Quick & Easy Snacks With Purefoods Corned Beef

Snack time always means junk food time for me. I just open up a bag of chips and satisfy my hunger. While this isn’t bad if done once in a while, it can be health degrading when done often. I’ve been in this point in my life where snack time meant a bar of chocolate or a big bag of potato chips and mind you, I have two to three snack times in a day! All the empty calories I consumed made me crave for more empty calories – it’s a vicious cycle. But earlier this year I started my fitness journey and it prompted me to start a healthier lifestyle. I’ve been more mindful in what I put in my body yet I still give in and eat whatever I want on weekends.

On busy days which is usually everyday, I try to whip up simple and easy snacks for me to indulge on. Managing a home, taking care of two kids, and juggling work in between can really make me resort to opening a bag of chips and consuming a bar of chocolate for snack! But this is the last option for me as I don’t really want to waste my effort going to the gym in exchange for a bag of chips (I’ll save that for the weekend though).

After getting used to preparing my meals, I’ve added two easy peasy snacks in my roster of invented and reinvented dishes. For those who want to put an end to their junk food snack-time habit, here are two snacks you might want to try. Ingredients I used are primarily what’s available in my pantry & kitchen but remember, you can always experiment and substitute ingredients based on your preference.

If there’s one common ingredient in both recipes, it’s Purefoods Corned Beef. Yes, we are one of the many households who stock up on corned beef. It’s always in our pantry and thankfully, it has saved me from over thinking what dish to serve for myself and my family.

Corned Beef Quinoa Salad

I only used 5 ingredients in this dish:

1 can Purefoods Corned Beef (in Chili Garlic because I like it hot!)

1 bell pepper (diced)

1 onion (diced)

1 stalk asparagus (sliced bite-sized)

1 cup quinoa

Three easy peasy steps to prepare:

Sauté onion and Purefoods Chili Garlic Corned Beef for a minute or two in medium heat.

Add 1 cup of quinoa and sauté for a minute before adding 1/2 cup of water (this will cook the quinoa and let the corned beef stock seep into it). Simmer for 3-5 minutes depending on how well done you want your quinoa. Tip: the longer you cook your quinoa, the more “heavier” and fluffy it will become as the seeds will open up. Since I wanted to enjoy this as a snack, I opted to pre-toast it first before adding it with corned beef.

Add the asparagus and bell pepper and simmer for 3 minutes while occasionally stirring.

Voila! Corned Beef Quinoa Salad. It’s actually a filling dish that you can eat for lunch or dinner. And because I love salad, I added some greens to the dish. I like to use the salad greens as a bowl and put a spoonful or two of the corned beef quinoa salad.

Purefoods Chili Garlic Corned Beef is right up my alley. I love garlic and I love spicy food so I always have this in my pantry. I’ve created a handful of dishes using this and all are very easy to do and as expected, very flavourful.

Now the second snack doesn’t require any cooking, more like layering. This is perfect for people who don’t cook or who prepare food for work.

Crackers With Corned Beef, Cream Cheese & Candied Nuts

Purefoods Corned Beef has a Premium Lean variant that’s all lean and contains less fat. It’s the best corned beef to have if you’re avoiding fat. Just like their regular variant, Purefoods Premium Lean Corned Beef offers the same flavor with less fat. It has earned its rank on my favourites alongside Purefoods Chili Garlic Corned Beef. I like using this to create finger food snacks like sandwiches and salads because of how flaky and fat-free it is.

Four ingredients to make this simple finger-food snack:

Purefoods Premium Lean Corned Beef (1 can may be too much so just use the rest and toss it in your salad)

1 pack of vegetable crackers (or any cracker of your choice)

cream cheese

candied walnuts (optional)

It’s all about stacking it up, really. It’s super easy!

Heat Purefoods Premium Lean Corned Beef (drain it first before putting in a microwave or pan).

Assemble the ingredients on top of the vegetable cracker. Layer a teaspoon of cream cheese, (you can also use cheese spread, cheddar cheese or any other cheese of your choice) add a cube of Purefoods Premium Lean Corned Beef and top it off with a nut (optional).

Repeat the process if you wanna do a double layer. There’s really no rules for this. You can put the corned beef first before the cheese or the other way around.

You can also serve this as an appetizer if you have guests coming over! It’s easy to prepare yet it’s good!

I’m loving snack time more now that I prepare these snacks. Next stop, I’m excited to recreate my own clubhouse sandwich using Purefoods Premium Lean Corned Beef!