Rustic Veggie Bake

Discover the magic of Rustic Veggie Bake – where vibrant flavors, aromatic herbs, and fresh veggies collide. Prepare it ahead for intensified, mouthwatering goodness.
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Roasted Vegetables Barley Bowl

A delicious and nutritious Roasted Vegetable Barley Bowl filled with barley, arugula, hummus, a variety of veggies including asparagus and blistered tomatoes, all topped with a sprinkle of chili flakes for just a little heat.  It’s perfect for a weeknight meal.
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Dragon Fruit Smoothie Bowl

This Dragon fruit Smoothie Bowl is a beautiful, quick, and easy tropical breakfast recipe!  Dragon fruit, also known as pitaya, is nutrient dense food packed with antioxidants, low calories making it a great option for vegan and paleo diets.  Made with just 3 ingredients, dragon fruit, mango, and coconut water, add your favorite toppings and enjoy!
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Beet and Butternut Squash Salad

A perfect combination of fall flavors, this salad is perfect for lunch or as a side for dinner.  Roasted beets and butternut squash are served over peppery arugula, tangy feta cheese, earthy walnuts, sweet pomegranate arils.  Tossed in a maple dressing that is easy to make and shake, this beautiful salad is gluten free and nutrient dense!
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Cranberry Apple Quinoa Salad

This Cranberry Apple Quinoa Salad is filled with bursts of sweetness, texture, and nutrients.  The quinoa soaks up a delicious Maple Dressing and the arugula gives just a hint of a peppery note.  What’s best is it’s great to eat for lunch, or have as a side dish.
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Autumn Squash Soup

Creamy and nourishing, this delicious Autumn Squash Soup is just perfect for a cozy dinner at home during these cold days.  This soup is a spin off of Panera’s Autumn Squash Soup without the extra calories.  But don’t worry!  It still tastes amazing and just like Panera’s.  The best part is that whilst you make this delicious soup, your home is going to smell like fall.  Can it get any better?
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Sweet Potato and Beet Hash with Fried Eggs

**Original post published Nov. 2020.  Updated Aug. 2021**

A couple of months ago, I won our local Farmer’s Market cooking competition and part of my prize was a big box of fresh goodies from the market.  I don’t know if I’ve ever been so excited to get fresh veggies and fruits!   I honestly felt like a contestant on Chopped from The Food Network in that I wanted to use all of my produce and come up with a delicious dish.

Well, considering there were so much produce, I’m not sure I would be able to eat more than 3 bites of any dish made from all of the veggies and fruits!  One of my favorites in that box was the beet greens with their beautiful red stems.  I’ve had quite a few people ask me what I use them for and what they can cook out of them.  A definite go to are to cook them down like collard greens but I wanted to do something more creative and decided to add the beet greens to a hash and topping it with an egg made it the perfect breakfast for a busy day or a big, healthy lunch bowl.

The vibrant orange and red colors of the root veggies as they are being cooked, the bold green of the beets…..eeek!  I’m salivating just thinking about this recipe.   The best part is all the nutrition you get in this sustainable hash:

  • high in dietary fiber
  • high in folate
  • good source of potassium
  • good source of non-dairy calcium (the beet greens are)
  • great source of B-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin (these flavonoids have strong anti-cancer and antioxidant properties)


Topping this hash with a fried or hard boiled egg adds a little extra protein though to keep it vegetarian/vegan, you can always replace the egg with a grilled tofu steak.

From my kitchen to yours, enjoy this delicious and healthy Sweet Potato and Beet Hash!

