Search Results for: spinach

Sunshine Mandarin Orange Salad in a Jar
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Sunshine Mandarin Orange Salad in a Jar

Components for a mandarin salad layered in a mason jar - dressing, mandarin slices, onions, sprouts, pine nuts, and greens. Additional ingredients surround the jar.

Citrus season is such a joy! When all the other produce is lacking in the winterโ€”the apples are going mealy, the strawberries are barely even pink, and the watermelons are just…waterโ€”citrus comes riding in on itโ€™s bright and flavorful horse to save the day!

This Sunshine Mandarian Orange Salad is a celebration of the glory that is winter citrus. This salad brings sunshine into my heartโ€”even when Iโ€™m dealing with another cold and gray Midwestern winter day.

Ingredients for a sunshine mandarin salad in individual bowls.

What is a mason jar salad?

Mason jar salads have all the components of a fresh salad layered in, you guessed it, a mason jar. Meal prep some salads in a jar, and youโ€™ll have easy access to perfectly fresh veggies for lunch all week long. We have a comprehensive post with all the information you need to build a perfect salad in a jar if you want to know more.

But wait, wonโ€™t the salad get limp from being in the jar with the dressing?

Not if you pack it in the right order! The key to keeping this Sunshine Mandarin Orange Salad in a Jar fresh and crisp is to keep the wet ingredients (the dressing and mandarin slices!) separated from the greens. The sprouts, red onions, and pine nuts will form a sort of buffer to keep the lettuce and spinach dry. Just donโ€™t tilt the jar until it is time to eat, and youโ€™ll be all set! Read the post ยป

Persimmon and Pomegranate Salad with Maple Vinaigrette and Candied Walnuts
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Persimmon and Pomegranate Salad with Maple Vinaigrette and Candied Walnuts

A fork rests on a dark bowl, filled with persimmon and pomegranate salad.

I am on a one-woman mission to introduce everyone to the gloriousness that is the persimmon. This little orange fruit is often overlooked on store shelves, and Iโ€™m determined to change that!

Persimmons are in season during the fall and winter monthsโ€”when many summertime fruits are looking lacklusterโ€”and they are packed full of sweet, tangy flavor. They work beautifully in sweet dishes (like my Bourbon Persimmon Bread), as well as in savory applications, like this bright and beautiful Persimmon and Pomegranate Salad.

Close up of a salad filled with pomegranates, persimmons, spinach, candied walnuts, and goat cheese.
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What are the different kinds of persimmons?

When you hit up your supermarket in the cooler months, youโ€™re likely to find two different kinds of persimmonsโ€”astringent and non-astringent. The kind you grab matters because while both are delicious, they have very different textures and ripening patterns.

Astringent Persimmons

Most of us will see these listed under the name Hachiya at the grocery store. They are acorn-shaped, and these types of persimmons are very, very soft when ripe. They are called astringent, because if you eat them before they are ripeโ€”when they are at all firmโ€”they have a mouth-puckering astringent quality to them. When ripe, they are sweeter than candy and have a bit of a citrus flavor to them. Because they are so soft when ripe, these are good for baking. Youโ€™ll find them used frequently in bread, cakes, puddings, smoothies, and ice cream.

If you are lucky enough to have an American Persimmon tree nearby that you can forage for persimmons like we do, they are also astringent persimmons. This means that unless they feel incredibly soft (like pudding in a water balloon soft), donโ€™t pop them in your mouth! In fact, trying to get me to eat non-ripe persimmons was one of my big brotherโ€™s favorite childhood pastimes. That and getting me to smell his shoes. Brothers are weird.

Non-Astringent Persimmons

Next to the Hachiya persimmons in your grocery store, youโ€™ll probably see Fuyu persimmonsโ€”which are shaped more like a tomato. These are non-astringent, meaning you can eat them at any stage in the ripening process. You eat these more like an apple, slicing them into crisp slices. They tend to be a bit less sweet than astringent varieties, but still super delicious and flavorful! Non-astringent Fuyu persimmons are what we use here. Because of their firm texture, they hold up beautifully in a salad recipe. Read the post ยป

Healthy Almond Flour Pizza Crust Mix and Dough Recipe (Paleo, Gluten-Free)
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Healthy Almond Flour Pizza Crust Mix and Dough Recipe (Paleo, Gluten-Free)

Baked veggie pizza sliced and sitting on parchment paper.

