This list tells me that you all love healthy recipes that still taste delicious. ME TOO. You’re also busy. I HEAR YOU. The dishes on this list are easy and quick. You can expect many more quick, easy, healthy, and incredibly delicious recipes from me in 2020! You also can expect MY COOKBOOK. It is packed with my best recipes EVER—all brand new and never before published, including many wonderful, healthy, and easy dinners....
I feel wrongfully punished by the brevity of peach season, an injustice I bear by purchasing peaches in irrational quantities. Using my supply to work peaches into every meal (this list of peach recipes has plenty of ideas to keep us busy) is a challenge I embrace with enthusiasm, starting with breakfast. A Peach Smoothie is the move when I want a best-behavior healthy start. For something more indulgent, I’ve been known to top Peach Crisp with yogurt and call it breakfast....
Cream cheese frosting. One of my less-polite habits is wiping all but the thinnest layer of frosting from my slice of cake, because I find most frosting recipes to be overly sweet or even greasy. I’ve even gone so far as to demonstrate this behavior at weddings, which is usually the point in the evening when, if he didn’t already at the sight of my attempted line dance to “Cotton Eyed Joe,” Ben pretends he doesn’t know me....
Reflecting on my childhood dinner table behavior, I’d like to remember myself as a demure young lady with tastes beyond her years, who never (EVER) complained about what her mother served, (Mom, are you laughing yet?). The truth is, as a kid, I was a fairly picky eater. Although I’d finish my Roasted Broccoli eventually, dessert bribery was nearly always involved. One of the few vegetables I met with genuine enthusiasm was roasted spaghetti squash (and Crockpot Spaghetti Squash)....
Come to think of it, the same phenomenon (appetizers, chips, and dip sneakily counting as a main course) happens at football season. And the holidays. I’m sensing a theme here. Appetizers all around! Shrimp Guacamole Bites—A Crowd-Pleasing Shrimp Appetizer These spiced shrimp guacamole bites are one of my favorite party munchies. They combine an appetizer classic of which I will never grow weary (chips and guac) with an easy upgrade (five-minute chili roasted shrimp) to create a whole new experience....
Few dishes stack up to the allure of this pure Italian comfort food. If I see it on a restaurant menu, it’s always a finalist. If it’s served at a family gathering, I say a prayer in thanksgiving that I have Italian in-laws. If you can’t tell from the description above, carbonara is delicious. (I’ll grab a towel for your drool too ;-) ). Enjoying such richness is special. As a regular weeknight dinner habit, however, it isn’t the healthiest of ideas....
Up until making this pressure cooker pinto bean recipe, I always answered black beans. In fact, I’ve probably ordered enough waves of black beans and rice to fuel all of our Taco Tuesdays (and Taco Thursdays) from now until next January. We grew up eating Mexican food every Sunday after church (and Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas on Christmas), and back in those days, I was a refried bean girl. At some point, I transitioned over to black beans and sort of forgot about poor pinto....
The magic trick? These ravioli are wrapped in… zucchini! Abracadabra, indeed. This zucchini ravioli with ground turkey (you can also make zucchini ravioli with chicken if you prefer) is a lightened-up version of a classic Italian comfort food. By replacing the flour pasta dough with thinly sliced zucchini strips, zucchini ravioli calories (and Zucchini Lasagna calories) are much lower than in traditional pasta. Yet the familiar Italian flavors of oregano, pepper, and garlic—plus creamy, classic ricotta filling—maintain the tasty illusion....
Tantalizingly crisp, dangerously easy to make, and smelling of the heavens, bacon in the air fryer is hands-down the best bacon I’ve ever cooked. I’ve long been a believer in baking bacon vs. cooking bacon in a skillet on the stovetop. Each bacon slice turns out perfectly uniform.It saves me the grease splatters of stove top frying (which are both messy and dangerous).It cooks completely hands-free. Since an air fryer is essentially a high-powered countertop convection oven, it has all of the benefits of cooking bacon in the oven…and more!...
The secret to perfect fried bacon is that it isn’t fried; it’s baked. Cooking bacon in the oven is the method most restaurants use, and it is foolproof. Ever wonder how your favorite brunch, burger or BLT spot achieves those flat, thick, and magically crisp bacon slices? I’d wager my last piece that the bacon is baked. Oven baked bacon is easier to make, healthier, and produces better results than fried bacon (Air Fryer Bacon is another great method)....
