The mornings are crisper. The evenings are shorter. There’s a little less urgency to stay outside until the sun goes down.

Usually, this is the time of year when I start grieving summer before it’s even gone.

I linger + romanticize.

I look backward and miss some imagined version of myself who was happier, more carefree, more present, more something.

But this year, instead of mourning the season that’s leaving, I’m trying to stay in the present moment and welcome what’s next.

The beautiful thing about life is that we get to experience so many versions of ourselves.

Every season ends.

Every version is temporary.

And they’re all still me.

The recent version of Niknack is eating in and cooking Sunday through Thursday. Friday and Saturday are usually for eating out.

I think that’s balance.

Although, admittedly, my house-buying-and-saving-money brain is starting to question whether five nights of cooking and two nights of eating out is the right financial balance.

But that’s a budget conversation for another SubSnack.

For now, I’m going to keep calling it balance. Because the goal isn’t to execute Snackagories perfectly.

The goal is to have a relationship with food that makes my life easier.

And this week, while making dinner, I was reminded of two very simple cooking lessons that took me embarrassingly long to learn.

#1 Dirty Dishes Are a Blessing

I used to stress about dirty dishes.

Specifically, I used to stress about making rice because somehow making rice in a stainless steel pot felt like an invitation to spend the next twenty minutes scrubbing it.

But now — I welcome the dirty pot.

Because what does a dirty pot mean?

I made rice. It means I had the ingredients, the time, the kitchen, and the ability to make myself something to eat.

It means I’m cooking.

There is something deeply backwards about resenting the evidence of the thing you’re lucky enough to have.

And I’ve started challenging myself on another little kitchen habit, too.

I usually clean as I cook.

But lately, I’ve been trying to let the kitchen be messy while we eat dinner.

I’ll cook, plate the food, sit down and eat.

Then i’ll come back to the kitchen, clean up, and prep my lunch for the next day.

Because who really cares if the kitchen’s clean? Especially during those 20 minutes it takes me to eat with my husband?

Dinner is happening. Life is happening. The dishes will still be there.

#2 Prep Before You Cook

The second lesson is much less philosophical and much more practical:

Take out everything you need before you start cooking.

That’s it.

Get out the ingredients. Chop the vegetables. Organize the spices.

Then start cooking.

It sounds ridiculously obvious.

But there is something about having everything in front of you that changes the entire experience.

Instead of: Chop something → realize you need something → open the fridge → wash something → go back to the stove → forget what you’re doing → panic

It’s: Prep → cook → eat.

And honestly, that’s what Snackagories is supposed to do.

Remove a little friction.

Make the thing you’re already going to do feel easier.

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This Week’s Snackagories

This week is a little different. I’m home Sunday through Wednesday, and Thursday I’m off to a bachelorette weekend.

The bride was recently diagnosed with thyroid disease, so I wanted to bring along a few snacks that feel nourishing, easy to pack, and still fun enough for a bachelorette weekend.

So some of this week’s snacks are coming with me. The rest of the week is intentionally simple.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Salt & Vinegar Chip Dip

A healthy-ish dip + actual chips = the perfect balance in my book.

Think french onion dip meets salt-and-vinegar chips.

Ingredients

• Plain Greek yogurt

• Blended cottage cheese

• Apple cider vinegar or white vinegar

• Garlic powder

• Onion powder

• Dried dill

• Chives

• Salt + pepper

• Tiny splash of pickle juice, optional

Niknack Tip: Serve with kettle-style chips, pita chips, cucumbers, celery, or carrots.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Zucchini Banana Bread

I have spotty bananas so this was a quick-win decision that I’ll double batch — one for home, one for the bachelorette.

Ingredients

• Spotty bananas

• Shredded zucchini

• Eggs

• Flour

• Cinnamon

• Baking soda

• Salt

• Vanilla

• Honey or maple syrup

• Coconut oil or melted butter

• Optional: walnuts, chocolate chips, or coconut

Niknack Tip: Don’t overthink the moisture. Squeeze some of the water out of the zucchini, but you don’t need to wring it completely dry.

🥕 Fresh Produce

Eggplant for Pasta all Norma

Pulled this inspo from scrolling the NYT cooking app, a perfect late-August recipe.

Ingredients

• Eggplant

• Cherry or plum tomatoes

• Garlic

• Onion

• Olive oil

• Pasta

• Crushed tomatoes/passata

• Basil

• Parmesan or ricotta salata

Niknack Tip: Prep the eggplant and sauce separately so you can build the pasta fresh rather than eating one giant container of leftovers all week.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Brown Butter Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Brown butter + chocolate + salty pretzel = bachelorette snack table coded.

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter

• Brown sugar

• Granulated sugar

• Eggs

• Vanilla

• Flour

• Baking soda

• Salt

• Chocolate chips

• Crushed pretzels

Seasonal Tip: Make the dough ahead and freeze individual cookie dough balls. Bake only what you want/ need and keep the rest for future-you.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken

Put it in Sunday morning and suddenly dinner is basically handled.

Ingredients

• Chicken breasts or thighs

• Chicken broth

• Garlic

• Onion

• Paprika

• Italian seasoning

• Salt + pepper

• Lemon juice

• Optional: Parmesan rind / fresh herbs

Then you’ve got a protein that can become:

Sunday: Chicken + eggplant pasta / side salad
Monday: Chicken grain bowl
Tuesday: Chicken tacos or quesadillas
Wednesday: Chicken + whatever needs to be used up

The Mess Is the Point

Maybe I’m finally starting to understand why I linger so much.

I want to hold onto things.

Summer.

The version of myself I was last year.

The clean kitchen.

The perfectly planned meal.

The friend I used to be.

The life I think I should be living.

But everything is temporary.

The kitchen will get dirty.

Summer will end, dinner will be eaten.

And i’ll become another version of myself.

And maybe instead of trying to hard to preserve every version, I can just let myself live it while it’s here.

A dirty kitchen means I cooked.

An empty plate means I ate.

A changing season means I got to have a summer.

And a changing version of me means I’m still growing.

So this week, I’m going to try to worry a little less about keeping everything clean.

And spend a little more time eating.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Until next time,

Niknack

More specifically, Hilary Duff singing Come Clean and This is What Dreams Are Made Of to a sold-out crowd cured something deep in my soul.

When I was 13, Lizzie McGuire was my best friend. My entire wardrobe was ‘Stuff by Duff.’

Twenty years later, as I stood in an Amphitheater watching Hilary Duff embrace every piece of herself, I realized just how much I’ve grown up.

My childhood best friend joined me for the weekend, and the rest of our time was spent showing her around Buffalo. Halle and I grew up down the street from each other. She's seen every version of me and all the reinventions in between. She'll inevitably be the person who edits the book I write someday, because who else could possibly understand all the drafts?

There was something about seeing my childhood icon and having my childhood best friend in the city I’ve made home that made me feel incredibly aware of time.

Of how much has changed and how much has stayed exactly the same.

And of how, somehow, we’re the adults now.

This weekend has kind of felt like a little last hoorah.

The late nights. The going out just because we can. The bopping around. The feeling that every weekend should be maximized because Monday is coming.

But sometimes you don’t notice that you’ve changed until you’re standing in the middle of something you used to love and realize you don’t want it in quite the same way anymore.

It doesn’t mean the old version of you was wrong.

It means she did her job.

And maybe that’s why seeing Hilary Duff felt so strangely meaningful.

At 13, I looked at her and saw the person I wanted to be.

At 31, I looked at her and saw a woman who had grown up without disappearing.

She became a mom. She continued working. She continued making things. She continued being herself.

And I think that’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately:

Growing up doesn't have to mean becoming someone else.

It's figuring out what actually matters to you and letting some of the things that used to matter so much fall away.

You don’t have to say yes to everything.

You don’t have to live every weekend like it might be your last.

You can just... grow.

Which brings me to food. I caught myself feeling a little guilty that I didn't cook for Halle.

We ate out almost every meal. There was no meal prep. No Sunday reset. No carefully planned menu waiting in the fridge.

And for approximately five minutes, my brain tried to tell me I was a fraud.

But I’m starting to understand that this is exactly where the philosophy has to hold up.