When my health care professional first suggested I cut out grains to help reduce inflammation in my body, my first reaction was, BUT WHAT ABOUT PIZZZAAAAA!?! The thought of never again having a perfectly cheesy, doughy piece of pizza made me almost break down in tears.

I eventually recovered from my grief and got to work in the kitchen. I first started my journey for the perfect grain-free, gluten free pizza crust by testing allllll the recipes that are already out there. And I mean ALL of them. There is a reason that this recipe is going up two full years after I started eating this wayโ€”and thatโ€™s because it took a long journey to get to what I think is the BEST almond flour pizza crust recipe out there.

A hand holds a slice of vegetable pizza made with almond flour pizza crust, in front of a black background.

The problem with many of the paleo pizza crust recipes out thereโ€ฆ

Many of the recipes that I tried were too floppy (I am not one of those people who like to eat pizza with a fork). Or too crumbly. Or too crispy. Or too taste-like-coconut-ty. Or, maybe the worst sin of all, took way too much time start-to-finish for my weekly Friday night pizza. Iโ€™m already exhausted from a full work week, so I do not want to pull out a million ingredients and spend two hours crafting homemade pizza.

Eventually, I landed on a pizza crust recipe by Frankensteining together a number of different recipesโ€”and the flavor and texture were absolutely top-notch, but it was a wee bit too time-consuming. I know a recipe isnโ€™t a good fit time-wise when I find myself drifting to ready-made convenience foods, and I found myself relying on frozen grain-free pizzas more often than I wantedโ€”even though I had this super tasty recipe in my back pocket. So it was either go bankrupt buying $10 a pop specialty pizzas or streamline the process, so streamline the process I did by tweaking the original recipe and turning it into an easy-to-use pizza crust mix! Just grab a scoop of the pre-made mix, mix it up with a handful of easy-to-grab ingredients, and youโ€™re in the pizza business. Read the post ยป

Pesto Chickpea Pasta Salad
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Pesto Chickpea Pasta Salad

It really doesn’t get much easier than this weeknight pasta salad. I prefer to use store-bought pesto in the fall and winter, and then make my own fresh pesto in the summer when my basil plants are taking over! Want more great chickpea recipes like this one?

Curried Sweet Potato Breakfast Bowls
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Curried Sweet Potato Breakfast Bowls

Curried Sweet Potato Breakfast Bowls

This post was updated and republished for your enjoyment.

Let’s talk about breakfast bowls! This post is more about a concept than a specific recipe (although, there is a recipe at the end of this post). In our house, a breakfast bowl is made up of a base of grain (usually farro or quinoa) topped with all kinds of of healthy fixins. And then it’s all finished off with perfectly gooey poached eggs. Even though we call them “breakfast” bowls, we eat themย pretty much at any meal. In fact, they are one of my favorite fast and healthy dinners!

Curried Sweet Potato Breakfast Bowls on a white background, in white bowls and with silver spoons

You might be thinking, “Um, that’s a whole lot of elements, how is that possibly fast?” Well, it isn’tโ€”if you don’t make things ahead of time. The joy of the breakfast bowl is that almost all of it can be made ahead of time and just assembled before serving.

In our fridge, you’ll almost always find a glass food storage container (I love these) with roasted sweet potatoes, cooked grains, and sautรฉed greens. All I do when it’s breakfast time is to heat up the elements, spoon them into bowls, and top them with freshly-poached eggs. ย It literally takes four minutesโ€”the amount of time it takes to soft-poach eggsโ€”and breakfast/lunch/dinner is served! Food prepping is my jam. Get the recipe ยป

8 Fruit Smoothie Recipes Without Banana
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8 Fruit Smoothie Recipes Without Banana

8 Healthy Smoothies Without Banana shown from overhead on a marbled background

My 8 Simple Smoothies You Should Know How to Make post is the second most popular post ever on Wholefullyโ€”and for good reason! Those simple smoothies are a great primer to smoothie-making. They use simple ingredients that you recognize and the smoothies are all delicious!

