Memorial Day weekend is supposed to feel like sunshine, patios, grilling, and the unofficial start of summer. Instead, Buffalo is rainy, grey, and cold. While I hold out hope the weather turns, the plan is to watch Project Hail Mary, on the couch with our cats. And snacks of course.

Coming off vacation directly into Memorial Day weekend was completely unintentional, and honestly, I kind of forgot about the kickoff to summer altogether.

This week felt quiet. A bit of a reset for me while the rest of the world seemed to be gearing up for road trips, lake days, and a long weekend. So many contrasts all at once.

Still, even in quieter weeks, life keeps moving.

Today is the Buffalo Marathon, and I have a handful of friends running the half. I’m really excited to cheer them on and see the city come together. There’s something incredibly motivating about collective effort.

I think that energy is part of what’s been pulling me back toward the gym lately too. Coming home from Copenhagen reminded me how much I rely on movement as part of my routine. Not as punishment. Not as pressure. Just momentum.

Like yesterday, even with the rain and low-energy mood, I still went to Wegmans.

I still bought groceries.
I still thought about what would make the week ahead feel easier.
I still planned out Snackagories.

Because that’s really the whole point of this practice.

Not waiting until you feel perfectly inspired.
Not becoming a brand new person overnight.
Just continuing to build small systems that support you, even during the quieter weeks.

June’s Snack Attack is somehow right around the corner, which feels both exciting and slightly terrifying in the way all meaningful things tend to feel. I’m nervous, energized, inspired, and hoping this month’s event feels like the start of a really beautiful summer.

If you’re in Buffalo and want to join us on June 14th, sign up for Snack Attack here.

This month feels especially aligned with what Snack Attack is becoming though: simple systems, seasonal food, community, and making nourishment feel less overwhelming.

I’m off to prep a fruit salad for a BBQ: strawberries, cherries, blueberries, and Three Wishes chocolate granola with maybe some kind of yogurt-honey-lime situation.

Nothing revolutionary. Just colorful food during a grey weekend.

Subscribe now

This Week’s Snackagories

late-spring-meets-early-summer

The transition between spring and summer always feels especially fun to cook through. The markets start getting fuller, berries slowly become sweeter, herbs taste fresher, and everything feels lighter after months of comfort food.

This week’s Snackagories are built around colorful produce, easy flavor boosters, and recipes that make weekday meals feel a little more exciting without requiring a ton of effort.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

Roasted red peppers are one of my favorite shortcuts because they add instant depth without needing to roast anything yourself. I love recipes like this heading into summer because dips become the backbone of easy meals: snack plates, BBQ spreads, sandwiches, wraps, bowls, etc.

Ingredients

• Roasted red peppers (make your own if you have the time, it’s so worth it)

• Greek yogurt or whipped cottage cheese

• Garlic

• Lemon juice

• Olive oil

• Smoked paprika

• Salt + pepper

Serve with:

• cucumbers

• pita chips

• crackers

• sandwiches

• grilled chicken

• grain bowls

Fun fact: red peppers actually contain more vitamin C than oranges.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Bars

Rhubarb season always feels like the official bridge into summer to me.

Rhubarb is technically a vegetable, but almost always treated like fruit because of its tartness. It needs sweetness to balance it out, which is why strawberry-rhubarb works so well together. Sweet + tart + jammy is hard to beat.

I wanted something easy to grab throughout the week that also felt seasonal and cozy enough for rainy mornings with coffee.

Ingredients

• Strawberries

• Rhubarb

• Oats

• Flour

• Coconut or brow) sugar

• Cinnamon

• Butter or coconut oil

• Vanilla

• Chia seeds (optional for thickening)

Perfect for:

• breakfast; in the car or on the go

• afternoon snacks

• marathon spectating fuel

🥕 Fresh Produce Snack

Tajín Cucumber Salad

This is one of those recipes that barely qualifies as a recipe, which honestly makes it perfect for Snackagories. I love keeping cucumber salads in rotation because they pair with basically everything and make heavier meals feel brighter.

Ingredients

• Cucumbers

• Lime juice

• Tajín

• Fresh mint

• Salt

• Optional: avocado or feta

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Chocolate Cherry Mug Cake

If you’ve been reading, you know I’m very into chocolate + cherry. I’d love to know if my readers agree so please leave a comment about how you feel about cherries.

Cherry season aside, frozen cherries are one of my favorite things to keep on hand because they work in smoothies, desserts, overnight oats, yogurt bowls, and quick sauces. Paired with chocolate, they somehow make a 5-minute microwave mug cake feel a little elevated.

Ingredients

• Cocoa powder

• Flour

• Baking powder

• Milk

• Maple syrup

• Chocolate chips

• Frozen or fresh cherries

• Vanilla

• Pinch of salt

Optional topping:

• whipped cream

• yogurt

• extra cherries

• flaky salt

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Teriyaki Orange Chicken

My goal is to focus on proteins that can work across multiple meals throughout the week, and this one checks every box.

Sweet, savory, citrusy, and easy to throw into rice bowls, lettuce wraps, salads, or eaten cold straight from the fridge while deciding what to make for dinner.

Ingredients

• Chicken thighs or breasts

• Orange juice + zest

• Soy sauce or coconut aminos

• Garlic

• Ginger

• Honey or maple syrup

• Rice vinegar

• Sesame oil

Serve with:

• rice

• cucumbers

• edamame

• roasted broccoli

• spicy mayo

• green onions

Meal prep tip: this gets even better after sitting overnight in the fridge.

Sometimes nourishment is just continuing.

Continuing to stock your fridge.
Continuing to move your body.
Continuing to invite people over.
Continuing to build routines that make life feel a little softer, easier, and more colorful — even when the sky outside is grey.

And honestly, maybe fruit salad on a rainy Memorial Day weekend is its own kind of optimism.

Thanks for reading this week’s SubSnack <3

Until next time,
Niknack

P.S. If you’re local, June’s Snack Attack is coming up fast and I’d love to see you there. We’ll be talking seasonal snacks, simple systems, and ways to make summer cooking feel more approachable and fun. Sign up here.

Not the pastries. Not the colorful buildings or beautiful canals. Not even the Barr at Noma dinner.

On our last day in Copenhagen, we sat outside at a picnic table in the sun, surrounded by locals speaking Danish around us. We had white wine, roasted almonds, sourdough bread and butter sprinkled with the perfect amount of flaky sea salt.

That moment felt like the entire trip distilled into one meal.

I love traveling because it forces me to slow down, pay attention, and step into someone else’s rhythm for a while.

And Copenhagen’s rhythm felt especially beautiful.

Every morning smelled like espresso, rain, butter, and fresh bread. People lingered over coffee. No one seemed in a rush to get anywhere besides where they already were.

Travel always expands my senses, but eventually you have to return home and translate inspiration back into ordinary life again.

And honestly, I already know the hardest part will be resisting the urge to rush straight back into productivity… which is ironic considering I’m writing and scheduling this at 10pm while severely jet-lagged.

But maybe that’s part of it too. The best parts of this trip happened in the middle.

Sitting on a park bench. Wandering side streets in the rain. Chatting with bartenders. Walking 25k steps a day and somehow never feeling rushed.

I find I learn more about myself through the travel experience itself than during the “peak vacation” moments. Travel strips away routine and reveals how you move through the world. And maybe food does the same thing.

Copenhagen’s food culture wasn’t flashy or overcomplicated. Everything felt unintentionally seasonal, built around what was local, fresh, and readily available, then elevated through care and simplicity.

The best meals weren’t complicated. They were intentional.

Copenhagen’s Palate

Pastries

So. Many. Pastries.

Our first full day in Copenhagen was naturally a bakery crawl, despite the rain. We started with a cardamom bun and somehow spent the rest of the day trying every bun imaginable — chocolate buns, cinnamon buns, cream buns, milk buns.

However the first winner was a rhubarb-filled pastry. Tart, jammy, buttery perfection.

I was really excited to have the BMO: a poppy seed bun with cheese and whipped butter. I learned the locals eat it as two halves and the American or “Instagram” way is to eat it as a sandwich.

Butter

Europe simply does butter better. I can’t explain it.

The whipped butter on my BMO. The salty butter served with fresh sourdough at nearly every restaurant. At Barr Noma, we had new potatoes covered in a vibrant green herb butter that might’ve been the best thing I ate all trip.

Proof that the simplest foods are often the most memorable.

Rye Bread

Copenhagen’s famous smørrebrød is essentially an open-faced rye bread sandwich, but the bread itself almost eats more like a seeded cracker than traditional soft rye. Perfect with egg salad, herbs, butter, or smoked fish.

I already know I’m going to spend the next few weeks trying to recreate versions of it at home.

We tried a mushroom toast from a street vendor and a chicken toast from a take away restaurant.

They were both dense, earthy and delicious.

Why Travel Always Changes The Way I Eat

Travel makes me pay attention again.

There was rhubarb everywhere. Herbs in everything. Local ingredients woven naturally into daily life.

One afternoon we stopped into a local cafeteria-style lunch spot and paid around $10 for whatever the daily plate was. No menu. No customization. Just lentils, salad piled with herbs, fresh bread, butter, and cheese.

Simple food. Good ingredients. Community eating together.

It reminded me that eating well doesn’t always have to be optimized or complicated.

Sometimes it’s just slowing down long enough to enjoy it.

Travel also reconnects me to appetite in a way normal life often disconnects me from. You walk more. You sit longer. You eat for pleasure. You notice rituals. Food becomes memory and place instead of just fuel squeezed between obligations.

Makes sense why I love it so much.

Subscribe now

This Week’s Snackagories

A cross between post-travel rest, Copenhagen inspiration, and recreating tiny moments at home.

The goal, as always: make everyday nourishment feel exciting and accessible.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Horseradish Dip with Pickled Onions
Horseradish is in peak season right now, and after having freshly shaved horseradish alongside pâté in Copenhagen, my immediate thought was: horseradish dip.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream

• 2 tbsp prepared horseradish

• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

• 1 tsp whole grain mustard

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tbsp chopped fresh dill

• 1 tbsp chopped chives

• Salt + black pepper

• Pickled red onions for topping

• Optional: drizzle of olive oil

Serving Inspo:

• rye crackers

• cucumbers

• smoked salmon

• baby potatoes

• pretzels

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Chai Chia Protein Bites
Inspired by all the warm spices and cardamom buns from our bakery crawl.

Ingredients

• 1 cup rolled oats

• 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder

• 1/4 cup chia seeds

• 1/4 cup almond butter or cashew butter

• 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp cardamom

• 1/4 tsp ginger

• pinch of salt

• splash of vanilla extract

• Optional: white chocolate chips or chopped dates

🥕 Fresh Produce Snack

Crispy Greek Chickpea Spring Salad
Built around a can of Trader Joe’s Greek Chickpeas sitting in my pantry waiting to become lunch.

Ingredients

• 1 can Trader Joe’s Greek Chickpeas

• 1 Persian cucumber, chopped

• 1 cup snap peas or sugar snap peas

• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

• handful arugula or chopped romaine

• fresh dill

• fresh parsley

• crumbled feta

• crispy quinoa OR pita chips for crunch

• lemon juice

• olive oil

• flaky salt

• black pepper

Optional Mix-in’s

• avocado

• pickled onions

• pepperoncini

• salami/prosciutto

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Rhubarb Compote Sundaes
Vanilla ice cream topped with warm rhubarb compote, olive oil, and flaky sea salt.

A little Copenhagen-inspired magic at home.

