Note: This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to Kim and Deborah who each won a copy of this great cookbook!
I have a special treat for you today, which is a giveaway for The Clean Plates Cookbook: Sustainable, Delicious, and Healthier Eating For Every Body, by Jared Koch and Jill Silverman Hough. (Running Press.) I will be giving away copies of this cookbook to two lucky winners!
This beautiful cookbook is crazy full of absolutely delicious and healthy looking meals that I wish someone would fix for me. But it also features tons of inspiring information about what it means to be a lifelong healthy eater. Although it contains recipes for meat based meals, there are also a lot of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. So seriously, something for everyone!
To enter to win a copy of The Clean Plates Cookbook, write your favorite healthy meal in the comments section below. I will randomly choose two winners Monday, February 25th at 9:00 P.M. PST.
Here, I’ll start. My favorite healthy meal is pesto made from kale instead of basil. Not only is it a year-round cheap option, but keeping a jar of it in the fridge has saved me from takeout pizza hell on multiple occasions. And yes, it’s just as delicious as regular pesto.
Now, your turn! What’s your favorite healthy meal?
Please enter one time only, U.S. residents only.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
{ 181 comments… read them below or add one }
I make black bean and sweet potato enchiladas. They are amazingly yummy!
And since you’re such a fan of the kale pesto — do you have a specific recipe you follow?
I just chop a bunch of kale and steam it until it softens up, but hopefully not too much. I then chop it in a food processor and add garlic, olive oil, nuts (always different depending on hat I have in the house)and parmesan cheese and salt. I then just store it in a glass jar in the fridge and scoop it out as needed for pasta or the occasional pannini sandwich. (Bread, pesto, provolone on the George Foreman grill — heaven!)
There’s pretty much no way you can screw up homemade pesto!
Katy
**Anything** with kale. It’s the one vegetable I can harvest from my garden all year round. (I just ran out yesterday in a snowfall and broke off two huge leaves to use in a chicken stir-fry. In February. In upstate NY.)
It’s so hard to pick just one! I’d say probably wild rice with diced sweet potatoes on top is the family favorite. I add some melted butter, a dash of coconut oil and a little maple syrup too. My kiddo could eat it for every meal! That and my homemade mac and cheese. 🙂 Thanks for having this giveaway!
Oh my gosh I want to try your favorite healthy meal!! I love pesto and have tried it with garlic scapes when I got them in my CSA (AWESOME) but never kale!
Mine is probably black beans with brown rice or quinoa, pepper jack cheese, and chopped tomatoes and/or bell peppers… I love it because I always have all these things around and it’s super easy, delicious, and filling. It’s been one of my go-to foods since college (although I’ve gotten healthier with it by swapping out white rice and adding more veggies…)
In my mind, you can’t beat bean burritos! I cook a big pot of pinto or black beans every month or two and then freeze them in meal-size portions. Just need to warm them up and mash them with a few spices (chipotle is a current favorite), and grate a little cheese.
I make a wonderful brown rice with chopped spinach and onions. Yum!! Might have to make it tonight, in fact!
We do quesadillas- I’m sparing with the cheese and the toppings are whatever leftovers we have- chicken, etc, roasted vegetables, avocado, ec.
Lentil stew with spinach and potatoes from Epicurious. Cook some plain brown lentils with cubed yam, garlic and a little cayenne. Add spinach (or any other leafy green) just until cooked through. Serve with lemon juice, mint leaves and a bit of feta cheese. Or chopped kalamata olives if you want it vegan.
I love leek and potato soup. When those aren’t in season, we love lentil soup with whatever is leftover in the fridge.
Veggie kung pao, with or without tofu, topped with chopped peanuts. I got the recipe from my brother-in-law, who found it on a website somewhere. Seriously great dish, and we have sriracha on the side for those want to kick it up a notch.
I like to make a “Mexican Quinoa Casserole” which includes green and red peppers, onions, zucchini, black beans, salsa, cheese, and quinoa. And “Mexican” spices like chili powder, extra cumin, etc. YUM!
Quinoa salad with cucumbers, grape tomatoes, olives, feta, and good olive oil.
Stuffed baked potatoes. Depends on what we have–they might be stuffed with scrambled eggs and cheese, or steamed veggies, sour cream and cheese, leftover chili, a little ground meat and cheese, chopped ham or bacon or chicken and broccoli….you name it, we’ll eat it.