But the absolutely number one negative comment I get on that post is from banana-haters (or banana-lovers who are sadly allergic)โ€”why do they all have to use bananas? Well, I love the sweetness and creaminess a frozen banana adds to a smoothie, but I HEARD you, friends. And today, weโ€™ve got a whole new set of eight smoothies for youโ€”and this time, there isnโ€™t a single banana in sight!

Purple smoothie being poured from a blender carafe to a clear glass, surrounded by whole berries.

Even better than that, all the smoothies are dairy-free and contain no added sugarโ€”making them paleo and vegan-friendly.

I do suggest investing in a high-powered blender to make these smoothies as creamy as possible. I personally use a VitaMix 5200, but Iโ€™ve also had a Ninja Professional in the past and loved it. Read the post ยป

5 Cold-Busting Herbal Tea Blends
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5 Cold-Busting Herbal Tea Blends

Hands holding a white mug and a spoon. The person is wearing a green shirt and a bracelet.

Iโ€™m constantly amazed at the healing powers of a simple cup of tea. Even putting aside the medicinal benefits of using specific herbs targeted toward your ailments, just the ritual of brewing a cup of tea and taking a moment to yourself to sip on it is like giving yourself a great big hug.

When Iโ€™ve got a cold, Iโ€™m never far from a mug of hot herbal tea (with honey!). Not only does the warm liquid feel great on my scratchy throat, but I can use my herbal apothecary to craft tea blends that help me feel better in a jiffy.

Five cups of herbal tea in white teacups, with the herbs for each nearby. From top clockwise: Cough Be Gone, Immune Boon, Sore Throat Antidote, Cold Care, and Nyquell teas

Before we dig into the actual five tea blends that I use all cold and flu season long, I want to talk to you a little bit about brewing a cup of medicinal tea (AKA: an infusion). Itโ€™s a bit different from just brewing a cuppa for regular sipping.

How to Brew Medicinal Herbal Teas

The first difference is quantity. You can, of course, brew just a single cup of medicinal tea, but for the best benefits (and ease), you really want to brew a good quantity at a timeโ€”a quart is a good place to start. Then, instead of slamming it all in one sitting, you drink a small amount (about 1/2 cup) every hour throughout the day.

You can use a teapot, but my favorite vessels for medicinal tea are a quart-size Mason jar or a 34-ounce French press. Both work beautifully! I do not recommend brewing in a tea ballโ€”you want your herbs to really be able to dance around and make you a beautiful cup of healing tea. If your herbs canโ€™t move, they canโ€™t release their healing compounds. Just like in the garden, itโ€™s important to give your plants space! Read the post ยป

Turkey Florentine Meatballs with Pesto Spaghetti Squash
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Turkey Florentine Meatballs with Pesto Spaghetti Squash

Overhead shot of Turkey Florentine Meatballs with Pesto Spaghetti Squash in a bowl

When I was first told that I had to go grain-free, it’s not an understatement to say that I was devastated. In fact, it took me a few weeks to get over my denial and actually try living without grains. And it took me a few more months before I started to realize that a grain-free diet can be just as satisfying, comforting, and nourishing as a grain-loaded diet.

I guess when I heard “grain-free,” I envisioned that my life would henceforth and forever be filled with only salads and smoothies. But when I started to explore the world of grain-free cooking, I was pleasantly surprised at the breadth of hearty, filling, stick-to-your-ribs kind of mealsย available. I’ve been happy to say that except for a few notable exceptions (I’m talking about you, pizza and buttermilk biscuits), I haven’t missed grains in my life at all.

This dishโ€”Turkey Florentine Meatballs with Pesto Spaghetti Squashโ€”is a big reason why the transition was a simple one. This is one of the first recipes I made during my early grain-free days (inspired by this recipe from Dr. Amy Myers), and it’s been in constant rotation ever since. Everyone in the family loves it, and I love that it makes enough leftovers for me to have it for lunch the next day!

Overhead shot of the ingredients for Turkey Florentine Meatballs with Pesto Spaghetti Squash

Overhead shot of wilted greens in a white bowl with a wooden spoon

This recipe is grain-free, dairy-free, and nut-free (yes, even the pesto), and it’s packed full of so much flavor and texture! I just love the combination of the creamy, silky spaghetti squash noodles with the hearty, garlicky meatballs.

