Our Favorite Holiday Foods

My passion for cooking began in college.  I started watching Food Network and learned so much.  I loved recreating the things I saw on TV and challenging myself to try new things.  When Gonzalo and I first got married, I cooked all kinds of fun recipes and spent money and time in stores like Sur la Table and Bed Bath and Beyond.  Some of that has changed since having kids, but I still love cooking. The holidays are a good time for me to get creative in the kitchen again.  I've found a few solid recipes that we all love and we've been making them for the past couple of years.  I used to want to try new things each year because there are so many options out there, but these recipes have stuck around!

Pomogranate, Kale, Walnut, and Wild Rice Salad with Feta is so good!  I looks super pretty and the flavors are awesome.  This is perfect to make the day before and just add the dressing right before.

Roasted Potatoes, Carrots, Parsnips, and Brussel Sprouts is an easy way to get lots of veggies and healthy carbs!  The flavor from the herbs is so good.

This Good Eats Roast Turkey is the most flavorful turkey I've made.  I think the combo of the brine and the aromatics that go inside really make is amazing.  Alton Brown knows his stuff!

Clean Eating Cranberry Sauce is a million times better than the canned stuff and so easy!  I top my turkey with this instead of gravy.  I think it has so much more flavor.

I like to save my carbs for dessert and this Sweet Potato Pie is worth it!  It's not really clean eating, but my theory on dessert is that it should be the real deal!  No need to go halfway on something that's meant to be a treat!

I hope these recipes help you with your Christmas meal planning.  

Oh, and if you need a recipe for holiday breakfast, try this one! 

Clean Eating Pumpkin Oatmeal Casserole with Cranberries

Easy 5 Minute Guacamole

Sara, my 5 year old decided on a whim that she wanted chips and guacamole for a snack this afternoon. I just happened to have 2 avocados in the fridge, so we threw this together in 5 minutes! It's so easy and so delicious!

Easy 5 Minute Guacamole

2 large avocados

1/3 cup cilantro 

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons lime juice

1/4 cup finely diced red onion

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1. Pulse avocado and cilantro together in a food processor until it reaches the desired consistency. 

2. Add in reminding ingredients and pulse a few times, until well combined. 

You can make this in a food processor like I did, or just chop and mix by hand, both work well!

What We're Eating This Week ( 12/14-12/20)

I spent some time planning out dinners this week, but I also planned a few lunches.  This will probably be enough to last us through some of next week as well!

Roasted Vegetable Chickpea Salad is a yummy vegetarian lunch that surprised me how good it was the first time I made it!

Greek yogurt chicken salad-I was afraid to try chicken salad without mayo but once I did, I will never go back!  It's great and is so much better for you!

Healthy Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potatoes - these are so good!

Turkey Taco Zucchini Boats - we love tacos in this house and we also love zucchini.

Sweet and Spicy Beef Noodles

Crispy Almond Crusted Mahi Bake

What We Are Eating This Week (12/7/15-12/13/15)

I'm back!  I carved out some time last night to meal plan for the week, so I decided to share what we will be eating.  Hopefully it'll help you plan your week as well.  I've found that healthy eating doesn't happen without a plan.  Often the junk is the easy stuff to grab without thinking, so you need to know what you are eating ahead of time so you can make the right choices.


Hearty Beef and Butternut Squash Stew
This is one from the 21 Day Fix Extreme cookbook and I never tried it when I did the program.  I'm looking forward to cooking it!


Thai Wild Rice Salad with Seared Salmon
This looks awesome.  So pretty and full of flavor!  My favorite salmon dishes usually have asian flavors.


Easy Pesto Chicken Bake
I've made this a few times.  It's SUPER easy and really flavorful.  I'm going to serve it on top of spaghetti squash.


Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken
Meat, veggies, and carbs in one pot?  Yes please!  This looks so good and so easy.  I love crockpot meals.

Homemade Wheat Tortillas

This recipe is just so good. I can't make it too often or I would go way overboard on carbs. It's hard to eat just one or two! I love this recipe because the ingredients are things everyone has on hand and the tortillas are so much better than store bought, and they are preservative-free! I've experimented with a few variations and this one is the best. Give 'em a roll!

Homemade Wheat Tortillas

3 cups flour (I use 2 cups white whole wheat and 1 cup all purpose)
1 cup warm water
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1 heaping tsp salt

1. Combine all ingredients and kneed until well combined.
2. Preheat two nonstick skillets over medium heat. (So you can cook two at once)
3. Divide dough into 12 equally sized balls.
4. Roll them out as you cook them. Cook approximately 2 minutes per side, until slightly blistered.
5. Pile into a tea towel to keep warm until dinner.

These keep well in the fridge if you have any leftovers!