Pans and pans of roasted cauliflower. My mother never once served cauliflower to us, so I’d never tried it until two years ago. My son who’s 10 now asks if we can please have the “cauliflower with the brown bits.” 🙂
I make a bit pot of minestrone soup, using vegetable broth and tomatoes for the base. I add leeks, carrots, celery, onions, and kale, plus beans. My whole family loves it and there’s plenty of leftovers for lunch.
Just a large green salad with leafy greens (NOT head lettuce), spinach, tons of veggies, half an avocado, feta, homemade basalmic vinaigrette, nuts and craisins. Add bread.
Tofu parmigiano is my new latest favorite that everyone likes.
I love a big salad with whatever’s on hand – start with greens and add leftover veggies, fruit, meat, eggs, cheese, nuts – you name it. Topped with homemade salad dressing based on thirds – a third oil, a third vinegar and a third sweet. Right now we’re working our way through a canola oil/champagne vinegar/pear syrup version – yum! And I figure homemade anything beats processed.
Baked potato toppped with lots of cooked broccoli (1-1 ratio), shredded cheese, minced onions and whatever spices you like and/or have on hand. Since potatoes can be baked in the microwave — wrap in waxed paper for added moistness — this is an avoid-take-out, fast go-to recipe.
A veggie stir-fry with whatever veggies are left in the fridge, and brown rice is always on hand. 🙂
Lentils with greens thrown in, no oil, minimal salt, lots of spices and hot sauce
And, “Clear the refrigerator” dinners are usually chock full of veggies!
Homemade bread.
Anything beans which are super fast in my pressure cooker. When I am truly time crunched a lentil and carrot soup with Moroccan spice blend.
Homemade hummus. I (almost) always have cans of garbanzo beans in the cupboard and a jar of tahini in the fridge.
Our go-to healthy and frugal meal is homemade fried rice. Minimally it’s brown rice, onion, carrots, and celery. Fried up with soy sauce, sesame oil, and sriracha. Usually 5 or 6 other odd bits of leftover veg, or bits from the veg drawer that need to be used up. And often leftover meat or tofu, or a sprinkle peanuts on top. Never the same twice, quicker than takeout and good for saving veg from Food Waste Friday. And leftovers are great for brekafast!
I love replacing mashed potatoes with whipped cauliflower. I love tossing on asian green beans and grilled organic chicken breasts. FAB!
Root soup during these cold Wisconsin days.
Chard Curry!!!
Two all time faves: Fried onion and potato and black beans and rice.
Fried onion & potato:
slice up a large onion however thick you like them
saute in olive oil until they soften
1 large potato sliced added to onion and fry it all until the onions are brown and somewhat crispy and the potatoes are golden brown
Black beans & brown rice
Chop onions & celery to equal the volume of the beans you have on hand. Saute the onions & celery in vegetable stock until a bit tender. Add black beans and cooked brown rice and a jar of salsa of whatever hotness you like. Add some more vegetable stock as needed to get the moistness you like. Other additions: chipotle spice, raw bell pepper of any color and scallions to sprinkle on top. Easy and quick to throw together and so tasty.
Spaghetti Bolonese made with ground turkey instead of beef and spaghetti squash instead of regular pasta. Along with it I serve “garlic bread chips” made from a whole grain pita sliced into wedges, brushed with olive oil, topped with rosemary and crushed garlic and baked until slightly crisp.
Yum, thanks for a great contest!
My go-to is quinoa with feta crumbles, whatever veggies I have on-hand, and a lemon/olive oil dressing. It’s quick and easy and uses up leftovers, plus it has a lot of protein and good carbs and I tend not to get tired of it even after eating it twelve million times in a row. There’s much to be said for having a few of those recipes in your hip pocket.
Chicken/Turkey soup made from bone broth with brown rice and whatever veggies we have around. Not only do we make it with a base of “leftovers” but it is super packed with good stuff for joints and general health that regular chicken/meat broth doesn’t have. It also has a super-rich flavor because we save all out bones from every source (porkchops,beef ribs etc), freeze them, and then cook it together in one batch.
I the summertime when my garden is in full swing I like to pick a little of everything (eggplant, tomatoes, basil, squash) and saute with garlic briefly. Serve over pasta with a salad, my own bread and a glass of wine on the patio.