Now, if you’ve ever cooked spaghetti squash before and thoughtย meh,ย well, I hear you. I used to feel that way about spaghetti squash, too. It was always a mushy, watery, terrible substitute for real pasta. But then I discovered my friend Beth’s tutorial for how toย properlyย cook a spaghetti squash for the longest, most pasta-like noodles, and I haven’t looked back.

Head over to her blog for the full run through, but the basics: cut the squash into crosswise rings to get the longest noodles, salt liberally and let rest to draw out excess water, and then BAKE the squash (no Instant Pot hereโ€”unless you want Mush City). For a grain-free alternative to spaghetti, I prefer properly cooked spaghetti squash over zucchini noodles every time! Read the post ยป

Grilled Flatbread Pizza
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Grilled Flatbread Pizza

Overhead shot of a hand grabbing a slice of Grilled Flatbread Pizza with marinara, mushrooms, spinach, and goat cheese

This post was updated and republished for your enjoyment.

Grilled pizza is one of my favorite summertime meals. I try to avoid heating up the oven as much as I can when the mercury is rising, so each Friday in the spring and summer, I head outside and cook our weekly pizza dinner on the grill! The combination of fresh veggies with smoky grilled dough and melty cheeseโ€”itโ€™s just the perfect summer dinner.

When I make flatbread pizza on the grill, I want a crust that is light, airy, thin, and has a bit of a sourdough tang to itโ€”and thatโ€™s exactly what this flatbread dough will you get you. The dough does take some time to put togetherโ€” for a chewy and tangy crust, it requires three hours of rising timeโ€”but the time is totally worth it. I can safely say that this is the absolute best pizza we’ve ever made.

Overhead shot of ingredients for flatbread pizza dough

Overhead shot of flatbread pizza dough rising

Grilling pizza is a bit different from oven-baking it, and it definitely requires some getting used to. Iโ€™m an old pro at it now, but if youโ€™re new to it, here are a few tips:

  • Oil. Lots of oil. Before your dough touches the grill, it needs to be well covered in olive oil. And again when you flip it. I use a pastry brush to make sure to coat every nook and cranny.
  • Mise en place. Make sure all of your toppings, cheese, and sauce are ready to go before you start grilling. Once the bread hits the grill, the cooking process moves very fast. If you are making multiple pizzas, having a plate ready for each pizza helps to make things move more smoothly.
  • Cook your toppings. The pizza will only be on the grill long enough to melt the cheese, so any toppings that need to be cooked will need to be done beforehand. Sautรฉ your peppers and onions, and brown or cook any meat.
  • Embrace the rustic look. These pizzas wonโ€™t be perfectly round or perfectly formed. They are going to be gloriously rustic and organicโ€”which I think makes them look even more beautiful!

Read the post ยป

Healthy Meal Prep Breakfast Sandwiches
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Healthy Meal Prep Breakfast Sandwiches

Side shot of two Meal Prep Breakfast Sandwiches, stacked on top of each other on a white plate

This recipe was retested with reader feedback, rephotographed, rewritten, and republished for your enjoyment.

I think one of the biggest keys to sticking to a healthy diet is planning ahead and getting into a meal prep routine. Anyone can eat healthily with a full day free to prepare meals. The real test comes when you have to work a full day, then go to the dentist, then run the kids to soccer, then do the laundry, and then clean the kitchen. The best way to set yourself up for success on days like that? Meal prepping healthy convenience foods ahead of time.

Each week, I like to meal prep just one item for breakfast, one for lunch, and a snack. Itโ€™s not so much cooking that I spend my entire weekend tethered to the stoveโ€”but it is just enough to take some of the pressure off of cooking during the work week. It means that there is always an option in the fridge or freezer for any given meal. And during those crazy swamped days, itโ€™s a total lifesaver.

Overhead shot of ingredients for Meal Prep Breakfast Sandwiches - Egg & spinach patties, cheese, English muffins, and bacon

Overhead shot of two Meal Prep Breakfast Sandwiches, each cut in half and on a white plate

These meal prep breakfast sandwiches have been one of my go-to healthy breakfast preps for years. They feature a whole wheat English muffin (how Mickey D’s of me) with an egg, onion, spinach, and mushroom patty. On top of that, I put a piece of bacon and a slice of cheddar cheese.

