This recipe for a strawberry mimosa is super easy to make, and even easier to drink. It is perfect for spring brunches, potlucks, and holidays.
It’s easy to add a little bit of celebration into every day with a simple mimosa! Our festive version adds in a fruity punch of strawberry puree to make a delightfully bubbly and bright pink drink that is perfect for Mother’s Day brunches, wedding showers, or just any random day you want to make a little special. Let’s get mixing! Read the post »
Cool off with this simple summertime favorite. Strawberry Lemonade is an easy 4-ingredient recipe that uses fresh strawberries and lemons for a great, refreshing taste.
This post is sponsored by the makers of Ball® home canning products.*
We’re fortunate to have a huge strawberry patch in our garden that gives us bucketfuls of fresh, red, ripe berries each June. When the strawberries are coming off, we whip up a fresh pitcher of this 4-ingredient easy homemade strawberry lemonade almost daily!
This strawberry lemonade is sweet, fruity, and refreshing—perfect for sipping on a warm afternoon while sitting on a rocking chair on the porch. This recipe only calls for four ingredients (strawberries, lemons, water, and honey or agave nectar), is all-natural, and takes less than 5 minutes to make. My favorite part? No juicing the lemons! You drop the lemon wedges whole into the blender to get all the tangy lemon flavor from the zest. Let’s get started! Read the post »
It may seem a little intimidating, but cutting a pomegranate is actually very straightforward. Here’s our guide on how to cut a pomegranate.
Pomegranate is a beautiful fall-season fruit bursting with juicy, tangy flavor. It’s packed with amazing antioxidants, vitamins, fiber, and bright, beautiful color. There is just one problem. Read the post »
The perfect quinoa is just minutes from the pantry. We show you how to cook quinoa in a way that creates a fluffy, perfectly tender texture.
Quinoa is the darling whole grain of foodies everywhere, and for great reason! It’s packed full of nutty flavor, nutrition, and it’s a breeze to cook. It’s also super versatile (side dishes, soups, salads, oh my!) and easy to find—grab it at any of your local supermarkets.
While quinoa isn’t technically a grain (it’s considered a pseudograin because it’s actually a seed), we still love it here at Wholefully! Knowing how to cook perfectly fluffy quinoa every time should be a staple skill in your nourishing kitchen, and we’re here to teach you how. Read the post »
Planning a Christmas get-together? Find inspiration and easy recipes for the best appetizers to share this holiday season.
In our family, Christmas dinner is all about appetizers! Years ago, we traded in the traditional Christmas dinner for a family appetizer pitch-in, and it’s always a blast to enjoy different tastes from the smorgasbord.
We’ve pulled together our favorite Christmas classic appetizers for you to try in your family, and we’re sure you’ll love them! Some of these recipes have been making an appearance on our Christmas dinner table for decades. Merry Christmas and enjoy! Read the post »
This Cranberry Apple Pecan Salad is just what you need for a Thanksgiving salad! It’s packed with fall flavors, and adds something bright and fresh to the holiday table.
Thanksgiving is right around the corner! Whether you’re hosting a large family dinner or contributing a side dish to a potluck, I have the perfect Thanksgiving salad for you! This apple pecan salad screams Thanksgiving. It has crunch, flavor, and enough colorful pizazz that it’ll be the highlight of any Thanksgiving table!
I used to not be much of a salad person because honestly, they were boring as all get out. But this apple pecan salad is a whole different beast. Bring this to your Thanksgiving dinner, and I guarantee you’re going to have people begging you for the recipe by the end of the night. The best part is, it’s super simple to make. Let’s get cooking!
What’s in this apple pecan salad?
We are all about fall with this one, which is why it is a perfect Thanksgiving salad! You’ll need:
Baby spinach and chopped lettuce. These are the salad greens we use for this salad, but if you’d like to swap in some baby kale or other leafy greens, feel free!
Apple. Any apple will do the trick!
Red onion.
Gorgonzola cheese. If you aren’t a fan, we’ll talk more about this in a sec.
Pecan halves. Toasted pecans add a nutty crunch that is a nice contrast to the creamy gorgonzola.
Dried cranberries.
Our homemade honey mustard dressing.
Do I have to use gorgonzola cheese?
Gorgonzola cheese has a unique flavor that can be difficult to replicate. If it’s been aged a long time, it can be sharp with a nutty flavor, while if it’s only been aged a short time, it tends to be smooth and mild. It’s a crumbly, soft cheese, so it’s easy to break apart and sprinkle on your apple pecan salad.