Rhubarb Compote

• 3 cups chopped rhubarb

• 1/4 cup coconut sugar or maple syrup

• squeeze of orange or lemon juice

• pinch of salt

• optional: vanilla bean or cinnamon

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Dill Egg Salad
Dill egg salad on pumpernickel rye is what I’m most excited to make this week — naturally inspired by Copenhagen’s smørrebrød culture.

Ingredients

• 6 eggs

• 2 tbsp Greek yogurt or mayo

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

• lots of fresh dill

• chopped chives or green onion

• lemon juice

• flaky salt

• black pepper

• optional: cornicrons, or pickled onions

Serve With

• pumpernickel rye bread

• cucumbers

• arugula

• microgreens

Niknack’s Palate

Honestly, this trip reminded me exactly why I started Snack Attack in the first place: to help people treat food with intentionality and see meals as moments of connection and nourishment. June’s Snack Attack event is around the corner, I’m so excited to finalize the menu this week. If you’re in Buffalo, sign up to snack with me here.

I’m ending this trip feeling deeply grateful. For good food, long walks, shared meals, and the reminder that life is meant to be savored a little more slowly.

Maybe that’s the real purpose of travel after all. Not to fully escape, but to expand what feels possible in your ordinary life.

Thanks for reading this week’s SubSnack <3

Until next time,
Niknack

To the moms, grandmothers, stepmoms, chosen moms, future moms, grieving moms, trying-to-be moms, and women who mother in a thousand invisible ways — you are extraordinary. Women are the infrastructure of so much love.

And a special shoutout to my mom, the #1 reader of this Substack since day one. Love you Mama. Sorry I’m in Europe on Mother’s Day… but honestly, this is nothing new. We’ve spent many Mother’s Day weekends apart over the years, and somehow our love has always traveled well.

Travel gives you more than photos and passport stamps. Sometimes it gives you perspective, appetite, gratitude, and a version of yourself you forgot was still there.

Yesterday We Arrived in London

My husband and I landed yesterday morning after a red-eye that I did not sleep a wink on (but I did watch an entire show, that was incredible, All Her Fault on Peacock). We got to our hotel around 9AM, couldn’t check in until 2PM, and did what all overtired travelers do: dropped our bags and powered through.

We wandered Borough Market, revisited some London staples, drank water like it was medicine, and tried to outrun the jet lag.

I studied abroad in London, so this city holds a special kind of nostalgia for me. It’s the second time I’ve visited with my Husband, which feels meaningful in its own right — sharing places that shaped you with the person you chose.

I’m writing this now from the social lounge of our hotel before our first true vacation day begins.

This trip was our delayed one-year anniversary gift / birthday gift(s), built around the things we each love most:

• today we’re going to a soccer match (Crystal Palace — Jon’s dream)

• later this week we’ll see Olivia Dean in Copenhagen (my dream — live music forever)

That feels like marriage to me. Your joy, my joy, our joy.

It Took Me a Minute to Arrive

I’ve been so heads down with work, content, routines, obligations, trying to stay consistent, trying to keep momentum, trying to do everything “right,” that this trip almost snuck up on me.

And if I’m honest, the anxiety didn’t fully leave my body until I took a nap yesterday.

Then at dinner, somewhere between the first bite and the second pint of cider, I felt it happen:

the stress left.

Vacation mode entered.

Sometimes rest doesn’t begin when you board the plane. Sometimes it begins when your nervous system finally believes you’re safe.

Europe Changed My Life Before I Even Knew It

One of the best gifts my small high school ever gave me was exposure to the world.

Each year, the sophomore class took a Europe trip tied to history curriculum. Every class planned a different route, so no two trips were the same.

Mine took me through Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic.

I had just turned sixteen. I got my first job nannying to help pay for it.

And I remember standing in Venice with my best friend Halle, looking around at the winding streets and water and magic of it all, saying:

I need to study abroad.

And later, I did.

Funny how certain moments quietly decide your future.

The Truth About Where My Food Love Comes From

When I first started Niknack, my Grandma always asked:

“Where do you get this love of food and cooking from?!”

My instinctive answer was always:

You.

And yes, that’s true.

But now I understand it’s more layered than that.

It came from

her.
It came from family.
It came from curiosity.
And it came from Europe.

Because Europe snacks and eats differently.

They prioritize real food.
They sit down together.
They treat meals as moments.
They eat seasonally without calling it seasonal eating.
They build meals from culture, not trends.
They enjoy without obsessing.

Meals that don’t perform.
Meals that nourish.

That philosophy has shaped me more than I realized.

Subscribe now

Travel Is Work. But So Is Staying Small.

Yes, travel can be exhausting.

Red-eyes. Jet lag. Delays. Packing. Logistics. The older you get, the less glamorous it feels.

But nothing compares to the perspective that comes from leaving your routine and seeing life done differently.

Travel reminds you that there are countless ways to live.

And sometimes that reminder is worth every ounce of effort.

Maybe This Is What Success Looks Like

There’s a quote I keep thinking about:

You don’t have to love your job. You have to love the life it fuels.

For the next seven days, I get to do exactly that.

I get to walk unfamiliar streets with my husband.
Eat beautiful food.
Listen to live music.
See things that wake me up.
Remember there is more to life than inboxes and algorithms.

And honestly?

That might be the healthiest thing I do all year.

This Week’s Snackagories

Paused for a very official and necessary reason:

Europe Snacks Edition.

Trip recap + regular Snackagories will resume next week.

Until then, I’ll be gathering inspiration the old-fashioned way:

by living.

Xoxoxo,
Niknack

There’s something about flipping the calendar that feels like permission to begin again. New produce. New energy. New chances to do things a little differently.

I’m excited for this month, but if i’m honest, it’s been a weird week.

Busy in the kind of way where your calendar is full, but your spirit feels empty.

I’ve been running from one thing to the next, being productive, being social, being “on”. And by the time the weekend arrived, all I wanted to do was absolutely nothing.

Instead, Saturday looked like waking up to an alarm, errands, family obligations, social plans.

On paper? A perfectly normal, even lovely day.

But lately I’ve realized exhaustion doesn’t always come from doing too much. Sometimes it comes from being in spaces where you don’t feel like yourself.

My social battery hasn’t just been drained — it’s been depleted by surface-level conversation, polite versions of myself, by biting my tongue when what I really crave is depth.

Honesty. Meaningful exchange.

I want to talk about ideas, patterns, dreams, food, feelings, why people are the way they are, what makes life feel alive.

Instead, life often asks for small talk.

And I know that’s normal. Not every room is meant for depth.

But I’m learning that wanting honesty, substance, and connection does not make me difficult.

It means I know what fills my cup.

The older I get, the more I understand that nourishment isn’t only food.

It’s conversation.

It’s environment.

It’s who you spend your time with.

It’s whether you can exhale around the people in your life.

The good news is I also feel myself getting stronger.

I’m getting better at letting things roll off my back at work. Better at releasing the need for every day to go according to plan. Better at taking things one day at a time.

And that’s growth.

Today, more than anything, I’m excited to cook.

Because when life feel chaotic, I lean into flavors I’m excited about, recipes I can create, snacks that make the week feel easier.

Food may not be the whole answer, but it is one of the ways I return home to myself.

And right now? Home tastes like May.

Subscribe now

This Week’s Snackagories

A reminder that feeding yourself doesn’t need to be complicated. A few good components can become breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and little moments of joy all week long.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Whipped Strawberry Goat Cheese

Creamy, tangy, lightly sweet. Spread on toast, crackers, rice cakes, or dolloped onto roasted beets.

Ingredients:

• 4 oz Goat Cheese

• 2 tbsp Greek yogurt or whipped cottage cheese

• 4–5 Strawberries

• Drizzle honey

• Pinch salt

• Lemon zest (optional)

How I use it:

• Spread thick on toast + topped with pistachios

• On rice cakes for an afternoon snack

• Stuffed into dates

• Dolloped onto roasted beets

• Tossed into warm pasta with beets + arugula

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Blackberry Olive Oil Breakfast Cake

This feels bakery-quality, but practical enough for a weekday morning.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Blackberries (fresh or frozen)

• 1/3 cup Olive Oil

• 2 Eggs

• 1/3 cup Maple Syrup

• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

• zest of 1 Lemon

• 1 cup All Purpose Flour

• 1/2 cup Vanilla Protein Powder

• 1 tsp Baking Powder

• pinch of Salt

Glaze:

• Greek Yogurt

• Maple Syrup

• Lemon Juice

How I use it:

• Slice with coffee before work

• Packed as a mid-morning snack

• Warmed up with yogurt on top

• Afternoon reset snack when I want something cozy

• Frozen individually for future me

🥕 Fresh Produce

Cauliflower Couscous Crunch Salad

Fresh, crunchy, bright, and full of texture. A side that makes you feel alive.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag Riced Cauliflower; sautéed

• 1 cup cooked Couscous

• Arugula

• Radish, thinly sliced

• Feta

• Avocado (add day-of if possible)

• Pistachios

• Parsley

Dressing:

• Olive oil

• Lemon juice

• Dijon Mustard

• Chopped Chives

• Salt/pepper

How I use it:

• Lunch bowl with chicken on top

• Side salad with dinner

• Scooped into lettuce cups

• Add chickpeas for extra staying power

• Eat outside in the sun whenever possible

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Chocolate Strawberry Protein Pudding

No-bake, satisfying, and the answer to wanting dessert on a Tuesday.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Greek yogurt

• 1 scoop Chocolate protein powder

• 1 tbsp Cocoa powder

• Splash milk

• Strawberries folded in

• Dark chocolate chips (optional)

• Crushed freeze-dried strawberries for topping

How I use it:

• Post-dinner sweet fix

• Afternoon snack when I need something substantial

• Layered into jars for grab-and-go

• Topped with granola for breakfast dessert energy

• Straight from the bowl, standing in the kitchen

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Balsamic Mushroom Chicken

Savory chicken with caramelized mushrooms and balsamic to anchor meals all week.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lb Chicken thighs

• 1.5 cups Mushrooms, sliced (any type will do)

• 1 small Onion, sliced

• 3 cloves Garlic

• 3 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

• 1 tbsp Dijon Mustard

• 1 tbsp Olive Oil

• Salt + Pepper

• Italian seasoning

How I use it:

• Over crispy potatoes

• With rice + salad

• Chopped into wraps

• Tossed into pasta with extra mushrooms

• Cold from the fridge when life is moving fast

The Role of This Newsletter

The role of this newsletter is to help you think differently about feeding yourself — to simplify, to notice patterns, to remember that meals and snacks can support your life instead of complicating it.

If you’ve been feeling overstimulated, disconnected, or unlike yourself lately, maybe you don’t need to “fix” everything today.

Maybe you need to make one snack you’re excited about.
Maybe you need strawberries.
Maybe you need to eat lunch outside.
Maybe you need a little less noise.

Maybe that counts more than you think.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Happy snacking,

Niknack

Not in a judgmental way. Not in a “they should be doing better” way. In a visceral, hard-to-explain way. Where you can see so clearly how small shifts could help someone feel better, have more energy, maybe even change the trajectory of their health… and they just… don’t take them.

When my dad was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease, I tried to help the best way I knew how: through food.

I’d research meals that were simple but nourishing. I’d offer ideas, bring ingredients, try to make cooking feel easier, more approachable, less overwhelming. I wanted “eating healthier” to feel doable.

And sometimes it landed. But most of the time… it didn’t.

That’s the part no one really talks about.