Grilled Eggplant Sandwich with a Basil Pistachio Pesto

This eggplant sandwich has it all.  Earthy spices rubbed onto grilled veggies that have just a hint of a smoky flavor, fresh mozzarella melted just enough from the heat of the veggies.  Oh, you can’t forget the rustic basil pistachio pesto that brightens up the whole sandwich in each bite.
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Back to School Dinners Made Easy

My oldest is going off to 1st Grade on Tuesday.  I still can’t get over the fact that she is in grade school.  When did she grow up?  The school season starting also means sports, after school activities, homework, loads of laundry, and the list goes on.  As much as I love cooking, on many of these nights, I’ll be looking for a nutritious but quick meal.  And definitely meals that the kiddos are going to eat.  I’ve compiled below some of our favorite family approved recipes.  The best is that most of these take about 30 minutes to prepare so you can focus on homework, preparing lunch for the next day or spending time with your family.

Click on the recipe title below each image to get the recipes!


Sausage & Zucchini Linguini


Easy Chicken Ramen with GF Noodles


Skinny Skillet Veggie Enchiladas 


Chickpea and Tomato Soup


Ratatouille


Butternut Squash and Lentil Salad


Middle Eastern Vegan Protein Bowl


Sprouted Moong Beans Sabzi Gujarati Style


Brussels Sprouts Grain Bowl


Springtime Lentil Salad


One Pan Baked Salmon and Rainbow Veggies


Italian Stuffed Artichoke with a Garlic Cayenne Dip


Citrus Herb Salmon with a Mango Pico and Cilantro Lime Rice


Instant Pot Black Eyed Peas Curry


Pineapple Fried Rice


Spinach Dal

Back to School Breakfast on the Go!

Summer is practically over in less than a week for us.  I’m going to miss the lazy mornings, the relaxed schedules, and eating pancakes and french toast for breakfast.  I’m looking forward to having a regular schedule in the mornings but planning them out will take some effort.

If you are looking for easy and healthy breakfasts then you’re in the right place!  I’ve compiled some of our favorite breakfast recipes below.  There are several chia pudding recipes as that has become a family favorite lately.  Others, like the Apple Pie Oatmeal takes 3 minutes in the Instant Pot.  I also like to make Almond Butter Breakfast Bars and Breakfast Oat Muffins over the weekend for on the go days.

If you want to see certain recipes on the blog, leave a comment below.  I would love to create recipes for you!


Almond Coconut Porridge  


Breakfast Soufflé Bites


Breakfast Oat Muffins


Apple Pie Oatmeal


How to make a Nutty Granola


Almond Butter Breakfast Bars


Pomegranate Pistachio Chia Pudding


Fig and Chia Pudding Parfait


Avocado Banana Smoothie


Date Smoothie

Back to School Lunch Ideas

Last year, I had this beautiful plan of meal planning and prepping during the school week.  The goal – to provide as many nutritious and yummy meals as I possibly could for the family.  By May, I gave in to grilled cheese and mac and cheese being on the weekly rotation too often.  I did have a great run of healthy meals most of the year though which empowers me to write another Back to School blog post.  Continue reading “Back to School Lunch Ideas”

Citrus Herb Salmon with a Mango Pico and Cilantro Lime Rice

It doesn’t get any tastier (or easier) than this delicious Citrus Herb Salmon topped with a sweet and spicy Mango Pico on a bed of Cilantro Lime Brown Rice.  Ready in 30 minutes (yep, even the brown rice), this is the perfect healthy meal to serve your family.  Continue reading “Citrus Herb Salmon with a Mango Pico and Cilantro Lime Rice”

Blackened Fish Tacos with a Garlic Sriracha Aioli

It’s BBQ season and though I love grilling the traditional burgers and hot dogs, I wanted to get away from the usual and do something different.  These Blackened Fish Tacos are perfect with a Garlic Sriracha Aioli.  A flavorful rub, crunchy carrot and cabbage slaw, the aioli to cool things down a bit and the jalapeños to add just a kick at the end of each bite is the perfect summer combination for me.

These fish tacos are a great example of a healthy-ish meal.  I’ve made them so many times before and they are such a hit that by the time the fish is grilled and chopped, the tacos are made and I don’t have anything left to take pictures because it’s all eaten!  I finally made some for a BBQ with my friend Michelle and her family but told them they had to wait after I made them so I could take pictures – seriously she is such an awesome friend to put up with me making her stare at her food while I’m clicking away!

