Put Your Cocktail Olives In A Waffle Iron And Thank Us Later
When you need a healthy, savory snack to help you stick to your nutrition plans, you can reach for celery, cucumber, or carrots, or you can change up your same ol' snacks with some olives. According to WebMD, olives are a good source of healthy fats, fiber, antioxidants, and vitamin E and may help reduce the risk of cancer, stroke, and heart disease. Olive My Pickle says they are also low in calories. One olive has about seven calories, and a negative calorie load, meaning your body will burn more calories to digest an olive than you get by eating one.
One thing to keep in mind is that olives are high in sodium, so they are best consumed in moderation. If you can't imagine eating a bowl of black and green olives, though, there are some ways to make them more appealing. You can pair them with hummus or crackers or put them in your waffle iron.
Olives and melted cheese, please
You heard that right. According to Life Hacker, an ordinary waffle maker can turn your cold, bland olives into a nice little snack. It may not be pretty, but it is delicious! You simply place olives onto the waffle maker, close it and let it smush the olives. It will warm and toast them, making the juice flow and giving you more of a salty flavor. You can do this with just about any olive, too, but you will want to remove pits from the olives so that they smash easier in the waffle maker.
Another great idea is to stuff the olives with cheese before you use the waffle maker to warm them. Just dice the cheese into small enough pieces to fit inside de-pitted olives, and then smush them in the waffle maker for around 1 minute. This will result in melted cheese that oozes out of the olive onto the waffle iron and creates crispy edges on the cheese. While this will add some calories to your snack, it's still a reasonably healthy dish you can customize with your favorite olives and cheeses.
Grill some fruit, too
If you want to pass on the cheese, you can add fruit to the olives instead. Per Life Hacker, you can warm fruit by grilling it on a waffle maker. Of course, you won't get the same flavors that charcoal gives food, but the waffle iron will create charred sections on the fruit, bringing out the sweet flavors.
You can use the maker to grill mango, peaches, and even slices of melon this way, but don't spray olive oil or another non-stick spray in the waffle maker. You don't want to taint the fruit. Place the fruit onto the waffle maker, but don't press it down. You want the fruit to warm first. Then, gently press down for about 15 seconds. After you grill the fruit, you can combine the olives and fruit in one bowl for a sweet and salty snack that is low in calories and contains antioxidants and vitamins.