Because when it doesn’t land, it’s not just frustrating. It’s confusing, sometimes infuriating. You start questioning yourself.

Am I overstepping? Am I not thinking about this right? Am I expecting too much? Am I being dramatic? Is food not actually fuel?

You care, you try, you adjust… and nothing really changes.

At some point, I had to face something uncomfortable:

You can’t help someone who doesn’t want help.

You can’t nourish someone who doesn’t want to be nourished.

And I don’t mean that in a harsh way. I mean it in the most honest, grounded way possible.

Because knowing what to do is rarely the problem.

We all know what supports us. Drink more water. Eat more whole foods. Move your body. Get enough sleep. It’s not groundbreaking information.

The gap is in the doing.

In the choosing, over and over again, to follow through on what you already know.

And that choice has to come from the person themselves. No amount of love, effort, planning, or perfectly prepped meals can force it.

That realization was a turning point for me.

Not only in how I showed up for other people, but in how I started showing up for myself.

I grew up in a dynamic where I learned responsibility early. I became the one who noticed things, who tried to help, who tried to smooth things over or make things better where I could. And for a long time, I carried that into everything I did. Including food and meal prep.

But there were so many things I couldn’t fix. So many patterns I couldn’t change.

And eventually, I got tired.

Tired of pouring energy into things that weren’t mine to control.
Tired of trying to solve problems that didn’t want solutions.
Tired of feeling like my effort was going nowhere.

So I shifted.

Instead of asking, “How can I get them to change?”
I started asking, “What can I change for myself?”

That’s when I really leaned into building Niknack.

From the decision to focus on what was in my control.

Simple, supportive food.
Snacks that are easy to make and actually enjoyable to eat.
Things I could come back to again and again, even on low-energy days.

Because if knowing isn’t the hard part, then the system has to support the doing.

That’s what I care about now.

Not convincing people. Not forcing change. Not overcomplicating it.

Just creating small, realistic ways to follow through on what we already know.

And if you’ve ever felt that tension, between knowing and doing, between caring and feeling stuck, you’re not alone.

Start small.

You don’t have to overhaul everything.

You just have to start showing up for yourself in ways that are sustainable.

Because at the end of the day, that’s the only place real change actually begins.

Subscribe now

This Week’s Snackagories

This week has been one of the busiest yet. I’m writing this from my parents’ house, which always brings up more emotions than I expect. So instead of overcomplicating things, I’m leaning all the way into simple, seasonal, supportive.

Minimal effort, maximum return.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Whipped Goat Cheese + Artichoke Dip

I get why goat cheese gets a bad rep. I too, slept on it for years. But when it’s whipped and paired with bright, briny flavors? Game over. If you like spinach artichoke dip, this is your entry point.

Ingredients

• 8 oz plain goat cheese, softened

• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt

• 2 jars (14 oz) marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 lemon, zested and juiced

• 2 tbsp fresh dill

• Olive oil, salt and pepper to finish

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Bars

Bright, slightly sweet, and perfect for the week ahead.

Base: Combine 1.5 cups oat flour, 2 tbsp maple syrup, and 1/4 cup melted coconut oil. Press into an 8x8 pan and bake at 350°F for 10 min.

Filling: Whisk 2 eggs, 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 1/3 cup lemon juice, 2 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tbsp lemon zest, and 2 tbsp poppy seeds.

Assembly: Pour filling over crust, top with 1 cup fresh blueberries, and bake for another 15-20 min.

Chill: Let the bars cool completely and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour to set before cutting.

🥕 Fresh Produce

Italian Fava Bean Salad

Fava beans are another ingredient that gets a bad rep, but they are abundant right now so naturally, I must take advantage of them. Fresh, satisfying, and a great way to mix up your usual rotation.

Ingredients

• 3 cups fresh Fava beans, shelled

• 1 fennel bulb, finely sliced

• ¼ cup pecorino cheese, shaved

• ¼ cup mint leaves, chopped

• 2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

• ½ teaspoon lemon zest

• ½ teaspoon honey

• 1 small garlic clove, grated

• ½ to ¾ teaspoon salt, to taste

• black pepper, to taste

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Raspberry Almond Bark

Smashed raspberries, sliced almonds, Greek Yogurt and Dark chocolate.

Simple. Crunchy. Hits every time.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Mason Jar Chicken Bean Salads

This is a tried and true, go-to, Niknack recipe. I grab my extra-large Mason Jars, start with a lemony dressing and layer white beans, black beans, roasted red peppers, banana peppers, grilled chicken, spinach, parm cheese, repeat. White beans, black beans, roasted red peppers, banana peppers, grilled chicken, spinach, parm cheese.

When you’re ready to eat: shake or dump into a bowl. Done.

If this week feels heavy, or busy, or like you don’t have the energy to “do it all”, take this as your reminder:

You don’t need to be perfect.
You just need a few things that make taking care of yourself easier.

That’s it.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

If this resonated, please forward it to someone who might need it.

Or make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss next week’s Snackagories :)

Happy snacking,

Niknack

I’m nervous, excited and proud. I keep thinking ‘I can’t believe I’m actually doing this’, but this has been in the works for years. It’s lived in my head, excel docs and various kitchens as I’ve moved from one city to another.

Simply put; I love to eat food, talk about food, and cook food.

Today I get to do that with a group of people that reflect my current world.

Moving to Buffalo wasn’t an easy transition for me. I struggled with the idea of living in the shadow of my partner. This is his hometown, his world. But this event is the result of putting in the work to make Buffalo my own.

Everything I’m teaching is based on how I actually eat, and the method that’s held me together through various life challenges. It’s the method that structures this newsletter.

I don’t eat in a hyper-structured, meal-prepped way.

I eat in a way that’s guided by the season, and supported by a system.

I prep components. Things I can mix and match depending on my mood, my energy, or what I have going on during the week.

If you’ve been reading, you’re familiar, I call them:

Snackagories

And at Snack Attack, we’re making three of my go-to staples:

• A dip/spread

• A crunch mix

• A no bake sweet treat

Not to just make three new recipes. But as a way to think about feeding yourself that makes your week easier.

Subscribe now

How to Eat Seasonally (without overthinking it)

I get it. “Eating seasonally” can sound intimidating.

Expensive. Complicated. Slightly unrealistic.

But it’s not.

It just means starting with what’s available… and building from there.

I’m hosting Snack Attack at 5 Loaves Farm, which is the perfect example of that.

The farm is literally part of the neighborhood. It’s built across lots on Buffalo’s West Side and reflects the people who live there. What’s grown isn’t random — it’s useful, accessible, and meant to actually be cooked and eaten.

It’s food shaped by community.

Now here’s how I actually apply this:

I don’t plan my whole life around what’s in season.

I let what’s available guide what I prep.

• Carrots + herbs → a carrot puree or bean smash base.

• Strawberries + Rhubarb → a no bake sweet snack.

• Asparagus → wrapped in puff pastry and done.

It doesn’t have to be complicated.

It’s just about letting fresh ingredients make the decision easier.

My Snackagories are my system for holding everything together.

Instead of asking myself “What am I making for dinner every night?”

I ask “What’s in season? What 2-3 things can I prep that will make eating this week easier?”

And suddenly:

• lunch is easier

• dinner comes together faster

• snacking feels intentional instead of chaotic

I used to overcomplicate what to eat for dinner. Especially after moving in with my partner, I thought dinner needed to an elaborate production every night.

It doesn’t. And you don’t need to overhaul your life to eat better.

You don’t need a perfect plan.

You just need a few things ready.

And that’s what I’m teaching today.

A few go-to snacks you can make on repeat.

Snacks, meal components, are what allow me to stay consistent without getting bored.

I plug seasonality into a system that supports my real life routines.

For a full break down of my Snacks Prep Method, read

If you try this, I’d genuinely love to hear what you make first.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Happy snacking,

Niknack

There are a handful of folks signed up, all of them are my friends.

I’ll be honest, I thought more people would see it and think, wait, I need this. I thought more strangers would be curious.

But this isn’t about filling a room on the first try. It’s about building community and showing up honestly. Every event has a first room, this just happens to be mine.

I am a Certified Health Coach, and I keep coming back to how I got here. My health coaching journey started in 2018, while I was working at a bank in NYC and started noticing the toxic eating and lifestyle habits around me. We were all working demanding corporate desk jobs, so I started sharing my own tips and tricks for how I was thinking about food and meal prepping for myself during the week.

This evolved into joining the banks wellness team and ultimately becoming a health coach.

My instagram account, my brand, NiknackSnackattack, has been along for the ride. My Snacks Prep Method has silently fueled me for years.

Snack Attack exists because of one very real, recurring question everyone asks themselves:

what the heck am I going to eat this week?

I don’t think about food in a Pinterest picture-perfect, meal-prep-for-the-week way. I center myself in reality. Real life often looks like busy weeks and low energy evenings. When I open the fridge, I want something that actually sounds good, feels good, and doesn’t require a full production.

This is how I actually eat.

I don’t prep full meals, I prep snacks.

More specifically, I prep what I’ve been calling Snackagories.

• A savory dip or spread [something savory and scoopable].

• A grab + go pantry snack [something nonperishable that lives in your bag or pantry].

• A fresh produce snack [something fresh and crunchy].

• A sweet tooth snack [something sweet to reach for without thinking twice].

• A bulk protein source [something with protein that actually fills you up].

When I have these things prepped, I’m a different person. I’m more energized, less overwhelmed, and way less likely to spiral into “I have nothing to eat” territory.

Snack Attack is me teaching this system in real life.

It’s not about strict recipes. Honestly, choosing recipes for this first event was the hardest part. Snack Attack is a formula that can be customized to your personal palate and preferences. It’s how to build a week of food that meets you where you are.

If you’re located in WNY, let me give you a preview of what joining me next Sunday would look like:

You’d walk in and immediately have something to snack on (because obviously).

You’d watch me make a few of my go-to staples in real time, then have the chance to make them yourself. The kind of things I make on repeat because they’re easy, flexible, and actually taste good.

You’d leave with simple formulas you can reuse, not just one-off recipes you forget about.

You’d start to see how a week of food can come together in under an hour without overthinking it.

And you’d be in a room with other people who are also just trying to feel a little more put together when it comes to eating.

A small group makes it even better.

More conversation. More connection. More space to actually ask questions and make it your own. If you’ve been thinking about coming, I’d genuinely love to have you in the room. There’s still space, and it’s going to be a really great afternoon.

And if not this time, that’s okay too. This isn’t going anywhere. Heck, maybe one day i’ll have a Snack Attack tour.

Because this is how I eat, and I know I’m not the only one who needs structure around food prep. You can join me for Snack Attack next Sunday, April 19th at 12:00 PM in Buffalo.

Subscribe now

This Week’s Snackagories

The first of spring eats! Spring is here and I’m leaning all the way in.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

White Bean Peanut Sauce

A creamy, nutty, slightly tangy sauce that does everything—dip, drizzle, dressing, marinade. This is one of those “make it once, use it all week” staples.

Ingredients

• 1 can white beans (drained + rinsed)

• 1/4 cup natural peanut butter

• 2–3 tbsp soy sauce or tamari

• 1–2 tbsp maple syrup

• Juice of 1 lime

• 1 small garlic clove

• 1–3 tbsp warm water (to thin)

How to use it this week: Drizzle it over your bulk protein, dunk your snap peas in it, toss it with leftovers… it’s an anchor that makes everything else feel put together.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Carrot Cake Loaf

Soft, lightly spiced, and just sweet enough. Feels like a treat, eats like a snack. Perfect with coffee or as your “I need something but don’t know what” moment.

