Healthy Eating at Home

It’s 13 days into the New Year, and I am chugging along with my 2016 goals. So far I have booked a trip to Puerto Rico, which I am counting as a new place, since I only had a six hour layover there the last time. I’ve added more movement into my life, including dance parties and planks when I get up to make tea. I’ve been sticking to a work schedule, saving two days a week for “off limits” for off-property meetings, which take up a ton of time to get to and from. I’ve pitched some new business and have an updated profile on the website for a PR agency I work with that works extensively with wine clients.

And I have most definitely been paying more attention to eating healthier food and sticking to a workout schedule! I have a few weeks of events and travel coming up, and while I know some weeknight dinners out will be less-than-healthy, I am just doing my best to take things one day at a time. Below you’ll find some of the healthy at home cooking I have been doing lately.

1) I have changed up my daytime snacking to include more fruit, especially apples, blood oranges, and grapefruits. I always feel dehydrated this time of year, and delicious winter citrus and other fruits help make me feel like I am drenching my body with water and nutrients. I’ve also added in lots of decaf green tea to hold my appetite off until meals (And because I read that it helps with weight loss. . . it’s healthy so worth a try!). That said, there’s plenty of Nutella straight from the jar, along with almonds and pieces of candy. Balance!

2) Life Alive inspired veggie bowls. The top bowl is an actual Goddess Bowl from Life Alive, also known as a bowl of heaven. If I could eat at Life Alive every day, I would be healthy, happy, and broke. So I have been experimenting with my own bowls. The below didn’t quite look like a Life Alive bowl, but with brown rice, chickpeas, carrots, kale, and onions, topped with an incredible homemade dressing, it came close and made for a delicious dinner. The sauce was made of cashews (soaked in water for the day first), blended with warm water, sesame oil, fresh ginger, garlic, lemon juice, and miso. Really yummy.

3) One pot comfort food. Comfort food can be healthy. This Guinness Beef Stew recipe is versatile, and you can add even more veggies if you want. Lean beef that cooks low and slow falls apart and adds lots of nutrients and protein.

And my white bean and sausage stew is a delicious, easy mish-mosh of ingredients: white beans, chicken andouille sausage, crushed tomatoes, kale, garlic, onions, all cooked together and topped with salty feta. This is an easy dinner for any night of the week and makes for great leftovers.

4) Choosing vibrant salads whenever possible – This one, Ottolenghi’s Tomato and Pomegranate Salad, was a beautiful start to a dinner party we attended last week, and I filled up on it before diving into the other courses. If salad can always be like this, I am in.

5) Kale Pesto – Winter pesto never gets old. I crave the bright green, garlicky paste on shrimp, chicken, and vegetables (pasta too, but we’re trying to avoid it. . . ). This one is a blend of kale, good olive oil, parmesan, walnuts, and ALL the garlic. Yum.

Do you have any healthy eating inspiration lately?