I put them together assembly-line style, and then into the freezer they go, ready to be called upon whenever my morning gets a little too hectic. Pair one of these with a serving of yogurt or a piece of fruit and that’s one heck of a nutritionally awesome breakfast. And it comes together in less than a minute. Now that is convenience food I can get behind! Read the post ยป

All About the Specific Carbohydrate Diet: What It Is and Why Iโ€™m On It

All About the Specific Carbohydrate Diet: What It Is and Why Iโ€™m On It

All About the Specific Carbohydrate Diet

A huge part of my treatment protcol for healing Lyme disease has been therapeutic diets. I always knew that diet was an important part of our total health picture, but I didn’t quite realize that the food we eat (or don’t eat) can literally be medicine until I had a group of health care professionals who were interested in treating my specific case of Lyme with (among other things) dietary changes.

The first therapeutic diet I went on backย in September 2017 was the Autoimmune Protocolย (or AIP for short). I didn’t have a Lyme diagnosis yet, and the prevailing theory at the time was that I was fighting an autoimmune thyroid disorder. While I was waiting for test results, I took things into my own hands and decided to start eating an autoimmune diet. My thyroid wasn’t the issueโ€”a raging Lyme infection wasโ€”but in the end, the dietary changes I made were right in line with the changes most Lyme-literate medical doctors prescribe.

I stayed on the AIP for about three months, and then, right around Christmas 2017, I had a pretty nasty Lyme flare-up that sparked my naturopath to recommend a change in my treatment protocol. She recommended I change diets from AIP to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (or SCD for short). I’ve been on SCD since January 11, 2018.

All About the Specific Carbohydrate Diet - Fruit

Since this is primarily a food website, I figured it was high time I explain to you guys what the SCD is, what it’s like being on it, and what I’ve figured out about it. Let’s dig in!

So whatย exactlyย is SCD?

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet is a short-term (most folks are on it for a few years, but not lifelong) therapeutic diet that was originally designed to cure intestinal bowel disorders like Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. It was originally designed by Dr. Sidney V. Haas, but popularized by the mother of one of his patients, a medical researcher named Elaine Gottschall. She devoted her entire life to investigating and advocating for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet after it cured her daughter of severe Ulcerative Colitis. She quite literallyย wrote the book on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

If you want to know more about the science of the diet, you can read this hereโ€”it’s way too complicated for me to dive in hereโ€”but the basic idea is pretty simple: certain kinds of carbohydrates are not able to be fully digested by everyone’s bodies. Not everyone can digest complex carbohydrates well. When we have undigested carbohydrates in our gut, we’re overfeeding the bad bacteria and yeast in our intestinal tract. Feeding these bad guys dinner triggers a vicious cycle of excess toxins, acids, and gasses living in our guts, which causes irritation and disease.

How does it work?

Simple: you remove the foods that feed the bad bacteria and yeast. And this means any kind of complex carbohydrate: grains of all kinds, sugar, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and most dairy products (see a full list of legal/illegal foods here).

By giving your gut a break from complex carbs, your gut flora begins to stabilize and the body begins to heal. It’s not a quick process, but it’s effective and 100% natural.

Um, Cass, you don’t have intestinal bowel disesaseโ€”so why are you on this?

True. I don’t have UC or Crohn’s, but you know what I do have? A rampant bacterial infectionโ€”Lyme (and it’s co-infections). And the whole idea behind SCD is to stop feeding the bad bacteria living your body. We’re starving out the Lyme. It’s not commonplace to treat Lyme with SCD, but it is common for Lyme to be treated with a strict paleo diet (no grains, no sugars, no legumes, no dairy). The SCD is just taking the standard dietary treatment for Lyme a step further by eliminating all complex carbohydrates.ย Read the post ยป

Superfood Sweet Potato Hash
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Superfood Sweet Potato Hash

If you follow me over on Instagram, you know that 9 times out of 10, my breakfast plate looks very similar to that picture right up there (I share a lotย of my meals on my Instagram Stories, by the way). I am 100% a savory breakfast kind girl, and for me, the Queen Bee of all savory breakfast options is the sweet potato hash.

