Some Recent Healthy Eats

I hope 2014 is off to a great start for all of you!  I'm not too big on resolutions, but after the holidays I've been eager to get back to healthy eating and exercising.  We've finally gotten back in the cooking groove around here, and it feels great.

One recipe source I have been referencing a lot lately is a book called No Meat Athlete by Matt Frazier.

It is full of great plant-based recipes that are genuinely easy and really tasty.  The ingredients are specifically chosen to provide athletes (and I use that term loosely) with the nutrition they need to live a healthy, active lifestyle without animal products.  Jay is currently reading the book and plans to try out one of the half-marathon training plans for his next race.  As of now, I have mainly just read through the recipe section, but I can't wait to read the rest of the book cover-to-cover once Jay is done with it.

We tried a couple recipes from the book this past week, and they were both fantastic.

White Bean Coconut Curry

Super Quick Red Lentils and Rice

On New Years day, I was determined to incorporate some black eyed peas into one of our meals for good luck, so I made a quick "Hoppin' John" salad for lunch. I sauteed green peppers, onions, black eyed peas, and hot sauce, and served it over a spinach salad with a lemon juice/sea salt dressing, cilantro, and some sprouts. Sort of random, but it tasted great.

Another night, we cooked up a superfood packed dinner of wild-caught salmon, risotto, sauteed kale, and sweet potato with coconut oil.  I marinated the salmon in a mixture of olive oil, Dijon mustard, honey, and minced ginger (another superfood!) and baked it for 15 minutes at 400.  So good!

I also made my favorite Eggplant Parmesan recipe on Friday and served it over spaghetti squash instead of pasta.  It was a great way to squeeze in even more veggies than usual.  

At some point I got hit with a major chocolate craving, so I tried out these Black Bean Brownies from "Chocolate Covered Katie."

I pretty much followed the recipe exactly (although I had to extend the cooking time a bit), so I will just let you refer to the link above if you want to try them out.  The only thing I did differently was add in a tablespoon of instant coffee to give the brownies a little kick.  These were SO good and did not taste anything like beans.  (Apparently I have a thing for making bean-y desserts.  I still love the Pumpkin Banana Bean Bars from Forks Over Knives.)

I hope this post inspired you to make some healthy meals in the upcoming week!  Stay warm out there!