Healthy snacks I've tried

Recently I've been trying to eat better. I am eating less processed junk and sticking to clean eating with gorgeous meals full of vegetables and snacking on lots of fruit. I've been looking for alternatives to snacks that I would have eaten such as crisps, jelly sweets and chocolate bars. I've been snooping round ASDA and Holland and Barrett to find these below.

Metcalfe's Skinny Popcorn - ASDA £1.00

Popcorn is a great alternative to snacking on crisps as it is lower in calories and can come in savoury or sweet flavours to suit whatever you are craving. Although this is a light snack it is packed with flavour and you'll never feel like you are eating plain popcorn! I've tried sweet and salty, sweet cinnamon spice and Sargent salt. My favourite has to be the cinnamon one, it is so tasty!
Beauty Sweeties - H&B £1.99 I picked these up because even through the packaging these sweets smelled amazing! Such a sweet, subtle melon smell. They are gluten, lactose and gelatine free with a high fruit juice concentrate. The texture of these sweets is very strange, they kind of melt away in your mouth as you chew. The taste is okay but very sweet. I'm not really a fan of these but they could be a possible swap for people who love sweets!
Nature Crops Quinoa Nutrition Bar This nutrition bar is a great alternative to a chocolate bar as it is filled with protein-rich quinoa. A lot of people may have had quinoa and thought it wasn't very nice but I assure when you get it right it is lovely. In this bar, the quinoa doesn't have a strong taste but acts as a base for the bar, almost like a biscuit would in a chocolate bar. It is filled with almonds which contain a lot of good fats and dark chocolate which is good for you in small doses. This bar is very yummy but I think to make it cleaner I want to start making my own!
Quinoa Crisps - H&B £1.99 These crisps have the texture of Walkers' Sunbites and are corrugated rectangle shapes rather than a traditional crisp shape. Made primarily with quinoa flour these crisps are suitable for vegans and vegetarians and gluten-free. They are great tasting crisps but the flavouring was a little bit too strong, but I'm sure that won't put some people off.
Urban Fruit Baked Mango - ASDA £2.00 I picked this up after seeing a few people review these on their blogs. This is basically mango that has been baked and nothing else - no preservatives or sugars. Although having said there is no sugar, this is no added sugar, the sugars from the fruit are quite high so you have to be mindful if you are eating a whole bag! The bite-size pieces in the bag aren't the most attractive snack but they do taste nice, almost like a tangy chewy mango. I'd definitely go and get another bag when I eat them all!
Although I've been trying out these few snacks you can't beat the basics. I've been trying to take as much fruit as possible with me to work so that I have something to eat when I am hungry to stop me buying something else from town. What I do struggle with is snacking on vegetables, this is my next task! Getting more veggies into my snacks.
Have you tried any of these? Got any new ones I should try? Any good snacks you can recommend?

Happy Birthday to ME!

My 22nd birthday fell when I was in the sunny city of Florence! This is only the second time I have spent my birthday away from home, but I guess as you get older birthdays are less oriented around staying at home. On my birthday we took a trip to the seaside town of Viareggio, about a 1hour 40mins away from Florence on the train. It was a lovely sunny day so there were a lot of people on the beach.

I was a very lucky girl this year and got what I feel is a heap of great presents off a lot of lovely people! As well as my shoes that I posted here I also got the below!

Here we have a cookbook called Breakfast Lunch Tea, Minion Stuart, a cute kiss mug from UO, a Thomas Sabo bracelet, OPI - When Monkeys Fly, Chanel - Paradoxal & Taboo, Dior - Dialotine, Murad Pore Perfection starter kit, Murad lip protector, Topshop gift card, sweeties, a bird necklace and a Minion iPhone case.

I feel so lucky to have got all my presents and am thankful for them all!

Is your birthday coming up soon? What have you asked for?

Sweet Treats in Florence - travel

When you think of Italy you think of pizza, pasta, vespa scooters and the Italian language. When I was in Florence I enjoyed some sweet treats that you should have all heard of.

Gelato

Of course, I was going to say this, it is supposed to be the best in the world! You cannot come to Italy without eating some famous Italian gelato, there is a gelato shop on literally every corner in Florence. When we were in Florence we came across a gorgeous gelato shop that we kept going back to called Le botteghe di Leonardo. There I tried pistachio and choc/hazelnut, these were amazing. I also tried some kibanana (kiwi and banana) this was weird but surprisingly nice! Here are some pictures of the ice cream we ate so you can drool...

Ice Tea

Now I know that Ice Tea is a worldwide thing and when in the UK I do love a Lipton's peach ice tea but in the UK it is hard to find! In Florence, it was in every shop and even on tap in McDonald's. It is fair to say I drank a lot.

Cannoli

Anyone out there who has seen Carlo's bakery on TV will know what a cannoli is and want to try one. I was no different. When I got to Florence this was one of the things I wanted to get my hands on and when I did I was surprised at how yummy they were. Cannolis have a hard sweet taco shell with a sweet thick filling, mine also had a few chocolate chips. I must admit it was rather sickly but I ate it all.

If you know where these are sold in the UK let me know!

Have you tried any of these? What do you think?