Posts

Calculating how much turkey you’ll need is fairly simple. Once you know how many people will be attending your Thanksgiving feast, you can determine how big of a turkey you’ll need to purchase. To ensure you have the perfect amount, it’s important to factor in the other parts of the Thanksgiving menu. Everything from appetizers to side dishes to dessert matters. As delicious as your turkey will be, side dishes (like gravy, Cornbread Stuffing, Crockpot Mashed Potatoes, cranberry sauce, and Healthy Green Bean Casserole) tend to steal the spotlight....

Chicken is the blank canvas of the protein world. Ultra versatile, easy to find, and ready to spice however you like, you can use chicken in a wide range of healthy recipes. Add the Instant Pot to the mix, and even frozen chicken becomes an option. Bookmark my handy guide to Instant Pot Chicken (which covers how to cook Instant Pot chicken thighs and Instant Pot chicken breast frozen and fresh), then come on back to peruse these eight healthy Instant Pot chicken recipes....

Growing up, every New Year’s Eve, my mom had special snacks for my sisters and me to make the night feel festive (hello, Cheese Fondue). While she changed up the mix every year, one item that never left the menu was a cheese ball. My sisters and I revered cheese balls as the epitome of fancy and gourmet (I present these elegant mini Goat Cheese Balls as further evidence). Whether or not you agree with us on the “gourmet” front, it cannot be denied that cheese balls have magical powers....

I always feel better about the week ahead when I’ve taken time to make myself a batch of Italian Tuna Salad or Chickpea Tuna Salad and stash it in the fridge. Creamy, protein-rich salads (this Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad is another favorite) are healthy, keep me full, and make lunch something to look forward to, instead of a weekday drag. After cooking a particularly large batch of Baked Salmon in Foil, I found myself with a hefty amount of leftover salmon and craving something new for lunch....

In the book (and movie), Matilda, has the ability to move objects with her mind, a power I sorely envied as a child. Honestly, I still envy it, particularly when I’ve just settled down with Avocado Brownies, only to realize that (gasp) I forgot to add ice cream and now must stand up and walk 3 feet to the freezer to retrieve it. Agony! Matilda would be able to float that carton on over without disruption....

A great big bowl of healthy goodness, this easy butternut squash soup is major where you want it to be (taste, nutrition, all-around YES factor), and minor where you don’t (prep work, time, dishes). It’s sweet and spicy. Heat from the Thai curry meets the natural sweetness of butternut squash, and the intersection is scrumptious.Its warmth will soothe you on a chilly night.It’s fast, no need to roast or bake the squash....

Let us give respect where respect is due. These fudgy squares of hidden-veggie magic are downright delectable. This zucchini brownie recipe came to be when my hankering for chocolate intersected with my perpetual, internal guilt over allowing produce of any kind to go bad, including excessively abundant squash. Our zucchini were just about to slip into the no-zone, when I remembered a pan of zucchini brownies that I made for Ben and myself a few summers ago....

One of my good friends is vegan and recently expressed that his family gets stressed cooking Thanksgiving every year, because they have no idea what vegans can eat on Thanksgiving. It turns out…A LOT! Obviously turkey isn’t vegan, but there is still a lot of vegan Thanksgiving deliciousness to be had. When creating vegan recipes, my number one goal is to ensure they taste fantastic. Whether you’re figuring out what you can serve your vegan guests or making these tasty Thanksgiving recipes for yourself, the food needs to be worthy of a spot on your holiday table....

Over many years of countless recipe tests and inspiration, my list of healthy side dishes and Thanksgiving recipes has grown. These recipes taste INCREDIBLE and THEY WORK! Holiday meals are special, and these recipes live up to the task. Every recipe on this list has received numerous stamps of approval from both adults and kids.The ingredients are simple and can be found at any grocery store.These Thanksgiving sides are EASY....

What makes fried chicken addictive is the juiciness of the meat and the crispiness of the exterior. This baked fried chicken offers both (as Air Fryer Fried Chicken Breast and Air Fryer Chicken Tenders do too!). A spicy buttermilk marinade gives the chicken unbelievable moisture and a nice kick, and a coating of crushed corn flakes makes the exterior irresistibly crunchy. Corn flakes aren’t a cereal I think of much, but after one bite of this skinny buttermilk fried chicken, I developed a new level of respect for this humble breakfast cereal....

