Healthy Road Trip Snacks

Summer is the perfect time for a road trip with the family or a close group of friends. It gives you time to bond with people who are close to you and has the potential to become a celebration all in itself. So this summer, plan a road trip to some exciting destination, play your favorite party music, wear something extra festive (but comfortable), and pack gorgeous eats to create a party atmosphere on the road!

I know, I know. It will hurt your figure. The thing with travelling by land is that everybody seems to end up bloated by the time the destination is reached. One of the reasons for that are probably the unhealthy food ad drink options that you take with you whenever you go on a road trip. To give you some easy solutions, here are some easy recipes that you could whip up for your next road trip:

1.)    The best snacks for road trips are those that you can easily munch on because it keeps your mouth occupied ad your brain interested. People munch on a lot of things during road trips because there isn’t anything else to do. So your choice of munchies is very important. For your next road trip why not make your own easy granola? Here’s how:

a.       Preheat your oven to 150 degrees C

b.      In a bowl, stir together 4 cups of oats, 1 cup dried cranberries or raisins, and two cups of roasted nuts. I like equal parts of walnuts and almonds but you can replace them with any other nut you fancy.

c.       In another bowl combine 13 cup vegetable oil, 1 ¼ cups of honey or 1 cup of maple syrup, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder. Drizzle this liquid mixture all over your dry ingredients and mix until everything is coated with this glaze.

d.      Spread the mixture evenly on a baking sheet and bake it for 30 to 40 minutes. It gets crunchy when it cools down.

2.)    Sometimes you just crave for some sweet dessert during a road trip. Instead of stopping at a convenience store to binge on chocolates, why not make your own healthy dessert? This easy-as-pie chocolate pudding gives you a sweet taste in your mouth without being too heavy on your tummy. Here’s how you make it:

a.       In a saucepan, heat two cups of Chocolate Milk until bubbles form at the edges.

b.      Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and slowly add in three tablespoons of corn starch while mixing well. (If you do not mix well the starch will form lumps)

c.       Continue stirring until the mixture thickens.

d.      Place in single serve cups that come with lids and pop in the refrigerator overnight.

e.       Take these dessert cups with you during your road trip and keep them chilled in a cooler with your beverages.

3.)    One of the biggest health mistakes people commit when travelling is taking some sugar-filled beverage with them. Sodas and bottled iced teas are not the way to go when it comes to travelling healthily. Instead, whip up this easy (and arguably most refreshing) beverage, the Cucumber Calamansi-ade:

a.       Grab a cucumber, slice it in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and then run it through a juicer. Reserve the liquid. If you do not own a juicer, run the cucumber in the food processor until you get a watery liquid. Run it through a strainer or sieve and reserve the liquid.

b.      Make some calamansi-ade by combining some calamansi concentrate and water. The proportions depend on your taste.

c.       Combine the cucumber juice and calamansi-ade and freeze.

d.      On the day of your trip, remove the Cucumber-Calamansi-ade mixture and store in a cooler to enjoy for the rest of your trip.

4.)    One of the things we always crave for during road trips is a little something that’s full of carbs. Instead of stopping for a burger or purchasing some sweet cake, why not create your own snack and take it with you? Waffles are probably the easiest snacks to prepare and are easy to eat in a car. Here’s how you make it:

a.       Simply make waffles with instant pancake mix.

b.      Add in chocolate chips, raisins, dried fruit, or bacon and ham bits in the middle.

c.       Slice your waffles in fours to make it easier to munch on inside the car.

Catch Confessions of a Partyphile (the radio show) every Wednesdays from 6PM to 9PM on 105.9 Mix FM. For comments, suggestions, and more confessions from this partyphile, log on to http://party.i.ph or twitter.com/zhaun

Do You Give Away Your Number in a Club/Bar?

Should You Give Out Your Number?

Hey partyphile readers! I’m glad to be receiving more queries from you. I hope you could send me some more by tweeting me at twitter.com/zhaun or by sending me a message on my facebook account, facebook.com/partyphile. You may also add me up on BBM (pin: 22A74B9A).Here’s another question I’m sure a lot of women can relate to. Here goes:

Dear Partyphile,

I love your column! I find it very interesting and informative. I have a question for you: What do I do when a guy asks for my number inside a club? Should I give it out? Should I not? What if I like the guy?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Carla S.

Hey Carla! I’ve had to think about this question long and hard before I got a solution that I think can actually work. Now here is the thing, when a guy asks for your number inside a bar, do not assume that he likes you. Some guys just ask for numbers as a dare, a game, or just to check if they haven’t lost their swag yet. Now, whatever happens to the offer relies on you.

Here is the thing, whether the guy likes you or not is irrelevant. What matters is whether you like the guy. Most girls would automatically shun off guys who ask for their numbers because they find it creepy. But take a look at the situation form the man’s point of view and realize that it takes a lot of guts to actually come up to a girl and ask for her number. So please, if you can, be gentle when you let them down and refuse to give your number away. So what do you do? Should you give your number? No.

Giving your number away just tells the guy that you are interested. That is the worse thing you could do, even if you really are (interested). You see, dating is a chase; a chase that guys enjoy. So whether you like him or not, when he asks for your number, do not give it. So do you ask for his? You can, but what will you do with it?

Again, if you ask for his number the responsibility now lies on you. You could also throw it away, end of story (unless you like him). If you do like then what would you do?  If you text or call him, that would tell him without a sliver of doubt, that you’re into him. Again, that’s not very smart because you have to be mysterious; you have to be worth the chase. So here are the things you can do:

1.)    If you don’t like him, just tell him that you’d rather keep your number private.

2.)    If you like him, don’t give away your number or ask for his. Again, that will make you seem easy. What you can do is dare him to do something fun like drinking a bottle of beer in less than two minutes. You could even dare him to go head to head in a drinking contest with your friend. If he agrees, then at least he made the effort and that’s commendable. It also gives you the opportunity to give your number without seeming “easy” if he accomplishes the dare. If he disagrees, then he probably wasn’t that into you anyway.

So the next time a guy approaches you and asks for you number, dare him to do something crazy and know whether he’s willing to put in some effort just to get to know you; or whether he’s just asking for your number for the cheap thrill.

I hope that answered your question and I hope you write us again!

Catch Confessions of a Partyphile (the radio show) on 105.9 Mix FM every Wednesdays from 6PM to 9PM. For questions, comments, suggestions, and more confessions from this partyphile, log on to http://party.i.ph or follow the columnist at twitter.com/zhaun