Healthy Sounding Snacks That Make Me Feel Better About My Food Addiction

Life is really stressful sometimes. I complain about it way too much.

Justin Halpern is one of my favorite authors. If you haven't read Shit My Dad Says or I Suck At Girls, I suggest you do...immediately. So, every time I am having a tough day, I read parts of Shit My Dad Says to make me laugh. An example for you from Halpern's dad about his first day of kindergarten: "You thought it was hard? If kindergarten is busting your ass, I got some bad news for you about the rest of life." Amen to that. If I could go back to earlier days in my life, that I thought was difficult, I'd laugh at myself. I'm one of those people that binge eat when overly stressed. To avoid becoming extremely obese, I've been making small, healthier snacks that essentially make me feel better about myself, while subduing my stress. Two examples, and my favorite, are Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Pineapple Pomegranate Salad.

Cooking Kristen

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

If you've ever made roasted potatoes, its's basically the same thing, except with sweet potatoes.

Ingredients:
4 sweet potatoes
Olive Oil
Seasoning of your choice (I use various kinds. A Sicilian blend is my favorite)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

First, Peel the potatoes. Then, chop them up into medium sized cubes. A little trick that I learned from my mom, is to let the chopped potatoes soak in a bowl full of cold water for about fifteen minutes. It helps remove the starch, so it doesn't stick to the pan as easily.

Place on a non-stick cookie sheet. 

Poor a small amount of olive oil on the potatoes. Just enough so each one is lightly coated.

Sprinkle as much seasoning on it as you want. 

Place in preheated oven for 15 minutes. 

After 15 minutes are up, flip and move the potatoes around on the pan.

Bake for another 15 minutes, or until they are crispy enough for you.

                                                  Finally, enjoy your roasted sweet potatoes.

Pineapple Pomegranate Salad

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped pineapple

1 cup pomegranate seeds

1 tbsp of sugar

1 1/2 tsp of lime juice

Lime zest for garnishing

It's as simple as mixing everything in a bowl. Then, eat the crap out of it because it's that delicious.