Snackagories was never supposed to be about cooking every meal or executing some perfect version of a healthy lifestyle.

It’s about making food feel easier.

And sometimes the easiest thing is cooking a big batch of meatballs on Sunday.

And sometimes it’s letting someone else make dinner while you sit across the table from your childhood best friend and order another round.

That’s not failing.

That’s having a life.

So this week, I’m coming home to my kitchen and making a few things that will make the week ahead feel easier.

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This Week’s Snackagories

After a weekend of eating out and living outside my normal routine, this week’s prep is less about getting “back on track” and more about giving future-me a little help.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Rosemary White Bean Dip

A simple, creamy dip that comes together quickly and gives me something easy to reach for throughout the week.

Ingredients

• White beans

• Fresh rosemary

• Lemon

• Garlic

• Olive oil

• Salt + pepper

Niknack Tip: Serve with crackers, vegetables, toast, or use as a spread for sandwiches and wraps.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Coconut, Zucchini, Almond Muffins

A grab-and-go breakfast/snack for the mornings when I want something homemade without actually having to make breakfast.

Ingredients

• Coconut flour

• Almond flour

• Apple cider vinegar

• Banana mashed

• Shredded zucchini

• Ground cinnamon + nutmeg

• Baking soda

• Salt

• Large eggs

• Honey

• Vanilla extract

• Coconut oil

🥕 Fresh Produce

Gazpacho

Husband’s favorite August meal = gazpacho + grilled cheese.

It’s still hot, summer produce is everywhere, and after a weekend of restaurant meals, a cold bowl of gazpacho feels like the perfect way to ease back into my kitchen.

Ingredients

• Tomatoes

• Cucumber

• Bell pepper

• Red onion

• Garlic

• Olive oil

• Vinegar

• Salt + pepper

Niknack Tip: Make a big batch and let it hang out in the fridge. It only gets better.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

No-Bake S’mores Brownie Bars

Because growing up doesn’t mean becoming boring.

A summer dessert that requires no oven, lives happily in the fridge, and gives me something sweet to grab when I want it.

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter

• Creamy natural peanut butter

• Large eggs

• Vanilla Extract

• Graham cracker crumbs

• Semi-sweet chocolate chips

• Miniature marshmallows or fluff

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Spinach Meatballs

After a weekend where someone else did most of the cooking, I'm very ready to have a container of easy protein waiting in the fridge. These can become dinner with pasta, a bowl with vegetables and rice, a sandwich, or just a quick bite when I need something substantial.

Ingredients

• Ground meat

• Spinach

• Egg

• Breadcrumbs

• Parmesan

• Garlic

• Italian seasoning

• Salt + pepper

Niknack Tip: Make extra and freeze half. Future-you will be thrilled.

I guess this is Growing Up

I don’t think growing up is the moment when you suddenly feel like an adult.

It's looking around and realizing you've accumulated a life.

This weekend was a last hoorah in some ways.

But it was also a reminder to savor the life I’m actually living.

The old version of me isn’t disappearing.

She’s just coming with me.

And I think that’s enough growing up for one week.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Until next time,

Niknack

Then he dropped an iced coffee.

Quite literally spilling milk all over the hallway.

Okay, universe. I get it.

All of this week’s lessons seem to tie back to accepting spilled milk as just spilled milk.

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to be a person who doesn’t make mistakes, doesn’t fall behind, and doesn’t make the wrong choice.

In other words, I’m a perfectionist.

My 30s are teaching me that the work isn’t preventing the spill.

There will always be spills and mistakes.

But my brain thinks in absolutes.

For example:

A missed payment = We’re never buying a house.

I don’t have dinner planned = Why can’t I get my shit together?

A weird interaction with a friend = She hates me.

An awkward comment at the gym = Everyone thinks I’m annoying.

A mistake at work = I’m not good enough. I’m going to get fired.

Three months without posting = I’ve failed at Niknack.

It’s exhausting being the jury, the defendant, the prosecutor, and the judge in every situation I encounter.

My work is learning not to turn the spill into a story about my entire life.

The next version of myself doesn’t need to be more perfect.

She needs to be more resilient.

Because someday my kid is going to spill the milk.

And I’m going to want to be able to say:

It’s okay. It was just milk.

But I can’t teach that if I’m still treating every spill in my own life like a fire drill.

So I’m focused on building my good enough framework.

Not every decision deserves maximum effort.

Including what to eat.

This week’s Snackagories are good enough, not optimized.

Because the point isn’t really the food.

It’s permission.

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This Week’s Snackagories

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Whipped Peach Burrata

Peaches + burrata whipped together with basil, olive oil, flaky salt, and a little balsamic glaze.

It’s barely a recipe, which is exactly the point.

Let the peaches be peaches. Let the burrata be burrata. Put them on a plate with some good bread and call it dinner.

Ingredients

• Fresh peaches

• Burrata

• Fresh basil

• Olive oil

• Flaky sea salt

• Balsamic glaze

Niknack Tip: Don’t overthink the ratios. Blend or whip the burrata until creamy, then fold in diced peaches. Finish with basil, flaky salt, olive oil, and balsamic glaze. Serve with crackers or toasted sourdough.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Blueberry Pancake Protein Bites

These are basically pancakes that skipped the griddle.

Ingredients

• Oats

• Vanilla protein powder

• Almond butter

• Pure maple syrup

• Blueberries

• Cinnamon

• Salt

• Splash of milk, as needed

• White chocolate chips, optional

Mix everything together, roll into little bites, refrigerate, and move on with your life.

No flipping. No syrup. No perfect pancakes required.

🥕 Fresh Produce

Chili Crisp Watermelon Summer Salad

Watermelon, cucumber, feta, lime, mint, and chili crisp.

This is what I mean when I say peak summer produce doesn’t need much help.

Ingredients

• Watermelon, cubed

• Persian or English cucumbers, sliced

• Feta cheese, crumbled

• Fresh lime juice

• Fresh mint, finely chopped

• Olive oil

• Chili crisp

• Salt + black pepper

Niknack Tip: Make this right before eating so the watermelon and cucumber stay crisp. Start with a little chili crisp and add more until it tastes like summer with a tiny kick.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Cashew Chocolate Chip Snack Mix

I hesitated to even call this a snack, but it’s honestly all I keep reaching for.

You’ve heard it here before, but I always have cashews and chocolate chips in the pantry. At some point, I decided to stop pretending I needed to turn them into something else.

Ingredients

• Cashews

• Chocolate chips

• Dried cherries

• Flaky sea salt

Seasonal Tip: Add whatever dried fruit you have on hand, or swap in whatever chocolate is currently making you happy.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Summer Ground Chicken Burgers

I love prepping a neutral-ish protein that can become whatever I feel like eating during the week.

These patties are simple enough to disappear into whatever meal sounds good that day.

Ingredients

• Ground chicken

• Garlic, minced

• Small onion, diced

• Parsley, finely chopped

• Olive oil

• Yellow mustard

• Worcestershire sauce

• Salt

Mix, form into patties, cook, and keep them in the fridge for the week.

Then let future-you decide what they want.

Some ideas:

Hot Honey Summer Burger: Chicken + hot honey + tomato + basil

BLT Chicken Burger: Chicken + bacon + tomato + lettuce

Jalapeño Cheddar Burger: Chicken + jalapeño + cheddar + whatever sauce sounds good

Greek-ish Burger: Chicken + cucumber + feta + tzatziki

This is the whole idea behind my Snack Prep Method: prep the component, not the meal.

Give yourself something to work with without deciding exactly what you’re going to be hungry for three days from now.

Let It Be Just Milk

I want to be the woman who trusts herself to recover.

Not the woman who never makes mistakes.

Not the woman who never spills anything.

Just the woman who knows:

I can handle this.

Then wipes it up.

And keeps going. Keeps cooking. Keeps eating.

Because maybe that’s what “good enough” really means.

Not that everything went perfectly.

Just that I don’t need everything to go perfectly to know that I’m okay.

Thanks for reading this week’s SubSnack <3

Until next time,

Niknack

We’re officially in the thick of summer, and I couldn’t be happier. My porch is a jungle, the farmers market tables are overflowing, and every meal somehow tastes better eaten outside.

