Hi Beauties!
Eating around the holidays is sometimes hard, and in reality most people struggle with eating healthy every day no matter what time of year it is! With the beginning of the year coming fast, I think it’s fitting to share a few good & healthy eats! I grew up being health conscious, and have made a habit out of working out and eating on the healthier side so this is one of my favorite things to talk about!
As I’ve grown up, I’ve understood more of the reason why it’s important to eat healthy and have eliminated and/or lessened things from my eating habits through the years. I think what’s most important, is that we’re not only eating for pleasure but for the health benefit and knowing what it does for us and our bodies! Food effects us more than just being something to eat, so I think it’s so important to know the health benefits of foods and doing research on those things!
Here are a few of healthy recipes that are some of my go-to’s and absolute favorites that I crave all the time!
To be aware of, these are recipe portions for 1-2 people and I don’t usually have much dairy or meat, if I do eat meat it’s chicken, I don’t cook with beef at all, if anything that calls for it, I replace beef with turkey, it’s much leaner. You can always sub it out if you really want to, but that would add a little more grease & fat so just something to think about 🙂
Spicy, Barbecue Chicken & Veggies
1 lean chicken breast
1 bag of steam fresh broccoli
1 bag of steam fresh rice w/ veggies
Hot Barbecue sauce- I usually use about a teaspoon or tablespoon depending on how hot you want it to be. If you’re not into the whole spicy thing, other barbecue sauce would be just fine!
* Takes about 15-20 minutes!
Step 1. Cooking the chicken.
I’ll wash it off with water, put the breast into a sauce pan on the stove with a little bit of butter on medium heat to make sure it’s cooking through the chicken and not just browning the outside. Halfway through it’s done cooking, I cut it up into little slices or bite size pieces; you can cut however you like it best, and if you want to cut it up before cooking that works just fine also! I cook the chicken until it’s light brown and a little crispy on the outside.
Step 2. Veggies
I prefer the Steam Fresh brand and steaming in the microwave the best for this!
They only take about 4/5 minutes so I wait to do this until the chicken is almost done cooking!
Step 3. Combining and finishing up!
Wrapping up, the hot barbecue sauce! I love spicy things so after I put the rice w/ veggies & broccoli into a bowl with chicken I’ll add barbecue sauce to it all! It’s great without the sauce, but with just a little, it really spices up the meal and adds a lot of flavor while still keeping it healthy!
Veggie Flatbread1 container of spicy red pepper hummus
1 bag of circular flatbreads (will be using to two flatbreads for this recipe)
1 zucchini
1 can of corn (steam fresh or from the cob would work also)
1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
If you want to make this with cheese, parmesan is a great choice to get for this.
* Takes about 20-30 minutes!
I based this recipe off of one we tried with GreenChef (of HelloFresh) but I made a few changes with products we can buy at the store!
Step 1. To start, heat the oven to 450.
Step 2. Veggies
Then get started on cutting up the zucchini, cutting off the ends and getting rid of those, then cutting the rest into very small, 1/4 pieces.
If you’re using canned corn, I always rinse mine with water, this doesn’t need to be cooked yet.
Step 3. Wrapping up!
With a foiled, rectangular pan, lightly oiled, put the two flatbreads next to each other about an 1in or 2 apart.
Take the hummus, and add about a tablespoon or two as the base of the flatbread. You can add more, depending on how much hummus you want! I like a lot but my husband prefers it to be a little lighter so you can customize it to what you want!
Top the hummus base with the corn and zucchini, again this is something you can customize, I love a lot of veggies and it to be totally filled with them! At this point, if you wanted to add cheese here on top you totally could, parmesan is great with this!
Cook for 8-10 minutes!
Step 4. All done!
After removing from the oven, I usually wait about a minute or two before cutting into quarters. Then you’re all good to enjoy your healthy, veggie flatbread! 🙂
If you don’t end up eating all it, it’s great as leftovers also, as long as you can put it back it the oven for a few minutes or a toaster oven, it’s great!
Ramen & Veggies (this recipe would be for two people)
2 package of Chile ramen noodles – or chicken if that’s your thing!
1 bag of steam fresh broccoli
1 chicken breast- will be using about 1/4 or 1/3 or chicken breast or ground turkey (this is also fantastic without meat)
Step 1. Cooking the chicken
I’ll wash it off with water, put the breast into a sauce pan on the stove with a little bit of butter on medium heat to make sure it’s cooking through the chicken and not just browning the outside. Halfway through it’s done cooking, I cut it up into bite size pieces. For this, if you’re cooking the full breast, I usually take the amount I want to add to my ramen and then save the rest for another meal, that way it’s already cooked and easy to use!
Step 2. Cook the ramen & broccoli
While the chicken is cooking, I put a pan of water, usually about half full of water, on high heat until boiling, put in the noodles and drop to medium heat, cooks for about 3 minutes. Once the noodles are done to our liking, I drain the water out, put in a medium sized bowl and add about 1/3 of the packet of spices. This way, you’re not intaking as much sodium and it’s still great with less spices & salt!
Broccoli takes about 5 minutes in the steam fresh bag in the microwave.
Step 3. Combining
Last and final step is combing the chicken & broccoli with the ramen and you’re good to go!
Packed Purple SmoothieThis is so great for breakfast getting the day started or for lunch! I usually make enough that I have some left over, but usually it doesn’t last more than a day so I recommend if you’re only going to have it for one or the other, to make enough for 1 serving, otherwise you may end up wasting some great goodies!
These are the ingredients for what I do for breakfast for my husband and I or be could for you for breakfast and a side song with lunch!!
1 bag of frozen, mixed berries
1 tbsp of almond butter or natural peanut butter
1 tablespoon of chia seeds
1 tablespoon of flax seeds
1 handful of spinach
1/2 cup of almond milk – unsweetened vanilla (this depends on how liquid-y you like your smoothies so starting out with just blending, then you can add the almond milk as preferred)!
Combine all in your blender, I usually run it on medium for a little bit then low so it doesn’t get too dense and you’re good to go!
These are great in Yeti’s with a straw or some kind of container like that, that will keep it cold. Especially if you like to babysit your drinks like me, it will keep it better for a longer period of the day!
Side note. I also wanted to mention, even if greens aren’t necessarily your thing, I totally understand. Up until the past year I disliked broccoli so much, I thought it was disgusting and never ate it.. until I tried it again and forced myself to eat it one day steamed and I didn’t love it but could stand eating it because of the health benefits and now, I randomly crave broccoli and eat it as a snack haha who would’ve thought!
Let me know if you try these, I would love to hear your thoughts and your favorite, healthy recipes!
Xoxo,
Perfectly Imperfect