What's In Your Basket?

A Summer Snack Guide

story by Owen Schuttpelz | photos by Amal Dahi | design by Taylor Downard

After a long day, you come home starving. Your fridge has a few ingredients that you bought when you promised yourself you were going to start eating healthier, yet nothing that screams out to you as tasty. Your phone lays on the countertop, seductively on the doordash home screen. The scene is tense and the only thing to break the silence is the growl of your stomach.



This may be a little dramatic, but you or your friends have likely felt this way at some point. Having to choose between making something yourself or getting it sent straight to your doorway, isn’t always a tough decision — quick is generally an easy option.




As summer nears closer, the more active many of you will become. With those summer activities, having the proper nutrition can help you stay energized and fit. The difficult part is filling the plate. PULSE has gathered together some common ingredients and quick recipes to meet your dietary needs.




Common Ingredients

Some staple foods you’ll need to look out for are your fruits, vegetables, grains and dairy. You’ve already heard it before, but these are going to be some of the best building blocks for crafting your quick meals. Luckily, some of these ingredients can be eaten by themselves. You can grab yourself some fruits and vegetables that are ready to go. There’s also the options for yogurt or toast (preferably whole wheat or nine grain) with butter.  The exciting part is what you can do with only these simple ingredients.




Recipes

Some of the quickest meals are recipes where you throw all of your ingredients into a dish and hope for success. That’s what you might call a salad. Salads are simple, but don’t discredit them when incorporating new foods into your diet. Vegetables have lots of vitamins and minerals that’ll keep you lively enough to get through the long summer days. 


  • Garden Salad (4 servings)

-1 head of lettuce

-1 sliced cucumber

-1 cup of cherry tomatoes

-1 peeled and grated carrot



  • Green Goddess Salad (4 servings)

-½ head of shredded lettuce

-1 diced cucumber

-1 cup of thawed frozen peas

Dressing (blended)

-1 cup of plain greek yogurt

-3 tbsp of lemon juice

-1 tsp of mustard

-1 cup of chopped parsley or basil


  • Tomato Salad (4 servings)

-4 cups of quartered cherry tomatoes

-1 cup of mozzarella balls

-¼ cup of sliced red onion

-¼ cup of olive oil

-1 ½ tbsp of of red wine vinegar



Fruits and Fruition

Even if you don’t have much of a sweet tooth, eating some sugary fruits is an important part of your diet. This food group can also be incorporated into some quick recipes. Along with some yogurt, you will be able to discard that insatiable hunger for a heartier snack.


  • Fruit Salad (12 servings)

-1 pound of chopped strawberries

-1 pint of blueberries

-2 cups of halved grapes

-3 peeled mandarin oranges

-the juice of 1 mandarin orange

-1 tbsp of honey



  • Yogurt Parfait (4 servings)

-3 cups of vanilla yogurt

-1 cup of diced strawberries

-1 cup of blackberries

-1 cup of granola



With just a few ingredients, it’s easy to cover multiple food groups and still satisfy your appetite. What recipes will you be trying this summer?

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