Tips For Eating and Living Well
Last week my son was at camp, but my daughter Abby stayed home with me. At first she was super bummed that she didn’t have camp, but I told her we could have “Mommy Camp” and do fun things together instead. As a result, we had a great week together! We spent time at a local bookstore, went for a long hike at Hanging Rock, NC, cooked a delicious dinner together, and developed a fun new recipe — Sugar Cookie Granola! …
I’m way overdue on posting a fun recipe that doubles as a post-workout snack, and since Thursday was supposedly National Peanut Butter Day, I HAD to concoct these chewy, mildly sweet, Peanut Butter Protein Bars!…
Due to some inflammation in my joints in the past couple of months, I’ve decided to get back to being 100 percent on my plant-pure diet. This means no oily veggies and dressings at restaurants, no goat cheese on salads, no more caffeine, and no added sugars. I’m not going to lie — it’s tough sometimes. But the key is finding good ways to substitute healthy foods for the unhealthy ones. For example, last Saturday I had some leftover Mexican ingredients (including my queso!), and I really wanted to make loaded nachos to eat while watching football. Well you can’t have nachos without tortilla chips, and all of the ones you buy are cooked in oil. I’d heard it’s easy to make your own tortilla chips in the oven, so I purchased corn tortillas and made my own. And guess what — they were great!…
A couple of weeks ago, my husband came up to me and said, “You know what you haven’t made in a long time? Cashew cheese. Can you make that pizza cashew cheese that I like?” Um . . . I’ve never made pizza cashew cheese before, but that sounded delicious! He was probably thinking of a sun-dried tomato basil version I made a long time ago, but regardless, I set out to make him a pizza version. What resulted was my new favorite cashew cheese flavor, so I had to share the recipe! …
One of the most difficult aspects of changing to a plant-based diet is giving up cheese. Many people are unable to make diet changes for this very reason. But once you know that there are many cheese replacements that are creamy and satisfying, you may never want to go back! Today I’m sharing a basic cashew cheese recipe that I’ve been using (and perfecting) for about seven years. I’ve served it during the holidays and at parties with great reviews! Honestly, I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to post this recipe. It’s a family favorite! …
Apparently National Donut Day was just last week, but if I’d realized that, I would have gotten my act together and perfected this recipe in time to post it then. But really, do we need a special day of the year to enjoy a good donut? NOPE.
I’d recently bought half a peck of peaches from the Abbott Farms stand, and I was eager to use them in some sort of dessert recipe. I’d also been wanting to experiment with buckwheat flour, so out of my test kitchen came these earthy, peach buckwheat donuts that are surprisingly good for you!…
For some reason I’ve been on a huge roasted Brussels sprouts kick lately, so this post is really Part 1 of 3 roasted sprouts recipes (woohoo!). Now don’t get me wrong — plain roasted Brussels sprouts are great, but it’s fun to change things up every now and then. This first recipe turned out beautifully, which resulted in my eating a pound of sprouts while standing over the baking pan. Seriously, these Cheesy Roasted Brussels Sprouts are addictive! …
Roasted chickpeas are the perfect snack. They’re crunchy, salty, and packed with protein and energy. I love playing around with the flavors of these warm little beans and serving them to my husband and 3-year-old while they watch sports on the weekends. My latest creation — these Smoky Maple Chickpeas — were a must-share! I decided to try for a maple bacon flavor, so I went straight for the liquid smoke, smoked paprika, tamari, and of course, the maple syrup/sugar.
The result? Slightly sweet, slightly salty, smoky, and addictive chickpeas!…
It had been way too long since I’d made granola, which is a shame because it’s a nutritious snack or breakfast that’s easy to take on the go or give to friends and family. I’ve found that the store-bought granolas are full of oil and sugar, and thus empty calories. So if I eat granola, I prefer to make it myself and use nut butter instead of canola oil, and maple syrup or coconut sugar instead of cane sugar. It’s still fairly high in calories, but it’s also packed with protein, minerals, and fiber to keep you full and energized.
For some reason I wanted to try my hand at a savory coffee granola because, duh, I love everything coffee-flavored. With Abby’s help, I came up with this nutritious coffee almond butter granola that my father-in-law described as “almost as good as [my husband’s] shot on hole 17” last weekend. Apparently it was his best golf shot of all time, so I decided to take that as a major compliment. …
Every winter I get super excited when I see blood oranges in the produce section. If I see them, I have to buy a few. They look like regular oranges with a little red blush on the skin, but when you open them up, they’re a gorgeous crimson. I prefer them because they’re sweeter than regular oranges and typically just contain one or two seeds. I like to add them to fruit salad, squeeze some of the juice into hibiscus tea, or add them to baked goods, like my citrus tea cookies, or . . .
these blood orange muffins!…
Merry Christmas, everyone! As my gift to you, I’m sharing a simple holiday recipe that works well as a nutritious dessert or a fun snack — Gingerbread Cookie Dough Dip!…
It’s starting to feel like fall here in Winston, and I couldn’t be more excited! Fall is my absolute favorite season, and it always seems like the shortest. Just the smell of the crisp fall air makes me think of cool family walks, going to the fair, playing in piles of leaves, and eating bowls of hot soup.
But before I get back to sharing soup recipes, I wanted to post my newest — and now favorite — granola bar recipe: Coconut Cashew Granola Bars! My new obsession is coconut manna/butter, which is different from coconut oil in that it’s a whole food — pureed coconut meat. It adds a natural coconut flavor and richness to desserts, granola, and granola bars, and I can’t get enough of it! Combine it with the cashews, buckwheat, and other crunchy ingredients in this granola bar, and you have a nutritious breakfast or snack that tastes like a dessert!…