However, if you aren’t a fan of gorgonzola, you can substitute it with another crumbly cheese. Blue cheese is probably closest in flavor since gorgonzola is part of the blue cheese family. If you prefer a milder or tangy flavor, you could try feta cheese which also crumbles well. Read the post »
Learn 24+ ways to preserve and cook apples in this article! You’ll never run out of recipes for this versatile fruit again!
Apples are one of the very best storage fruits around! On their own, they can store for months and still be delectable, but the real staying power comes from cooking and preserving apples! You can enjoy properly preserved apples for over a year!
Every year, we head out to the local orchard and stock up on apples. We eat tons of them fresh (they are so crisp and tasty!), but the extras we turn into a bevy of different preserved goods. Canning, dehydrating, storing—we’ll teach you all of our favorite tips for putting up apples in this post!
How long can apples be stored?
The storage time of apples depends on three main factors—the sweetness of the apples, the age of the apples, and the storage conditions. In general, sweet apples will go bad more quickly than tart apples.
Freshly picked apples (like the ones you got from a local orchard) will last longer than apples purchased at the grocery store.
Apples like it cold (but not freezing), with relatively high humidity. An apple will store the longest at 32°F and 90% humidity. The closer you get to that target, the longer an apple with stay good. In optimal conditions, apples can stay good for six months or even more!
What kind of apples store best?
For fresh storage of whole apples, you’ll have the best luck with tart and crisp apple varieties such as Pink Lady, Fuji, Granny Smith, Braeburn, or Winesap. If you are looking to can or dehydrate your apples though, any apples will work! Read the post »
In college, my best girlfriends and I had a weekly tradition of heading to Olive Garden for lunch on Fridays for their soup, salad, and breadsticks deal. We’d load up on endless peach iced tea, breadsticks, and hearty soups while we spent hours talking about classes, boys, and our hopes and dreams. It was our own little version of the family dinner table.
The thought of those lazy Friday afternoons laughing with some of the best people I know still warms my soul. So even though I’m now more than 15 years removed from our Olive Garden Fridays, I like to bring a little bit of that tradition back to my own kitchen occasionally with my own copycat recipe of Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana soup. This rich, creamy soup is packed with hearty potatoes, sausage, and bright kale—it’s sure to warm your belly and your soul (especially if you enjoy it with friends and endless peach iced tea).
What is zuppa toscana?
Zuppa toscana is a hearty soup with a creamy broth base. It’s packed with spicy Italian sausage, potatoes, bacon, and bright, colorful kale.
In Italian, zuppa toscana literally translates to “Tuscan soup,” but don’t be fooled by the Italian name—this soup is a North American creation made most popular by Olive Garden. It is not a traditional Italian dish, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a restaurant in Tuscany that sells anything resembling it.
This simple recipe for a chocolate coffee smoothie will get rid of any morning blues. If you’re a java fan, this smoothie is for you!
This rich, creamy smoothie is for all of you coffee lovers out there! This smoothie tastes like one of those fancy blended coffee drinks from the coffee shop, but it’s packed with healthy fats, calcium, potassium, and other vitamins to make it nourishing as a meal or snack.
The natural sweetness of banana helps make this smoothie really shine. Combine it with strong coffee, rich dark cocoa, and creamy Greek yogurt, and you’ve got a morning drink that is the best of all worlds!
What do I need for a chocolate coffee smoothie?
You’ll need to plan ahead a little for this one, because you need strong coffee—and nobody wants hot coffee in their smoothie! So you need to brew up a cup far enough in advance that the coffee is cooled. Read the post »
A delicious mixed berries smoothie is just seconds away when you blend up these ingredients. Use frozen fruit for a frosty treat any time.
It’s hard to top the classic fruity tartness of a mixed berry smoothie! This beautifully-pink smoothie is a breeze to make, and it’s packed full of wonderful flavor and nourishing antioxidants.
This mixed berry smoothie is infinitely adaptable because you get to choose what frozen berries make up your smoothie! Craft your perfect combination of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries—or take a shortcut and used a mixed frozen berries from the frozen fruit section of your supermarket.
What do I need for your mixed berry smoothie recipe?
In all likelihood, you already have everything you need in your kitchen! You’ll need:
Frozen bananas. The banana will up the fruity flavor, while also adding sweetness and creaminess.
Frozen berries. You can use whatever frozen berries that make you happy—strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, or a mix! If you head to the frozen fruit section at your local grocery store, you’ll probably spy a few bags of mixed berries. These are my favorite for this smoothie!