Ingredients

• 1 cup grated carrots

• 1 cup rolled oats

• 1/2 cup flour (any kind)

• 2 eggs

• 1/4 cup maple syrup

• 1/4 cup olive oil or melted coconut oil

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• Pinch of salt

• Optional: walnuts, raisins, or shredded coconut

🥕 Fresh Produce

Snap Peas and Marinated Artichokes

This is peak April energy: crisp, bright, a little briny. Minimal effort, high reward.

Ingredients

• Fresh snap peas (washed, ends trimmed)

• 1 (14 oz) can quartered artichoke hearts, drained

• 1 lemon, juiced

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 2 cloves garlic, chopped (Optional)

• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste

How to eat it this week: Snack plate style with the peanut sauce, or toss together for a quick crunchy salad situation.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Chocolate Pistachio Cookies

Salty, chocolatey, a little fancy but still easy. The kind of cookie you keep grabbing every time you walk through the kitchen.

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 cup butter (or coconut oil), softened

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1/2 cup chopped pistachios

• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

• Pinch of flaky salt

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Sheet Pan Peanut Chicken

This is where the peanut sauce really shines. Roast it once, and you have protein ready for bowls, wraps, salads, or straight out of the fridge.

Ingredients

• 1–1.5 lbs chicken thighs or breasts

• 1/3–1/2 cup white bean peanut sauce (from above)

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• Salt + pepper

How to make it: Toss chicken in olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast at 400°F for ~20–25 minutes (until cooked through), then drizzle or toss with peanut sauce.

How it all comes together: Chicken + snap peas + extra peanut sauce = a no-thought, actually satisfying meal. This is the kind of combo that carries you through the week.

If you make nothing else this week — make the sauce. Everything builds from there.

We’re doing it anyway

I think I thought this first Snack Attack event needed to “prove something.”

But the more I sit with it, the more I realize:

This is the beginning.

I’m building something in real time, figuring out what resonates, what sticks, what people actually need more of.

And I want to keep doing this.

Bigger rooms, different formats, seasonal versions, bringing Snack Attack into more spaces and more communities.

This is just the first one.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Happy snacking,

Niknack

We were at my in-laws for Easter, and at some point in the afternoon, the weather shifted. It got warmer — a drastic 40 degrees warmer. I was sitting on the porch, no jacket, no rushing, just letting the sun hit my face. We made it through winter was my only thought.

I brought a few things to share: Peanut Butter Reese’s Egg cookies, Mushroom biscuits, and Easter carrots. Dinner felt like the first tastes of spring: lighter, brighter, playful. Spring cooking to me is about cooking for flavor and enjoyment, not out of survival or necessity.

I love this time of year for many reasons, including my birthday. I’m an Aries baby, and my first Birthday fell on Easter. It hasn’t since, but I think that’s why I look forward to spring so much. It’s quite literally the time of year I was born.

I turn 31 on Tuesday, and for some reason this feels like more of a turning point than 30 did. I think 30 came with a lot of pressure to have it all figured out. 31 feels quieter. More grounded. Less about becoming someone new, more about trusting who I already am.

I’ve been thinking about what this past year taught me, and the biggest thing I keep coming back to is:

It’s not that serious.

Not in a dismissive way. Not in a “nothing matters” way.

But rather, the things I used to overthink, spiral about and hold myself back over, aren’t nearly as big of a deal as I used to make them.

No one is thinking about me the way I think about me.

Positivity and presence will take me further than perfection ever could.

And most things — especially in the kitchen, but also in life — can be figured out as you go.

This year, I leaned into that more than I ever have.

I experimented more with food. I stopped trying to follow everything perfectly and started asking, what if I just tried it my way? I’m someone that often needs to have a plan. I challenged myself to let go of the plan and just start. That’s how my “better than Boursin” broccoli rabe situation ended up happening on the fly. That’s how snacks become systems. That’s how something simple starts to feel like something of my own.

With Niknack, I’ve been practicing the same thing.

Showing up before I feel fully ready.

Sharing half-baked ideas online while they’re still forming.

Letting it be imperfect and real and evolving.

There are still only a handful of people signed up for my first Snack Attack event.

And I’m doing it anyway.

Because this year taught me that waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect response, the perfect version of myself… isn’t the point. The point is showing up. The point is doing the damn thing. The point is building something that means something, even if it starts small.

Especially if it starts small.

Today, I’m back in the kitchen experimenting. My line up is a little chaotic, a little ambitious and very me. Cooking is feeling different than it used to. There’s less pressure to get everything right. More trust that it will come together.

That’s the energy I’m taking into 31.

I don’t have it all figured out, but I’m showing up anyway. With snacks in hand and a little more trust in myself than I had last year.

I’m building something I care about, one snack at a time.

Subscribe now

This Week’s Snackagories

The first of spring eats! Birthday snacks!

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Pineapple Jalapeno Jam

Bright, sweet heat… made for spring boards + snack plates + my coworker who is 36 weeks pregnant trying to induce labor :P

Ingredients:

• 2 cups fresh pineapple, finely chopped (or crushed pineapple, drained slightly)

• 1–2 jalapeños, finely diced (seeds removed for mild, keep some for heat)

• 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

• Pinch of salt

• 1–2 tsp chia seeds

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Birthday Cake Protein Muffins

Because it’s my birthday week and we’re celebrating accordingly.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups oat flour (or blended oats)

• 1/2 cup vanilla protein powder

• 1/3 cup maple syrup

• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt

• 2 eggs

• 1/4 cup milk of choice

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• Pinch of salt

• 1/4 cup sprinkles

🥕 Fresh Produce

Roasted Carrots + Whipped Feta

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch carrots, peeled

• Olive oil

• Salt + pepper

• 1/2 cup feta

• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt

• Drizzle olive oil + squeeze of lemon

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Crunch Bars

I’m a sucker for chocolate covered strawberries, so obviously I need a version of them during my Birthday week!

Ingredients

• Fresh strawberries, sliced + patted dry

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt

• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder

• 1 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 1 tsp coconut oil

• Crushed graham crackers and walnuts (for crunch)

• Flaky salt

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Pulled Pork

Ingredients

• 4 lb boneless pork shoulder (pork butt)

• salt, pepper

• 1 tbsp ground coriander

• 1 tbsp ground cumin

• 1 tbsp garlic powder

• 2 tsp dried oregano

• 1 tsp onion powder

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Happy snacking,

Niknack

Ten years ago, a trip to Ithaca meant cliff jumping after finals, flower power beers, and a version of me who had no idea what was coming next.

I went to college in Binghamton, just an hour away. Close enough that Ithaca felt like an escape, but still ours in a way. We had our side of the falls, Cornell had theirs, and you simply did not cross.

I’ll never forget taking my last final of sophomore year, packing up my entire dorm room into my little Honda Civic and driving straight to the Ithaca falls. We spent the day there, encouraging each other to jump from the highest peaks, baking in the sun with the kind of adrenaline rush and freedom that only exists when something ends and you have no real plan for what comes next.

On other occasions, I was here in the fall. Usually for Apple Fest. Walking these same streets with my college friend group, making the drive when we needed a break from campus, from routine, from everything that felt small at the time.

And now I’m back. In Ithaca, NY.

Same town. Same streets. Different life entirely.

I’m here with my husband, in this new version of adulthood that once felt so far away. The kind of life I used to try to imagine during those college days, but could never quite picture. At that time, my world was a blank canvas.

Yet being here this weekend, I’m realizing something I didn’t expect.

The girl who came here ten years ago — unsure of herself, her relationships, her place in the world — she isn’t all that different from the person writing this now.

And I think that’s the point.

Because as much as life changes, expands and evolves, there are parts that stay the same. I still think about food holistically, let the season influence me and prepare snacks.

I still quietly observe, ask questions, and feel a little out of place. I used to think that feeling would go away. That one day I’d arrive fully confident, fully certain, fully settled.

But that’s not how it works.

Instead, you just get better at holding it.

At knowing you’ll be okay, even when you feel a little off.

At trusting that not everything, or everyone, is meant to fit perfectly.

If I could talk to the college version of me, I’d tell her that her world is about to get bigger than she can imagine. That she won’t keep all the people she thinks she will. That she’ll grow into a completely different life, one that feels more aligned, more grounded, more her.

And I think the version of me writing this right now needs to hear that too.

Subscribe now

This Week’s Snackagories

It’s the end of March in the middle of New York. It’s freezing.

Technically, it’s spring. But it doesn’t quite feel like it yet.

Everyone is ready for it. The shift, the sun, the reset. And yet, we’re still in this in-between where winter hasn’t fully let go. I think that’s why I keep coming back to seasonal food.

It’s a way of stepping into what’s next, even if it hasn’t fully arrived. Cooking like it’s spring, even when the weather disagrees. This week’s Snackagories are inspired by my weekend in Ithaca, where it’s maple fest and cold, yet spring is hiding right beneath us.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Green Goddess Hummus

Herby, bright, and exactly what I crave this time of year. Something that tastes like spring even if it’s still cold out.

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas, drained + rinsed

• 1/4 cup tahini

• 1–2 tbsp olive oil

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 1 small garlic clove

• 1/2 cup fresh herbs (parsley, basil, chives—whatever you have)

• Salt + pepper

• Splash of water to blend

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Mocha Chip Protein Bars

A little coffee, a little chocolate. A little something easy to grab that still feels like a treat during busy (or slow!) spring mornings.

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats

• 1/2 cup vanilla or chocolate protein powder

• 1/4 cup cocoa powder

• 1/2 cup almond butter

• 1/3 cup maple syrup

• 1/4 cup brewed coffee (cooled)

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

• Pinch of salt

🥕 Fresh Produce

Roasted Broccolini and Mushrooms

Still very much in that “roast your vegetables” season but prioritizing greens as much as possible.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch broccolini

• 1–2 cups mushrooms (I used Portabello and halved but any time will do)

• 1–2 tbsp olive oil

• Salt + pepper

• Garlic powder or fresh garlic

• Optional: squeeze of lemon or sprinkle of parmesan after roasting

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Bites

Another nod to channel spring. Fresh, bright, and just enough sweetness without being heavy.

Ingredients

• Fresh strawberries, sliced

• 1 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt

• 1 scoop nuzest Vanilla Protein Powder

• 1 tsp coconut oil

• Optional: flaky salt or crushed nuts

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Maple Mustard Chicken Cutlets

A subtle maple moment (because Ithaca), balanced with mustard for something savory, simple, and versatile all week.

Ingredients

• 1–1.5 lbs chicken cutlets

• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard

• 1–2 tbsp maple syrup

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• Salt + pepper

• Garlic powder

• Optional: fresh thyme or rosemary

These are the kinds of snacks that keep me grounded even when I’m traveling or out of my routine. They’re flexible, simple, and able to meet me wherever I am.

Because that’s really what this all comes back to. You don’t need to have everything perfectly figured out. But you do need to know how to take care of yourself in the middle of it.

This system—these snacks—help me do exactly that. Even in the in-between. I’m teaching my method in person on April 19th. We’ll talk about how I think about food preparation and meal planning. We’ll taste some snacks. We’ll make some snacks. If you’re in Buffalo, click here to sign up and join me :)

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Happy snacking,

Niknack

There’s a soft breeze moving through the apartment, the kind that feels like a reset. My cats are posted up in their window seat, fully locked in on squirrel watch. I can hear birds chirping, and dare I say the air smells different? Lighter, like something is shifting.

