vegetable

Sautéed Spinach with Garlic

This sautéed spinach recipe with sweet, caramelized slivers of garlic takes just 10 minutes to cook for a healthy side dish that goes with any meal.

Who else is joining me on the eat-more-plants train? And doing it the super easy way? I see you! You’re coming along for the ride too!

Getting more greens in our diets should be the focus of every eater, and the darker and leafier, the better.

While pretty much everyone likes a wedge of Iceberg, it’s the dark, leafy greens where you’ll find the real health benefits of getting in your veggie greens. Sorry iceberg, but all greens are not created equal.

This spinach side dish is fresh and light, with chunks of sweetened, caramelized garlic that infuses the oil the spinach is cooked in. It makes a perfect pairing for just about any main meal.continue to the recipe… about Sautéed Spinach with Garlic

10 Easy and Healthy Brussels Sprouts Recipes to Fall For Now

Roasted or sautéed, dressed with bacon or balsamic, this “best-of” list of 10 healthy Brussels sprouts recipes are literally on everyone’s lips.

Ok. I know it might be a bold statement to make, because not everyone loves Brussels sprouts. Really?? But hear me out! These recipes are NOT the gross and gloppy suspicious green mystery orbs of your youth.

I was never a fan of Brussels sprouts, and would sneak them under the table to feed them to the dog whenever my mom made them. But not anymore. Maybe it’s the fact that my taste buds have grown up, or America’s obsession with revisiting retro classics, but these veggies have received some major glow in recent years.

From the texture (crispy, crunchy, shredded, shaved), to the flavor (blackened, buttery, smokey, salty, sweet) Brussels sprouts are are having their moment.

Welcome them to your table–or at least let them pull up a seat, and give them a try–with the 10 tasty recipes I’ve rounded up below.continue to the recipe… about 10 Easy and Healthy Brussels Sprouts Recipes to Fall For Now

Creamy Avocado Pesto Pasta Salad with Roasted Vegetables

This creamy pasta salad recipe skips the mayonnaise for a lush sauce made with almond milk and avocado to make an easy grilled vegetable pasta salad you’ll happily eat guilt-free.

This recipe is brought to you by Blue Diamond Almond Breeze

One thing’s for sure: It’s rare I meet a pasta salad I don’t like. I may not have loved them all, but I do seem to have a high tolerance of acceptability for even the most marginalized salad bar pasta salad-types.

But that’s the main reason I choose to make my own pasta salads at home. They’re fresher, they taste better, and I can add a twist of healthy and still reap all the flavor and even the creamy factor I crave with this one in the fridge that’s ready to eat any time of the day.

How to Make a Creamy Pasta Salad That’s Healthier Too

Pasta and macaroni salads made with traditional creamy dressings are fine for my occasional potluck splurges. But when I’m looking for a creamy pasta salad I can jot down in my Nourished Planner for my weekly meal prep or share with friends who are more health-conscious about the foods they eat, this creamy sauced mash-up of almond milk and avocado totally does all the right stuff.

Just like I do for the rest of my menu planning, adding more colors of the rainbow to my pasta salad is a simple way to make it more nourishing too. Plus, it just makes it so dang pretty too!continue to the recipe… about Creamy Avocado Pesto Pasta Salad with Roasted Vegetables

31 Days of Summer Produce Recipes to Make in August

These 31 easy, healthy recipe ideas for summer produce are what make the living easy this month!

There’s nothing quite like biting into that first peach with juice dribbling steadily down your chin. Or the taste of summer’s first BLT stacked high with tomatoes still warm from the garden—you know, the one that requires at least five napkins.

Ah summer, there are so many reasons why we love you but your fresh fruits and veg are at the tops of our list.

With a jam-packed calendar of fitting in each and every summer picnic, take-it-to-the-beach day, and potluck soirée, summer’s favorite, fresh seasonal eats are more in demand this month than ever. Thankfully, there’s produce aplenty come each and every August so that seasonal farmers market gems are easily making their way into all of our meals.

For our eighth installment of our 31 Days Series, we’re going seasonal, baby, so it’s all about tender squash, juicy tomatoes, and corn so sweet you could get a toothache. We’re frequenting the farmers market and stocking up like its our job, because this summer bounty won’t be around for too much longer. So grab your best market tote and let’s hit the stalls!continue to the recipe… about 31 Days of Summer Produce Recipes to Make in August

Grilled Vegetable Sandwich with Herbed Ricotta

It’s mid-summer and I am soaking it in. Even my numbed-by-pain-killers-broken-wrist can’t dull the memories in my post-week-at-the-beach-where-did-the-humidity-go-summer-lovin-skin. It’s what summer’s all about and I have the tan to prove it.

With just 2 more weeks of July we’re narrowing down to the final 2 recipes for FoodieCrush Grilling Month. Break out the ticker tape because this week it’s a parade of a veggies on the grill.

So far this month we’ve sharpened our grilling skills with recipes for Grilled Pork Chops with Spicy Balsamic Grilled Peaches and headed to the sea for a bite of Grilled Swordfish with Smoked Paprika and Herbed Fruit Salsa. This week we’re circling back to dry land and the farmer’s market to take advantage of summer’s opulence.

Too often we get caught in our tried and true methods of steaming, baking and sautéeing when it comes to cooking veggies. But it’s summer, time to shake things up by biking rather than driving, wearing short shorts instead of maxi skirts and smiling extra sweetly at the cute barrista who always gets your name right…just because you know you can.

And when it comes to cooking, it’s time to break out of the expected because it’s summer and the grill is where the flavor. is. at.

continue to the recipe… about Grilled Vegetable Sandwich with Herbed Ricotta

Sweet Carrots with Tarragon and My Easter Inspired Faves

Glazing. Usually reserved for doughnuts, bone-in hams and the special technique my husband uses to make old and tired 1980’s honey oak cabinets magically transform into bright and white brand spakin’ new kitchen cubpoards. He’s a staining magician, that guy.

But today ‘da glaze is saved for ‘da carrots. Ta-’da.

It’s time for Easter eats and you probably have all of your main dish ingredients scribbled on the back of an envelope ready to push into the dark corners of your purse so that when you get to the store you get to frantically dig for the dang piece of paper. That’s just one of the reasons I use this shopping list app, so I don’t go stark raving maniac in the vegetable aisle.

Carrots are the quintessential Easter side dish addition. You can thank Peter and Bugs for that one. But, let’s get real. They’re expected, trite and too often B-O-R-I-N-G.

Not this time folks.

A simple—aka light—glaze of honey and butter sweetens up the orange little jewels. Tarragon and orange zest gives them the ying and yang of earthy licorice and fresh citrus in each bite. Kosher salt, just like with everything else, brings out all of the flavors and melds them together.

It’s a simple recipe. And for any entertaining cook, that’s the recipe for deliciousness.

continue to the recipe… about Sweet Carrots with Tarragon and My Easter Inspired Faves