Milk. Any kind of milk will work—cow’s milk, soy milk, coconut milk, unsweetened almond milk. Whatever you have!
Plain Greek yogurt. Not only does yogurt make the smoothie even creamier, but it also gives it a boost of protein, so you aren’t hungry again 30 minutes after finishing your drink.
Honey or maple syrup. You may or may not need this one, depending on how ripe your banana is.
This coconut pineapple smoothie is super sweet, creamy, and so easy to make at home. This smoothie tastes like sipping on a piña colada for breakfast!
It’s not every day that you get to go on a luxurious beach vacation, but it is possible to interject a little bit of tropical flair to your everyday life with this coconut pineapple smoothie! Packed with frozen pineapple, banana, and coconut milk, this dairy-free smoothie tastes like a creamy, dreamy piña colada that is nourishing enough to have for breakfast.
This smoothie is a wonderful addition to a nourishing diet, especially because of the nutritional powerhouse that is pineapple! Pineapple is loaded with nutrients plus it’s got lots of enzymes that can help aid digestion. And most importantly? Pineapple is delicious! And in this smoothie it adds a sweet, tropical flavor that can’t be beat.
What do I need for your coconut pineapple smoothie recipe?
You only need three, maybe four, ingredients, and you may already have them all! You’ll need:
Frozen bananas. Bananas add a creamy sweetness to this smoothie, and because they are frozen, they also chill and thicken the drink.
Pineapple. You can’t have a pineapple smoothie without pineapple! Canned or fresh pineapple will both work.
Coconut milk. The stuff from the can is what you want here—you can often find it with the international foods or baking ingredients.
Honey or maple syrup. If your fruit is really sweet, you may be able to skip this one.
Are you ready for the best green smoothie I’ve done yet? This recipe is full of nutrient-dense goodies. It’s creamy, delicious, and leaves me feeling great.
Green smoothies sound (and, honestly, look) like they wouldn’t taste the greatest, but if you do them right, they are sweet, balanced, and have no flavor of the greens! They are a wonderful way to get a nourishing boost of nutrition in a grab-and-go tasty snack!
There are two main keys to green smoothie success: first up, you have to nail the ratio. You want the smoothie to taste sweet and delicious—not like spinach. The second key is to make sure you blend it until it’s completely smooth! No one wants to chew their smoothie. Read on to learn how I make my favorite green smoothie recipe.
What do I need for a green smoothie?
You’ll need these four ingredients for a fantastic green smoothie:
Frozen banana. This will give the smoothie a thicker, smoother texture, and sweeten the smoothie. Plus, it will help chill the smoothie so you don’t have to dilute it with ice!
Leafy greens. I’m a lightweight and use fresh baby spinach in my green smoothies because you can’t taste it at all. If you’re a little more hardcore on the health food front, you can try kale, collards, or even chard!
Unsweetened milk. Use whatever milk you have in your house—cow’s milk, soy milk, coconut milk, nut milk. Any of them will work!
Honey or maple syrup. Because the sweetness of bananas can vary so widely, we’ll add this at the very end so that you can sweeten to taste.
Meet my husband’s favorite salad dressing. Sweet and tangy, honey mustard is super versatile and works with a ton of different flavors. Why should I make my own salad dressing? A good condiment can make all sorts of dishes more exciting. When you make your own, it costs less and is entirely customizable to your…
This post is brought to you by Wholefully partner Ball® Canning.
Went a little overboard picking at the apple orchard? No worries, we’re going to show you how to can applesauce and stash your haul for months to come!
There are very few amenities here in rural Indiana—and that’s part of what we like about it—but we are very fortunate to have an incredible apple orchard about 10 minutes from our front door. Every fall, you’ll find us in the orchards picking bushels and bushels of our favorite apple varieties.
Apples are one of the very best fruits around for preserving. You can store apples for months long-term and still have crisp, juicy fruit to eat in the depths of winter. You can turn apples into apple pie filling to make pies a breeze to make. And of course, there is my favorite way to preserve apples—applesauce! Canning applesauce is a breeze to do (it’s a great canning project for beginners), and the resulting canned homemade applesauce is great for side dishes, deserts, baking, smoothies, and more. Let’s show you how to can applesauce at home!
First up, are applesauce and apple puree the same thing?
Sometimes you might see a recipe that calls for “apple puree,” but rest assured, that’s basically the same thing as applesauce, and you can use them interchangeably. The only difference is that apple puree is always pureed completely smooth and free of added sugar or flavors, whereas applesauce can have a variety of textures, added sugar, and added flavors (like cinnamon). Read the post »
And the most underrated pulse award goes to…split peas! Seriously, other than the occasional pot of soup, most people don’t experience the joy of these little green guys regularly in their lives.