It’s the first official weekend of spring. And it feels like the world is waking up again.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this “in between” season of life.

The part where you know you’re on the edge of something, you can feel it. And you keep telling yourself, I’ve never felt so set up for success.

And yet, showing up still feels hard. Kinda heavy.

Not for lack of effort. Not for lack of belief.

But because somewhere along the way, I think I started trying to make it make it make sense, instead of letting it just be.

My Snacks Prep Method? It’s real, it’s how I’ve eaten for years. It’s how I make life easier for myself.

But when I sit down to “plan content” or “strategize Niknack” something still feels slightly off. Slightly forced.

I’m starting to think this season is about letting it be simple again. Not strategized.

Because the truth I keep circling back to is this:

I’m not behind.

I’m not late.

I’m not doing it wrong.

I’m just… in it.

The middle.

The part where nothing feels impressive, but everything is becoming.

And honestly? There’s something kind of beautiful about that. It’s scrappy, it’s real, and it’s mine.

I’m entering this spring with no pressure to “figure it all out.”

I’m using this weekend to spring clean. Open some windows and let the fresh air — literally and figuratively.

Subscribe now

This Week’s Snackagories

Simple, seasonal, and craveable.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Sun-dried Tomato Bean Spread

My husband isn’t a huge pesto fan, but we had a sun-dried tomato pesto at his parents this week that we couldn’t stop raving about. Naturally, I had to try my own version. This is a creamy, protein-packed, spreadable situation that still hits like pesto

It’s savory, slightly tangy, rich, spreadable and snackable. It can be used as a dip with bread or pita chips, on toasts, in wraps, grain bowls, pasta, or be spooned straight from the fridge.

Ingredients

• 8 oz can sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil (not drained, you want the oil in the recipe)

• 1 can cannellini beans (drained + rinsed)

• 1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano

• 1 small garlic clove

• Juice of 1/2 lemon

• Salt + black pepper to taste

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Toasted Almond Oatmeal Bars

These bars are. lightly sweet, nutty and soft-baked. I’ll eat them pre or post-gym, as a mid-afternoon slump snack, crumbled over yogurt or grabbed on the way out the door.

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats

• 1/2 cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped

• 1/2 cup vanilla pea protein powder (I use Nuzest)

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 tbsp chia seeds

• 1 tbsp flax seeds

Wet:

• 1/2 cup almond butter

• 1/3 cup maple syrup

• 1/4 cup milk (any kind, I used oat)

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

🥕 Fresh Produce

Air Fried Carrot Chips

I like to keep these on hand for dipping, throwing into bowls, or just grabbing straight from the fridge when I want something mindless but nourishing. They’re thin, crispy-edged carrot chips that hit that salty/crunchy craving but still feel fresh.

Ingredients

• 4–5 large carrots, peeled and diced into circles

• 1–2 tsp olive oil

• Salt + pepper

• Garlic powder

• Smoked paprika

• Hot honey drizzle after cooking (elite)

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Clean Out the Pantry Chocolate Nut Bark

We cleaned out the pantry this weekend and this is my way of turning random pantry bits I couldn’t bring myself to throw out, into something that feels like a treat. I keep it in the freezer and break off pieces when I want something sweet without overthinking it. A no-rules, use-what-you-have chocolate situation.

Ingredients

• 1–1½ cups chocolate chips (dark or semi-sweet)

• 1–2 tsp coconut oil

Clean-out-the-pantry mix-ins (choose your chaos):

• Nuts (almonds, peanuts, cashews, walnuts)

• Seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, chia)

• Dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, chopped dates)

• Coconut flakes

• Crushed pretzels or granola

• Any leftover chocolate chips or chunks

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Mediterranean Meatballs

I love having these meatballs on hand. They’re delicious, herby meatballs that carry meals all week long. I use them in bowls, wraps, dipped in my sun-dried tomato spread, or thrown over greens when I need something fast but grounding.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground meat (I prefer turkey or chicken for these)

• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs

• 1 egg

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/4 cup chopped parsley

• 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• Salt + pepper

• Drizzle of olive oil

• Lemon zest

• Crumbled feta

• Handful chopped spinach

I don’t have all the answers right now.

But I do know this:

I’m excited for what’s ahead.

I’m excited for spring eats.

I’m excited to keep going. Even when it feels slow or unclear.

If you’re in your own “in between,” consider this your reminder:

You don’t need to rush.

Just keep showing up. Messy. Imperfect.

Spring always comes back around.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Happy snacking,

Niknack

The kind of unnecessary that shows up as last-minute “fire drills,” unclear requests, and problems that probably could have been avoided with a little more communication or a little better delegation.

I’m sure you know the kind of week.

You start with a plan.

And then suddenly your whole schedule becomes reactive.

I don’t think this feeling was soley because of work. It feels like the entire world is operating in fire drill mode right now.

Everyone seems a little overwhelmed. Or a little behind. A little in survival mode, to say the least.

If you’re reading this and feeling that too, please know you’re not alone.

When my world starts to feel overwhelming, I try to focus less on the chaos, and more on the small things that still feel calm and controllable.

For me, that looks like:

• Cooking something simple

• Planning something creative

• Small talk with a loved one

• Small talk with a stranger

• Making snacks for the week

I find something oddly comforting about my snacks prep method. My snacks are small. They’re simple. And I love sharing them.

St. Patrick’s Day is Tuesday, and I accidentally created the most on theme snack imaginable.

Last weekend, I bought one of those bags of tiny avocados from Trader Joe’s with every intention of using them throughout the week,

But of course, I did not use them.

By the time the weekend rolled around, all six avocados were perfectly ripe, which meant I needed to use them immediately.

I briefly considered making (and eating) an aggressive amount of guacamole.

But instead, I made avocado ice cream.

In a food processor, I combined:

• 6 tiny ripe avocados

• 1 can coconut milk

• A generous tablespoon of local raw honey

• A pinch of salt

• ⅓ cup pure maple syrup

It’s currently sitting in my freezer. And come Tuesday, my dessert plan is green avocado ice cream topped with a chocolate sea salt magic shell.

Not exactly traditional. But all snacks rarely are? I’ll call it my version of a Shamrock Shake 😂

Anywho, onto the important snacks. For anyone new here, Snackagories are the five snack categories I prep each week to make weekday eating easier.

Instead of meal prepping entire dishes, I focus on having a few simple snack components ready to mix and match throughout the week.

This Week’s Snackagories

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Caramelized Onion + Cannellini dip

Ingredients

• White onion

• Butter

• Cannellini white beans (1 can)

• Fresh thyme

• Olive oil

• Salt

Slowly caramelize the onions in butter until deeply golden, then blend with cannellini beans, thyme, olive oil, and salt until smooth and creamy.

Perfect with crackers, pita chips, pretzels, toast, or fresh vegetables.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Everything but the Bagel Granola

Ingredients

• Rolled oats

• Olive oil

• Maple syrup

• Everything bagel seasoning

• Sunflower seeds

• Pumpkin seeds

• Almonds

• Salt

Bake until golden and crunchy.

It’s great on avocado toast, eggs, salads, or cream cheese-smeared veggies. Or enjoy straight from the jar.

🥕 Fresh Produce

Crispy Asparagus “Fries”

Ingredients

• Fresh asparagus

• Olive oil

• Garlic powder

• Salt

• Black pepper

• Grated parmesan

• Panko breadcrumbs

Spring is slowly but surely showing up here in Western New York, and asparagus always feels like the first sign.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Cashew Protein Cookies

Ingredients

• Cashew butter

• Vanilla protein powder

• Maple syrup

• Egg

• Vanilla extract

• Baking soda

• Pinch of salt

• Chopped cashews

These are a soft, nutty cookie that always hit the spot and sits somewhere between snack and dessert.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Taco Ground Turkey

Ingredients

• Ground turkey

• Olive oil

• Chili powder

• Ground cumin

• Garlic powder

• Onion powder

• Smoked paprika

• Salt

• Lime juice

This is one of my favorite “build anything” proteins. Cook once and use it all week in:

• Breakfast burritos

• Taco bowls, wraps, salads, etc

Small Joys

If the world has felt a little heavy lately, here’s my encouragement this week:

Find one small, unnecessary joy.

Maybe it’s:

• Making something green for St. Patrick’s Day

• Experimenting with a new snack/recipe

• Calling a family member or friend for five minutes of small talk

• Going for a long, interrupted walk outside

• Slowing down long enough to eat something you made

Sometimes the smallest rituals help carry us through the bigger weeks.

If snacks, seasonal cooking, and small weekly rituals resonate with you, you can subscribe to Niknack below to receive these Sunday snack notes each week.

Subscribe now

And if you’re local to Western New York, come snack and chat in person at my Snack Attack Snack Prep Workshop.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Happy snacking,

Niknack 🥑

It stops being hypothetical.

This week, my Seasonal Snack Prep Workshop Series went live through Read It & Eat. The graphic was posted. The event exists. People can sign up.

And suddenly I’m feeling… exposed.

Because once something is out in the world, you can’t hide behind the plan anymore. The only thing left to do is show up and invite people in.

For the past few months, I’ve been rebuilding my rhythm with Niknack. Experimenting in the kitchen. Writing here consistently. Paying attention to what actually works in my real life instead of what I think content or meal planning should look like.

But as I said to Kim when I first pitched the idea, Snack Attack has lived rent-free in my head for years. It’s what I wish existed when I was first learning how to cook for myself.

It’s not complicated meal prep or perfectly portioned containers.

It’s simple, sustainable snack building using seasonal ingredients.

It’s things you can make quickly. Things you’ll actually want to eat all week.

We’ll talk about how to eat seasonally here in Western New York, prep a handful of snack staples together, and everyone will leave with containers full of food they actually made themslves.

Bring containers. Leave prepped.

It’s equal parts cooking, conversation, and creative snack building.

And if I’m being honest, putting this event out into the world has stirred up some imposter syndrome.

Who am I to host a workshop?

But then I think about the hundreds of snack combinations I’ve tested in my kitchen over the years. The systems I’ve built to make food easier during busy weeks. The way snacks have quietly become the backbone of how I keep my body nourished without overthinking it.

This reframing feels a lot less like imposted syndrome and more like sharing who I already am. How I already live.

So this week’s snack prep felt especially fun because I prepped it knowing these exact types of recipes might show up in a future Snackattack workshop. Here’s what’s in the rotation.

Subscribe now

This Week’s Snackagories

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

White Bean Avocado Egg Salad

A creamy, protein-packed mash that lives somewhere between egg salad and a bean spread. Perfect on toast, crackers, or scooped with veggies. It’s what I make as soon as I get home from the gym, or for a quick lunch.

All you need:

• 1 can Cannellini, Great Northern, or Navy beans

• 1 Avocado, mashed

• 4 Hard Boiled Eggs

• 1/2 cup Plain Greek Yogurt

• Juice of 1 Lemon

• 1 tbsp fresh Dill

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Chocolate Sumo Citrus Protein Balls

Sumo Citrus have been the talk of the season. The bright citrus meets chocolate in these little protein energy bites.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup rolled oats

• 1/4 up medjol pitted dates

• 1/4 cup sliced almonds

• 1/4 cup natural peanut butter

• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup

• 2 tbsp chia seeds

• 2 tbsp flax seeds

• 2 tbsp Sumo Orange zest + dash of juice

• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

• 2 tbsp unsweetened flaked coconut shreds

• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder

• 1 tsp flakey sea salt

Blend, roll, refrigerate, and suddenly you need to make another batch.