Healthy… healthy… my husband and I think a meal is healthy when we get a couple of veggies into any meal. Even though they have sauce with them, we love making all kinds of stir-fry.
We love homemade pizza with whole wheat crust and peppers and onions. Top it off with a salad of organic mixed greens for a healthy meal that the whole family likes!
Jerk Chicken Salad–grilled chicken, pinapple, black beans, red peppers, lettuce with a great dressing of light mayo, pinapple perserves and lime juice. Yum!
My new favorite is spicy turkey burgers made with shredded zuchinni as a filler served on whole wheat bread with carmelized onions. Carrots and just a few chips on the side/
Tabbouleh, heavy on the parsley, light on the bulgar wheat. In the summer, I can get the tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, and green onion from my garden.
spaghetti squash with creamy avocado sauce!
-receipe from ohsheglows.com
Our go to healthy meal is what we broadly call “Asian” noodle soup.
I use homemade broth made out of whatever bones and veggie ends I keep in the freezer, grated ginger, garlic, garlic chilie sauce, soy sauce and some sesame oil and then any and all veggies get throw in;
eggplant, cauliflower, bean sprouts, carrots, kale, spinach, peppers – whatever is around, left over chicken, or beef, if that fails then chickpeas or lentils. top it all off with soba noodles. It’s so quick and easy (and delicious).
One of my favorite soups is a barley, lentil and kale soup. Really yummy and quick to make. Add some bread and it’s even better.
I love making chicken wraps. I use Wheat tortilla shells, chicken, spinach, bell peppers, and low fat cheese..YUM
My favorite healthy meal is probably Cuban black beans with avocado and fried bananas. Or anything I don’t have to cook 🙂
Kate
It has to be black beans and quinoa, a lovely dish a vegan friend introduced us to. It’s devoured by omnivores, carnivores and herbivores! Does that earn bonus points for also being cheap, uh, I mean, frugal? 🙂
I use black beans in about everything I used to use hamburger in… such as cabbage rolls (although I do mine in a casserole with the cabbage broken into one inch pieces), stuffed green peppers, and a stuffed squash recipe. I have also changed my rice to brown rice in the above recipes. Most of my veggies come from our “lasagna garden” which is very small but produces a great amount. Google that term to see what I am talking about.
One of my favorite meals is salmon, either baked in the oven or grilled in foil, with a side of cous cous or quinoa, and a green veggie like broccoli or green beans. Yum!
Roasted broccoli (cut broccoli, chop garlic, drizzle a little EVOO, and then roast until browned to your liking, sprinkle a little lemon juice on it before serving. I used to have to force myself to eat steamed broccoli, but now that I’ve discovered roasted broccoli, I find myself craving it.
My favourite healthy meal is Kale and Garlic Soup. I make it at least once a week – delicious!
Thanks for the chance to win 🙂
Vietnamese spring rolls stuffed with tofu and a ton of herbs and veggies like mint, cilantro, cucumber, and carrots.
I’m beyond obsessed with homemade granola lately and one of our healthy meal staples in our house is honey mustard salmon with rice and veggies.
My favorite healthy dinner (and my teen’s favorite) is pasta with broccoli, garlic, and parmesan cheese.
Skinny shrimp scampi with spaghetti squash, all the taste less calories
Red lentil soup with spinach, carrots, tomatoes, and onion. Red lentils are so much faster to cook than brown lentils, and taste delicious!
Quinoa salad wtih chick peas, basil, tomato and olive oil/ lemon dressing.
I make a really yummy stuffed red bell pepper with turkey sausage, quinoa, mushrooms, onions and parm cheese. So delicious and packed with good stuff.
Favorite healthy meal….Take two pieces of heavy duty foil. Drain one can of diced tomatoes, divide between two foils. Drain one can of cannelini beans, and divide. Top beans/tomatoes with a piece of haddock or tilapia. Sprinkle with Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper. Seal foil, place on cookie sheet, bake at 450 for 20 minutes. YUM ! Thanks for the chance to win !
Red bell peppers stuffed with quinoa and black beans with cheese on top.
My favorite healthy meal is garbanzo beans and greens. It’s so yummy with a squirt of fresh lemon juice and a dollop of Greek yogurt!