It’s easy to make. It’s delicious. I always have all the ingredients. And, maybe best of all, it’s packed full of CUPS and CUPS worth of nourishing veggies per serving. I know a lot of people get their green leafy veggies in by having giant saladsโ€”and I do that sometimes tooโ€”but my favorite way to get in lots of kale or spinach or chard is in hash form! Each serving of this hash has around two cups of green leafies! And they cook down so it doesn’t feel like you’re just eating like a bunny rabbit. This is just my favorite way to kick off a healthy day.

Get the Recipe ยป

Apple Walnut Salad in a Jar
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Apple Walnut Salad in a Jar

I once had a friend who was staunchly against fruit on salad. She just refused to believe it could be delicious. In fact, she refused to even try it! I feel sorry for her, because adding fruit to a salad gives it just the right combination of sweet and savory, soft and crisp, tart and…

Rosemary Bacon Wrapped Dates
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Rosemary Bacon Wrapped Dates

Bacon Wrapped Dates

We’re fully into appetizer season, now, and man, I am here for it. When I was a kid, it always felt so fancy when we had appetizers for dinner, and I still love getting to sample bite-sized deliciousness whenever I can. It’s just so darn fun!

Because of my restricted diet this year, I’ve had to get a bit creative with what kind of appetizers I can make and eat. Mini Christmas Quiche, while delicious, are decidedly not AIP-friendly. Cheese board?ย Nope. Bacon and Sriracha Deviled Eggs? Nada. Spinach Quinoa Patties? Nope, can’t eat quinoa. Caprese sticks? Nope, no cheese. Bacon Almond Cheddar Bruschetta? HA. I can eat exactly none of that.ย Parmesan and Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms? Maybe, but it’d take some tweaking. I could probably tweak one of my three favorite cocktail meatball recipes to work, and maybe my body won’t notice the beer in the Beer Boiled Peel and Eat Shrimp.

Basically, most of my favorite appetizers are out (or require some serious reworking), so I headed into the kitchen with a clean slate (and a set of pretty restrictive but totally doable dietary rules) to figure out what holiday appetizers would work for me here and now.

Medjool Dates

Dates on Pan

My #1 rule with holiday appetizers? They’ve gotta be speedy. My Mini Christmas Quiche (which, after making for 10 straight years of family Christmases is fully a tradition) are the exception to the rule. Everything else, I want it to be eaaaaasy. We’re all way too time-crunched during the holidays anyway; we don’t need to be spending three hours after the kids go to bed cooking an appetizer for the office pitch-in tomorrow.

You know what is super easy? Wrapping a gooey, sweet Medjool date in some really great bacon and popping it into the oven, and then sprinkling it with flaky sea salt and fresh rosemary. You almost don’t even need a recipe, I just told you how to make this recipe in one sentence.Read the post ยป

How to Cook Chickpeas
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How to Cook Chickpeas

Chickpea and Apple Salad

It’s been such blast exploring the glorious world of pulses over the past few months with my friends from USA Pulses and Pulse Canada! I’ve shown you how you can sttreeecccccchhhhh a $1.50 bag of split peas, black beans, and lentils into three meals per bag. And today, we’re tackling the last (but certainly not least) pulseโ€”chickpeas!

Just like all the other pulses out there, chickpeas (AKA: garbanzo beans) are a super affordable, delicious, sustainable, protein-packed source of fiber.

Pulses

They are so tasty, versatile, incredibly healthy, and budget-friendly to cook with. The average cost of beef per serving is $1.49, whereas you can serve dry peas, chickpeas, lentils, or beans for about 10 cents per serving. TEN CENTS! If youโ€™re looking for affordable ways to eat healthier, pulses need to be on your grocery list. Make sure to sign up for the Half-Cup Habit, and see how easy it can be to add a half cup serving of pulses to your diet three times per week.

