Posts

These chips are a hover situation. As in, I’m going hover in the kitchen, hover over the container, and hover anywhere else where I can feasibly sneak another little handful before someone else beats me to it. Because these baked cinnamon apple chips are a healthy snack, you can hover to your heart’s content. About These Apple Chips My first experience with homemade apple chips was elementary school, when my dad purchased a food dehydrator and decided that we were going to dry everything....

My healthy burger trick: make the patties with a mix of lean ground beef and black beans! Black beans are inexpensive and full of healthy plant-based protein and fiber. Beef gives you savory flavor, protein, and zinc, but you don’t need as much of it when your patties are a mix. I make a mean black bean Vegan Burger and stellar turkey burgers too (especially these Teriyaki Burgers), but combining beef AND beans didn’t occur to me, until I watched Rachel Ray do it on the Food Network years ago....

Lately, I’ve been trying to find new and exciting ways to sneak more protein, fruits, and veggies into my day, and smoothies are one of my favorite go-to morning and afternoon boosts. When planning our month-long Yummiest Ever Smoothie Series (see this Green Smoothie, this Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie, and this Peach Smoothie if you’d like to catch up), I started by brainstorming which fruits are good for smoothies. Berries, like blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, along with bananas are some of the best, most delicious, and healthy fruits to add to a smoothie, with blueberries being my favorite....

I fully intended to make a wholesome, veggie-packed carrot smoothie. I blended together what appeared to be an innocent mix of chopped carrots, pineapple, Greek yogurt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cashew milk only to realize I’d inadvertently made a carrot smoothie that tastes just like my favorite Healthy Carrot Cake. This may be the happiest kitchen accident ever. I mean, I really should receive an award for this smoothie because it:...

Bubbly, festive, and a total snap to stir together, this easy Christmas punch is light, refreshing, and not at all overly sweet. It takes less than fives minutes prep time and would be a lovely, useful centerpiece at any holiday party because: It’s simple but beautiful, with the right amount of holiday sparkle.Guests will love it (and love you for making it!).Crowd control. Think of holiday punch as your party’s water cooler....

Now that Bath and Body Works gift sets are out of style (sun-ripened raspberry anyone?), I’ve been searching for a go-to present that’s more thoughtful than a gift card, yet guaranteed to please. The answer: homemade cookie mix in a jar. It’s the right size.It is perfectly festive (as are these Bourbon Balls).It’s budget-friendly but still thoughtful.It can be easily customized to fit different taste preferences and dietary needs....

When the itch to bake increases near the holidays, it’s tempting to always opt for a sweet or decadent dessert (my Grandma Dorothy’s Orange Cookies with Cranberries are a treasured favorite this time of year). But, we need balance (and breakfast!) too. Boasting traditional festive flavors of cranberry and orange, these muffins bring holiday flavors to healthy snacks or breakfasts. The Best Cranberry Orange Muffin Recipe Delicious and Nutritious. Unfortunately, most bakery muffins (like the cranberry orange muffins at Starbucks and Panera) are loaded with ingredients that essentially make them cake....

You can make it with chicken breasts, thighs, or drumsticks and add sesame if you are feeling fancy, and the sweet, sticky, fruity sauce turns every bite into fork-licking gold (like the sticky sauce in both Bourbon Chicken and Crock Pot Bourbon Chicken). My food-loving husband has a longstanding weakness for Chinese fast food (specifically General Tso Chicken). We used to live within walking distance of a Panda Express, and on weeks when he’d had a rough time at work, he’d sweet talk me into heading over there for lunch or dinner....

Whole wheat noodles, hearty eggplant, plenty of Parmesan, and a few light, briny punches to bring it to life are the non-negotiables. From there, the precise mix of ingredients is up to you! I’m typically a stickler for clear directions and precise measurements (a reason my cookbook has nearly 1,900 5-star reviews!), but clean-out-the refrigerator pastas like this recipe are one domain where we have more freedom to play. When I cook with this open-the-refrigerator, see-where-it-takes-me abandon I try to channel my Grandma Dorothy....

If up until this point, you’ve been reaching for the red enchilada sauce can, the next time you are cooking Mexican, give this from-scratch recipe a try. Not only does this easy red enchilada sauce beat the pants off of whatever you’ll find on a store shelf, but you’ll also feel great knowing what’s in it. The flavor is delightfully smoky, and you can adjust the spice level to your taste....

