Anti-inflammatory recipes help you practice daily meal prep and healthy eating habits, that pay off in your long run toward longevity. Below are recipe links from this blog to inspire your year, no matter what season you’re in. To your anti-inflammatory life! 🎉
Because an anti-inflammatory diet helps protect against inflammation in the body (skin, joints, teeth, vital organs) that are health warning signs.
And preventing inflammation flare-ups help protect against and prevent chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases that are still among the highest causes of mortality.
Chronic inflammation is linked to tell-tale body signs that can also lead toward certain cancers and cognitive decline.
And type 2 diabetes (or lifestyle diabetes) is the one of the fastest growing diseases on our planet. No matter what genes you were bestowed, anti-inflammatory habits help fight against what’s stacked up against you in the environment that you don’t have control over.
Anti-inflammatory foods were and are a leading source of prevention, where anti-inflammatory spices are a big deal. Adding more spice in your life and to your diet helps support better health and longevity.
And sticking to an anti-inflammatory diet is also a remedy from following Diet Culture of some kind. It’s a long-term healthy eating strategy.
Where whole and minimally processed healthy food and ingredients in meals and bakes you eat are at the core of anti-inflammatory foods and your health eating. Anti-inflammatory foods are real (nutritious) foods that the body recognizes as healthy
And this includes plant-based foods, so eating plant-forward helps the body. And foods on a Mediterranean diet, which is a type of anti-inflammatory diet that includes healthy proteins and healthy fats, such as wild fishes and olive oil.
👉 Sign up to grab my FREE Anti-Inflammatory Diet Food Guide with printable food lists to help you make more healthy decisions for grocery food shopping. And get insights about an anti-inflammatory diet in the free guide.
And here on these pages of Anti-Inflammatory Lifestyle (Winter/Spring edition), you’ll discover simple and easy recipes you can make weekly. And get inspiration about anti-inflammatory living and seasonal foods you can lean into (that are more abundant and coins per ounce). To turn the pages forward/backward, click on the arrows at the lower corners of the pages. ↪
…Where, at home, you can make your own… no-butter bearnaise for a lower-calorie and anti-inflammatory-infused olive oil brunch sauce for a healthy Eggs Benedict savory dish… and you can pair with a low-fat sweet or low-sugar dessert recipe.
Baking substitutes come in handy when running low on ingredients or when you don’t want to run out to the store.
Example: you can make your own milk at home with oats or almonds.
You can also substitute eggs and butter with other healthy pantry ingredients, when you know how much and when to add.
You can even substitute regular flour from the all purpose type to an on-healthy purpose kind. Maybe even gluten-free.
Then after some practice, you know better what you’re doing.
Because like everyone starting off, I didn’t know what I was doing … I built a kitchen food pantry that was healthy-ish coming off of 2020 difficult times, where sourcing groceries was online (not up close and personal).
I bought healthy foods and some not-so-healthy ones based on screen availability, where the healthy-ish-part cancelled the healthy.
Like sugar products, that when eaten in heaps puts your body on a roller coaster. 🎢
…And as a metaphor, how decades ago, I used to live in that unaware (half-conscious) way.
…When my thoughts were happy, I was in a good mood.
Many don’t know how to live a different way.
It’s easy to enjoy life when happy thoughts are co-created from the heart.
…But many days, if you were to count on a calendar, don’t start off that way.
And there’s a better way of not counting on your natural thoughts and feelings.
…So from that, I built better habits in my life.
I then later learned the way to speed up happy thoughts when the mind doesn’t want to cooperate.
Coffee first thing, definitely helps with that mission. ☕️ I’d be amiss if I didn’t mention that cold brew makes it possible for a soft landing.
And then I pair with foods like prebiotic carrots or bananas.
Happy foods they are feeding the gut (where most the happy hormones are made).
Healthy foods can taste happy for you too when you look at them as doing good for you, like I do.
…And if you know how to pair them and prepare them for delicious meals.
And so as the years passed, happy-healthy foods then became my mantra as I weaned off having to have bags of sugar… or cookies around.
Today those are an occasional treat, but no longer a crutch or an emergency sugar lifeline, as I can make my own version.
A few pantry items I always have on hand are: oats, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, spices, honey, and applesauce.
Some of these ingredient types haven’t changed from my original pantry. They’ve stood the test of time.
Tried and true, the more wholesome ingredients aren’t boring when they are the way to a delicious recipe full of taste variety.
Like adding in abundant seasonal ingredients.
…Fruits come first to a more abundant mind.
And fruits help a healthy body.
They’re also happy fuel for daily thoughts. They can be game changers when you appreciate them.