There’s something about the turn of July to August that invites us to loosen our grip a little. Starting with making dinner.

Making dinner is harder in your head.

Always has been. Always will be.

I’ve spent years helping people meal prep, and yet I still catch myself standing in front of the refrigerator convincing myself dinner is going to be an Olympic event.

I also still hate the phrase meal prep.

It sounds rigid. Expensive. Time consuming. Like your Sunday has to disappear into rows of matching containers.

That’s never been what I teach.

I still believe in ingredient prep — or as we call them around here, Snackagories.

Instead of preparing seven complete meals, I prepare ingredients that can become dozens of different meals depending on what sounds good that day. It leaves room for real life.

Even with my ingredients prepped, I often still put pressure on myself.

Somewhere in my brain, the default definition of dinner is a balanced, homemade, beautiful meal, worthy of photographing.

Meanwhile, it’s just me and Jon.

And Jon is perfectly happy eating something simple.

This week we had leftover grilled chicken sitting in the refrigerator that needed to be used, so we made hot honey chicken paninis together. Ten minutes. Crispy bread. Melted cheese. Hot honey. Done.

It wasn’t elaborate.

It was fun.

And honestly? It was exactly what dinner needed to be.

Sometimes the hardest part isn’t cooking.

It’s lowering the expectations we invented.

The same thing happened outside the kitchen this week.

I spent far too much energy replaying conversations, venting about a work situation, and worrying over a friendship.

Neither problem actually required me.

The work issue was handled by the leadership team that should have handled it all along.

The friendship sorted itself out without my involvement. Reality has a funny way of catching up with people.

It reminded me that not every problem is asking for my participation.

Sometimes life simply needs time to do its job.

I’ve started believing more and more that everything unfolds the way it’s supposed to. Not always on my timeline. Not always in the way I’d prefer. But usually with far less effort from me than I imagine.

So maybe the lesson is this:

Stop spending today’s energy trying to solve tomorrow’s problems.

Whether it’s dinner or difficult people, we often carry things that aren’t ours to carry.

This August, I’m challenging myself to let go, and maybe you can too.

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This Week’s Snackagories

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Smoky Eggplant Dip

The first eggplants of the season finally showed up at the farmers market, and I couldn’t resist bringing home the cutest little bunch. Eggplant is one of those vegetables that transforms completely once roasted. It becomes silky, smoky, and perfect for spreading on crackers, sandwiches, or scooping up with fresh vegetables all week long.

Ingredients

• 1 lb small eggplants

• 3 tbsp minced garlic

• ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt

• Juice of ½ lemon

• Olive oil

• Fresh oregano, thyme & mint

• Salt, pepper & smoked paprika

Niknack Tip: Roast the eggplant until it’s almost collapsing. The more caramelized it becomes, the smokier and sweeter your dip will taste.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Chocolate Chip Date Cashew Bars

I’m traveling for work this week, so I wanted something I could toss into my bag without thinking twice. Dates, cashews, oats, and chocolate chips make the perfect grab-and-go snack that feels like a treat but keeps you full between meetings.

Ingredients

• Medjool dates

• Raw cashews

• Rolled oats

• Vanilla

• Pinch of salt

• Mini chocolate chips

🥕 Fresh Produce

Shaved Carrot Salad with Feta & Pistachios

The carrots at this weekend’s market were too crooked and colorful to leave behind. I’ve also been prioritizing foods that support gut and hormone health, so adding a simple carrot salad to lunch this week felt like an easy win.

Ingredients

• Carrots

• Crumbled feta

• Chopped pistachios

• Lemon juice

• Olive oil

• Fresh parsley

• Salt & pepper

Niknack Tip: Use a vegetable peeler instead of a grater. The ribbons stay crisp and soak up dressing beautifully.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

No Bake Brownie Bites

I’m leaving these in the refrigerator while I’m away this week because every house deserves an emergency chocolate snack. These are a Niknack staple.

Ingredients

• Cocoa powder

• Peanut butter

• Vanilla Protein Powder

• Vanilla Extract

• Pinch of salt

• Chocolate chips

• Coconut oil

• Rainbow sprinkles (optional)

Seasonal Tip: Keep a batch in the freezer. Five minutes on the counter and they’re ready whenever a chocolate craving hits.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

Summer slow cooker meals exist...and somehow I forget about them every year.

Since I’ll be traveling, I wanted to leave Jon with something comforting that only requires reheating. Butter chicken is one of those meals that somehow tastes even better the next day.

Ingredients

• Chicken thighs or breasts

• Onion

• Garlic

• Ginger

• Tomato paste

• Crushed tomatoes

• Coconut milk or Greek yogurt

• Garam masala

• Curry powder

• Turmeric

• Paprika

• Salt

Meal Prep Tip: Make a double batch and freeze half. You’ll thank yourself on a busy September week.

Lower the Pressure

Dinner doesn’t have to impress anyone.

Neither does your life.

Not every meal has to be gourmet.

Not every conflict needs your commentary.

Not every loose end needs your hands on it.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is prepare what you can, trust the rest, and let life finish cooking.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Until next time,

Niknack

Every day brings a new leaf or another inch of growth. Proof that things are quietly happening even when they don’t seem to be.

On Saturday morning, I finally admitted he’d outgrown his pot.

I repotted him into the oversized planter he deserved. It felt oddly satisfying. Like watching someone move into a home that finally fits.

From there, I walked to the Elmwood Bidwell Farmers Market early enough to beat the crowds.

I came home with peaches, a mild hot pepper the farmer insisted I try, and the biggest zucchini I’ve ever seen. Seriously. It barely fit in my market tote. I think it would’ve qualified as carry-on luggage.

Summer has a funny way of overflowing.

The plants grow faster than expected. The farmers market bags get heavier. Weekends somehow fill themselves before Friday even arrives.

The trick, I think, is not trying to keep up with all of it.

Just enjoy what’s in front of you.

Speaking of enjoying what’s in front of you...

Jon recently bought us the 36-piece Blackstone accessory kit because we’re fully committed to becoming “Blackstone people.” I laughed when I unpacked it, but I have to admit… I’ve already picked out my favorite tool.

They’re little stainless steel rings meant for perfectly round pancakes or eggs.

Yesterday, I looked at them and thought, zucchini fritters.

Earlier this week I tried making crispy gnocchi in my cast iron skillet and managed to fill our apartment with enough smoke to set off every single fire alarm on our floor. After opening all the windows and regrouping, dinner turned out just fine. But it definitely reminded me why I’ve been reaching for the Blackstone all summer.

Outside is cooler.

Cleanup is easier.

Nothing smells like smoke for the next two days.

Summer cooking doesn’t need to be complicated. Peak-season produce already brings most of the flavor. Our job is mostly to pair good things with other good things.

Which is exactly where this week’s Snackagories begin.

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This Week’s Snackagories

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Peach Pepper Jam

I’m leaning into peak peach season while they’re fresh and unbelievably sweet. The subtle kick from the pepper balances the fruit perfectly, and it’s one of those recipes that instantly upgrades whatever you pair it with.

Ingredients

• Fresh peaches

• Mild hot pepper

• Lemon juice

• Sugar or honey

• Pinch of salt

Niknack Tip: Spoon it over whipped cottage cheese or goat cheese with crackers for an easy summer appetizer.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Zucchini Blueberry Muffins

When life hands you a carry-on-sized zucchini...

...you make muffins.

You’d never know there’s a vegetable tucked inside, and blueberries make every bite taste like summer.

Ingredients

• Grated zucchini

• Fresh blueberries

• Whole wheat flour

• Oats

• Eggs

• Greek yogurt

• Vanilla

• Cinnamon

• Baking powder

🥕 Fresh Produce

Blackstone Zucchini Fritters

When one zucchini weighs eight pounds, you start looking for creative ways to use it.

These are crispy around the edges, tender in the middle, and make a great lunch with a dollop of Greek yogurt or tzatziki.

Ingredients

• Grated zucchini

• Egg

• Flour

• Parmesan

• Garlic

• Green onion

• Salt & pepper

Niknack Tip: Salt the shredded zucchini first and squeeze out as much moisture as possible. It’s the difference between crispy fritters and soggy ones.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Graham Cracker Peanut Butter Protein Cups

I’ve been craving something sweet after dinner without turning it into a whole event. These hit that nostalgic peanut butter cup feeling while sneaking in a little extra protein.