WHAT FISH DO I USE?
I like to use white fish, usually tilapia or cod.  When you are at your grocery store, just ask your fishmonger for their best wild caught (and sustainable is available) white fish.  I’ve used both tilapia and cod for this recipe and both turn out delicious for the end result.

WHAT ELSE DO I NEED?
I keep the slaw simple to let the flavors of the rub on the fish and the aioli shine.  All I did for the slaw is shred some carrots and mix it in with finely chopped purple cabbage, a little salt, pepper, some honey, and a squeeze or two of lime juice.  So simple right?!

For the Aioli, I spent a little more time developing the flavors.  I roasted garlic, used yogurt instead of sour cream to make it healthy-ish, mix in some lite mayo (this is the “ish” addition to the healthy part), add in a bit of sriracha, and again a squeeze of lime juice to pull it together.

For toppings, again, keep it simple with a garnish of chopped cilantro and sliced jalapeños.

So, don’t wait!  For your next BBQ night, dinner party, or Taco Tuesday, try out these delicious Blackened Fish Tacos with a Garlic Sriracha Aioli.

Here are the tools I used to make this recipe:

 

 

Farmer’s Market Crudites Platter with Hummus Two Ways

One of my favorite times of the year is the spring when the Farmer’s Market starts to get bigger with more and more farmers who start to bring a larger variety of produce and goodies.  I’ve mentioned in the past that I like to make a menu for the week (more so my kids don’t complain they want something else than what is served), but what I haven’t mentioned is how I love going to the Farmer’s Market to do my weekly produce shopping.  Sometimes, I will even tailor some of my dishes to include produce I find at the Market.

Recently, I partnered with our local Farmer’s Market (Danville Farmer’s Market) and I will be creating recipes for them a few times a month in the hopes that I can bring awareness to locally farmed produce at all of our farmer’s market.  Having fresh, organic produce and supporting the local farms is a win-win.

This Spring Crudites Platter is so beautiful, we all had a bit of hard time digging in.  No one wanted to mess it up.  Ah well, our stomachs won that round.  The beauty of this platter is that you are not restricted to the same produce I picked up.  Pick up what your farmer’s market has, just make it colorful.

Here is what I used:

  • Purple Cauliflower (chop these into big chunks)
  • Rainbow Baby Carrots (trim the stems off and save to make pesto – be sustainable!)
  • Radishes
  • Watermelon Radishes (slice these a little thick into rounds to give a beautiful effect)
  • Snap Peas
  • Cucumbers (I sliced these on the diagonal for aesthetics.  Feel free to slice into rounds or sticks to make them easier to serve)
  • Cherry Tomatoes

As for the hummus, I chose purple sweet potato and red beets to be the base of each hummus.  For the Red Beets, I roasted it with garlic, then pulsed it with a little tahini and a few other ingredients.  This is by far one of my favorite variations on hummus.  Paired with all that beautiful produce, it’s perfect!

For the Purple Sweet Potato, I baked it in the oven then pulsed it with tahini as well.  Though the idea behind both hummus’ are the same, the flavor profile differ vastly.  Yet both are addicting.

I hope you have a chance to make a beautiful Spring Crudites Platter like this for your next gathering.  I promise you will love it.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

Here are the tools I used for this recipe:

If you are looking for more delicious recipes, check these out:
Roasted Masala Chickpeas
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Spicy Garlic Hummus
Crispy Chickpeas and Sweet Potato Tacos

Fig and Chia Pudding Parfait

If I had to choose any other fruit besides mango, figs would definitely take second place.  The soft exterior, the honey sweet flesh, and the crunch of the seeds as you eat each one is just heaven.  Pair it with chia pudding topped with fresh baked granola and garnished with a sprig of mint, well, you just won’t want anything else for breakfast!

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