Right now: lentil soup
One of my favorite healthy meals is unfried rice. It’s great for bountiful summer harvests: steamed brown rice + raw veggies + 1/2 a small avocado. I love to use spinach, bell peppers, green onions, and broccoli.
I hope this still qualifies. Not dinner but a healthy dessert. I buy bulk prunes from Sprouts and make a little indentation in the middle and fill it with peanut butter. Kinda like a cross between a thumbprint cookie and a Reeses cup. Kids love em and they are super addictive. Lots of fiber and heck, don’t we all need dessert?
I like this idea!
Homemade taco salad – greens, black beans, corn, tomatoes, salsa.
A frittata with spinach, roasted red peppers and sun dried tomatoes. Eggs from my friend who raises chickens – which I barter for. 🙂
We like lentil sausage soup–lentils, carrots, canned tomatoes, onions, celery, and half a pound of sweet Italian sausage. Feeds a bunch, especially if you also serve homemade bread!
Salad, of course, with lots of veggies such as eggplant, broccoli, and zucchini.
Spinach salad. It seems to give me a jolt of energy. (need that iron…)
well, my csa is giving me a ton of greens, so greens it is!
Grape tomatoes & spinach tossed in little pesto over pasta.
Its not ready until the tomatoes pop!
Roasted vegetables with homemade bread.
Oh my gosh….reading the comments today is SO fun and delicious. My favorite winter healthy meal is chili made with lean ground turkey, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, onions, chopped red pepper (I’ve even chopped up carrots really finely or zucchini) seasoned with Penzey’s chili 3000 and/or chili 9000 spice blends and a dash of curry powder.
My favorite healthy meal right now is anything with Lentils.
Tilapia with garlic shrimp sauce and asparagus
2 favourites:
1. Black beans and sausage – brown sausage, then cook some carrots, onion and garlic in a frying pan. Add chicken broth, beans, and sausage and simmer until carrots are cooked
2. Spaghetti squash, tossed with butter (you couls use olive oil to be a little healthier), garlic,and Parmesan. Chop up fresh tomatoes from the garden and toss ’em in
(Ps. I’m from Canada, just playing along for fun, but don’t enter me)
Chili (with grass fed ground beef and rancho Gordo beans)! Either over rice or cheddar biscuits or with cornbread.
I like roasted root vegetables in the winter and grilled vegetables and mushrooms in the summer.
This time of year, my favorite is quinoa and butternut squash chili.
My fav recipe is spaghetti squash with roasted veggies like broccoli and mushrooms with spaghetti sauce.
Black bean bake:
2 cans black beans
1 chopped onion
1 chopped bell pepper
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 jar enchilada sauce
Optional cheese
Mix. Bake @ 350 for about 25 minutes. Serve with rice.
Alice Waters’s minestrone soup. Yum.
Salsa with beans and rice
My favorite healthy meal is Chickpea Curry!
Split pea soup made with lots of veggies.
Grits with parmesan cheese, liquid smoke, a bit of butter, and a big bunch of wilted kale. Top with a fried egg. So maybe it’s not the healthiest thing ever, but it’s really good.
My favorite healthy meal is black-eyed pea veggie patties. You mash black eyed peas with rice, and add whatever spices and veggies you have on hand. Today, I had them with garlic powder, paprika, corn, and red onion. Add a little egg and flour until they make balls, and then fry on each side until golden. Serve with collard greens.
Jenn,
I had not read your comment when I commented. Blackeyed peas just go with collard greens!
My favorite WINTER healthy meal is salmon croquettes (oats for filler), turnip greens, sweet potatoes (baked with no butter or sugar), blackeyed peas, unsweetened iced tea.
Enter my name for the book, please.
My favorite is a breakfast. I make a huge pot of steel cut oatmeal every week for hubby and me. I use the organic ones from Trader Joe’s. I peel and chop a couple of granny smith apples and add them while the oatmeal cooks. After they have cooked I add flax seed meal and cinnamon. We are set for the week. When I reheat mine I sweeten the oats with some pure maple syrup and organic fat free milk. Top with some chopped walnuts and I have my favorite breakfast. About 45 minutes of prep/cooking time (and most of that is just keeping an eye on the simmering oats) and we have have a delicious healthy breakfast that can be reheated in less than 2 minutes. Thanks for the opportunity to win this interesting sounding book.
