Did you know, Berries are a great dessert and afternoon snack? No? Well if you like berries and can get them year round, they can be super versatile. And because they are, I am dedicating my meal prepping hack #5 to berries.
We really like to have an afternoon snack. Its our delayed lunch dessert if you will. Eaten as an afternoon pick-me-up at around 3:00pm / 3:30pm before this little monster wakes up and demands some serious attention and playtime.
Firstly, berries are sweet and work as a simple snack but secondly, berries can also be used as part of a dessert or afternoon pick-me-up to add some tartness. It of course depends on what berries you are using. I am using most all of the ones listed below daily.
- Raspberries
- Blueberries
- Strawberries
Raspberries and blueberries are the topping of my fat free plain Greek yogurt breakfast bowl. You can find it here, if you need a new idea for your breakfast routine. We are eating this daily. I try to have all of these berries in the fridge at any time.
No meal prepping is a little bit exaggerated, as I am not preparing them in advance on the weekend. But they are always available in my fridge and that way, I do not have to default to not so healthy snacks (that I try to not have at home anyways).
As I shared previously, I am lazy and busy at the same time. Snacks in the afternoon can’t take up too much time. Or be too complicated. So with berries in the fridge, there is always a great snack idea readily available. Here are some of my ideas, depending on how many WW (aka Weight Watchers) points I am having left or want to use. If I do not have many, I will just make the following:
Berries bowl with chocolate sauce
Here is what you need:
- Small or medium breakfast bowl
- 1 – 1.5 cups of berries (I usually mix strawberries with blueberries)
- Hershey’s sugar free chocolate syrup to your liking (you can buy it here on Amazon or at Publix, Walmart and many other grocery stores)
- 1 tsp of sliced almonds for the crunch
- 1/2 banana (if you are a little more hungry)
I am putting the berries in my breakfast bowl, topping it with Hershey’s sugar free chocolate syrup and a teaspoon of sliced almonds. This bowl is a great afternoon pick-me-up / snack and has stunning 0 points on the WW green plan. This is a great base, now you can add on / in if you’d like something different.
Berries bowl with whipped topping & chocolate sauce
Sometimes I like to switch things up a little bit without adding too many points to my snacks or desserts. So instead of adding too many ingredients, that are higher in points, I am adding just a tiny bit of a whipped topping to elevate this berries bowl to the next level.
Put together the bowl as described above but before you are adding the chocolate sauce and the sliced almonds, add 1-2 tbsp. of a whipped topping of your liking. I am using So delicious coconut whipped topping. Check it out here You can find it at Whole Foods, some Publix might carry it as well. Top it with chocolate sauce and sliced almonds, if you like to. But you can also skip the chocolate sauce and make it berries with cream. Delicious!
You like it a little bit more decadent? I am adding one of my favorite banana chocolate muffins to the mix, when I a craving something more decadent. I shared the recipe here in my “bananas edition” of meal prepping hacks. Scroll further down for this specific recipe.
Chocolate chip banana muffin with berries & toppings
And here is what I put together:
- Breakfast bowl
- 1 Chocolate chip banana muffin
- Berries (I like it with raspberries for some tartness)
- Whipped topping (optional)
- Hershey’s sugar free chocolate syrup (optional)
- 1 tsp sliced almonds (optional)
I am trying to always have some chocolate chip banana muffins in the freezer. Whenever I know I will need a little bigger afternoon snack, I am just thawing one for me and one for the hubby. No chocolate for the pup, of course!
These chocolate chip banana muffins are great if eaten cold. However when I put together a snack bowl / dessert, I like to throw them in the microwave for 2 minutes to heat them up. They then are the first thing to go into the breakfast bowl. I am topping them with my fresh berries (I never use frozen berries as they are too mushy for my liking) and add either only chocolate sauce and almonds. And on weekends I might add some whipped topping and then the chocolate sauce and then almonds. Because, why not be a little decadent for 3 SP on the WW green plan (aka Weight Watchers).
That’s it, my meal prepping hack #5. Now off to bake some more of these delicious muffins to use up my overripe bananas.