Wholesome enough to fly as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up but scrumptious enough to satisfy sweet cravings, this healthy-dessert-meets-anytime-munchie is a recipe you can feel great packing for your kids’ lunches or rewarding yourself with after (or during!) a long day. They travel well for potlucks and picnics too. One of the reasons I adore banana recipes like these banana bars so much is that they allow me to sweeten up my baked goods more naturally....
Thick slices of brioche that are first soaked in syrup, then topped with a layer of crunchy, sweet almond paste and baked until fluffy inside and lightly golden and crispy on top, bostock is quite possibly the best-tasting yet widely unknown breakfast treat you’ll find. It tastes like an almond croissant and a slice of the fluffiest, most ethereal French toast got together to create one perfect pastry. I would host a party just to serve my friends bostock....
Breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner: a slice of quiche fits them all. Further, whatever your desired level of effort, your refrigerator situation, and your mood, there’s a quiche to match! Versatile. This recipe is for broccoli cheddar quiche, but can be tailored to your tastes. Don’t like broccoli? No prob. Swap in whatever veggies and cheese you love (see variations below!), or even add meat.Easy. The homemade pie crust is the biggest part, but hey you can even skip that and make Crustless Quiche or Easy Quiche Recipe instead....
Actually, make that a double rum punch, earmuffs, and extra mango dressing on the Caribbean chicken salad, pretty please. Although it seems illogical to be telling you about this Caribbean chicken salad when my front yard is covered in snow, the inspiration for the recipe actually came from Wisconsin. Inspiration Behind This Caribbean Chicken Salad Recipe A few weeks ago when my friend Laura came to visit, we went to check out the Milwaukee Public Market, a large, airy building that permanently houses row upon row of food vendors and market stalls....
Fresh cauliflower florets sautéed in garlic until golden, then tossed with peas, lemon zest, and a flourish of Parmesan cheese, it looks innocent enough at the outset. It’s a healthy, veggie-filled pasta, it cooks entirely in one pot (including the noodles), and you’ll be glad to have it in your recipe repertoire. Buuuutttt….let’s not stop there. I have a new, exciting tip I learned that is transforming our basic weeknight pasta routine....
Ben’s parents live on a lake and, being the dutiful son and daughter-in-law that we are, we mooch off of their prime location as many warm weekends as we can. Through the years, weekends on the lake have become one of my most valuable recipe testing grounds (e.g. this BLT Pasta Salad). I slide my dish onto the table, then silently sit back and observe how the other guests react....
For those nights when the act of even thinking about cooking is exhausting, and all you want to do is call Papa John’s for pizza, this crockpot Italian chicken is here to rescue you. While I adore cooking, some nights I barely have the energy to put together a peanut butter sandwich, let alone an entire meal (which is interesting considering that I always have the energy for these One Bowl Brownies, but I digress)....
Of course, it’s still an ideal addition to a picturesque weekend brunch. Pair it with the all-star team of Oven Baked Bacon, Healthy Blueberry Muffins, and Oatmeal Pancakes, and now you have a spread fit for royalty. But this quiche is too easy, too good for you, and too versatile to limit it to the occasional weekend feast. Classically, quiche filling is made with eggs, heavy cream, cheese, and then whatever meat and/or vegetables you like....
When I called Grammy to ask for this lemon cream cheese pie recipe, I expected her to reach for a classic cookbook or a magazine article she’d clipped. Little did I suspect that the source of this luscious, citrusy lemon lover’s dream was a 1960s cream cheese package. To be specific, this lemon cream pie recipe (or rather, my Grammy’s inspiration for it—as with any experienced baker, she’s made her own changes over the years) hails from a 1960s cream cheese cookbook pamphlet my Grammy received by mailing in a coupon clipped from the back of her cream cheese package....
To fuel our wholesome, realistic goals, I’m sharing this round up of healthy breakfast smoothies that are packed with all the protein, fruits, and veggies you need to power your day. When recipes are as tasty as these, eating right is a delight, not a chore. If you’ve ever ventured to the smoothie section of my website, then you’ll know just how much I love healthy smoothies. They taste like a treat but have incredible nutritional value....
