food to glow

We’re a nation of snackers. With 97% of us in the UK admitting to snacking between meals the snack break has become a daily ritual in homes and workplaces across the UK.

I favour nuts (almonds!), green smoothies, green tea, home-dried fruit (on a mango kick right now), fresh apples and, um, the occasional ramekin of tortilla chips to tide me over until the next meal. Sometimes, if I am super busy (this is bad, I know), my snack is instead of a meal. So, my quick and healthy snacks need to be satisfying just in case it will have to do me for more than a couple of hours. 

I have recently had the pleasure of getting involved with the producer of one of the best apple varieties around, Pink Lady®. Naturally they sent me some to sample. Tasting this blushingly attractive and flavoursome apple has been a revelation of sorts.

Many of you are already aware that I favour vegetables more than I do fruit. All you have to do is look at my Recipe Index for the evidence. Possibly that’s to do with my favourite fruits not tasting at all like what they tasted like in my Tennessee and Florida childhood. Sound familiar? If anything these apples taste better than I remember apples tasting back in the day, a lovely balance of sweet with a hint of tartness. How does that happen? The texture of the skin is easy to breach but crunchy (check), the flesh is crisp and refreshingly juicy (check), the flavour is sweet (check), but not just sweet it tastes (double check) – bizarrely enough – of apples. I am not being flippant though because you know often times apples can taste woolly, just of sugar, mouth-puckering, perfumed or any number of slightly off-putting sensations. But these taste of old-fashioned apple. Hurrah!

In a survey conducted by Pink Lady ®, mid-afternoon snacking was the most common snacking occasion; whether people go to work or stay at home 57% opt for some kind of snack as the day wears on. The most common reasons cited for snacking are ‘boredom’ and ‘needing an energy boost’. I’m not sure if this was cited as well, but I bet ‘habit’ probably also figures in there. This reason is flagged up in my weight management classes at nearly every session. Maybe we are hungry and tired but eating the same snack day in and day out is often habit and convenience.

To address this phenomenon head-on Pink Lady® have come up with the brilliant Snackisfaction campaign, addressing survey findings that for people to feel overall satisfaction with their snack choices they need to score highly on flavour, appearance and healthiness. Firmly onboard with the whole yummy apple thing I have come up with a couple of really simple recipes to satisfy our snack cravings in a healthy, delicious and eye-catching way.

We really really love these easy appletastic recipes and I will be working them into my repertoire from now on (move over tortilla chips). I hope you give them a go too. Let me know. And, if you have other healthy apple snack ideas to share, leave them in the comments.

Happy Snacking!

Snack Comparisons 

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post and contains an affiliate link. Be assured that I only affiliate and promote products and services that I use and that fit the ethos of my blog.