Super Healthy Archives | Page 2 of 16 | finding time for cooking

Bing Cherry Pie With Streusel Topping

December 7, 2019

I love pie. Pie is the best. But for a holiday where pie plays a major role, I don’t really love Thanksgiving pies. Thanksgiving’s a big deal in my family. We always come home. We get together not only all day on Thanksgiving, but pretty much every other day that weekend. We play football. We play cards. There are glorious sunsets. There is SO much food. This year I think we actually set a record.

[Note: I edited and republished this in December 2019 with refreshed photos]

Every year I make a fruit pie or two, because pumpkin, German chocolate, and chocolate chip pie are just not for me. There’s usually a pear-apple pie with streusel topping, or some similar combination (I’ve been on a roll with this bourbon pear crumble pie). A couple years ago, though, I was really at a loss for what else to make, and then my mom found a bag of dark cherries in the freezer.

After looking up a number of recipes on Pinterest, I had to basically make up the recipe and hope it would work (I had visions of it just being this giant pool of juice, the soggiest pie ever). It was actually super simple and so easy to throw together.

This bing cherry pie ended up being my favorite dessert that year, and I had it for lunch, dinner, breakfast the next morning, and the tiny sliver that was left the next morning as well. This pie is my everything. I have no idea why, but it’s amazing.

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Hearty Fall Lentil, Butternut Squash, & Kale Salad

November 30, 2019

I had some hesitation as I decided to try out this recipe, to be honest. On the one hand, I love a hearty salad (I’m on the record as not generally loving lettuce salads…). But on the other hand, I’m not a massive fan of lentils. I don’t hate them, just tend to find the texture weird and flavor a bit underwhelming. So I wasn’t sure how this lentil, butternut squash, and kale salad would land with me.

But I was pleasantly surprised both by the flavor and texture, and how satiated it kept me for hours! I didn’t feel cheated or dread having to heat up my lunch, and for me that is a win…the cafeteria chicken tenders are always calling, and I have to avoid that call!

Besides the lentils, the base of this salad is a delicious blend of roasted vegetables. Butternut squash for heft, red onion for flavor, and kale for texture (and greenery). Personally I could have left out the pecans and wouldn’t have missed them, since I’m not hugely into nuts and they add calories. And I loved the subtle dressing that blended everything together—sometimes dressings can overpower a salad, especially on leftovers, and that’s not the case at all here.

If you’re looking for other delicious hearty salads, I’m particularly in love with this roasted vegetable and barley salad with a yummy creamy shallot dressing, and this sweet potato and chickpea buddha bowl with maple tahini dressing. Along with this dish, they all three make DELISH leftovers and are perfect for taking to work for lunch as well.

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Grilled Gorgonzola Potatoes

September 7, 2019

The grilling extravaganza continues! And this time we go a little fancier—gorgonzola grilled potatoes. My love of grilling recipes is well-documented, partly because grilled food is delicious, but also because it’s often healthier, easier, and requires less cleanup.

I’ve been in love with my grilled cheddar rosemary sweet potatoes for like a year now, and this is a similar idea, just taking it up a notch.

Now, obviously strong blue cheese is a polarizing thing. I truly adore it, but realize not everyone does. If you hate it, then I’d say move on, this isn’t for you. But if you’re kind of on the fence, then I’d recommend giving this a try…melting the gorgonzola crumbles and the thin coating it makes over the crispy potatoes and herbs really mellows out the flavor and makes it less in-your-face.

This is a perfect weeknight side dish for one person (hello!), but also could be a great fancy-feeling (and low-effort) side for a dinner party.

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Quick Healthy Thai Chicken Cauliflower Rice Bowl

August 30, 2019

Sometimes a self-directed health guilt trip and a slapdash new recipe can actually work out for once. My track record lately on poorly-thought-out and super rushed recipe trials has been…not great. Due to tons of travel lately (and not a little bit of stress and convenience-based choices), I’m feeling less than spry and as soon as I got back from a week at the wineries of Sonoma I really felt the need to LOCK IT DOWN.

I really needed to actually eat a decent healthy lunch last week, and this thai chicken with cauliflower rice happened to catch my eye. I actually threw it together in just a few minutes *while* making my dinner for that night, and to my surprise it was totally awesome! Easy, delicious, and fast.

And best of all, it made amazeball leftovers. Like, leftovers I actually looked forward to warming up at work. I made a few tweaks to the recipe, both playing with the ingredients in the sauce slightly as well as combining a few steps to make it even easier.

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How To Brine Chicken Breasts: A Secret To Amazing Chicken

August 11, 2019

Not to brag or anything, but I make darn good grilled chicken breasts. Like, my-sister-requests-them-for-her-birthday-dinner good.

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts often get a bad rap for being the iceberg lettuce of the protein world…a bland necessary evil but absolutely nothing to get excited about. However, I really struggle with the texture and flavor of chicken thighs or bone-in chicken, so I’ve made it my mission to crack the code on delicious chicken breasts.