Ingredients

• Graham crackers

• Natural peanut butter

• Vanilla protein powder

• Dark chocolate

• Coconut oil

Seasonal Tip: Keep them in the freezer. They’re especially satisfying after a hot evening walk.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Grilled Tahini Lemon-Garlic Chicken Breasts

This has become one of my favorite summer meal prep proteins because it works with almost everything: grain bowls, salads, wraps, or straight from the fridge.

Ingredients

• Chicken breasts

• Tahini

• Lemon juice & zest

• Garlic

• Olive oil

• Dijon mustard

• Salt & pepper

Meal Prep Tip: Grill extra while the grill is already hot. Future-you will appreciate having protein ready for quick lunches all week.

Overflowing

My banana plant didn’t grow overnight.

It just quietly kept becoming too big for the space it was in until one morning the answer was obvious.

Summer has a way of making everything feel abundant.

The basil won't stop growing. The zucchini barely fits in the bag. The weekends disappear too quickly.

Everything keeps growing.

So I’m reminding myself not to rush through it or try to hold onto it too tightly. Just to notice it while it’s here.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Until next time,

Niknack

July should be longer than every other month.

I’m the person who always lingers.

The last one at the dinner table.

The one who’s bad at goodbyes.

The one trying to hold onto every perfect summer evening.

Every year around this time, I start mourning August before July is even over.

But through my weekly writing, I’ve realized something.

Trying to preserve summer isn’t the same thing as experiencing it.

Every summer, people ask how to preserve tomatoes.

Freeze them.

Can them.

Dry them.

Turn them into sauce.

But there are some parts of summer you can’t preserve.

You have to eat the tomato while it’s still warm from the sun.

This week I had the opportunity to work an event hosted by Chef Darian Bryan, the most recent Next Level Chef winner.

Watching an incredible chef celebrate ingredients that are only available for a few fleeting weeks reminded me that the best food is almost always temporary.

When you finish a plate, the food is gone. The moment disappears.

That’s what makes it beautiful.

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This Week’s Snackagories

Built for peak-season ingredients and minimum kitchen time.

Not because cooking isn’t fun. Because July deserves to be spent outside.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Za’atar White Bean Hummus

Peak tomatoes don’t need complicated recipes.

Blend creamy white beans with lemon, garlic, tahini, olive oil, and plenty of za’atar. Spoon into a bowl and pile chopped heirloom tomatoes, cucumber, herbs, and flaky salt on top. Scoop with pita or crunchy vegetables.

Ingredients

• 1 can cannellini beans

• 2 tbsp tahini

• 1 lemon

• 1 garlic clove

• Olive oil

• Za’atar

• Salt & pepper

• Heirloom tomatoes

• Fresh parsley or basil

Niknack Tip: Don’t stir the tomatoes in. Pile them on top so every scoop tastes different.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

No Bake Blueberry Coconut Energy Bites

Blueberries are sweet enough right now that they don’t need much help.

Fresh berries folded into a coconut-oat mixture feel like breakfast you can eat on the porch.

Ingredients

• Quick oats

• Almond butter

• Honey

• Vanilla

• Unsweetened coconut

• Ground flaxseed

• Fresh blueberries

• Lemon zest

• Pinch salt

🥒 Fresh Produce

Big Summer Squash Bowl with Tomato Vinaigrette

Instead of hiding vegetables under heavy dressing, let tomatoes become the dressing.

Grated tomato, olive oil, garlic, vinegar, basil. Pour over grilled zucchini, summer squash, corn, white beans and herbs.

Ingredients

• Zucchini

• Yellow squash

• Sweet corn

• White beans

• Basil

• Tomato

• Olive oil

• Red wine vinegar

• Garlic

Niknack Tip: Grate ripe tomatoes on a box grater.

The skin stays behind and the pulp becomes instant dressing.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Blackberry Currant Ice Cream

My husband would eat black currant in absolutely anything.

Thankfully it also happens to pair beautifully with blackberry.

Made in my KitchenAid ice cream attachment, this has become one of those recipes that tastes like late July.

Ingredients

• Heavy cream

• Whole milk

• Sugar

• Vanilla

• Black currant jam

• Fresh blackberries

Seasonal Tip: Freeze extra berries now. Future-you will appreciate August.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Hibachi Style Chicken and Shrimp on the Blackstone

Summer dinners don’t need much.

Protein. Vegetables. Rice.

A screaming hot Blackstone.

Ingredients

• Chicken thighs

• Shrimp

• Zucchini

• Onion

• Mushrooms

• Soy sauce

• Garlic

• Ginger

• Sesame oil

• Butter

Meal Prep Tip: Cook extra protein now. Use leftovers in fried rice, salads, wraps and grain bowls all week.

Summer Isn’t Something to Save

Every year I reach the middle of July and immediately start grieving that it’s moving too fast.

I want to hold onto it.

Stretch it.

Slow it down.

But seasons were never meant to be held onto.

They were meant to be lived.

Maybe preserving summer has less to do with freezing berries or canning tomatoes...

and more to do with paying complete attention while they’re here.

Because maybe the closest we ever come to preserving a season...

is remembering what it felt like to be fully present while we were living it.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Until next time,

Niknack

But this week I realized something else.

Not everything needs to be homemade.

You don’t have to bake your own protein bars to eat a nourishing snack on the go.

You don’t have to whisk together every dressing or sauce for a meal to count.

You don’t have to make fresh pasta to invite people over for dinner.

Convenience isn’t cheating.

Sometimes it’s what creates enough room for what actually matters.

As I was thinking about that this week, I realized I’ve been expecting the exact opposite from myself.

I expect myself to move seamlessly from one thing to the next.

Work to airport.

Airport to family.

Family to old memories.

Old memories to new ones.

Without ever stopping to arrive.

This weekend, my grandpa took Jon and I to Block Island.

If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ve probably heard me mention it before. It’s where I spent so many summer weekends growing up, running around the docks and learning to love the kind of summer that revolves around boats, seafood, and saltwater.

Jon and I have been together for seven years.

This was his first time there.

I’d been waiting a long time to show him this place.

During the ride over, I realized I wasn’t just traveling from Long Island to Block Island.

I was traveling from the woman I am now back to the girl who spent summers there.

At the very same time, my phone kept buzzing with family drama happening somewhere else.

It felt like I was trying to hold joy and grief in the same hand.

By the time we got home, I was emotionally exhausted.

Then, somewhere between unpacking the boat and thinking about dinner, another realization hit me.

When I make pasta, I don’t throw everything into one pot.

I boil.

I sauté.

I let things rest.

I finish with basil.

Every stage prepares the next.

Somehow I’ve never extended that same grace to myself.

Maybe that’s what I’ve been craving all along.

Not less to do.

Not a different life.

Just enough space to arrive before moving on to the next thing. Enough space to savor the moment. Just like the flavor.

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This Week’s Snackagories

This week’s recipes all have one thing in common:

They’re simple enough to make room for the rest of your life.

Because the goal isn’t spending every spare minute in the kitchen.

The goal is eating well so you can get back to the people, places, and moments that deserve your attention.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Banana Pepper Dip with Crostini & Prosciutto

Tangy, creamy, and the kind of appetizer that looks impressive despite coming together in minutes.

Ingredients

• Greek yogurt

• Sour cream

• Banana peppers

• Parmesan

• Garlic

• Lemon juice

• Fresh herbs

Serve with crostini’s and prosciutto.

Niknack Tip: Make the dip a day ahead. The flavors get even better overnight.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Honey Nut Cherrios Protein Bars

Proof that a few pantry staples can become breakfast or an afternoon snack without turning your kitchen upside down.

Ingredients

• Honey Nut Cheerios

• Vanilla protein powder (I always use Nuzest; code NIKNACK for 15% off)

• Almond butter

• Honey

• Ground flaxseed

• Vanilla

• Pinch of salt

🥒 Fresh Produce

Pan-Fried Eggplant with Quick Tomato Sauce

Peak summer tomatoes don’t need much.

Just a little onion, basil, Parmesan, and enough time to let everything come together.

