooms attract a certain type of person. Curious. Deadline-driven. Snack-obsessed. So snack-obsessed, in fact, that there is a dedicated Slack channel at The New York Times for foraging leftover pizza, bagels and other meeting detritus at our headquarters. One member even built a “snacks tracker” so that others could easily find their nibble of choice among the canisters of Goldfish, M&Ms and other treats in various kitchenettes and pantries. As my colleague Nikita Richardson observed: “We are no better than ants.” It’s a curious exercise, tracking dried strawberries across 12 floors of a sprawling office. I’ve done it in a pinch, when it’s 3:07 p.m., I’m cranky and, much like a baby, can be soothed only by a nap or a little snack. But ideally, my snacking is a little more thoughtful, a little more satiating and a lot more homemade. So this brings us to the latest episode of our Veggie Hotline video series, where I set out to help Colleen, a reader, address similar snack goals: relatively quick and healthy, vegetarian and make-ahead friendly.
Watch: My Favorite Healthy, Make-Ahead SnacksIt’d be gross negligence to talk snacks and not talk dips. Yossy Arefi transforms a pint of cottage cheese into an afternoon pick-me-up or a party-ready appetizer with just an onion, some basil, parsley, chives and a little lemon. Her fresh, protein-packed herby cottage cheese dip holds up in my fridge for a few days, travels well and is just as satisfying with seeded crackers or smeared onto toast as it is with some simple crudités (I’m partial to sliced Persian cucumbers and blanched snap peas). It can serve you beyond snack time, too. I’ve scooped it onto salads and spread it beneath roasted vegetables for dinner. Herby Cottage Cheese DipThen there are the sweeter snacks I loved as a kid: chocolate pudding, Little Bites mini muffins. But I’ve grown up, and so can they. Naz Deravian’s chocolate chia pudding is the Snack Pack cup for the bill-paying set. It’s rich yet nutritionally sound, with plenty of fiber and protein — two crucial components of smarter snacking. This chia pudding is vegan when made with your favorite plant-based milk, but you can use dairy if that’s what you’re into. Melissa Clark’s lunchbox harvest muffins are plush when made in a standard 12-count pan, but the call to buy a mini muffin tin and indulge in a bit of school-snack nostalgia is strong. I think I will stop resisting it. Muffins can so often veer into cupcake territory, but these are sneakily wholesome. They’re packed with whole wheat flour, apple, raisins and your choice of grated vegetables: Pick any combination of carrots, butternut squash or parsnips, and zucchini or beets. And while you’ve got the muffin tin out, you might want to make a batch of Eric Kim’s spinach egg bites. These are well suited to late-morning snacking or pre- or post-gym fueling. With six eggs, a pint of cottage cheese, two packages of frozen spinach and some seasonings, you’ll have a dozen bouncy, creamed spinach-evoking muffins for keeping on hand in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for a few months. Free yourself from the grip of the Starbucks egg bite! Smaller snacks: Big-cluster chocolaty granola | Sweet and salty frozen grapes | Avocado hand rolls | Date bars | Hot honey nut mixKay Chun’s tomato-marinated greens and beans toast can be as much a bridge between meals as a meal itself, depending on your appetite and how you prepare it. When spooned over bread, the tangy, no-cook mixture of Swiss chard, tomatoes and lentils reminds me of a heartier pan con tomate, the classic Spanish tapa. Like your favorite bean salads, the saucy legumes (she calls for canned, but feel free to make a pot from dried, if you like!) improve as they sit. For a lighter snack, scoop them up with crackers or eat them plainly with nothing but a spoon. Speaking of spoons, have you ever eaten popcorn with one? I do it often at home, when I’m eating my favorite snack of all — popcorn with nutritional yeast — in front of the TV. Nutritional yeast gets you “cheesy” popcorn without the cheese, and this recipe from Melissa Clark, adapted from the chef Jessica Koslow, yields a supremely savory seasoning blend to sprinkle on top. I encourage you to play around with spices and develop your own house blend. Mine is simple: I like to combine a good amount of nutritional yeast with a few pinches of brown sugar, salt and ground cayenne in a mortar and pestle. I grind this mix finely for even distribution, tasting and refining along the way. I made my version on set the day we shot this Veggie episode, to the raves of our production crew. You really need no measurements, only a goal post. The final blend should taste like spicy nacho Doritos.
Lunchbox Harvest Muffins
Tomato-Marinated Greens and Beans Toast
Chocolate Chia PuddingFor a limited time, you can enjoy free access to the recipes in this newsletter in our app. Download it on your iOS or Android device and create a free account to get started. Email us at theveggie@nytimes.com. Newsletters are archived here. Reach out to my colleagues at cookingcare@nytimes.com if you have questions about your account.
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