They’re also easy to get. You don’t need the stars to align for happiness sourced via fruit.
Often you don’t even need permission for that type of happy. As a kid, we could grab low-hanging fruit at our little hands’ reach.
Today you can grow a fruit tree from a seed.
The fruits can be enjoyed whole or in a fruitful jammy recipe.
And for me, baking is my jam.
So I also keep a variety of flours available for healthier baking substitutes.
Most of my favorite experimental baking recipes use healthy baking substitutes. I created a dedicated section on my blog’s home page for healthy ingredient substitutes.
This go-to section is good when you want to try healthier recipes and get inspired by food and baking substitutes that work, without inventing the wheel.
Especially if you want to change to healthier eating ways and habits without giving up tastes, one easy recipe at a time time. They’re often quicker bakes… and some are even no-bakes. Or slow bakes if you want.
Along with recipes, inspiration for the oven comes from the ingredients and foods you’re surrounded by.
Plus food and baking shows…
It’s Game Day season, but it’s also Bake Day season.
Not any ‘ol baking season, but cheeky Great British Bake Off season is upon us.
…Or BE-AKE time!
That once upon-a-time was known as The Great British Baking Show on my side of the pond.
…Or what I call The Great British Bakeoff because I love the show. You too?
And whatever you refer to this baking season or television show as, you always want to have a dessert ready in hand when screen sweet tempted.
Baking substitutes are mainly the unusual flavor choices. And this season, change in the sugar and salt (judges).
I’ll be eating it up laughing, learning along, and baking with the new season.
GBBO time of year marks the start of fall and holiday baking season when the oven gets cranking, so it’s a good time for you at home also to bake!
And on my side of the set, I put a healthy bake game plan together that maybe are your desires too.
A healthy sweet substitute can be as satisfying and happy guilt-free. You can have your cake and eat it too!
And it can be easy. Where baking at home this season can be relaxing and rewarding.😋
Because it doesn’t have to be hard or sugar-full in your home. You can get away with no granulated sugar bags in your home.
Something I used to love.
But now I love shortcuts. And tastes that aren’t about the sugar.
…Like easy rough puff pastry that can be even tastier than shortbread.
And you do it once, and you may not even need a recipe the next time…
Let that be some inspiration!
And that can be your micro-technical baking challenge in your tent.
But under no-pressure bubble like in the white tent.
Not like this season’s GBBO technical situation… where it just go tougher.
…Whaaat, NO recipe!?
They just get an illustration like we all see on our home sets. Oh my!
The brave contestants have to make it come to life for the real life judges.
That’s no easy feat for the gingham table in the tent. 🎪
Where on bake day, we’re happy and they’re sad. Or mellow.
And we can cheer and celebrate them on…
We can sympathize and challenge ourselves to a new recipe.
…Not with a yellow cake box that has pictured ingredients. But something new.
That can open the door to a new way of baking.
Maybe a healthier way and habit that comes just in time for new years’ opening. That’s what I did way back when.
And now maybe it’s your turn?…
Ok and now that you’re food prepped, it would be cruel for me not to arm you with a bake challenge:
Here’s one: a fruit cake with coconut flour. And if you don’t like chocolate or coconut, try a vanilla cookie with no butter that may look swirl botched, but will leave ya chuffed. 😋
These are some more healthy bake challenges if you get bored. I change them from time to time to keep you on your baking toes. 🩰
Amaranth vs quinoa is a good comparison for grains. They’re both actually pseudo cereal grains (seeds), and not from rice, corn, or wheat.
They’re both complete proteins, meaning they have all essential amino acids.
So they’re perfect breakfast starters to get you going on a fuller meal.
…Oh, and gluten-free.
…Someone’s ears just perked up.
Because if you’re trying to eat less gluten (or are allergic), amaranth and quinoa are more on filling you with protein. And filled with vitamin and mineral nutrients.
Quinoa for starters, is a popular whole grain.
I remember the 90s Friends episode where the trend took off. Move over rice and couscous in the pantry, quinoa became the household food newcomer.
As the world sped up from old fashioned times, people wanted quicker meals.
And quinoa fit the quick and easy to cook up profile, vs. other grains like some raw rices take much longer to cook and soften.
Today, decades later, you can add amaranth to the list as easier to source and quicker cook-soften.
It’s an ancient grain and known as a longevity booster to help your longer ancient-ability.
Farro, einkorn, and spelt are also ancient, but they’re wheats, so they have gluten.
Then there’s barley as its own grass category, like wheat.
But if you’re looking for gluten-free, try the pseudo-cereals like quinoa, amaranths and buckwheat.