Canned pulses are a great deal, too, but to stretch your budget even further, drive your cart down the grocery store aisle a little more and pick up some bags of dried beans, lentils, chickpeas, or split peas. A pound of dried pulses runs between $1-$2, and trust me, you can streeeettttcchhh each of those bags into multiple meals. Today, Iโ€™m going to show you how to stretch a one pound bag of chickpeas into three delicious, healthy, meatless meals! Letโ€™s do this.Read the post ยป

Vegan Stuffed Shells with Cashew Ricotta and Parmesan
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Vegan Stuffed Shells with Cashew Ricotta and Parmesan

Vegan Stuffed Shells

So, we’re going on three months since I cold turkey (cold cow?) cut dairy out of my life, and guys, I have to tell you somethingโ€”it really hasn’t been that big of a deal. Mostly becauseย I still eat meals like these gooey, hearty, savory Vegan Stuffed Shells. Life ain’t so bad without the cow.

I never, in a million years, thought going dairy-free would be so easy. I love me some really good cheesy pizza and buttercream and all that goodness, so I thought cutting out dairy was going to be a big problemโ€”but I’ve figured out some amazing alternatives to myย old dairy stand-bys that have made the transition a breeze! A few weeks back, I shared with you how I now make coffee creamer and queso and sour cream, and today, I’m going to show you how I use cashews to make dairy-free ricotta and parmesan cheesesโ€”all to stuff into some shells and smother in marinara sauce.

This recipe is one of those old dairy stand-bys that hasย transitioned seamlessly into dairy-free. I used to eat cheese-tastic stuffed shells ALL the timeโ€”they are so easy to put together, so simple, so tasty, and really crowd-pleasing. I’ve never met anyone to turn down a big pile of stuffed shells!

And, as it turns out, they are just as simple, tasty, and crowd-pleasing when you make them dairy-free.

There are a lot of “cheeZy” plant-based recipes out there that claim they are EXACTLY LIKE their cheese counterparts, to which I respectfully call bull. But this one? It can honestly fool just about any omnivoreย out there. You should have seen when I fed these to my omnivore parents a few months back. It seemed like after each bite they took, they had to say, “I can’t believe these don’t have cheese in them!” I’m still not sure they believe me.
Read the post ยป

How to Make Awesome Grain Bowls
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How to Make Awesome Grain Bowls

How to Make Awesome Grain Bowls

Call them grain bowls. Call them Buddha bowls. Call them macro bowls. Call them power bowls. I don’t care what you call them, just as long as you are making and eating them!

Grain bowls are exactly what they sound likeโ€”a base of healthy whole grains in a bowl with all kinds of delicious, nutritiousย toppings.ย When done well, a grain bowl is a beautiful quilt of textures, colors, and flavors that is an absolute joy to bite into. Typically, grain bowls are improvised. Sure, there are recipes out there for them (hello, Cauliflower and Quinoa Power Bowls), but the beauty and fun of grain bowls is how free you are to experiment with your meal.

Grain Bowl Fill Up Whatever you have coming off in your garden. Whatever you got in your CSA box. Whatever you have kicking around in your crisper drawerโ€”you can make it intoย awesomeย grain bowls. It’s a great way to reduce food waste and help you use up any produce that might be on its last leg before it hits the compost bin.

Today, I’m partnering up with the awesome folks fromย Tasty Biteย (more on them in a sec!) to teach you how to make your own (improvised) grain bowl. I’m going to teach you to fish byย giving you the exact formula I use when I craft awesome and tasty grain bowls. Follow this method, and I promise you’re going to end up with something delicious in your bowl.

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The Life-Changing Magic of Cashew Cream
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The Life-Changing Magic of Cashew Cream

Cashew Cream

Whenever people talk about why they could never giveย up dairy, normallyย you hear reasons like “but I’ll miss the cheeeese!” or “but I love ice cream so much!” and while I do love a good sharp cheddar and a nice bowl of pistachio ice cream, my dairy sticking pointย came from unusual suspectsโ€”half and half for my coffee and sour cream for my chili. These two items were what kept me from going dairy-free for years (even though I knew dairy made me feel not-so-greatโ€”it was worth it for a good cup of coffee!).

I literally couldn’t picture a world where I didn’t put a big glug of half and half in my coffee each morning or eatย a bowl of chili without a dollop of sour cream. I’d tried all the plant-based alternatives in the supermarket, and, quite honestly, hated them all. I had decided that I was just going to have to beย mostlyย dairy-free, except for my daily half and half and occasional sour cream. Life is too short to drink my coffee black.