Sue
I do the same! Except I mostly use raisins but sometimes apple. Cook with extra water as the flax meal absorbs it. Once it’s in the frig, easiest thing ever for breakfast.
saute up a bunch of veggies, whatever you have that needs to be used up. Make some brown rice. Make a “gravy” with nutritional yeast, a little flour, and butter or oil, and broth, milk or water. Put rice on the plate, top with veggies, and then the gravy.
Our favorite healthy dinner is goat cheese salad. We use mixed salad greens with dried cranberries, sliced almonds, and chevre with raspberry vinegarette.
My favorite meal right now is roasted beet and sweet potato tacos. So good! I’m going to try your kale pesto. It sounds delicious!
I love SOUP!
I start with sauteed onions and add potatoes, carrots, leeks, broccoli, kale, tomatoes, chard, pumpkin….
a little salt, pepper, and olive oil…
and puree in the blender.
butternut squash soup; roast the squash, one sweet potato and 1 onion, puree, add 1 cup half and half… delicious!!
Actually, I love salads lately! Spinach, arugula, other greens, chunks of turkey, walnuts, dried cranberries, frozen blueberries, topped with a raspberry vinagarette dressing. I always keep a stash of the turkey, walnuts, cranberries and blueberries in the freezer so I can throw a nutritious healthy salad together any time I’m hungry and don’t want to fix a big meal!
Scrambled eggs with sautéed broccoli and onions…with just a sprinkle of cheddar cheese! Great for breakfast or dinner.
Tuna salad sandwiches with avocado instead of mayo, celery for some crunch, cherry tomatoes, garlic, wrapped in a lettuce leaf. Holy yum! (I love substituting mashed avocado for anything involving mayo…mmmm).
Oooh, lentils with steamed veggies topped with a little bit of butter, salt, and feta cheese.
A great big salad with tons of veggies , sunflower seeds and cranberries! I cut up all the vegetables and everyone assembles their own creation.
There is no better meal than going to your own organic garden and picking vegetables that you will be eating in 30 minutes. No matter what else you are serving the fresh vegetables make it taste better.
My favorite healthy meal is vegetarian chili.
One of our favorite meals is to take the heavy Aluminum foil and make a pocket out of them.
Pocket Meals
Sense I have 3 people at home now I just make 3 pockets.
In each pocket I put some nice salmon, with some sliced Vegtables ( I use what I have on hand) might be some squash, zuchinni, cauliflower, broccoli even Carrots. I slice them thin enough so the steam that the pocket will produce will steam cook the veggies.
I will add salt and pepper, or a Mrs Dash, even Lemon Pepper works really good. You just wrap the fish and veggies up in a pocket and put the pockets on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. I check it at that time to see if my fish and veggies are cooked throughly.
I have done this with a hamburger patty, sliced Potatoes, carrots ect. Season as Desire and fold the foil up and put on cookie sheet as well and cook on 350 degrees till the meat is cooked threw and veggies are tender.
Pizza with lots of veggies and salad, too!
My go-to meatless meal is ditalini pasta with a can of tomatoes and chickpeas (sometimes I throw some frozen kale in with it if I have it). I also put some chopped garlic in it – I keep fresh garlic on hand all the time.
Sorry to add a second meal, but it’s DELECTABLE: tilapia filets with a lemon caper sauce made from my homemade chicken stock. I usually serve it with kale I saute with garlic and olive oil – absolutely the best.
Quick dinner idea:
Cashew and veggie stir-fry over quinoa, with soy sauce and pineapple.
My favorite healthy meal is black bean tacos. I take black beans, avocado, cilantro and some great fresh salsa and put it on a corn tortilla. Yummy!!!
My favorite is grilled marinated chicken breast and a big salad! But then there is ice cream later…can’t be perfect!
If it;s cold or rainy, nothing beats a hot plate of veggie chili-mac. I never make it the same twice.. it all depends on what veggies and beans I have on hand, but it’s always tasty!
My favorite breakfast smoothie is homemade yogurt, made from organic, local, grass fed cows (it’s so good!) mixed with banana and natural peanut butter.
