Sugar-Free Lemonade & Olive Oil Hummus With Veggies

One of my FAVORITE snacks is this oil based hummus and my mothers sweet and tangy lemonade recipe. It is my go to snack combo for any outdoor event or just to have a refreshing beverage without extra sugar.

Developing routines and planing ahead for meals and snacks makes healthy eating easy. One of the routines I have implemented in the kitchen is to always have fresh chopped vegetables in the refrigerator and a favorite chilled beverage of either sugar-free lemonade or fruit infused water. So after school, before sports or after a workout we have the right foods on hand to fuel our bodies properly.

1. Make a list of snacks you want for the week such as breakfast bars, muffins, pancakes, granola bars, sliced fruit and vegetable sticks.
2. Read a recipe all the way through; knowing what ingredients you need.
3. Keep lots of fruits and vegetables on hand. Cut vegetables right when you get them and store them in sealed containers in the refrigerator for easy grabbing when hungry.
4. Make homemade dips such as hummus or Greek yogurt mixed with almond butter.
5. Plan your kitchen spaces efficiently. Make sure you have things you use a lot within easy reach and have ample room for chopping and prep work.
6. Create a system for organizing recipes. Be it on your phone, through Pinterest, printed in a binder, cookbooks, or stored on a computer have it easy access.

A few more favorite make ahead snack recipes:

1. Hummus served with a bunch of carrots, grape tomatoes, cucumber sticks
2. Hard-boiled eggs
3. Chocolate chip spinach muffins
4. Energy rich treats such as Granola bars and No bake protein balls
5. Granola for breakfast or over plain Greek yogurt sweetened with berries
6. Pancakes with a spread of peanut butter or almond butter
7. Nut Butters and apples
8. Lemonade
9. Fruit infused water with mint
10. Coconut oil popcorn

A perfect sports and after school snack to make is sugar free lemonade with hummus. Veggie sticks can be cut and hummus made ahead of time stored in an airtight container. To serve this in individual cups, scoop about 1-2 tablespoons of hummus into cups and add veggie sticks on top. Lemonade can also be made ahead of time and when it is homemade, you get control the sugar content. We use Stevia drops in ours for this sugar free version.

For the hummus I used Ina Garten’s Hummus recipe and tweaked it a bit. I omitted the hot sauce (so its plain for kids) and used olive oil instead of tahini (sesame paste) since I did not have any on hand.