🥕 Fresh Produce

Hot Honey Baked Sweet Potatoes

This one feels almost too simple to be a recipe.

Slice sweet potatoes in half.
Add butter to a sheet pan.
Drizzle generously with hot honey.
Place the sweet potatoes face down into the butter-honey situation.

Bake until caramelized and jammy.

Sweet, spicy, and wildly snackable. But I like the most paired with BBQ Chicken!

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Date Take Fives

I’ve made these a million times and have probably already shared them here, but they’re that good. Inspired by the candy bar, but healthified and made with pantry staples.

All you need:

• Medjool dates

• Snap pretzels

• Natural peanut butter

• Vanilla protein powder

• Roasted salted peanuts

• Chocolate chips

• Coconut oil

Stuff, stack, drizzle, chill.

Dangerously good.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

BBQ Pulled Chicken. My usual backbone of the week.

I boil chicken. Shred in my kitchen aid. Then mix with my simple, homemade BBQ Sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups ketchup

• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

• 1/4 cup water

• 2 tbsp pure maple syrup

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp onion powder

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp chilli powder

This week feels like a small turning point.

Not because everything is perfectly figured out. But because I’m finally doing the thing that moves the needle forward. I’m building, I’m sharing, I’m inviting people in.

If you’re in Western New York and the Snack Attack workshop sounds fun, I would be honored to host you. You can learn more and sign up here. I’d truly love to snack with you.

And if you’re not local, don’t worry. You’ll still be seeing plenty of snacks coming out of my kitchen.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Until next time,

Niknack

I’m happy. Not in a loud “I’m on vacation” way, but in a steady way.

The world around me feels calm and ambitious at the same time. Kind of like how I feel thinking about the turn of the month. February treated me well. We locked in the first in person Snack Attack event date. I’m 7 months into my day job and things are feeling clearer, less frantic. My husband and I are riding the married-no-kids-wave with intention.

There’s momentum, but there’s also peace.

When I’m away from my kitchen and routine, I see what actually matters. I spent a lot of my 20s trying things and anticipating what my life could look like. Testing identifies and forecasting futures. Now that I’m 30 and married, I’m settling in. I’m accepting. I care less about what people think about me, and more about feeling joy. I’m showing up with confidence and owning my narrative. I’m choosing visibility even when it feels vulnerable.

Travel always clarifies things for me. I used to think confidence meant a lack of nerves. Now I think confidence is building anyway. In March, I’m not shrinking to make anyone else feel comfortable. I’m building by design.

I’m going to keep showing up.

I’m going to keep making snacks.

And I’m going to keep talking about both.

And maybe (hopefully?!) I’ll bring a little of this sunshine back to Western New York with me. Because what travel really reminds me is that routines will always be there. Systems are portable. You can fall back on them anywhere.

Subscribe now

Snacks Prep Method: Travel Edition

I studied abroad and have backpacked Europe and Thailand. It’s safe to say I know my way around the travel snacks department. While the scenery changes, my Snackagories are ingrained.

Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Travel snacks start with nuts. Cashews, Peanuts, Almonds. Roasted or salted, I’m not picky. Backpacking Nicole always had a pack of corn nuts on her. Present-day Nicole builds from the same foundation. I start with nuts, then layer dried fruit, banana chips and yogurt-covered raisins.

Sweet + salty + protein = stability

Emergency Protein: Airport Insurance

When I’m stuck in an airport and need fuel, I usually reach for a Perfect bar, Luna Bar or ONE Bar. Those are my go to brands. They may not be glamorous, but they are extremely effective.

Airbnb = Guaranteed Grocery Haul

These days, I usually prefer to stay in an Airbnb over a hotel. My mom and I landed in the rain this weekend, so before we even checked in, we went straight to the grocery store. We spent our first night catching up over snacks. Our board included cheese and crackers, specifically vanilla-blueberry goat cheese and Ritz crackers. Salami Mozzarella rolls, hummus and pretzel thins, strawberries, bananas and personal pizza supplies.

Vacation doesn’t need to mean abandoning all structure. It means choosing it intentionally.

Eating Out: Anchor the Meal

While eating out, I try to anchor meals so I don’t swing between starving and stuffed. I’ve been opting for fish, especially since grouper is the local speciality. So far, I’ve had ahi tuna nachos (incredible), grouper nuggets, old-bay crab fries and an egg sandwich from Caffeinated Bakery.

Being here in the sun with my mom, at the turn of the month, has me in my feels. I keep coming back to a theme: I don’t want to shrink my ambition or joy anymore. For a long time, I think I confused visibility with arrogance. I worried that sharing my life and what I’m building might look like rubbing it in.

But that’s not what I’m doing.

I’m building something that lights me up. Something I care about. Something I want to host in real life.

That’s alignment.

If this season of building, anchoring, and not shrinking resonates with you, please drop a comment.

For me, March is about expansion.
April 19 is about gathering.
And Niknack is just getting started.

Subscribe if you want snack systems, seasonal living, and a front-row seat to building something real in Western New York.

And if this felt like a deep exhale, forward it to someone who needs that too.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

With sunshine,

Niknack

If you’re from New York, specifically the western, lake-effect corner of it, you understand this particular delusion. The second the snow starts melting, something chemically shifts in the brain. We become optimistic. Unstable. Jacketless.

Yes, the temperature dipped back down.
Yes, it will snow again.
No, I do not care.

Winter is slipping. I can feel it. And so, apparently, am I.

I am currently living for the return of Hilary Duff.

I spent most of the weekend listening to her new album, feeling deeply, dramatically, unapologetically e m o t i o n a l.

Hilary Duff essentially sums up my childhood. I owned all the Stuff by Duff merch. Folders. Backpack. Sneakers. T-shirts. My best friend’s mom once referred to the poster wall in my bedroom as a “Hilary Duff shrine.”

She wasn’t wrong.

This comeback of hers? It’s doing something to me.

She’s so real. So raw. So fun. And when I played my favorite song off the new album for my husband (Growing Up, duh) he immediately clocked the subtle Blink-182 influence. I didn’t even catch it myself. I was too distracted tearing up from the lyrics.

Thirteen-year-old me would have combusted.

Thirty-year-old me is just… proud.
She was my role model at 13.
And she’s my role model now.

Different season. Same permission that you’re never too old. It’s never too late.

Hilary Duff is living proof that you can do anything you want, when you want.

You can take space.
You can evolve.
You can become a mom.
You can step back.
You can come back.

You CAN have it all. On your terms.

And I think that’s why this feels bigger than just an album release.

It feels like proof.

Proof that timelines are flexible.
Proof that reinvention is allowed.
Proof that disappearing for a season doesn’t mean you’re done.

I have a HELL of a concert lineup this year. This is not accidental. This is my seasonal programming. Music makes my world go round. Music brings people together. Music drowns out the noise of everything that feels uncertain or heavy.

I feel rich because I can press play. Because I can scream-sing in my car. Because I get to feel things.

How lucky am I?

Subscribe now

This Week’s Snackagories

Comeback snacks? If Hilary Duff is comeback energy, these snacks are too.

Nostalgic. Upgraded. Slightly delusional. Deeply comforting.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Cherry Chia Jam

If you’ve been following along, you know cherry is one of my favorite flavors. This cherry chia jam is 1/2 cup frozen cherries, 1 tsp honey, 1/4 cup chia seeds and 1/2 cup water. I bring this to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. That’s it. I use it in yogurt, on PB&J’s, with goat cheese or as a protein glaze. This jam feels fresh and vibrant. Almost like a preview of what’s coming.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Peperoncini Bean Salad

I hesitated on putting this in the grab + go category, but most of the ingredients are pantry staples. I make a Peperoncini Dip with peperoncini’s, greek yogurt, olives, olive oil, vinegar, oregano, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Then I make a bean salad with cannellini beans, chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese pearls and salami. It gives pizza nigh energy, but is high-protein and wildly satisfying.

🥕 Fresh Produce

Honey Butter BBQ Cauliflower Wings

As the Western New Yorker I am, I obviously have a favorite wing flavor. Honey Butter BBQ is it. My favorite spot is O’Neils, by the Buffalo Bills Stadium, and after having them a few times I had to recreate the sauce for myself. It’s a beautiful combination of honey, butter and BBQ sauce. I make the sauce, then toss a head of cauliflower florets in it and air fry. They’re perfectly addicting.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Healthy, High-Protein Cosmic Brownies

I’ve made these 100x and after having a cosmic brownie at a local restaurant on Valentines Day, I had to whip up a batch. These unintentionally align perfectly with this weeks theme of childhood, reimagined. All you need:

• Medjool dates

• Peanut Butter

• Chocolate Protein Powder

• Cocoa Powder

• Sea Salt + Sprinkles

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Thai-Style Basil Ground Turkey

Ground Turkey is probably my most leveraged protein source. I go through 1-2lbs a week and am always experimenting. This week I prepped a pound Thai-style, to pair with coconut rice bowls and crunchy slaw throughout the week. This recipe is adaptable, versatile and seasonally confused, just like me in 40-degree weather.

These snacks aren’t winter snacks. They’re not fully spring either.

They’re transitional. And I live in the middle.

Comeback Season

Winter isn’t over. But something is shifting.

The snow is melting. The sun is lingering. My playlists are louder.

And I don’t think you have to wait for perfect conditions to start blooming.

You don’t have to wait until it’s 65 degrees to take off your jacket.
You don’t have to wait for certainty to start again.
You don’t have to wait for permission to become who you’re becoming.

Maybe this is your 40-degree delusion season too.

Main character energy.
Comeback energy.
Never-too-late energy.

In case you were looking for permission, let me be the one to tell you you don’t need it. Take Hilary Duff’s advice and live life on your terms. It’s time to press play.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Until next time,

Niknack

This week was full, and in a past life would’ve sent me spiraling.

I went to a concert on Tuesday, had dinner with my in-laws Wednesday, a networking event Thursday, all while going into the office every day. This kind of calendar used to make me panic, forcing my brain to calculate sleep, productivity, routine, and control.

But I didn’t spiral.

I showed up excited. Happy to be there. Present with my husband instead of mentally calculating how off-schedule we were.

I usually hibernate through February and write the month off. But this year feels different. Life isn’t meant to be lived in a perfectly optimized box. And this week, I let myself enjoy the phase I’m in instead of mentally micromanaging it.

I anchored myself the way I’ve been practicing, reminding myself: this is just a moment, I’m happy to be here, it doesn’t define me. When I felt myself drifting into my head, I said out loud, “I’m in my head. I need you to help me be right here.”

And that practice followed me into the kitchen.

Busy weeks used to make me overcompensate. I’d try to make something impressive. Something creative. Food was another arena for me to prove capability or productivity. I’d make performative meals for an invisible audience.

But this week, food was supportive.

Rice I’ve made a hundred times. Chicken and spinach. Potatoes roasted until crispy. Snacks that don’t ask much of me.

Decision fatigue doesn’t just show up in meetings. It shows up when you’re hungry and tired of choosing.

So I chose fewer things.

And because dinner didn’t demand more from me, I had more capacity for everything else. The concert, the conversation, the laughter, the being there.

Meal planning and supportive food doesn’t compete with your life.

It carries it.

Subscribe now

This Week’s Snackagories

This week’s snacks were intentional, seasonal and required fewer decisions.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Herby Hummus

White beans. Greek yogurt. Lemon Juice. Olive Oil and a heavy handful of herbs.

