ANKENY, Iowa — Don’t you feel as if this is the height of snacking season? Active lifestyles really accelerate with the combination of summer vacation, road trips, outdoor activities and snacks for the millions of American kids who are already starting back to school. So here’s the good news: The Soyfoods Council shares easy-to-make snack ideas in a new free digital cookbook funded by The Soybean Checkoff. Easy Snackable Soy: Simple Snack Recipes Featuring High-Quality Plant Protein is a timely recipe collection. Currently, 65% of Americans say they have switched from traditional snacks to high protein/low sugar alternatives in the last 12 months. Additionally, 28% of U.S. consumers now eat more protein from plant sources than they did pre-pandemic.
In the U.S. we’re serious about snacks, with 42% of consumers eating snacks three or more times a day. Snacks account for as much as one quarter of our daily energy intake; for children that number may rise to as much as 30%. For kid-friendly snack recipes, visit the website at www.thesoyfoodscouncil.com, click on the digital cookbook tab, download a copy of Easy Snackable Soy: Simple Snack Recipes Featuring High-Quality Plant Protein. Soyfoods such as edamame, soymilk and soynuts are sensible snack choices offering complete protein with all of the essential amino acids in the proper amounts needed for healthy growth.
The illustrated 126-page digital collection features approximately 50 family-friendly recipes. The 82-plus color photos provide guidelines for how the prepared snacks should look and give home cooks a snap course in soyfoods ingredients to keep on hand. Easy Snackable Soy includes an ingredient directory of the soyfoods that make it easy to create plant-powered snacks. Readers can also find sources for ordering soyfoods online for delivery right to their doors.
Easy Snackable Soy provides ideas for Zippy Dips, Sweet Snacks, Party Bites and Packable Snacks. The digital cookbook has been curated by authors Linda Funk, Executive Director of The Soyfoods Council, and food writer Gail Bellamy, former executive food and beverage editor of a national magazine for the restaurant industry. Designer Jana Strobel of JS Creative added touches that make this digital cookbook an easy-access, quick-read collection.
In addition to recipes, readers are given soy-specific tips. These include how to use miso (fermented soybean paste); hints for making sweet snacks with silken tofu, soy flour and textured soy protein (TSP/TVP); plus suggestions for making your own flavored soynuts and trail mix blends. The ingredient section includes a list with five reasons soyfoods are for snackers—including the fact that soyfoods are stars in the plant protein world. There’s also an informal quiz that makes predictions about your lifestyle, based on your snack choice when tight budgets, busy days, children’s nutrition and other concerns affect snack choices.
Check out sweet ideas like three-ingredient Chocolate Cardamom Tempeh made with lightly fried or air-fried tempeh (fermented soybean cake) triangles coated with microwave-melted chocolate flavored with a bit of ground cardamom. Get fresh dip ideas, too, like Cauliflower and Silken Tofu Dip made in a blender or food processor with tahini, lemon juice, garlic and a little soybean oil. Packable snacks include Asian-Style ChexTM Party Mix with roasted edamame and a burst of flavor from Sriracha sauce and Five Spice Powder. The Party Bites section offers simple snacks for entertaining, like Slow Cooker Bean Ranch Dip made with canned black soybeans, canned refried beans, soy sour cream, cheddar cheese, ranch dressing mix and salsa.
Easy Snackable Soy also makes it easy to adapt your own favorite snack recipes to include soy protein. Visit www.thesoyfoodscouncil.com to download the free digital cookbook. You’ll also find Really Fast, Really Easy, Really Good, The Soyfoods Council’s first digital cookbook. The website provides other resource information and research about soyfoods and health as well.
— The Soyfoods Council
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