More specifically, my definition is a hybrid of my Grammy’s homemade mac and cheese (you’ll find it in my cookbook!) and my Grandma’s Party Ham Casserole. Both contain noodles, a crispy topping, and unbridled amounts of heavy cream. My grandmothers’ recipes are exactly the sort of dishes you want to curl up with on a chilly evening when the sun sets too early, the wind blows too strong, and you realize that a comforting pasta bake and a pair of sweatpants might be the secret to a lifetime of happiness....

These healthy cranberry apricot bars are little portable fruit crisps that you can tuck into your lunch box. With double the glorious streusel topping, nutty layers of cinnamon almond-scented dough are wrapped around a bright cranberry apricot filling to create a tasty mash-up of a traditional buttery crumble bar and your favorite fruit cereal bar. Loaded with good-for-you ingredients, this twist on a yummy fruit bar might be my greatest contribution to society yet (ranking right up there with these Pecan Pie Bars and Strawberry Oatmeal Bars)....

You cool Instant Pot kids—have you been cooking your sweet potatoes this way all along? Is there a secret underground club where people wink at each other knowingly, all while enjoying their perfectly tender, lightly fluffy, yet also creamy, sweet potatoes? As of this day, you and I are IN the sweet potato club, my friends. Maybe we can have a secret handshake or better yet, a secret stash of butter....

Making healthy versions of comfort foods from everyone’s childhood is among my favorite cooking challenges (see Chicken Alfredo Bake). This healthy King Ranch chicken is my latest lightened-up love. Made with just one pan, this sped-up skillet version of the original King Ranch chicken recipe offers lean protein, fresh veggies, and plenty of Tex-Mex comfort with less fat and fewer calories (like my favorite Taco Skillet). Added bonus: if you hustle, this recipe is ready in 30 minutes or less....

Although my sisters and I eventually outgrew the prefilled Easter baskets too (harsh realities of our 20s), I certainly believe that, at any age, everyone deserves a little springtime treat. A fresh twist on classic jam thumbprint cookies, which in my family are rolled in crushed walnuts and filled with strawberry jam, lemon thumbprint cookies take the same lightly crispy, buttery shortbread and give it the springtime citrus treatment. In celebration of a new season and the return of sunshine, let’s fill our baskets and pile our plates with bright lemon coconut thumbprint cookies....

Well, lentils, if you were hoping to sit quietly in the pantry, I am afraid I must disappoint you. Now that I’ve experienced just how tasty and filling you are in my salad (and this Crockpot Lentil Soup), I am going to be paying you a lot of attention from this point forward. I made this healthy lentil salad recipe for lunch a few weeks ago, and while I’d hoped it would be above average, I was not expecting it to captivate and satisfy me the way that it did....

It’s also a tasty change of pace from Baked Chicken Breast, as well as another satisfying way to cook chicken when Grilled Chicken Breast isn’t an option. Because the chicken breast is well seasoned, this recipe can hold its own as a stand-alone entrée, and it’s versatile enough to dice and add to salads, sandwiches, pasta, and more. How to Make Pan Fried Chicken Breast This simple method for cooking chicken in a pan gives you fast, tasty results....

I spent a month after college traveling through India, a country whose colors, people, and cuisine still captivate my memory and imagination. Paneer tikka masala is one dish I still crave regularly (along with Potato Curry). Since I can’t pop back over to India any time my craving strikes, I have to try and bring the flavors of India to life in my kitchen. I don’t have easy access to a mega-market of Indian spices (or the time to toast and grind the whole spices like in an authentic paneer tikka masala recipe), so this is my adaption....

We didn’t grow up eating parsnips, and the first time I saw one at a farmers market, I thought it was some kind of rare albino carrot. After being informed by the producer that albino carrots were, in fact, a figment of my imagination, I was advised to take some parsnips home and roast them just like Baked French Fries. I took her advice and have been smitten since. Many people overlook this tasty root vegetable, which is a pity because they are delightful and really do deserve a larger place on our plates....

I spent the better part of middle school fantasizing about my life as a musical (and about a never-ending supply of Brownie Bites). An appropriately directed breeze would blow my hair attractively at all times.Backup dancers would materialize on command.And I’d (obviously) sing duet across from the hunk of the class. As an adult, my musical fantasies now occur in the kitchen and I’m happy to announce the first act: “We go together like rama lama lama pumpkin cheesecake brownies....