I make a version of white bean hummus a lot, but this one pulled double duty. It fueled Galentine’s-style English tea sandwiches, and it saved me when I needed something to snack on before dinner. My snacks aren’t complicated, they’re easy and strategic.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Pomegranate Granola

I thought pomegranates were in peak season. Apparently… we are at the tail end. I searched all over Wegmans before someone told me they’re limited and about to be unavailable. The store clerk did offer me seeds, but I politely declined.

Which made this batch feel even more precious.

I love having granola on hand for my yogurt bowls or to snack on as is. This one was dark chocolate chips + pomegranate arils + shredded coconut. Dreamy, crunchy and a little dramatic.

There’s something beautiful about catching an ingredient right before it disappears. This experience was a good reminder that seasonal living is all about paying attention.

🥕 Fresh Produce

Brown Butter Brussels Sprouts

I started by browning butter in a skillet, letting it get nutty and golden. Then I added shaved Brussels sprouts, sautéed low and slow for about 15 minutes until tender and caramelized at the edges.

This recipe was born because I was thinking about pasta sauce. But instead of turning it into something elaborate, I kept it simple.

Sometimes cooking looks like taking a thought as is and not overcomplicating it.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Chocolate Cherry Protein Bars

If you know me, you know this combo.

I saw Justine snacks make a chocolate cherry cookie, so obviously I had to make something with my favorite flavors. Melted chocolate + tart cherry + almond extract, measured with love + flaky sea salt. These are no-bake bars, made with a pretzel base and homemade cherry jam.

They’re my answer to my late night sweet tooth or my first bite of the day. Something that tastes good and has protein. It doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Meal Prep Turkey Meatballs

I love meatballs. They’re my classic meal-prep. I rotate between plain for maximum versatility throughout the week, spinach and feta meatballs or teriyaki meatballs. This week I made classic ground turkey meatballs.

Two pounds of ground turkey = about 30 meatballs. This is what that looked like throughout the week:

Sunday: Turkey meatballs with bucatini and vodka sauce.
Midweek lunches: Turkey meatballs paired with tzatziki for Greek-style bowls.
Friday: Turkey meatballs tossed in BBQ sauce for quick sandwiches.

This is what I mean when I say supportive food carries your life. It doesn’t ask you to reinvent yourself every night. That’s the kind of efficiency that feels like freedom.

And maybe that’s the point. When the food is planned, I get to expand.

I’m proud of this week.

Not because it was productive.
Not because it was perfectly balanced.
But because I didn’t shrink my life to fit my routine.

I expanded my routine to hold my life.

And I let food support that expansion instead of performing for it.

If this feels like the kind of rhythm you’re craving, i’m so happy you’ve stumbled upon my corner of the internet. I’m here every week, building supportive food for real life.

And if someone in your world needs permission to stop performing in the kitchen, forward this their way 🤍

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Until next time,

Niknack

This morning I started with the dishes, noticed the recycling was full, watered the plants, and somehow ended up vacuuming. If something needs to be done and it’ll take less than five minutes, I do it immediately.

The truth is, I’m learning how to live one role at a time.

I’m not a wife + employee + creator + friend while eating dinner. I’m just a human, eating dinner.

I’m learning not to stack identities. Not to optimize rest. Not to document while living. I’m trying to stay in one lane at a time because, honestly, I have a lot going on right now.

The best part is that it’s all good things. I’ve never felt more set up for success. But that doesn’t make it any easier, or any less overwhelming.

My day job is in marketing. My side hustle is content creation for Buffalo’s culinary bookstore, Read It & Eat. My passion project is this brand, Niknack Snackattack.

This spring, I’m bringing them all together.

I’m designing a small, hands-on food prep workshop. I’m essentially hosting the Snacks Prep Method, live. And I’m so freaking excited.

This idea has lived rent-free in my head since I was getting my health coach certification. I saw it briefly come to life while working as a Wellbeing Manager, coordinating Healthy Happy Hours. But that was within a corporate role. This time, I get to do it as part of a local community.

I’m finalizing the marketing plan this week. If you’re willing to give quick input, I’d be so grateful if you took this short survey!

Subscribe now

This Week’s Snackagories

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Baked Goat Cheese Dip

• 1 log goat cheese

• ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt

• ½ cup hot pepper jam

Why: Mix ingredients together and bake. That’s all. Tried and true. In the words of my husband “9.5 in taste, 2 in appearance”. I swear the best dips are the ugliest.

If you’re not feeling a dip, I often spread goat cheese and hot pepper jam on sourdough for a quick breakfast toast.

What: Enjoy with Ritz crackers as the best 3pm snack. Or as a pre-dinner snack. OR paired with fruit and veggies on a snack board.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Apple Sausage Muffins

Why: I went the savory route for breakfast this week and made apple sausage muffins with oat flour, buttermilk and Greek yogurt. Having these prepped ahead of time is essential for my busy weekday mornings when I have ~30 minutes between getting home from the gym and leaving for work.

What: Pre + Post workout snack. Grab and Go Breakfast.

🥕 Fresh Produce

Roasted Broccoli

Why: I simply love broccoli. When I first started cooking, I called this recipe ‘burnt broccoli’. I keep the florets large, season aggressively with salt, pepper and garlic powder, toss with olive oil and hot honey, then roast at 425° for 45 minutes.

What: Dinner with pork chops and applesauce. Or honestly, a side any time of the day.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Tahini Crunch Bars

Why: Tahini is wildly underrated. In case you don’t know what it is, Tahini is a sesame paste, kind of like a sesame peanut butter. I first tried Tahini when I made Kale Junkies ‘Life Changing Chocolate Chip Cookies’. This is a no-bake recipe I’ve made with peanut butter before, but I swapped in Tahini for a quick, crunchy snack.

What: Post dinner snack. Mid-day snowday snack. Late night snack.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

White Chicken Chili

Why: We have a busy week, and this is a recipe I never get sick of. I’m a long-time NYT cooking subscriber and have adapted this one over the years. I could eat Mexican-inspired food every day of the week.

I’ve been leaning on what works.

When I first moved in with my partner, every dinner was a production. I was so excited to cook for someone, I tried to make a new recipe every single night. It wasn’t sustainable.

Now I rely on a recipe repository in an Asana board, full of quick, easy, tried-and-true weeknight dinners. I’ll experiment on weekends, usually on Sundays, in meal prep form.

Letting the energy of the season lead has made food feel supportive again instead of performative. If you know someone who’d enjoy seasonal snacks and slower living, feel free to forward this their way 🤍

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Until next time,

Niknack

As someone who loves systems and structure, I’ve been taking note of how quickly my brain assigns meaning to things that don’t necessarily deserve my energy. A heavy day doesn’t need a takeaway. A disrupted routine doesn’t mean failure. This month, I’m practicing staying with the moment without assigning it a storyline.

Not everything needs to be processed. Some things just need to pass.

February feels like a chance to let moments be moments. Not lessons. Not signs. Just moments that pass.

This is usually the point in winter where food starts to feel heavier than it needs to be. Decision fatigue piles up. Planning begins to feel like pressure instead of support. But when I let moments be moments, I naturally fall back into rhythm. I let the season guide what I make, how I prep, and how much energy I spend thinking about it.

Right now, that looks like comfort food with brightness. Slow cooking paired with simple prep. Meals that offer warmth without weighing me down. The kind of food that feels grounding, but still fresh enough to remind you that spring is coming.

My Snacks Prep Method fits naturally into this season. It asks for less forcing and fewer decisions. It creates a gentle structure for meals and snacks that makes winter feel easier to move through. This month, I’m making food that’s supportive, warming, and realistic for this in-between stretch of the year.

What I’m Looking Forward to Making This Month

Lately, I’ve been on a pistachio–dark chocolate kick. Not a craving so much as a pull. The kind of flavor combination I keep returning to because it feels grounding, indulgent, and exactly right for this stretch of winter. I’m also craving cozy breakfasts and snacky bakes. Cinnamon Toast Crunch granola is a go-to recipe. Winter has a way of pushing me toward nostalgia, especially when the days are cold, dark, and long.

February eating in New York is its own season. Most produce right now is either stored from fall — root vegetables, apples, pears — grown in hoop houses or greenhouses — hardy greens like kale — or imported but seasonally abundant, like citrus, kiwi, and pomegranate. True field-harvested local produce is rare, so eating seasonally becomes less about chasing freshness and more about working with what keeps well and holds up.

That naturally shifts how I cook. This is when slow, comforting dishes start to anchor my week. I’m thinking of making chicken ragù, a stuffed meatloaf that makes leftovers feel intentional, baked goat cheese dip for a Super Bowl spread (that is if I watch, I’m still a quietly sad Bills fan over here). Valentine’s Day feels like an excuse for steak in a red wine sauce and a sweetheart snack mix that marries my classic snack mix energy with a February twist: dried cherries, freeze-dried strawberries, and a handful of red, white, and pink.

I’m also leaning into practical joy foods. Savory apple sausage breakfast bars for busy mornings. I jotted down a few I’ll-make-this-if-I-feel-like-it ideas for the month that include honey butter BBQ cauliflower wings, and a simple lemon olive oil loaf.

February prep, for me, looks like fewer rules and more reliable building blocks. Food that feels warm but not heavy, supportive but not demanding. That’s the rhythm I’m carrying into this month.

I’m moving into February without trying to fix anything. Just paying attention. Letting food, routines, and moments take the shape they need to take instead of forcing them into meaning.

If you’re feeling the same pull to reset, or even just to breathe a little easier through winter, you’re right on time. So hello February, I welcome you with open arms.

I’ll be here, cooking what sounds good, building snacks that make the days feel steadier, and letting the month unfold as it will.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Until next time,

Niknack

It’s not that I don’t like winter. I do enjoy parts of it. Big sweaters. Hearty meals. Candles and fireplaces. Slippers. Watching the snow fall from inside where it’s warm. What I don’t like is going outside. I hate being cold. If my ankles are exposed, that bone-chilling, frigid feeling shoots straight up my spine, and I will do just about anything to avoid it.

So I don’t know if it’s the weather, hormones, or just my brain, but this week carried a familiar gray mood. Winter makes me want to slow down. To stay home. To move gently. Everything in my body is asking for a slower pace, yet reality requires me to move quickly. I’m trying to find the middle ground between the two.

This season of life feels like the middle in every sense of the term. The middle of transitions, identities, routines. They’re beautiful and exciting changes, but that doesn’t make them any less challenging. I’m learning how to hold gratitude and frustration at the same time, even when I wish I didn’t have to.

You’d think in moods like this, I’d cling tightly to my systems. That I’d turn to my grocery list as something I could control.

Ironically, this week, I didn’t.

When I sat down to make this week’s winter storm induced grocery list, I didn’t want to plan. I wrote down my staples and decided to let the store guide me.

The second I walked in, I was reminded that Sumo Citrus are in peak season. I grabbed a bag. I wandered the produce section, picking up blueberries, lemons, an eggplant, shishito peppers, fresh parsley. I walked every aisle, grabbing what caught my eye, sticking loosely to my list, letting my brain and taste buds lead.

I knew I’d be home snacking through a winter storm. I had a budget in mind. I didn’t need a strict plan. I needed to aimlessly wander the grocery aisles as a person who loves food. Who loves to cook. Who loves to linger and read every word on the label.