My favorite dinner is a whole free range chicken roasted/smoked on the grill. 4 lb. bird 425 for 1 hour, flip half way through. I use a cast iron skillet right on the grill. I might throw some vegis on the grill or make a salad. I do this during the summer when the farmers’ market is in full swing and everything is fresh.
My favorite meal is always breakfast for dinner…especially homemade pancakes from whole wheat flour…omelets from our own eggs and fresh garden veggies thrown in..and whatever fruit we have in season . My kids always thought this was a real treat on a night when we were busy with harvesting!!!
Saute mushrooms & onions in skillet, season w/ italian seasonings, salt, pepper etc. When veggies are soft add one can of tomato pieces (or fresh if you have them) and simmer till juices almost evaporated. Turn heat way down and sprinkle favorite cheese on top to melt (mozz, parm, etc) .While doing this, cook a spaghetti squash (I do mine in the microwave for aprox 10 min), cut and shred out the insides. Put spaghetti squash in bowl, top w/ the mushroom mixture & eat. Delish!
I love this simple healthy burrito dish Frugal also! Take one can black beans, one can corn, one can green chillis, diced onion, diced red, green, or what ever kind of pepper you like. Saute all ingredients in a small bit of olive oil, with garlic, cumin, chilli powder, salt and pepper to taste. Serve in tortillas with a sprinkle of cheese!
An egg sandwich (eggs from our chickens, homemade sourdough bread) and greens from the garden – usually arugula. I always have arugula out there.
Fresh chopped salad with grilled chicken.
pasta with chickpeas is my fall-back meal. Shelf stable ingredients, healthy, ready to less than 20 minutes!
KALE SALAD. Tear up some fresh, dark green kale. Stuff it into a large zip lock. Scoop in a teaspoon of minced garlic, and a tablespoon or two of Organic Tamari Sauce and do the Halem Shake. Kale always jump starts me back to healthy eating.
Black bean, butternut, and chipotle chili – the best combination of flavors, ever! It’s great alone, over rice, in tortillas, etc.
So many to choose from. There’s sweet potato and carrot soup, chickpea salad, dal and rice, pad see ew, roasted vegetables with peanut sauce and rice…
This weekend I’m making tomato soup with roasted potatoes and/or rye biscuits. I can’t wait.
lemony kale pasta. so SO good.
Minestrone soup with homemade bread!
Red Lentil and Spinach soup.
My favorite healthy meal at this time of year is vegan corn chowder with rosemary bread on the side. Hey, and let’s add a glass of wine too—that’s good for the old ticker, as is a piece of dark chocolate for dessert.
Fakes is my favorite healthy meal. Lentils with carrots, finished with vinegar. It’s sooooo good. The kids love it, too.
My favorite healthy meal is soup made from whatever ingredients I have on hand.
My very favorite- fresh caught Alaskan salmon, cooked on the creek bank with baked potatoes & roasted corn. All caught, cleaned & cooked by my husband while I take pictures & read a book. Oh Yeah!
Oven roasted zucchini, grape tomatoes, mushrooms and garlic drizzled with olive oil served over brown rice. Yummy!
I like veggie stir fry with all natural chicken. Throw in some peppers, onions and carrots over brown rice.
Fresh fruit, yogurt and granola!
Hmmm . . . so many to chose from. But a healthy meal that my kids actually like as well? Probably “fried rice,” made with brown rice, any available veggies, a small portion of meat, shrimp or chicken (as in, 1/2 pound or so for six people!), tofu, a couple of eggs from our backyard chickens, and various spices and condiments (soy sauce, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, thai chili sauce, etc). Healthy and frugal!
grilled chicken, steamed broccoli, baked potatoes topped with cottage cheese!
We’ve been making lots of Yumm! bowls. It’s so easy to add whatever we have leftover.
Black bean corn “salsa” (with cilantro, lime, tomato, etc etc) with baked chips! Does that count as a meal???
Mine would be chicken breasts, browned in the frying pan. Add some salsa till warm and throw on some cheese to melt (not too much). Serve over rice. Quick and yummy
And I have to tell you about the “clean plate club” we had as kids. My father would always say to us “don’t you want to be a member of the clean plate club? Only members get to eat at the Waldorf.”