Just like all the other pulses out there (pulses include dry peas, chickpeas, lentils, and beans.), split peas are a super affordable, delicious, sustainable, protein-packed source of fiber. But unlike their more finicky cousins, chickpeas and dried beans, split peas require NO presoaking or precooking, meaning they cook up in a FLASH. Woohoo for weeknight shortcuts!
What are split peas? Are they the same as peas?
Dried split peas are the same as regular green peas that you might have as a side dish for dinner. The difference comes in how they are processed. Instead of eating them fresh, split peas are shelled, dried, and then split in half along the natural seam of the pea—this splitting process is what makes them faster to cook.
Are split peas good for you?
Split peas are packed with tons of fiber, plant-based protein, iron, zinc, and phosphorus. They are a great addition to your plate! Read the post »
Frozen kale works beautifully in smoothies, soups, and casseroles. We’ll teach you how to freeze kale so you can stock up when it’s on sale!
You will always find a kale plant or two in my garden. They are incredibly hardy—often living through the entire winter in our area—and they keep on producing heartily for months and months.
Because kale is so productive, you’ll usually find a bag or two of frozen kale in my freezer. Frozen kale is easy to drop into smoothies, sauces, and soups for a boost of color, flavor, and nutrition—and it’s incredibly easy to freeze. Even if you don’t have space to grow your own kale plant, you’ll want to stock up your freezer when kale is in season and on sale at your local farmers’ market or grocery store. Let me show you how to freeze kale!
What is the best way to preserve kale?
We highly recommend freezing kale to preserve it! Freezing locks in the nutrients, and, unlike other greens like spinach, kale is sturdy enough to retain a lot of its texture during the freezing process.
How do you freeze kale?
Kale is one of the easiest veggies to get stashed in the freezer. Here’s how: Read the post »
Learn how to freeze cherries with our full step-by-step tutorial. Frozen cherries are wonderful in smoothies, crisps, and pies!
Cherries are one of my favorite fruits to have stashed in the freezer! Frozen cherries work beautifully in smoothies, pies, crisps, and crumbles. Freezing helps lock in the tart flavor of fresh cherries and the powerful nutrients packed inside.
Our method for freezing cherries works for both sweet cherries and sour cherries, and for many uses you don’t need to defrost the cherries before using them in a recipe. A bag of cherries in the freezer is such a wonderful taste of summer—all year long! Let’s show you how to do it.
Are frozen cherries good for you?
Freezing is one of the best ways to preserve foods if you are interested in locking in the nutrients. Cherries are packed with antioxidants and other nutrients, and freezing them keeps all the nourishing goodness until you’re ready to use them.
Should cherries be washed before freezing?
Yup! It’s always a good idea to wash produce before freezing, just make sure you dry them thoroughly before freezing because extra moisture on produce in the freezer can contribute to freezer burn. Read the post »
Have a bunch of cherries to pit? No worries, we’ve got you covered with the easiest way to get the job done—including a method for how to pit cherries without a cherry pitter.
Cherries are my hands-down favorite fruit! I love almost everything about them. The thing that is keeping them from being absolutely perfect? Those pesky cherry pits!
It’s not a huge deal to pop the pits out while you’re eating them fresh, but if you’re looking to pit a whole boatload of cherries for pies, jam, or other uses it can get quite tedious. No worries! We’ve got you covered with three different methods for getting those pesky pits out—including a couple of ideas that don’t require any special equipment. Let’s get pitting!
Do you have to pit cherries before cooking?
Unfortunately, yes, you have to remove the pits before cooking (and eating) cherries. Cherry pits are tooth-breakingly hard and actually poisonous! Cherry pits—and the pits of other stone fruits like plums and peaches—contain cyanide, which in certain doses can be lethal.
Don’t stress too much if you accidentally swallow a cherry pit whole though. Small unintentional ingestions of whole pits generally do not cause harm. Just don’t make a habit of it! So let’s make sure we get those cherries pitted. Read the post »
When people ask me if it’s possible to grow your own food even without a garden space, I reply with a resounding YES! Because between sprouting and growing microgreens, you can grow a ton of fresh, nourishing food without much space at all.
Growing microgreens at home is incredibly simple, and it can be done without special equipment or much gardening background at all. Fresh microgreens are wonderful in salads, on sandwiches and wraps, and sauteed into hash or stir fry. You can choose whatever greens you enjoy the most—from kale to arugula to radishes—to create your own perfect microgreen mix.
