Around this time of day, we invariably get a hankering for something crunchy and not-too-sweet. Our old standby? A whole-wheat Wasa cracker with coarse-grain mustard, a slice of swiss, and a crunchy leaf of iceberg lettuce.
Wasas are our favorite because they come with a lot of real estate for piling on the toppings. They work well as a foundation for our standard snack, dips, or even something sweet.
Here, we've culled together photos of real-life snacks from around the web to jumpstart some layering ideas. Each includes a big, beautiful Wasa cracker with toppings that vary from sweet to spicy:
FIRST ROW:
• 1 shaved fresh parmesan cheese and dried figs, thinly sliced
• 2 hummus
• 3 jam and Monterey Jack
• 4 raw almond butter
• 5 turkey, kalamata olive hummus, and banana peppers
SECOND ROW:
• 6 tomatoes, basil, a drizzle of olive oil and cheddar cheese, baked in the oven
• 7 aged white cheddar, ground black pepper, and extra garlic dill pickles
• 8 hummus, arugula, kalamata olive tapenade, fresh mozzerella, lemon, salt and pepper
• 9 chocolate Better’n Peanut Butter, real peanut butter, and prunes
• 10 three choices: smoked salmon with chili mayonnaise, or liverpaste and lettuce, or yellow cheese and butter topped with red pepper
See Wasa for more topping ideas submitted by real-life snackers.
Do you have any favorite cracker toppings to recommend for a midday bite? What type of cracker do you use as your "canvas"? Please tell!
Related: 15 Snacks To Fuel Your Work Day
(Images: health.com, Goodies First, Snackface, Wellsphere, Kristen's Nibbles, The Ex-Perfectionist, Jocelyn Eats Fresh, Chelsea Peretti, Foods of April, Naylors in Norway)
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My husband is Swedish so we have wasa crackers or some various form of hard bread around the house at all times. I love it as a midday snack with cottage cheese, cucumber, salt and pepper but sister in law usually eats it with cottage cheese, leek, tomatoes, and salt which sounds delicious. I especially like it because it gives me a few minutes to zone out, since you can barely hear yourself think over the sound of crunching. It always feels like my moment of escape.
It's peanut butter and wheat thins over here.
soooo hungry for 3pm snack...need wasa...
If I've been doing the cooking the previous night:
caramelized onion or roast garlic
cream cheese
Wasa
Whole grain crackers and extra-spicy or extra-garlic-y hummus :) Perfect afternoon snack!
With all this garlic and onion, I pity your co-workers during the afternoon meetings. ;)
I'm a hummus and ak-mak kind of gal myself. These other options look delicious but something I probably wouldn't think of doing when hastily preparing a snack to tide me over.
right now i'm eating an olive/tomato/feta/celery mix with some homemade seasoned pita chips that my dear mother provided me with over the weekend...
i'm not usually so classy, though. my standard is all-natural, organic peanut butter on all-bran crackers. the crackers add sweetness to the peanut butter...so good!
I'm with carolynapplebee! I thought I was the only one who did that, then I saw my co-worker with Ak-Mak and Laughing cow the other day!
I can't seem to get enough of the Cracked Pepper & Olive Oil Triscuits lately. I keep them at work and have with raw veggies!
The 7th photo with the pickles looks delish!!
Ryvita, sliced beetroot, and cottage cheese. Yum.
I just finished a Wasa Oat Crispbread with Nutella!
Blech! Wasa crackers are like cardboard to me.
I like wheat crackers (Wheatables or Wheat thins, or even those Lance wheat crackers), melba toast or even your standard Ritz, Club, or Triscuit. And then there are the cheez-its...but they need no garnish.
I'm fond of sourdough wasa with sliced tomatoes and a bit of salame.
I love Wasa! Brie with fig jam is one of my favourites. As is Swiss cheese with cucumber slices.
Oooh! #9 looks like it would make my toes curl w/ pleasure!