Ingredients

• 2 eggplants

• 1 onion

• 8 cherry tomatoes

• 1 cup tomato purée

• Fresh basil

• Parmesan

• Salt

• Black pepper

• Chili flakes or chili crisp

Niknack Tip: Make a double batch of the tomato sauce. Spoon it over grilled chicken, pasta, eggs, or toasted sourdough throughout the week.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Fresh Raspberry Chocolate Sorbet

A reminder that summer desserts don’t have to be complicated.

Sometimes ripe fruit does most of the work. All you need for this one is a Kitchen Aid Ice Cream Attachment or Ninja CREAMi.

Ingredients

• Fresh raspberries

• Honey

• Lemon juice

• Dark chocolate for shaving over the top

Seasonal Tip: Freeze raspberries at peak ripeness throughout the summer so you can make this long after berry season ends.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Sesame Chicken, Crispy Tofu & Broccoli

One sheet pan (or blackstone!). Two proteins. Endless combinations.

Ingredients

• Chicken thighs

• Extra-firm tofu

• Broccoli

• Sesame oil

• Soy sauce

• Garlic

• Ginger

• Rice vinegar

• Honey

• Sesame seeds

Meal Prep Tip: Cook both proteins together so you can build bowls, salads, wraps, or rice dishes exactly how you like them all week.

Make Space to Arrive

Standing next to my grandfather on the boat ride home, laughing about stories I’d forgotten, I realized something.

Maybe arriving somewhere isn’t about geography.

Maybe it’s about giving yourself enough space to notice where you already are.

This week, I didn’t need to make everything from scratch.

I didn’t need to solve every family dynamic.

I didn’t need to hold onto every version of myself.

I just needed to arrive.

Maybe that’s what I’ll keep practicing this summer.

One transition at a time.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

Until next time,

Niknack

Bring on the peaches, blueberries, sweet corn and tomatoes, along with any excuse to eat dinner outside.

But if I’m being honest, my favorite part of summer has very little to do with the food.

It’s the space.

Those extra hours of daylight.

The space to linger after dinner.

To leave the windows open.

To garden for no reason other than it’s sunny.

To go on a walk without checking how many steps I’ve taken.

To sit on the porch with a cookbook and nowhere else to be.

Lately, I’ve realized that’s what I’ve been craving more than anything.

Not more money.

Not more success.

Not another vacation.

Space.

My brain moves slowly.

It feels deeply.

I linger in moments long after they’ve happen.

I’ve always been terrible at goodbyes because I replay them over and over in my head. I write letters that are far too long because I never quite feel like I’ve said enough. I’m always the last one at the table to finish eating because I’d rather savor every bite than rush through a meal.

For a long time, I thought these were quirks I needed to fix.

Now I believe they’re simply clues about how I’m wired.

Maybe I’m not someone who’s meant to sprint through life.

Maybe I’m someone who’s meant to notice it.

The tricky part is that my reality doesn’t always match the pace my heart wants.

Most weekdays look something like this:

Morning workout —> Rush to work —> Meetings —> Emails —> Rush home —> Make dinner —> Niknack —> Husband —> Texts —> Bed.

Everything. All at once.

I’ve realized the only hour of my day where I feel completely present is during my workout.

Definitely not because I love burpees.

But because for one hour, no one can reach me.

There’s only one thing to do.

Move.

Breathe.

Rest.

Repeat.

It’s one of the only times my attention isn’t scattered across a dozen different places.

Which is also why I crave and develop slower recipes.

Not because I don’t love cooking.

I do.

I love spending hours in the kitchen on a rainy Sunday.

But this time of year reminds me that food should make room for life — not compete with it.

The best meals this time of year aren’t complicated.

They’re simple enough that you can make them quickly and get back outside.

Because the point isn’t spending all afternoon in the kitchen.

The point is having people to share the food with once you’re finished.

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This Week’s Snackagories

This week is built around easy summer snacks that leave room for everything else.

Less time cooking. More time lingering.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Creamy Tzatziki

Nothing tastes more like July than cool cucumbers, dill, and yogurt.

Ingredients

• Greek yogurt

• Grated cucumber

• Lemon juice

• Garlic

• Fresh dill

• Olive oil

• Salt & pepper

Niknack Tip: Make tzatziki on Sunday and it’ll become your dip, sandwich spread, burger sauce, and grain bowl dressing all week.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

No-Bake Raspberry Almond Protein Bars

Because turning on the oven in July feels like a personal attack.

Ingredients

• Rolled oats

• Almond butter

• Vanilla protein powder

• Fresh raspberries, juice squeezed and dried

• Chia seeds

• Honey

• Vanilla

• Pinch of salt

Store them in the freezer for grab-and-go snacks all week long.

🥒 Fresh Produce

Cucumber Artichoke Pasta Salad

Crunchy, briny, bright, and somehow even better the next day.

Ingredients

• Pasta

• Persian cucumbers

• Artichoke hearts

• Cherry tomatoes

• Fresh basil

• Parmesan

• Lemon

• Olive oil

• Pepperoncini

• Salt & pepper

Niknack Tip: Dress pasta salad while the pasta is still slightly warm so it absorbs all that lemony goodness.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

No-Bake Chocolate Fudge Bars

Five minutes of effort. Dessert all week.

Ingredients

• Dates

• Cocoa powder

• Cashews

• Oats

• Vanilla

• Sea salt

• Dark chocolate

Seasonal Tip: Keep them in the freezer. They taste even better straight from the freezer after a day at the beach.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Blackstone Grilled Chicken & Steak

Summer protein should be just as easy as summer produce.

Ingredients

• Chicken breasts

• Flank steak

• Olive oil

• Garlic

• Lemon

• Dijon mustard

• Italian seasoning

• Salt & pepper

Meal Prep Tip: Grill extra. Cold sliced chicken turns into wraps, salads, pasta, and grain bowls in minutes.

Leave a Little Room

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to meal prep more efficiently.

This summer I’m spending time thinking about how to leave more room.

Room to linger over dinner.

Room to send the long text.

Room to watch the sunset instead of another episode.

I’ve spent years building a life that matches my values.

Now I’m learning to build a calendar that does, too.

Thanks for reading this week’s SubSnack <3

I hope you find a little room to linger this week.

Until next time,

Niknack

Coffee in hand.

Cats in the window.

The basil needs watering.

This week felt full.

Not necessarily busy.

Just...full.

Some of my favorite moments were tiny.

Trimming snap peas with the windows open.

Vanilla ice cream with homemade rhubarb compote.

Fries and caviar with a friend on a random Wednesday.

Reading a cookbook on the porch after dinner.

The moments that stressed me out weren’t actually bigger.

They were just the moments where my attention wasn’t where I was.

I spent dinner planning the rest of the week instead of tasting dinner.

I expected my husband to read my mind instead of appreciating the one sitting across the table.

I let work conversations follow me home long after my laptop was closed.

It made me wonder if attention works the same way ingredients do.

When I meal prep, I don’t scatter my ingredients across twenty different recipes.

I choose one beautiful ingredient and let it show up again and again.

Maybe that’s how I want to move through summer, too.

One beautiful thing at a time.

The people in front of me.

The food on my plate.

The breeze coming through the windows.

The season that’s already here.

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This Week’s Snackagories

This week’s snacks are built around ingredients that reward paying attention.

Summer produce is doing most of the work, while a jar of chili crisp ties everything together. The goal isn’t to make five completely different recipes…. It’s to build a week of meals from a handful of ingredients that play well together.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Jalapeno Ranch Cashew Chicken Dip

One creamy dip. Endless uses.

Serve it with vegetables, spread it onto sandwiches, tuck it into wraps, or spoon it onto baked potatoes.

Ingredients:

• Cooked shredded chicken

• Raw cashews

• Greek yogurt

• Pickled jalapeños

• Fresh dill

• Chives

• Garlic

• Lemon juice

• Ranch seasoning packet

• Salt & pepper

Combine all ingredients except for shredded chicken in a high-speed blender or food processor to create a sauce. Fold in shredded chicken. Enjoy!

Niknack Tip: Whenever you’re making a dip, make enough to become tomorrow’s lunch.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Strawberry Lemon Protein Loaf

Summer strawberries don’t need much. Let them taste like strawberries.