What are microgreens anyway?
A microgreen is the new, tender shoot of a vegetable plant. It’s what happens if you let a sprouted seed go a little bit further into growing, but don’t let it completely mature. These small plants are easy to grow indoors because you can pack them in tight, since you’ll be harvesting them before they become larger plants. And since you aren’t growing them to full maturity, they grow quickly—you can harvest your microgreens in about a week.
What are the health benefits of microgreens?
These greens are tender, sweet, and insanely good for you—they are literally one of the healthiest veggies on the planet! Newly sprouted, tiny microgreens have up to 40 times the nutrient impact as their mature plant counterparts. 40 TIMES! Just a single example: microgreens from red cabbage seeds have 40 times more vitamin E and six times more vitamin C than fully-grown red cabbage. Crazy, right?
How do you eat microgreens?
I like to eat them in place of salad greens in winter salads, on top of sandwiches, folded into wraps, sauteed into stir fries and hash, or mixed into soups and casseroles. You can use them any place you’d use other mild-flavored greens like spinach.
What’s the difference between microgreens and sprouts?
While these two types of indoor plants are lumped together, they are pretty different. Here’s a quick primer:
Sprouts are young seeds that have sprouted, but have not grown any leaves yet. You consume the entire “plant” here—seed, sprout, roots, and all. You grow sprouts without soil in a jar. With sprouting, we tend to focus primarily on sprouting pulses like lentils (although you absolutely can sprout other things—we have a full in-depth sprouting post with more), where you wouldn’t normally eat the plant. Because you consume the entire plant and grow in a humid environment, it’s important to make sure you work with only incredibly clean materials and specialty sprouting seeds.
Microgreens are immature plants that you harvest just the leaves and stem from, leaving the roots behind. You can grow microgreens without soil, but we recommend growing them in soil here just for ease. With microgreens, you focus on sprouting greens that you would usually eat—you just do it on a mini-scale. Since you are only eating the aerial parts of the plant (the parts that grow above the soil line), you don’t have to worry quite as much about sanitation and seed cleanliness as you would with sprouting.
A rule of thumb is that if you eat the seed (lentils, chickpeas, peas, mung beans), you sprout it. If you eat the green (kale, cabbage, spinach, chard), you grow the microgreens. But that’s just a rule of thumb—there is a lot of crossover between the two methods, and we recommend you explore both!
I know you guys love Overnight Oats when it comes to meal prep breakfasts (and I really like them, too), but my absolute favorite meal prep breakfast? EGG CUPS! AKA: egg muffins, baked eggs, or egg muffin cups.
These grab-and-go bite-sized breakfast muffins are easy to make, packed full of nutrition and flavor, and totally customizable—we’re giving you four flavors to try out in this post, but you can let your imagination run wild!
I’m sure part of that is the reason that I love egg muffin cups so much is that we have our own roving flock of chickens to provide the main ingredient, but a big part is that I’m a 100% savory breakfast kinda gal. I’ll reach for eggs and sausage over pancakes and syrup every single time. There is just so much robust flavor in the savory breakfast world—and these egg muffins explore that with flavors like Turkey Spinach, Sweet Potato Chive, Ham and Cheddar, and Caprese!
How do you make baked egg muffins?
Meal prepping egg cups is as simple as spraying a muffin tin with cooking spray (or using silicone baking cups), and then layering the ingredients in the recipe in each cup. Then you bake it in 350°F oven until you reach the desired egg yolk consistency (10-12 minutes for a soft yolk, 12-15 minutes for a hard yolk). All of these egg muffin flavors bake for the same amount of time, so you can mix and match flavors in the same batch without any troubles.
Why should you make breakfast egg cups?
I like making these egg cups because they make breakfast (and snacks!) just so super simple! They take just a few minutes to prep and cook, and then you have easy grab-and-go breakfast all week long. And if you’re someone like me who prefers savory foods in the morning, this is a great alternative to classic meal prep breakfasts like overnight oats.Read the post »
Planning a Christmas get-together? Find inspiration and easy recipes for the best appetizers to share this holiday season.
Learn 24+ ways to preserve and cook apples in this article! You’ll never run out of recipes for this versatile fruit again!
In college, my best girlfriends and I had a weekly tradition of heading to Olive Garden for lunch on Fridays for their soup, salad, and breadsticks deal. We’d load up on endless peach iced tea, breadsticks, and hearty soups while we spent hours talking about classes, boys, and our hopes and dreams. It was our own little version of the family dinner table.