Buckwheat is usually ground into a flour. You can bake into desserts and sweets like a buckwheat ginger cookie. You may have heard of them in soba noodles.
So now that we’ve cleared that up, we know different grains for a savory bowl cook differently.
And smaller pseudocereals cook quicker in 20 minute or less meals, with amaranth vs quinoa being the more practical choices.
So which is better?
Of course, that depends on you!
…I really like amaranth because it won’t burn-stick to your pan like quinoa if you’re deciding on amaranth vs. quinoa.
Amaranth is mushy with water and quinoa is more dry, so it can burn more easily if there’s not enough water in your pan at any heating moment.
With amaranth in water, you won’t lose a single grain as it can become a mushy ball and soft like creamed wheat, or a porridge you can spread out in your bowl.
Quinoa is usually more dry like fluffy wild rice that I like to compare it to as each piece stands on its own. Each piece looks like a small piece of thread hanging on each quinoa seed.
And because of these texture differences of amaranth vs. quinoa, cooked in liquid amaranth doesn’t linger in your mouth and end up on your teeth after you’ve finished your meal.
But don’t let that stop you from you quinoa.
Because as for healthy notes, both are still great protein options.
If you’re needing fiber and lower glycemic index options, quinoa is a better choice.
Amaranth is higher in calcium and minerals. Also, if you are looking for easy to digest foods like a temporary BRAT diet, amaranth is a great variety option to keep in your pantry.
You can also add a little amaranth to bread dough (like you would sourdough starter) in a healthy whole grain roll.
And the best part is the versatility of amaranth vs quinoa that you can mix up in your meals.
Amaranth can also be made more dry (instead of the mushy texture already mentioned), as you can make “popping” amaranth like stove popcorn.
Or you make quinoa more wet in a bowl, like in a quinoa cereal with your milk of choice. This is good for Vata balancing as your body is feeling dry and looking for more moisture that you can get through a healthy bowl.
Add in your nuts and seeds. Oh, and how about a heart healthy quinoa bowl to start your day?
Chocolate chip cookie like this rye flour crunchy one is easy to like as a cross between a dessert and a breakfast cookie.
…Where some like their cookies soft and cake-like. Some like them oven-warmed. And some like them crispy or chewy in parts. To each her own.
And sometimes you like an old-fashioned-hearty-styled, light crunch cookie. Especially when it’s so easy to make.
That’s what this giant cookie is out of the oven.
It’s the crunch that makes it satisfying.
And soft chocolate chips add to the taste and mouth experience.
Which btw, these are mini chocolate chip morsels so it’s not as much as it looks like… it’s many more.
…And a non-issue if you like chocolate. 😋
But however your chocolate chip cookie ends up looking like, this one is one of the easiest baked dessert or cookie you can make.
And it’s lacking granulated or brown sugar on low-sugar-dessert-purpose, as the sweet tastes comes from the chocolate, or you can add maple syrup or a little sugar of your choice if you want
It’s up to you what you make, as it won’t break your cookie texture.
This is not a bake you need ingredient amount precision with especially if you just want to satiate a sweet craving. That can be satisfying in itself!
It’s made from these simple ingredients: rye flour, chocolate chips, egg white, and 1/2 Tbsp of softened butter (or a slim pat with a bread knife).
Even a fraction of a tablespoon of butter adds to this cookie without adding many fat calories if that’s what you’re after.
And rye and butter are a delicious pairing. The mild nutty rye is not strong and earthy like whole wheat.
If you’ve never tried rye flour, this cookie is a good way to try it out.
Because all-in-all, it’s a simple one-bowl mix.
To make this rye chocolate chip cookie, measure out 1/3 cup rye flour and add to a bowl (or even simpler, use the bowl that has measurement marks as your bowl).
Smoothly blend in one egg white and softened butter. You can do this with a spoon and by hand.
Let cool-chill in the fridge for a few minutes.
Then bring out the dough and flatten with the palm of your hand, into a rustic circle (roundish shape).
It will be about a 4- inch cookie before it goes in (and when it comes out).
Then add your mini chocolate chips on top (…and yes, you can add them inside the dough mixture before it goes in the fridge).
And if you use regular size chocolate morsels, you can use less than mini-morsels. Up to you!
These cookies do not have to be cookie cutter.
When I worked as a Doubletree Hotel catering manager, we had daily access to their fresh baked dense chocolate chip cookies that were rustic shape.
Those were my breakfast-fill in on some mornings, and they were like double size (double chocolate chip cookies). That could’ve been the hotel logo. 🍪🍪
Had I known about an ingredient like rye flour as more available to source, and more fiber-sourced, I would have made these at home decades ago to fill the hole from my work chocolate chip cookie memories.