Ingredients:

• Greek yogurt

• Eggs

• Vanilla protein powder

• Oat flour

• Almond flour

• Fresh strawberries

• Lemon juice + zest

• Vanilla

• Baking powder

Slice it, freeze it, and future-you has breakfast ready all week.

🥕 Fresh Produce

Cucumber, Corn & Basil Salad

Fresh corn, crunchy cucumbers, fragrant basil, and a spoonful of chili crisp that somehow makes the whole bowl taste even more like summer.

Ingredients

• Sweet corn

• Persian cucumbers

• Basil

• Chili crisp

• Lime

• Olive oil

• Flaky salt

Niknack Tip: Dress right before serving so cucumbers stay crisp and basil stays vibrant. For meal prep; keep the corn, cucumbers and basil in a separate container from the sauce.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

No-Bake Pistachio Bars

No oven. No fuss. More time outside.

Ingredients:

• Medjool dates

• Pistachios

• Cashews

• Oats

• Vanilla protein powder

• Chia seeds

• Coconut

• Vanilla

• Pinch of salt

Perfect straight from the freezer on hot afternoons.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Farro & Lentil Meal Prep

The quiet backbone of lunches all week.

Dress it once and pair it with whatever vegetables, herbs, or proteins end up coming home from the farmers market.

Ingredients:

• Cooked farro

• Lentils

• Feta

• Parsley

• Lemon

• Olive oil

• Pumpkin seeds

• Pepperoncini

• Salt & pepper

Meal Prep Tip: Prep grains and legumes plain, then season them differently throughout the week so lunches never feel repetitive.

One Beautiful Thing

When I’m cooking, I don’t try to make 15 recipes.

I pick one ingredient and let it show up in multiple places.

One ingredient.

Multiple meals.

Less decision fatigue.

More enjoyment.

Last week it was snap peas.

This week it was chili crisp.

Maybe life works like that, too.

Instead of scattering my attention across work drama, future plans, expectations, my phone...

what if I anchored it in one thing?

The meal.

The breeze.

The birds.

Summer.

Thanks for reading this weeks SubSnack <3

I hope you find one ingredient, and one moment, worth paying a little more attention to this week.

Until next time,

Niknack

Today is the Summer Solstice, and in a few hours I’ll be wandering through the Kenmore Farmers Market with my mom, filling a tote bag with whatever catches my eye.

The best thing about farmers markets is that they tell you what to cook.

Yet a lot of people approach the farmers market backwards.

They arrive with a recipe, a shopping list, and a mission to track down every ingredient.

I think that’s the worst way to shop.

Last Sunday at Snack Attack, I tried to drill home a different idea: don’t build your shopping list around recipes. Build it around ingredients.

Take garlic scapes, for example.

If I find a bunch at the market today, I’m not immediately thinking, What garlic scape recipe should I make?

I’m thinking:

How many ways can I use this one ingredient?

Maybe they become garlic scape butter for toast and grilled vegetables.

Maybe they’re blended into a dip.

Maybe they get tossed into pasta.

Maybe they’re folded into turkey meatballs.

One ingredient. Four different ways to eat.

That’s the beauty of seasonal cooking.

The market does the hard work for you.

The farmers market is my meal plan.

Instead of standing in your kitchen asking, What should I make this week? you can ask, What’s growing right now?

The answer is usually more interesting.

I think that’s why I love summer so much.

Summer asks us to pay attention.

To what’s growing.

To what’s in season.

To the people sitting across from us.

To the life we’re already living.

I’m excited to continue leaning into everything this season brings. I’m slowing down, prioritizing my plants, and embracing “no” as a complete sentence. Just because the days are longer doesn’t mean I need to optimize every minute of them.

Today is also Father’s Day, and I couldn’t write without acknowledging it.

Father’s Day can feel complicated for a lot of people, myself included, so I’ll simply say this: to the dads showing up, loving well, and teaching us how to care for other people, thank you.

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This Week’s Snackagories

Built around the abundance of the season and everything I’m hoping to find at the farmers market right now.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Garlic Scape Butter + Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing

The first bunch of garlic scapes always feels like the unofficial start of summer. Their mild garlic flavor adds so much punch without overpowering everything else.

Garlic Scape Butter

• 1 stick salted butter, softened

• 3 garlic scapes, finely chopped

• Zest of 1 lemon

• Pinch flaky salt

Perfect on toast, grilled vegetables, corn on the cob, or melted over roasted potatoes.

Throwing a bonus recipe in here today; because my Husband is addicted to Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing and today’s plan includes prepping a fresh batch.

Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing

• ¼ cup olive oil

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tbsp maple syrup

• 1 tbsp poppy seeds

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

• Salt + pepper

Shake and drizzle over greens, berries, or grain salad bowls.

Niknack Tip:

Whenever you buy fresh herbs, garlic scapes, or green onions, think beyond one recipe. Compound butters, dressings, dips, and sauces stretch seasonal ingredients all week long.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Blueberry Almond Lemon Loaf

Peak blueberry season is right around the corner, and this loaf feels like summer mornings in snack form. It also gives me something to look forward to as I start my work day.

Ingredients

• 2 cups almond flour

• ½ cup oat flour

• 2 eggs, whisked

• ⅓ cup maple syrup

• Zest of 2 lemons

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1 cup blueberries

• Sliced almonds

Slice and freeze individual portions for easy breakfasts, afternoon snacks, or farmers market fuel.

🥕 Fresh Produce

Sugar Snap Peas

If you see snap peas at the market, grab them.

They’re sweet, crunchy, require almost no prep, and somehow make every meal feel fresher.

How I’m Using Them

• Raw with dip

• Chopped into salads

• Tossed into pasta

• Quick sauté with garlic scape butter

• Added to grain bowls

Niknack Tip:

Wash, trim, and store snap peas as soon as you get home. If they’re ready to eat, you’ll actually eat them.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Chocolate Cherry Brownies

Fresh cherries are one of summer’s greatest gifts, and they deserve more than being eaten standing over the sink (although that’s encouraged too).

These brownies combine rich chocolate flavor with juicy cherries for the perfect seasonal dessert.

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt

• 2 eggs

• ⅓ cup maple syrup

• ½ cup cocoa powder

• ½ cup oat flour

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tsp almond extract

• 1 cup chopped fresh cherries

• Pinch salt

Seasonal Fun Fact: Sweet cherries are one of the first major fruit harvests of summer in Western New York, making right now the perfect time to lean in.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Turkey Meatballs with Cherry Tomato Lemon Basil Sauce

A reminder that great summer meals don’t need much.

When tomatoes, basil, and lemons are doing the heavy lifting, dinner practically makes itself.

Turkey Meatballs

• 1 lb ground turkey

• 1 egg

• ½ cup breadcrumbs

• ¼ cup grated parmesan

• Garlic scapes or garlic

• Salt + pepper

Cherry Tomato Lemon Basil Sauce

• 2 cups cherry tomatoes

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• Garlic, minced or powder

• Juice and zest of 1 lemon

• Handful fresh basil

• Reserved pasta water

• Salt + pepper

Roast the meatballs while the tomatoes blister in a skillet. Toss together with fresh pasta, or serve alongside grilled vegetables.

Meal Prep Tip:

Make a double batch of meatballs and freeze half. Future-you will be thrilled.

Summer Feels like Possibility

Not because everything changes overnight, but because the days get long enough to notice what’s already growing.

Today I’ll wander the farmers market, fill a tote bag with whatever catches my eye, and almost certainly come home with more greens than I need.

For a long time, I thought I was building toward a future version of my life.

Lately, I’m realizing I might already be living it.

Summer starts today. I’m excited to lean in.

Thanks for reading this week’s SubSnack <3

Until next time,

Niknack

Nine years ago, I ran my first Corporate Challenge as a first-year analyst in New York City.

If you’d told me then what my current job title is and where I would live today, or that I’d be spending a Sunday teaching people how to stock their fridge with seasonal snacks, I would have laughed in your face.

And yet, here we are.

This past week, I ran my third Corporate Challenge with my coworkers in Buffalo.

As I was running, I kept thinking about that first-year analyst and all the things I would tell her.