My family’s go to healthy meal for the winter season is any of my home made soups. Lean meats, home made broth, tons of veggies, and brown rice make for hearty & healthy meals. Add some whole grain crusty bread and your set – yum, I want some now!! 🙂
My favorite is miso soup (miso keeps forever in the fridge) with whatever little vegetable bits I have leftover added in. If I have soba noodles in the pantry, I eat them cold on the side. It is a great vegetarian but protein rich meal.
My favorite healthy meal to cook is Tuscan Chicken Soup. We eat a lot of soup in our house, as it is one of my favorite foods (my boyfriend’s as well). It is healthier than any pre-made soup because I can totally control the ingredients, including the salt content. I usually roast a whole chicken myself and use about half the meat to add to the soup. I also add a ton of veggies (including carrots, celery, onions, and tomatoes) and use stock that I have made myself. Considering I make a new batch of soup about once a week, it is definitely a healthy, yummy staple in our household!
I love kale soup with cannellini beans. Just heat some onions and garlic, add to chicken broth. Then add the beans and kale. For a change I add some browned chorizo or carrots — very flexible. And while my family isn’t big on leftovers or frequent repeats, this comes up about once per week in the winter.
My favorite healthy meals are also treats–when we can buy fresh duck eggs from a former student of mine, I make either an over-easy egg atop steamed kale, with a piece of toast (I have had this for breakfast, lunch or dinner), or I make eggs in purgatory: some homemade red sauce (italian, not mexican) with eggs poached in the bubbling sauce. Again, served over kale or other steamed greens, with some gluten-free toast. Yum!
Eggs with whatever yummy veggies we get in our CSA box that week. It’s my go-to Meatless Monday dish.
I love to make lentils. They’re easy, inexpensive, delicious, and surprisingly versatile. One of my weeknight go-to meals is Red Lentil Dal.
lentil and garlic chicken sausage soup with whatever veggies are in the fridge, add salt/pepper/fresh garlic/stewed tomatoes all in the crockpot and a crusty bread=perfect portland rainy day meal 🙂
I love to make turkey Chili in the winter, with homemade cornbread. I add chopped green chile’s, and creamed corn to the basic cornbread recipe and it adds great flavor and moisture for a low cost.
My new favorite meal right now is the roasted veggie, pesto and feta toast sandwich that Cassie posted at backtoherroots.com. It’s simple and everyone in my family loves it.
In the winter, my favorite healthy meal is pureed vegetable soups. Potato leek is big around here, but right now I’ve got carrot and roasted squash soup in the fridge, and I couldn’t be happier. Cut a butternut squash into rough 1-inch cubes, toss in olive oil, and roast at 400 for 30 minutes (shake the pan once or twice while roasting to avoid sticking). Sautee a chopped onion in a little more olive oil, add the squash and a roughly equal amount of carrots, add vegetable stock (homemade, if you’ve got it) to cover, and simmer until the carrots are soft. Toss in whatever spices or herbs you like (I’m a fan of sage and cayenne). Puree, adding a little more water or stock if you need to get it to the consistency you like.
Healthy meal: roasted tomatoes with pesto and Lemmon, asparagus risotto. Yummy!
Black bean chili. I try to keep quarts of this in the freezer for those nights when there is no time to cook anything.
My favorite healthy meal is penne with kale and white beans from one of the Jeanne Lemlin cookbooks. My mom started making it when I became a vegetarian in middle school and now I make it for my family. So good!
I love salmon on the grill in summertime. Actually, I like it any time, but our deck is covered in snow right now.
One of our new favorite healthy meals is taco casserole: onions, garlic, and ground beef, seasoned with homemade taco seasoning. Add to that 1/2 cup salsa and a can of beans (your choice!), pour on top of a baking pan lined with tortilla chips, and top with cheese and green onions… super easy and super yum!
Quinoa pancakes topped with fresh berries! (or butter and maple syrup…..equally delicious if not as healthy)
One I like to use is black beans with peppers, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, corn and spices served with rice. Tastes even better the second day.
My favorite healthy meal is a vegetarian curried lentil dish I make and eat with brown rice….delicious and filling!
Vegetarian chili with a side of cornbread!
My favorite healthy meal is roasting sweet potatoes and carrots.
I make a massive stir-fry of veggies: zucchini, yellow squash, onion, mushrooms, broccoli, red bell pepper–whatever is in the crisper drawer. You can add spices, garlic, and herbs to make it Italian, Indian, Mexican, whatever you want. Add protein of your choice and it’s a fabulous supper. Leftover veggies are good in fritattas, on pizza, over pasta or rice. Yum!