For someone who relies so heavily on systems and routines to stay grounded, this felt like a small reminder that structure doesn’t have to mean rigidity. Sometimes it means trusting yourself enough to wander an aisle and listen. That felt like enough for this week.

So I built my snacks the same way. Intuitively and with the season in mind. Here’s what that looked like.

Subscribe now

This Week’s Snackagories

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Creamy Bean Dip

I always say Mexican is the nationality of food I could eat every single day and never get sick of, so it’s no surprise that it shows up in my kitchen constantly. Refried beans are a forever staple, and this dip is one of the very first Niknack recipes I ever made.

All you need is:

• 1 can refried beans

• 1 cup Plan Greek Yogurt

• Your favorite jar of Salsa

• 3 tbsp Taco seasoning

Mix everything together and you’ve got a creamy, protein-packed dip that I could devour in one sitting. Scoop it with chips, spoon it onto tacos, bowls, or burritos, and snack on it all week long. I love adding Trader Joe’s hot & sweet jalapeños for a little punch. A high-protein breakfast version I swear by: a Mexican-style breakfast burrito with this bean dip, egg whites, shredded cheddar, and plenty of hot sauce.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Sheet Pan Chocolate Chip & Blueberry Protein Pancakes

Another OG Niknack recipe. When I first discovered Kodiak Power Mix back in 2018, I made these as pancake bars using a cup of cold coffee in the batter. Over time, they evolved into this larger, sheet-pan, meal-prep-friendly version I made this week.

The secret is how you melt the butter. I preheat the oven, add two tablespoons of butter directly to a half sheet pan, and let it melt for 2–3 minutes. Once it’s bubbling, I swirl it around the pan, then pour in the pancake batter.

From there, top with whatever you love. I almost always default to chocolate chips, blueberries, bananas, or a combination of all three. Slice them once cooled and you’ve got an easy, grab-and-go snack for the week.

Base Recipe:

• 2 ½ cups Protein Pancake Mix (Kodiak, Wegmans, whatever brand you prefer)

• 2 eggs

• 2 cups milk

• 2 tablespoon butter

• Cinnamon, Vanilla extract, to taste

🥕 Fresh Produce

Mushrooms in a Butter-Wine Sauce

I had a family pack of mushrooms staring at me all week, and on Thursday they turned into one of the best weeknight dinners I’ve made in a while. My husband immediately said, “This needs to be in the regular rotation.” The final plate: blackened chicken thighs, mashed potatoes, and these buttery, winey mushrooms spooned over everything.

They came together so quickly but genuinely tasted restaurant-level quality.

Butter-Wine Mushroom Sauce

• 2 tbsp butter

• 8 oz brown mushrooms

• 4 cloves garlic

• 1 tbsp fresh parsley

• 1 tsp dried thyme

• 1 tsp dried rosemary

• ½ cup dry white wine

• Salt & pepper, to taste

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Chocolate Cherry Milkshake

Jon and I are officially on a milkshake kick. It’s become our post-dinner sweet snack, which feels ironic given the freezing temperatures lol but we’re committed.

Since he’s lactose intolerant, I use lactose-free vanilla ice cream and blend it with oat milk, vanilla protein powder, a tablespoon of cocoa powder, and a cup of frozen cherries. It tastes like a sneaky, indulgent frosty but still feels nourishing. I genuinely look forward to this every night.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Greek Yogurt–Marinated Chicken Thighs & NYT Chili Mac

I started the week with a family pack of chicken thighs and immediately split it in half. One half went into a Greek yogurt marinade made with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, fresh parsley, dried oregano, cumin, paprika, and onion powder. Juicy, flavorful, and endlessly versatile for the week.

The other bulk prep recipe that deserves a shoutout is Ali Slagle’s NYT Chili Mac. It’s quick, hearty, warm, and comforting. Aka exactly what I needed to match the mood of this week and keep myself well-fed without overthinking it.

Winter | Week 4

Some weeks I follow my systems to a tee. Other weeks, like this one, I let intuition lead and trust that I know myself well enough to wander an aisle, listen to my gut, and still land somewhere nourishing.

I’m still learning that food doesn’t have to be another thing to get “right”. It can just be an anchor. A quiet anchor. A way to care for myself without making a production out of it. I built my routines to give myself something steady to come home to when my brain feels loud and the world feels heavy.

If you’re craving that kind of relationship with yourself, I’m really glad you’re here. I’m four weeks, and I’ve genuinely looked forward to sitting down to write this each week. I’ll continue sharing what i’m making, what i’m learning, and how i’m finding my through it all, one SubSnack at a time.

Until next week,

Niknack

More specifically, waking up at 5:30 am and convincing myself to leave the house in the middle of January. Workout classes have been my primary form of movement lately, but I found myself missing my own playlists and quiet time with myself. So I switched it up with some at-home workouts this week and honestly, I really enjoyed them.

This week also reminded me how much comparison still sneaks into my life.

In my career. In my daily routine. Even when I think I’ve “outgrown” it, I catch myself comparing to other people, or even to past versions of myself. Thinking about what life could’ve been or could’ve looked like if I had made one decision differently. Almost like a reverse butterfly effect.

These comparison spirals, mixed with cold January energy, pretty much sum up my week.

I noticed a stronger urge than usual to shut my brain off completely. To not think, not decide, not plan. And i’ve learned that weeks like this are exactly when my food routines matter most. When I wrap up a long day and have nothing planned for dinner, it’s very easy for me to spiral into panic mode.

This week, I leaned into my routine staples and refused to overthink it.

I slowed down. I took one step at a time. I let the system guide the way when my motivation wasn’t showing up.

Subscribe now

This Week’s Snackagories

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Roasted Beet Hummus

It’s peak root vegetable season and this is the only way I’ll eat beets. I don’t like them raw, pickled or even roasted on their own. They have to be roasted, then blended as a dip or puree. I made roasted hummus this week and used it as a mid-day snack, ‘i’m immediately home from work-pre-dinner snack’, in a snack board and as a Turkey sandwich spread.

Ingredients:

• Red beets, peeled and cubed

• Canned chickpeas or white beans, drained and rinsed

• Tahini

• Garlic

• Extra-virgin olive oil

• Fresh lemon juice

• Cumin and coriander (optional)

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Take Five Protein Balls

This is a go-to combination of mine. Sweet, salty and justifiable any time of the day. I most commonly eat them as a pre or post workout snack and during the 3pm afternoon slump.

Ingredients:

• Snaps pretzels

• Creamy peanut butter

• Roasted lightly salted peanuts

• Date caramel

• Chocolate chips

• Vanilla Protein Powder

• Rolled Oats

• Flaxseed

🥕 Fresh Produce

Roasted Broccoli + Brussels Sprouts

I need an easy, reliable and versatile side on hand at all times. This week I roasted broccoli and halved Brussels sprouts with lots of hot honey, salt, pepper and garlic powder. I used it as a dinner side, tossed into salads for lunch and ate straight from the fridge the day while working from home :P

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Caramel Apple Protein Mugcake

I’m fully on a date caramel kick right now. If you follow me on instagram you’ll see this recipe there this week. I customized my go to mug cake recipe as an indulgent snow day snack that requires little effort.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Crockpot Braised Beef

What would we do without crockpots? Leaving the oven on all day is fine for those who don’t leave the house. But now that I’m back in an office, I rely on my crockpot to prep protein. This week, I picked up a chuck beef roast from Wegmans, seasoned it with lots of kosher salt and Worcestershire sauce, left it in the crockpot all day for a hearty winter protein + iron boost. I used it as Monday night’s dinner with potatoes and roasted veggies, for lunch as a salad topper, and BBQ beef sandwiches with provolone.

Real Life Reminders

This week was a reminder that the Snacks prep Method is designed to support. When my energy dips, when comparison creeps in, when January feels heavy, having food already prepped means I don’t have to make decisions when my brain is tired. I can feed myself without thinking,. I can slow down without spiraling.

Sometimes the biggest win isn’t trying something new - it’s sticking to what you know already works.

Where you could let a system support you this week, instead of asking yourself to push harder?

Until next week,

Niknack

So yes, I fit the eldest daughter bucket. I want to control everything. But over time, I’ve learned there’s very little in life we can actually control. That realization led me to a grounding phrase I come back to daily: only control what you can control. When I catch my brain fixating on something outside my reach, I redirect my energy toward something tangible, steady, and familiar. For me, that thing has always been food.

In college, I planned my day down to the minute, and then unraveled when they didn’t go exactly as planned. Life eventually taught me that it’s meant to be lived, not micromanaged. I can’t control how my week unfolds, but I can build routines that create ease. That’s where the Snacks Prep Method came from.

Most people cringe at the term “meal prep” because it generates images of eating the same sad container of food five days in a row. The Snacks Prep Method is more of an ingredient prep. I prepare snacks and components on the weekend that I can mix and match throughout the week. When snacks became the building blocks of my meals, cooking felt fun and creative again and what to make for dinner wasn’t such a burden.

Subscribe now

The Snackagories.

For nearly a decade, this system has lived between excel sheets and Asana boards. I always categorized my food preps and one day, as the method to my madness became clearer, I renamed my excel Snackagories.

Snackagory 1: DIPS & DRESSINGS

These are the foundation of the Snacks Prep Method. Dips and dressings turn simple produce and proteins into meals I actually look forward to. Some of my staples include: Hot Honey Vinegerette, Salt + Vinegar Hummus, Greek Yogurt Cesar, Herby Goat Cheese Spread, and Cranberry Jalapeno Jam. These add instant flavor without thinking.

Snackagory 2: GRAB & GO

This is the category I’ve shared the most online, and probably my favorite. Think breakfast pantry staples, afternoon snacks, and “I haven’t eaten today” solutions. Muffins, breads, bars, no-bake protein balls, granola, savory clusters, trail mix variations. Some recent favorites include: Date Toffee Protein Bread, Take 5 Protein Balls, Pistachios and Praline Nut Mix and Cinnamon Toast Crunch Granola.

Snackagory 3: FRESH PRODUCE

Determining what exactly to make each week is dictated by the season, which is why I often call this a seasonal method. I live in Western New York and try to shop local as much as possible. Each week, I prep one in-season vegetable that can be eaten as-is or repurposed across meals. Some recents include: Shaved Carrot + Apple Slaw, Shaved Kale + Brussels Salad, Three Bean Mason Jar Salad, Crispy Rosemary Potatoes.

Snackagory 4: SWEET TOOTH SNACK

The non-negotiable. I am someone whose sweet tooth can be satisfied with a handful of M&M’s or a single chocolate covered cherry. But I need it every single night. Immediately after dinner. Some sweet tooth staples include chocolate covered nuts + fruits in the form of bark or clusters, stuffed dates, healthified baked goods and protein mug cakes.

Snackagory 5: BULK PROTEIN SOUCE

My method concludes with a healthy dose of reality. Life is busy and unpredictable, so I always prep one versatile protein to anchor lunches and dinners. This looks like crockpot chicken, pork or beef; roasted salmon, tilapia; seasoned ground meat, etc. I keep the flavors simple to be as versatile as possible.

Snacks aren’t extra or unnecessary prep, they’re the building blocks of my meal planning.

The Snacks Prep Method becomes the base of my week. They’re what make food and feeding myself + my partner feel doable instead of overwhelming. I do have a dinner theme for each week day, but that’s for another newsletter ;)

If you’re someone who craves a flexible structure or who feels like food constantly falls to the bottom of the to-do list, I hope this method finds you. And if you are reading this and it resonates, I’d genuinely love to hear why.

Until next time,

Niknack