First: you are not defined by your career.

No one is tracking your overtime besides you.

Second: mistakes are how you learn.

Early in your career, one mistake can feel like the end of the world. It isn’t. You’re human. Humans make mistakes. The best ones learn from them.

Third: stop living so far in the future.

Have goals, but don’t spend so much time planning your life that you forget to enjoy it.

One day you’ll look back on your early career as the good old days. Don’t waste them worrying about a future that probably won’t unfold the way you imagined anyway.

Fourth: you are your own worst critic.

I lost so much sleep chasing perfectionism and holding myself to impossible standards. It took me years to realize that life becomes a lot more enjoyable when you stop treating every decision like it’s make-or-break.

Fifth: soft skills matter.

A smile, positive attitude, genuine curiosity, and the ability to work well with others will take you further than you think.

And lastly: you become who you surround yourself with.

I was so hesitant to move to Buffalo. Plenty of my New York colleagues couldn’t understand why I’d leave.

But as I said in my wedding vows, one of the first things my Husband ever told me about Buffalo was that it’s a “city of good neighbors.”

Almost three years later, and nearly one year into working for a Buffalo-based marketing agency, I can wholeheartedly say he was right.

This city is filled with genuinely good people.

People who show up.

People who care.

People who root for each other.

Nine years ago, I had a vision for what my 30s would look like.

None of it happened the way I planned.

And somehow it turned out better.

Funny how life makes the most sense when you look back.

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This Week’s Snackagories

Snack Attack #2 is today, and I’ve been spending the week prepping recipes, organizing ingredient lists, and reminding myself that teaching people how to use fresh produce is my favorite part.

This week’s menu is built around one idea: Prep a few versatile components and let them become multiple meals throughout the week.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Strawberry Balsamic Dip

If summer had an official flavor, I think it might be strawberries and basil.

This dip is creamy, tangy, sweet, and endlessly versatile. It starts as a snack board centerpiece but quickly becomes a dressing, sandwich spread, or grain bowl sauce.

Ingredients

• Greek yogurt
• Cottage cheese
• Strawberries
• Balsamic vinegar
• Lemon zest
• Fresh basil
• Salt & pepper

Seasonal Tip:

Local strawberries are one of the first true tastes of summer. The best ones are often the smallest, most fragrant berries in the basket.

Niknack Tip:

Thin leftovers with olive oil and a splash of lemon juice to create a pasta salad dressing.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Cherry Pistachio No-Bake Cookies

Because it’s too hot to turn on the oven.

These cookies are chewy, nutty, lightly sweet, and packed with pantry staples that actually keep you full.

Ingredients

• Rolled oats
• Pistachios
• Pumpkin seeds
• Dried cherries
• Almond butter
• Maple syrup
• Vanilla
• Cinnamon
• Cardamom

Niknack Tip:

Store them in the refrigerator for an easy grab-and-go breakfast, afternoon snack, or post-walk treat.

🥕 Fresh Produce

Crispy Pea & Herb Salad

This recipe is summer produce at its peak.

Crunchy lettuce, fresh herbs, radishes, tomatoes, eggs, bacon, and a creamy lemon dressing all working together to create something far more exciting than a side salad.

Ingredients

• Lettuce
• Fresh herbs & green onions
• Radishes
• Cherry tomatoes
• Hard-boiled eggs
• Crispy bacon
• Crispy pea “croutons”
• Creamy lemon dressing

Seasonal Tip:

Fresh herbs are one of the easiest ways to make vegetables feel special. Think of them less like garnish and more like a vegetable themselves.

Niknack Tip:

Turn leftovers into a pita sandwich, grain bowl topper, or quick lunch with grilled chicken.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Strawberry Olive Oil Sundaes

A reminder that not every food needs a health justification.

Some foods exist simply because they’re delicious.

And strawberries, vanilla ice cream, olive oil, flaky salt, and rhubarb caramel happen to be one of my favorite combinations of the season.

Ingredients

• Vanilla ice cream
• Fresh strawberries
• Rhubarb caramel
• Olive oil
• Flaky sea salt

Sometimes dessert is the snack.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

White Bean Chicken Salad

One of my favorite examples of practical snack prep.

A single batch can become lunches, sandwiches, lettuce wraps, snack plates, or an easy dinner throughout the week.

Ingredients

• Shredded Chicken
• Cannellini beans
• Green onions
• Celery
• Fresh herbs
• Lemon
• Olive oil
• Dijon mustard

Meal Prep Tip:

The beans stretch the chicken while adding fiber, texture, and staying power.

The Good Old Days

One thing I’ve realized recently is that we’re often living through the very moments we’ll someday look back on fondly.

The good old days rarely announce themselves.

They’re a Thursday evening walk.

A Corporate Challenge with coworkers.

A summer workshop.

A dinner on the porch.

A city that slowly becomes home.

For years I spent a lot of time looking ahead.

Lately I’ve been trying to pay more attention to what’s right in front of me.

Because one day, I know i’ll look back on this season of life and miss it too.

Thanks for reading this week’s SubSnack ❤️

Until next time,

Niknack

Which is objectively hilarious considering Buffalo sits on Lake Erie.

Last week, a friend invited me to go speed sailing. I jumped at the opportunity and somewhere between the wind and the water, I was transported back to childhood.

I grew up on the water. It’s where I feel most at peace. Most at home.

My grandpa had power boats my entire life, and as the oldest granddaughter, I got to go everywhere with him. We spent summers traveling around New England: Watch Hill, Block Island, Nantucket. Fourth of July was usually spent on Block Island or anchored out somewhere watching fireworks dance across the water.

The best day of my life was when I was finally old enough to drive the dinghy around myself. I always joked that one day I wanted a cigarette boat so I could go as fast as possible.

So when my friend invited me to go speed sailing, I had no idea what I was in for. But my sea legs were certainly up for the challenge.

Somewhere between learning how to haul the halyard and winch the line, nostalgia took over.

Not the sad kind. The grateful kind.

The kind that sneaks up on you when you realize just how much your childhood shaped who you became.

I didn’t know how good I had it growing up on boats with my grandparents.

Those memories influenced so much of who I am today.

My grandpa introduced me to nearly all of my favorite foods. He got me hooked on seafood at a very young age.

My grandparents’ house sits on a canal, and some of my favorite Sunday dinners happened after my grandpa spent the day fishing while my grandma cooked whatever he brought home.

Freshly caught flounder was a favorite.

Breaded with mayonnaise, lemon, and breadcrumbs.

Simple. Delicious. Perfect.

The older I get, the more I realize food has a funny way of connecting us to different versions of ourselves.

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This Week’s Snackagories

This week’s Snackagories are inspired by the version of me that grew up on boats, spent summers with sand between her toes, ate seafood whenever possible, and believed every meal tasted better near the water.

In other words: the summer version of myself.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Mango White Bean Salsa

If summer had an official dip, this might be my nomination.

It’s bright, fresh, slightly sweet, a little spicy, and incredibly versatile. It falls somewhere between a salsa, a dip, and a spread… which means it’s exactly my kind of recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 ripe mango, diced small

• 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

• ⅓ cup red onion, finely diced

• 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced

• ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

• Juice of 2 limes

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• Kosher salt

• Black pepper

• Red pepper flakes (optional)

Partially smashing the beans is the move that makes this work as both a salsa and a spread. Serve it with chips, pile it onto grilled fish, spread it onto sandwiches, or spoon it over grain bowls.

Seasonal Snack Attack Hack: Mangoes may not be local, but they’re at their sweetest and most abundant during summer months. Pairing sweet fruit with lime, herbs, and a little heat is one of the easiest ways to make simple meals feel exciting.

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

Strawberry Protein Balls

Strawberry season is far too short, so I’m finding every excuse possible to work them into snack prep.

These taste like a strawberry shortcake energy bite and are perfect for keeping in the fridge when hunger inevitably strikes.

Ingredients

• ½ cup fresh strawberries, finely diced

• ½ cup freeze-dried strawberries

• 1 cup rolled oats

• 1 cup almond butter or peanut butter

• ¾ cup honey or maple syrup

• ⅓ cup vanilla protein powder

• 2 tbsp chia seeds

• ⅓ cup unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tsp kosher salt

Store these in the freezer. They thaw in just a few minutes and make the perfect grab-and-go snack before workouts, road trips, or busy afternoons.