Blackening is a cooking technique that can be used with any firm-bodied fish, and it’s popular with chicken too. The fillets are brushed with butter (it must be butter to turn black—more on that momentarily), then coated liberally with a blend of herbs and spices (generally referred to as “blackening seasoning”). The salmon isn’t burned. Rather, the color comes from the milk solids in the butter deeply toasting and the spices charring when the fish hits the hot pan (helllllo, FLAVOR!...

Spoiler: homemade cheese fondue is EASY. You’ll feel inspired to throw a fondue party by the end! One of my best early memories in Milwaukee is making this cheese fondue recipe for my (now) girlfriends. We had recently moved to town, and I was looking to form deeper relationships. I wooed everyone via an invite to a fondue party. (This required upping the ante from my Pineapple Cheese Ball.) I still remember the giddy looks when I set the big, bubbly pot of fondue in the center of the table....

Of the dozens (hundreds?) of recipes I’ve tested the last several months, air fryer chicken thighs are the first to earn the highest honor awarded in our household: Ben fervently declared that he’d love for me to cook “exactly this” every week, forever. He even went so far as to call this the best chicken he’d ever had. Between Baked Chicken Thighs, Pan-Fried Chicken Breast, and all of these healthy chicken recipes, that’s quite a statement....

Rich, complex, and lightly smoky, mole sauce is traditional in Mexican cooking and can transform even the most basic ingredient (shredded chicken, I am looking at you) into something extraordinary. Real-deal authentic chicken mole sauce takes days and 20+ ingredients to make. It’s a treat to devour (I love ordering it when we go out for Mexican food) and something I hope to cook the old-school way someday. Anyone want to spend a day sipping a Skinny Margarita or two and teaching me?...

Quinoa Fried Rice is a meal I made at least once a week for Ben and myself when we were first married. Then, I became distracted cooking other things (all 800+ of these healthy recipes perhaps?), and it fell off our usual rotation. Last week, I was digging through our freezer (always an adventure) and found a big container of cooked quinoa I had stashed away. We also had a few straggler vegetables and a casual chicken breast hanging out in the refrigerator, awaiting their purpose....

Made with hot milk and combining the intensity of cocoa powder with the richness of good chocolate, this hot chocolate is the real deal. Sure, there’s the powdery packet plus microwave. BUT let’s be honest: it’s not the same. If you are going to enjoy a mug of hot chocolate, really enjoy it with the good stuff! Plus, making hot chocolate homemade allows you to customize how chocolatey, sweet, or creamy you want it, to add different flavors, and even to spike it....

I had a basic question: how many minutes does it take to cook chicken in an Instant Pot? I knew it would vary depending on if I was making Instant Pot chicken breasts or Instant Pot chicken thighs, if my chicken was frozen or fresh, and if it was bone-in or bone-out, but I wanted an easy answer. You would think this kind of basic information (Instant Pot chicken!) would be easy to find....

This recipe is sponsored by DeLallo. This easy, healthy soup recipe uses pantry ingredients, so you can whip it up anytime you need a wholesome, satisfying meal. It’s warm and comforting, but features vibrant flavors—the perfect soup to ease us into the changing seasons. While I use my Instant Pot year-round (this is the 6-quart model I have had for years), I especially adore it for soups. A pressure cooker like the Instant Pot imparts a slow-simmered flavor in a fraction of the time....

Stuffing cakes are one of the best recipes for leftover Thanksgiving stuffing. They feel particularly appropriate for Thanksgiving leftovers because, like the Thanksgiving meal itself, the sum of the recipe is greater than its parts. (Here are my favorite Thanksgiving side recipes.) Individually, the components themselves are pleasant enough—savory, herby stuffing; gooey cheese; an all-purpose fried egg—but together, they form something far more meaningful. Moist and cheesy on the inside, delightfully crispy on the outside, and topped with a runny egg that forms a decadent “sauce” that, once unleashed, soaks through the golden crust of each stuffing cake is pure Thanksgiving leftover BLISS....

Of all the wonderful lemon recipes on my site (from the best Lemon Bars to Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake), this fluffy lemon cake takes the crown. Among lemon desserts, this is hands-down the best lemon cake recipe I’ve ever tasted, anywhere, and quite possibly the best cake I’ve ever baked. In the comments below, you’ve called this simple lemon cake recipe: “Super moist”“Easy”“Perfectly fluffy,” and even“The best lemon cake recipe in the world”...