Luscious Rice and lentil pilaf With hints of cinnamon, cumin and coriander, this pilaf warms hearts and bones. The ingredients are not only inexpensive but are easy to find and likely already in your pantry. Paired with a side salad, this meal is completely balanced. You could even use the yogurt dressing on the salad! Total time: 50 mins Serves 6 Ingredients YOGURT DRESSING: 1 cup plain yogurt 2 tbsp lemon juice 1/2 tsp minced garlic 1/2 tsp salt RICE AND LENTILS: 1 1/4 cups green or brown lentils, rinsed Salt and pepper 3 tbsp canola oil 1 1/4 […]
Your Guide to Eating (and enjoying!) Beans and Pulses
Co-written with Jenna West, dietetic intern You may have heard that the UN Generally assembly has declared 2016 as the International Year of Pulses. The point of this campaign is to shine alight on the nutritional and environmental benefits of eating more pulses. If you are not sure what exactly a pulse is, let alone why you should eat more of them, we’ve got you covered! Here is our quick and easy guide to understanding pulses and (perhaps more importantly) how to eat more of them with fewer digestive symptoms. (BONUS: stick around for easy, delish recipes you can try tonight!) […]
Healthy body on a Healthy Budget
Although the holidays are well behind us, the pinch of all that holiday spending is still being felt. On top of that, resolutions made to eat better can seem impossible when budgets are tight. The good news is that there are ways to eat well this winter while trying to cut back on food spending. Before you give up on trying to eat healthy or worse, run into debt buying pomegranate juice and goji berries, hear me out. Not surprisingly, there is middle ground between eating Kraft dinner and hot dogs every night and breaking the budget with boxed salad and […]
[Recipe] Easy Ratatouille
If you are in need of a quick and easy meal that will also help clear out some veggies in the fridge, then Ratatouille may be just what you need! This version includes chickpeas as a source of protein but you could use tofu or edamame if opting for a vegetarian dish. Of course, if you prefer chicken or fish, those would both compliment the flavors well. This recipe contains traditional vegetables but you could use just about anything you have in your fridge, freezer or pantry. Frozen green beans, canned or frozen corn even fresh cauliflower could all work […]
STOP! Before jumping into another weight loss program, you have to read this
Are you always on the hunt for a weight loss program that will help you control your eating once and for all? Have you joined and quit many programs in the past because they just didn’t help you? or because you felt ashamed for not losing the weight they promised? Does it seem like no one can understand your struggle with food? Before you start another diet program, hear me out. This advice could save you a lot of money and wasted energy thrown in the wrong direction and right into the deep pockets of the weight loss industry. The […]
[Recipe] Savory butter bean appetizer
I first tasted a very similar appetizer at my Uncle D’s house after he and my aunt returned from a trip to Portugal. Although I am not a huge fan of beans, this appetizer blew me away. It was fresh with a bite from the garlic and onion. It was light but packed a flavorful punch. I immediately started my hunt for butter beans (aka mini Lima beans) to recreate the dish with my own twist. I experimented with mashing the beans to help the “dip” stick to the cracker and infused more flavor into the beans by boiling them with […]
Why I won’t be modifying any of my holiday recipes to be cleaner, lighter or healthier.
There is one surefire way to reduce the stress of holiday cooking: stick to what you know. However, in this world of “clean eating” and never-ending hacks on how to lighten recipes, it can be hard to feel comfortable preparing traditional recipes. Here is the secret: there IS a way to get through the holidays without being fearful of holiday weight gain or overeating even if you eat special holiday foods (hint: it has nothing to do with skipping meals, switching out sugar for agave syrup or passing up your favorite foods and feeling deprived)- it is called mindful or intuitive […]
[Guest post] How To Keep Our New Year’s Resolutions
I came across Dr. Laura Van Schaick-Harman‘s advice while searching out what other health professionals recommend to successfully make changes. Perhaps not the typical information you’d expect a dietitian to research, but as I have mentioned before, dietitian’s jobs have quickly evolved. With Pinterest and Instagram and countless blogs about healthy eating, a dietitian’s job has evolved from telling people what to do, to motivating and supporting them to make the changes they have decided upon. Most of my clients know what they want to change but struggle with how to make the change and seeing the barriers that get […]
[Recipe] Tex-Mex Meal in a Bowl
I love the tangy and spicy flavors of Mexican food. This recipe is perfect for those moments when you may be missing some traditional ingredients. I don’t always have taco shells or tortillas in the pantry so using rice, quinoa or even couscous in place of tortillas ensures that this meal is balanced, satiating and satisfying! Including grain products or starchy foods at each meal helps to give the body energy to concentrate, move and of course, tastes great! Dive into the fridge, freezer and pantry and find the odd ends of veggies and anything that may need to be eaten […]
[Recipe] Panettone bread pudding
Panettone bread pudding Panettone is a type of sweet bread originally from Milan. It is buttery and has deep flavors similar to a fruit cake but is much lighter in texture. These loaves come in all sorts of flavors like candied fruit, chocolate or lemon, and are perfect on their own as a dessert. To up the ante I wanted to make bread pudding using this unique bread. Also, the raisin and candied fruit panettone that I recently bought was not really to my liking when eaten on its own. This bread pudding is easy and quick to make and […]