Rye is a healthier ingredient with about 22 grams of dietary fiber per 100 grams of flour.
That’s like double what’s in whole wheat flour. And far and above, hands-down no comparison to all purpose flour that only has 3 grams or less.
Sometimes all-purpose flour is what’s needed for baking texture, but not for this cookie, so why not go aw-rye? 😊
And if you want double crunch, leave the chocolate chip cookie in the oven a little longer. or let the cookie cool out of the oven and put back in the heated oven for 5 minutes.
…I like to do this when I’m doing multiple bakes. So while the cookie is cooling, I’m baking or heating up something else in the oven. There’s not wasted heat. And that’s something you can do too to be energy efficient in your home.
And now you’ve got what you need to make these double crunch chocolate chip cookies.
Halloween cookie is a good alternative to candy. And a macaroon is a 2-ingredient easy cookie idea. That’s not to be confused with a macaron. But still a treat and not a trick with these appearing ghostly Halloween cookies.
They have a candy bar bite if you add some chocolate like these chocolate-morsel ghost staring with mac-raccoon eyes.
What makes these different from traditional macaroons is they are made without a can of condensed milk.
The fat from condensed milk never settled with me and I figured out this cookie doesn’t need that, or even need any butter like most cookies.
You can make this Halloween cookie macaroon easy with whole milk if you don’t mind the dairy.
And one tip is: if you want to make whole milk last longer than the going-sour expiration date daily clock from ticking, freeze the milk you won’t be drinking anytime soon. That freezes the clock (and takes the pressure off).
When you bring the milk back down to the fridge, after overnight or so, it’s as good as good drinking milk or milk to bake with… Just a helpful idea.
And that’s milk that’s perfect for this ghostly good cookie recipe (and dunking baked ghosts in if that’s what you choose)! Or you can pair with a coconut chocolate smoothie.
Then to make the ghosts, combine the milk with unsweetened coconut. This is a low-sugar, fiber ingredient. Along with milk, you’re getting vitamins and minerals that most (Halloween) candy can’t boast.
So these Halloween cookies are light, but heavy in nutrients, relative to their ghostly body weights.
And they won’t disappear in the oven (like a light meringue ghost would without sugar 👻). Here they are happy as can be as a Halloween cookie trio.
And you can add to your yogurt parfaits or cereals. Or any meal or snack you would add coconut or milk to.
The best part is this is a 15-minute prep to bake finish project… and just one bowl prep easy.
Oh, and actually you can measure your coconut in a measuring cup and then add the milk in tablespoons to the same cup. So you don’t even need a bowl.
That’s it to make your ghost mixture!
Add them to a non-stick baking pan or on a silicone mat on a baking pan so they don’t stick. Avoid baking parchment paper as you ghosts can stick.
And if you’re wondering whether to add the chocolate eyes before they bake, yes!… go ahead. That way they can stick to the ghosts and cutely look back at you as they bake.
They will meld and not melt at low temps.
And after baked, then you have a low-sugar, sweet-ish, and happy-spirited snack to munch on. 👻
This is an easy ghost macaroon cookie that's low-sugar.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time 10 minutesminutes
Total Time 15 minutesminutes
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Ingredients
1cupcoconut, unsweetened
5Tbspwhole milk (2.5 ounces)
mini chocolate chip morsels
Instructions
Blend the ingredients and then shape mixture using cookie cutters as guides or use your fingers to shape into a ghost (round top and swervy bottom)
Add two chocolate chips as eyes.
Bake at 350°F/180℃ for about 10 minute when the edges are browneds. Do not over bake. If you will be distracted, bake on a lower temperature and bake for a little longer.
Rough puff pastry bite plates are great anytime as appetizers when you need a sweet or savory snack, or something tasty for guest plates. These lemon tart ones (but not tart tatin) are easy baked desserts you can make…
And in one kitchen session. They can be made with no fancy tools, even though they’re a twist on a French classic puff pastry…
Vol au vent which means “fly in the wind.”
…Was someone baking and there was a swirling fly? Well, the name’s story origin is that the pastry is so light and puffy that they’d fly away with the wind.
…And hopefully straight into someone’s mouth. 😋
But with its fancy name, don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s complicated.
Because it’s as easy as dare I say premade bought phyllo sheets (that believe it or not, I’ve never used before, but I do know you have to bake them too!).
…Which btw, so easy to make your own phyllo dough for baklava.
…And easy to make your own pastry dough (that’s more forgiving than say cake or bread, so you don’t have to be fully ON and can make it before you finish your warm morning drink).