Cashew Cream

And then, one day, I was out of half and half, and I did a desperateย Google search for a plant-based coffee creamer recipe that I could make using pantry staples.ย A lot of recipes called for coconut milk or coconut oil (love coconut, but I’m a coffee purist, so no go) or almond milk (which I know from experience has some separation issues). And then I stumbled onto Cashew Coffee Creamer on Kitchen Treaty, and I thought, “Well, that’s something I’ve never tried before!” and went for it.

Dude. Life changed.

It looks like half and half. It’s thick, fatty, and creamy like half and half. It doesn’t separate or curdle. It doesn’t taste like coconut. It. Was. Perfect. Better than any of those $5 a pint plant-based coffee creamers on the market. With that first blitz in my blender, a love affair with cashews was born.

In the months since, I’ve turned cashews into sour cream (yup, it works!), ice creamย (so gloriously buttery!), creamy salad dressings (best. ranch. ever.), quesoย (so spicy and yum!), alfredo sauce (much easier than making a bechamel sauce), and so many other things I’ve lost count. I have a whole other post coming up in a few weeksย about cashew cheeses (ricotta, parmesan, feta, oh my!), but for now, we’ll stick to creamy uses.

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Cashew Alfredo Sauce
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Cashew Alfredo Sauce

Turquoise bowl of fettucine noodles in a vegan cashew alfredo sauce.

Is it possible to make a good, rich, and hearty alfredo sauce without heavy cream or cheese? It absolutely is thanks to the joys of cashew cream! You will be blown away by how much this dairy-free alfredo sauce tastes like the โ€œreal thing.โ€ Slather it onto piping hot fettuccine and enjoy a nice dose of vegan comfort food!

The magical ingredient in this vegan alfredo sauce: cashew cream

Making cashew cream is exactly what is as easy as it sounds. After soaking cashews in boiling water, you blend them into an incredibly smooth cream that can be the foundation to all kinds of dairy-free kitchen experimentation! Cashew cream has a texture similar to half and half or even heavy whipping cream depending on how much water you use.

Spoon drizzling cashew cream into a turquoise bowl full of more cashew cream.

How to get cheesy flavor without the cheese: nutritional yeast!

This recipe uses nutritional yeast to get the cheesy flavor without a spot of cheese. If youโ€™ve never used nutritional yeast before, itโ€™s a vegan food that looks like fish food (#realtalk) and has a slightly cheesy, nutty flavor to it. Nutritional yeast is available at most major supermarkets and online.

A little nutritional yeast goes a long way. Youโ€™ll see a lot of recipes out there calling for large amounts of nutritional yeast, but if you are new to it, start in small doses to make sure you enjoy the flavor before diving full-bore in. This cashew alfredo sauce is a good place to start because the nutritional yeast is used as a secondary flavor, not the main one, so you can get by with just using a touch. Read the post ยป

Denver Omelet Breakfast Bake
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Denver Omelet Breakfast Bake

I don’t understand people who don’t like breakfast. I mean, I get that some folks don’t like to eat when they first get upโ€”I much prefer a cup of coffee before I dig into foodโ€”but not liking breakfast food at all? Who are you and what horrific childhood toast incidentย did you have to make you this way?

Breakfast is my jam. So much so, I have a whole flock of chickens roaming around my backyard so I can have a constant supply of fresh eggs. When we first got our flockโ€”we have eight hensโ€”I thought there was NO WAY we’d go through that many eggs. Hens lay an average of about six eggs a week eacg in the warm months, and I thought we’d be drowning in eggs. Turns out, weย are egg-eating champions. We never really run low (except in the middle of winter) but we also never have a surplus. Apparently, eight hens is the perfect amount of eggs for our little family of three.

Denver Omelet Breakfast Bake

Denver Omelet Breakfast Bake

Part of the reason we do the egg thing so well is because, even though I have a raging sweet tooth, I much prefer to stick to the savory side of breakfast. I won’t turn down a stack of pancakes, but if I had my choice? Savory, all the way, baby.

Ten years ago, when I first told myย then boyfriend/now husband that I didn’t really like donuts (so not my thing), I think he actually contemplated breaking up with me for a brief second. Now, I’ve converted him to the savory side of breakfastโ€”although I occasionally pick up a fresh maple donut for him from the local donut shop. Because love and all that mushy stuff.

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