Hydroponic lettuce locally grown with local strawberries and grilled chicken. Topped with walnuts and my homemade balsamic dressing. Yum! Now I want to eat that!!
Farro salad with kale, cabbage, fruit or tomatoes, cheese, toasted nuts, and ravining goddess dressing… mmm! Endlessly variable, which keeps it interesting.
Black bean soup from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. So fast and easy (a little less fast if you cook dried black beans, but still pretty easy with some planning). And all of the ingredients are staples that I generally have around, except the fresh jalapeno and cilantro.
Lentil soup – hands down my favorite, least expensive and filling meal. Dry lentils, water, carrots, potatoes, celery, tomatoes, a little olive oil, parsley, salt and pepper – put it in a pot and cook for ~ one hour. It freezes well too.
My favorite healthy meal is what we call lentil stir fry. I par-cook lentils and add to stir fried peppers, carrots, celery, garlic and onions. We then can mix it up by adding tomatoes, kale or spinach and just about any other veggies we want. Even my carnavore hubby likes it and doesn’t complain that “theres no meat”. Served with a green salad and crusty whole grain bread, it’s amazing!
Our favorite healthy meal is a simple noodle bowl – I just chop up or shred various veggies (like baby bok choy, carrots, green onion, etc.) and heat up broth, then pour it over fresh linguine in big bowls (which are a mish-mash of any big bowls that are clean, like smaller mixing bowls and serving bowls). The kids love it and get to practice their chopstick skills.
I really love a bowl of beans and rice. It’s healthy, simple and cheap.
Avocado Banana Applesauce breakfast bread and a coffee with steamed soymilk and a healthy glug of maple syrup. Yummers
Black beans & brown rice with salsa & a big green salad.
Any veggie left looking sad and lonely in the fridge sauteed lightly and then thrown in with scrambled eggs. Veggie eggs! Yum!
Baked Cheesy Quinoa
I roll my own sushi: rice, avocado, tofu and a spicy sauce.
Spinach salad w/ oranges, craisins, red onion, feta,and homemade honey Dijon topped with a piece of grilled salmon.
(Very) locally sourced drug-free, laying mash-free, free-range chicken eggs, made into an omelet with fresh from the naturally grown garden bell pepper, green onions (scallions) and tomatoes chopped into it. I could eat one almost every night -yum.
Fajitas – easy to prep, easy to make and endlessly customizable!
Our favorite and cheap healthy meal is an egg burrito. We use our own eggs from our girls – scramble, slap in a tortilla with a little cheese and salsa and avocado if I have it. Good for breakfast, lunch and dinner and really sticks with ya.
Lately I’ve been loving baked sweet potatoes topped with spicy black beans and a heap of kale
My favorite healthy meal is wild salmon filets baked in parchment along with tiny golden potatoes and whatever veges are fresh and in season. Sometimes I put in lemon slices or sprigs of dill from my garden, but often I just use salt and pepper with a light drizzle of olive oil. It’s ridiculously easy and really really tasty.
Lentil soup with kale, made with vegetable broth! Meatless and crockpot friendly… a busy mom’s dream combo!
My favorite meal to make for guests is salmon with a simple marinade of EVOO, dijon mustard, soy sauce and garlic. For the side dish I make a warm potato salad by boiling potatoes and then adding fresh green beans in for the last two minutes of cooking. I add halved cherry tomatoes and a dressing of EVOO, garlic, dijon mustard, lemon juice and lemon zest. Fresh and yummy and I can make it with my eyes closed – almost!
Robin
Cary, NC
My favorite healthy meal is spinach edamame hummus!
Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie has been a big hit around here lately.
My favorite healthy meal is coconut curry shrimp. Shrimp, coconut milk (homemade from dried coconut shreds), curry powder from a local spice shop, onions, bell peppers, and spinach. So very delicious over rice! It is also a very quick meal to make. When the veggies are in season and the shrimp is on sale it can also be somewhat frugal as well.
I love a good vegetable stir fry with rice. So simple but so good.
I am very fond of a good vegetable soup or stir-fry with whatever is in season or preserved/canned from my own garden. A little leftover grilled chicken or some crumbled local goat cheese is a good addition.