Skinny Dipping: Avoiding the Communal Biscuits

Yesterday I ate 12 biscuits. There would have been a time when I felt completely sorry for myself and thought "Well seeing as today has already been ruined, I may as well have another and then follow it up with a tub of Ben and Jerry's!" But I refuse to punish myself. You see, as someone who never has anything "naughty" in the house, when a generous colleague brings two packets of M&S chocolate biscuits in, it would be rude not try all of them....twice!

Yes, I admit, it was a tad excessive and I did NOT feel well afterwards. But rather than make myself feel guilty, I asked myself why I felt the need to constantly reach for the packet. The answer? This week I feel like snacking. Sue me. Should I be snacking on Mark and Spencer's delicious chocolate biscuits? I'm sure that one or two wouldn't have hurt, but the obvious is answer is no!

Recently I have been pretty rubbish at getting myself organised for work and preparing proper lunches. So today I packed up a little early, came home and whipped up a selection of healthy dips so that I could replace my break-time biscuit binges with celery, peppers and cucumber!

Chop up some delicious crudites for a healthy snack, or reach for the crisp packet for a naughty treat!

Tzatziki

This delicious Greek dip is refreshing yet tasty! It goes with pretty much anything (in my opinion).

Serve with a sprinkling of mint.

1. Take a medium sized bowl and mix together: 1.5 cups of fat free Greek yoghurt, 2 small garlic cloves (I like to use Very Lazy Garlic - or equivalent - as I am too lazy to 1. crush/mince myself), 2 tbsp olive oil (leave out and add a touch more yoghurt if you are super healthy), 2/3 tbsp of fresh mint and a pinch each of salt and pepper. 

2. Lay out a clean tea towel and grate a whole cucumber onto it.

3. Wrap the grated cucumber in the tea towel and squeeze out as much as  the moisture as possible. IMPORTANT - do this over the sink (I learnt the  hard way). 

4. Combine the grated cucumber with your yoghurt mix.       

                                                                                         

Hummus

Once when I was at Slimming World, a woman looked down her nose at me, and in a very patronising and sarcastic way she declared: "I am a mother!Some of us have responsibilities and don't have time to do things like make our own hummus!" She was wrong. This took me 5 minutes, max (including getting the ingredients out of the cupboard). Lazy mare.

1. Add all of the ingredients into a blender and blitz:

Served with a sprinkle of parsly
and a drizzle of olive oil.

3 heaped tablespoons of fat free greek/natural yoghurt
1 can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
3 tsp of Lazy Garlic (use fresh if you prefer)
A squeeze of lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil (leave out and add a touch more yoghurt if you're being super healthy)
1 tbsp parsely
1/2 tsp paprika
a pinch each of salt and pepper (or season to taste)

Butter Bean Dip

Once again, another quick and easy one to whip up! All of the ingredients in a blender, blitz then eat!

Serve with a small wedge of lemon
(or lime if you run out of lemons...)

• A small can of butterbeans (215g), drained and rinsed
• 1 tsp of lazy garlic (fresh if you prefer)
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 1 tbsp mint
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp water (you may need to add a little more for consistency)
• a squeeze of lemon

Voila! Three very quick and easy dips to help when you have an attack of the munchies. When you are struggling with the urge to snack, now you can - guilt free! Then again, once in a while, only a chocolate biscuit will cut it!