Seasonal Snack Attack Hack: Fresh strawberries add flavor and moisture, while freeze-dried strawberries concentrate that classic berry flavor without making the mixture soggy.

🥕 Fresh Produce Snack

Grilled Zucchini

The first zucchini of summer always feels like a seasonal milestone. And this summer we’re living for the Blackstone grill.

Grilling transforms zucchini from something mild into something smoky, caramelized, and completely irresistible.

Ingredients

• 4 medium zucchini

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• ½ tsp black pepper

• ½ tsp garlic powder

• ½ tsp smoked paprika

• Zest and juice of 1 lemon

• Fresh thyme or oregano (optional)

Seasonal Snack Attack Hack: Zucchini plants are famously productive. If you’ve ever had a garden, you’ve probably experienced the annual tradition of trying to find creative ways to use all of it.

Leftover zucchini works beautifully in grain bowls, sandwiches, pasta salads, wraps, omelets, and snack plates throughout the week.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Chocolate Cashew Clusters

A reminder that not every snack needs to be complicated.

Sometimes all you need is chocolate, crunchy nuts, and a little flaky salt.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups cashews

• 1 cup dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate

• 1 tsp coconut oil

• 1 tsp flaky sea salt

• 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup (optional)

Eat them cold from the refrigerator with an afternoon coffee.

That’s it.

That’s the tip.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Grilled Tuna Steaks

Every bite reminds me of summer dinners near the water.

Tuna cooks quickly, feels special without being complicated, and makes meal prep feel a little more exciting than another container of chicken.

Ingredients

• 4 tuna steaks (about 1 inch thick)

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• Black pepper

• Garlic powder

• Smoked paprika

• Lemon zest

• Red pepper flakes (optional)

Meal Prep Tip: Cook tuna just until medium-rare, then slice and use throughout the week. Serve it with:

• Mango White Bean Salsa

• Grilled zucchini

• Rice bowls

• Salads

• Lettuce wraps

A little protein prep goes a long way when summer schedules start filling up.

Summer Is Upon Us

This week reminded me that some of the things we love most about adulthood are often the things we loved as kids.

Being outside.

Being near the water.

Eating dinner on a porch.

Fresh fruit.

Long evenings.

Good company.

Simple food.

The things that feel magical now aren’t all that different from the things that felt magical then.

Maybe that’s why summer feels so nostalgic.

Not because we want to go backwards.

But because it reminds us who we’ve been all along.

Thanks for reading this week’s SubSnack <3

Until next time,

Niknack

Nothing particularly exciting had happened.

Just strawberries.

The kind that actually taste like strawberries.

And dinner on the porch.

The kind of evening I long for.

As May comes to a close, I’ve found myself reaching for the word quaint to describe how I’m feeling.

But that’s not quite right.

Quaint describes a place.

What I’m feeling is something closer to contentment.

Excitement gets all the attention.

Engagements.
Trips.
Promotions.
New jobs.
Moves.

It’s loud.

It’s easy to identify.

It’s easy to post about.

Contentment is quieter.

It’s walking to the local market.

Seeing summer produce return.

Singing your favorite song with the windows down.

Traveling and then being happy to come home.

Turning the page on a new month with anticipation rather than urgency.

For most of my life, happiness felt like something I would achieve.

Lately it feels more like something I’ve learned to notice.

May wasn’t remarkable because something huge happened.

It was remarkable because so many ordinary things felt worth noticing.

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This Week’s Snackagories

We’ve arrived at the best time of the year. Farmer’s markets are flourishing and simple ingredients are here to make ordinary days feel like magic.

One of my favorite reminders this time of year is that a single prepared component can become several meals. A little effort on Sunday creates a lot of ease on Wednesday, and that’s the goal of these snacks.

🥣 Savory Dip / Spread

Roasted Beet Feta Sauce

Beets have finally arrived at Five Loaves Farm, which means I’m immediately turning them into a creamy roasted beet feta sauce. I never thought I liked beets, but as I’ve leaned into cooking seasonally I found I like them roasted.

Roasting brings out their natural sweetness, while feta adds saltiness and tang. The result is a vibrant sauce that's equally enjoyed at home on a snack board or tossed with warm pasta.

Ingredients

• 3 medium beets, roasted and peeled

• 4 oz feta cheese

• 1 garlic clove

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• Salt and pepper to taste

The sauce can become a:

• dip for vegetables and crackers

• spread for sandwiches and wraps

• dressing for grain bowls and salads

• pasta sauce tossed with warm noodles

🍞 Grab + Go Pantry Snack

No Bake Apricot Chia Protein Bars

These bars feel like sunshine in snack form.

Dried apricots add natural sweetness and chewiness, while chia seeds, oats, and nut butter create a satisfying snack that actually keeps you full.

I love recipes like this because they remove decision fatigue. When a nourishing option is already waiting in the fridge, it’s much easier to choose.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried apricots

• 1 cup rolled oats

• ½ cup almond butter

• 2 tbsp chia seeds

• 2 tbsp flax seeds

• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup

• Pinch of sea salt

Pulse everything together in a food processor, press into a lined pan, and refrigerate until firm.

Perfect for:

• breakfast; in the car or on the go

• afternoon snacks

• late night snacks

Fun fact: Chia seeds absorb many times their weight in liquid, which helps create structure while adding fiber and staying power.

🥕 Fresh Produce Snack

Little Gem Crunch Cups

We've officially entered lettuce season. The first tender heads of lettuce are one of the most underrated signs of summer. They're sweeter, more delicate, and infinitely more exciting than the sad plastic clamshells of winter.

These little lettuce cups celebrate everything fresh and crisp about the season.

Ingredients

• 1 head Little Gem or butter lettuce

• 4 radishes, thinly sliced

• 1 snap pea handful, sliced

• 2 green onions, sliced

• Fresh dill and parsley

• Lemon juice

• Olive oil

• Flaky sea salt

Toss the filling ingredients together and spoon into lettuce leaves.

The beauty of this snack is its simplicity. When produce is fresh and in season, it doesn’t need much help.

Seasonal tip: Radishes are often overlooked for their greens. If your bunch comes with tops attached, blend them into pesto or stir them into soups.

🍫 Sweet Tooth Snack

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pretzels

These are the kind of treat that reminds me healthy eating doesn't need to exist at either extreme. Sometimes nourishment looks like vegetables and protein. Sometimes it looks like chocolate-covered strawberries shared on the porch after dinner.

Ingredients

• Fresh strawberries

• Pretzel twists

• Plain Greek Yogurt

• Peanut Butter

• Flaky sea salt

• Dark chocolate chips

The combination of sweet strawberries, salty pretzels, and rich chocolate is one of those simple pleasures that somehow feels special every time.

🍗 Bulk Protein Source

Ginger Glazed Grilled Chicken Thighs

If summer had an official protein source, grilled chicken thighs would be my nomination. Chicken thighs stay juicy, reheat beautifully, and work with nearly every meal you can imagine.

The ginger glaze adds brightness and a little sweetness while keeping the ingredient list simple.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs

• 2 tbsp fresh grated ginger

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 2 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 tbsp honey

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• Juice of 1 lime

Marinate for at least 30 minutes before grilling.

Serve with:

• Little Gem Crunch Cups

• Roasted vegetables

• Grain bowls

• Pasta salad

• Wrapped in lettuce with extra herbs

Meal prep tip: Slice leftovers for salads, tuck into wraps, pile onto grain bowls, or pair with crackers and vegetables for an easy snack plate. Having a ready-to-go protein source is one of the simplest ways to make weekday meals feel effortless.

I’ve found myself smiling at the ordinary.

While heading to the gym at 6am.

While planning June’s Snack Attack at Five Loaves Farm.

While noticing the return of strawberries, lettuce, herbs, and all the other signs that summer is upon us.

In the realization that there isn’t somewhere else I’d rather be.

June is arriving with longer days, coffee walks, porch parties, and all the anticipation that comes with the start of summer.

And for once, I’m not in a rush to get anywhere.

I’m just happy to be here.

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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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