My best friend (my Cheese) put me on to wet brining a few years ago, and it’s become an invaluable tool in my arsenal. I often forget to put chicken in to marinate in the morning before I leave for work, and so what I will often do when I get home at night is make up a brine, throw the chicken in, go for a run, and fire up the grill as soon as I’m back.

We’re going to talk about both wet brine and dry brine methods here, as both are great (but I’ll tell you my new favorite at the end).

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Roasted Vegetable Barley Salad With Lemon Tahini Dressing

July 10, 2019

It’s rare that I find a recipe that not only makes amazing leftovers, but makes *enough* of them that it’s worth all the work. And that I can actually talk myself into still choosing over the cafeteria’s amazing chicken tenders on days 2, 3, 4…

This is one of those recipes.

This grain and roasted vegetable salad is a total recipe unicorn—easy, versatile, and just as good hot, lukewarm, or cold. It can be meat-y, vegetarian, or vegan. Basically, YOU DO YOU.

Also, this lemon tahini dressing is sooooo good! It really pulls everything together, with depth and tanginess but doesn’t just overwhelm you. Honestly you should put this dressing on everything!

The only downside of this recipe is that actually getting that many vegetables roasted or grilled (and prepping them, honestly) can take a bit of time.

However, what I usually do is pace it over the course of an afternoon, since the veggies don’t need to be piping hot fresh. And I’ll do a combination of grilling and roasting so I don’t have my oven on forever. I love to absolutely pack this salad with veggies rather than have it be really grain-heavy, because HEALTH.

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Farro Salad with Butternut Squash, Goat Cheese, & Pepitas

April 14, 2019

It’s been a while since I’ve shared a simple healthy dinner recipe…probably because it’s been a while since I’ve *made* one that doesn’t require just throwing chicken and veggies on the grill. But this yummy and super easy farro salad is such a perfect way to transition from winter’s cozy comfort food to lighter summer fare that I had to share.

This is another Smitten Kitchen gem that I’ve adapted in several different iterations depending on what I have in the fridge (like that delish goat cheese with thyme and apricots you can kind of see in the pic below). This is the simplest version, but feel free to add to or switch up ingredients. The best part of this dish is the combination of different textures and flavors—creamy, chewy, salty, crunchy, sweet. So as you swap things in and out, try and maintain those elements for maximum awesomeness. You can also try it with different grains (barley is a particular favorite of mine).

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Feta & Sweet Potato Hash With Greens

February 10, 2019

It’s been over a month since I’ve posted something healthy, which feels like a pretty good indication of what my life choices have been like lately :p #allcarbsallthetime

Between work, travel, and this disgustingly cold polar vortex weather, I’ve been indulging a bit too much, and right now I feel the need to get my eating back on track. But it’s still gross cold and so these healthy options have to be delicious as well. Behold—soft, sweet, salty, healthy feta & sweet potato hash!

The flavors of the mellow sweet potato, the bitterness of the greens, and the saltiness of the feta play really well together, and the dried herbs add depth to the overall flavor profile. It’s a really comforting dish, something easy to throw together and really healthy, but feels like you’ve done something special. Here’s to good choices 🙂

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One-Pot Yellow Cauliflower Chickpea Curry (vegan)

December 23, 2018

I don’t want to oversell this, but I’ve got your new favorite Meatless Monday recipe comin’ at ya. It is LEGIT.

Easy One-Pot Cauliflower Chickpea Curry (vegan) | this super easy and healthy curry comes together quickly and provides a great Meatless Monday or healthy weeknight dinner option.

This easy cauliflower & chickpea curry is crazy flavorful and super easy to make. It’s healthy but doesn’t feel like you’re giving anything up. We all win.

The other great thing about this recipe (besides how fast it comes together) is that it doesn’t take much in the way of special ingredients. Other than red or yellow curry paste (which I think most grocery stores have now, and you can easily get online), everything should already be in your kitchen.

Make with this: Easy Homemade Naan Bread

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Whole Wheat Cranberry Pistachio Orange Shortbread Cookies

December 9, 2018

A couple years ago, my sister sent me an email out of nowhere with this recipe and a note that said “This has to be on your blog!” And I’ll be honest…it kind of took me a while to get to it.

But I played around with the recipe, making for a co-worker on maternity leave, for my own personal consumption, and then to take to work. And somehow never got around to posting the final version that I love dearly.

And guys, these cookies are weird. They have no leavening agent and no eggs…which shouldn’t work, but it totally does. In fact, they could be vegan if you substituted coconut oil for butter (though I haven’t tried that from a texture standpoint).

Side note, this cookie dough is AMAZING. Like, try not to eat it all raw before baking it, I DARE YOU. And because there are no eggs, you don’t have to worry about raw egg in it (which…I don’t, but I know some people do).

One of the great things about this kind of recipe, where you make the dough into a log and then slice pieces off, is that you can make parts of it at a time super easily. So the last time I made this, I baked up about half the dough right after dinner, and then two days later sliced up the rest and baked it when I had my whole family over for dinner again. Bonus points because they’re really quite healthy.

Crushing. It.

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