For starters, you just need 3 easy ingredients… flour, cold water, and butter.
…that will make these layers.
…And my favorite part is you don’t even have to remember to take the butter out of the freezer in advance… yep, you read me right… take it straight out of the freezer and start prepping with your flour.
You can use a pastry cutter tool or knife to cut the hard butter.
Cold butter helps against have to fight a warming pastry dough that you would possibly need to refrigerate-and-wait for more than once.
Because besides for better bake texture, it’s also easier to work with cold or chilled (as in rested in the fridge) pastry dough.
And that’ll let you chill out. I like to relax in chair pose while waiting. 😊
Since puff pastry puffs are best when cold set in the oven where it warms and steams, you can take your freezer butter out when you’re ready to start. Yay!
Wow… that was a longwinded mouthful (like the blow away wind tasty pastries 💨) way to describe why you want to use cold ingredients.
And worth the describing effort as cold vs. room temp dough is one of the the differences between a flat pastry and a puff pastry result.
I found it’s not the amount of butter, if fat or calories matter to you.
It’s a couple pats of butter (2 Tbsp) that’s all you need.
You don’t need a stick for a cup of flour, in order for the butter tastes to come through and for your rough puff pastry to do its magic in the oven.💕
So in a few ways, this type of pastry is much lighter than a cookie (that relies on butter).
And this has one additional magical ingredient… cold water. 🪄
You gotta love ingredients that are 0.00 calories and zero dollars.
And another thing I love about pastry is you don’t need to add sugar (unlike cake) for it to work.
…Or you can even make savory puffs (or both on a plate)… I’m thinking mushroom or cheese puffs. 💭 Along with dessert puffs.
But you’re only as limited as your food flavor imagination and ingredients on-hand.
Tip: If you do decide to add a runny or wet filling in the hollow part of the rough pastry puff bite, keep it mind if it’s jam or a runny sauce, it will ooze out of the pastry in the heated oven.
An option would be to bake in a little in and then add more at the end or toward the end, if you want your bites to look full or gem-stone like.
Like, I added ready-lemon curd to each blueberry rough puff pastry bite at the end.
That looks like an inviting nest or bright egg yolk.
But I added frozen (…there’s that magical word again. 🪄) blueberries for the oven. I didn’t drain them to keep them from oozing out.
Draining them and drying them still brings them to warmer temps that won’t work as well as frozen ingredients to preserve shapes.
And making this method of delightful pastry is more about discovering optimal temperatures for dough prep and oven rise, and temps for ingredients, and how they work in and out of the oven than say flavors.
…Because the refined buttery pastry tastes will be delicious with or without additional flavors. I mean… have you met a croissant you didn’t like? It’s like that. 😊
And for an optional glaze finish, I brushed whole milk instead of egg that works all around.
You can also bring out the pastry toward the end and do this step. Or omit dairy and add honey. But first you gotta bake ’em!
These are easy pastry bites where you don't need to buy premade pastry sheets.
Course Appetizer, brunch, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American, French
Total Time 1 hourhour
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Equipment
metal cookie cutters
small kitchen knife and/or small kitchen palette knife
rolling pin (baking roller)
Ingredients
1cupall purpose flour (add more as needed)
2Tbspfrozen or cold butter
3Tbspcold water (add more as needed)
pinch of salt
whole milk or egg for shine (optional(
sweet or savory filling (such as lemon curd and blueberries, or vegetable and herb ingredients)
Instructions
Step 1: Make the pastry dough: Add a layer of flour in a mixing bowl to start. Use fork or pastry cutter to cut/add in the frozen/cold butter in small pieces. Add remaining flour and start adding cold water. Work in ingredients together evenly by hand.
Step 2: Make the lamination layers. This will give nice lines to the bake out of the oven. This is a dough you can work and not be shy with. and actually you'll want to roll out or use the palm of your hand to flatten out and then fold the dough into thirds (like paper or envelope folds).
Turn the dough 90° and do the same folds (they don't have to be exact). If the dough is too wet, add back a little (bench) flour on top and bottom of dough.
Step 3: Let rest/cool: Place pastry dough in a container with a top in the refrigerator and let rest for about 10 minutes.
Step 4: Bring dough out and roll out ontop bench flour to about 1/4" thick. Cut out 2 of the same shapes for each bite, creating a bottom and then a top that has a hollow (window) center. Easy tip for the top: use a knife and/or small palette knife and cut out a hollow rectangle, and from there you can shape with your fingers into a more defined rectangle, or even a circle. Or use small metal piping circles. They will puff up in oven and change shape slightly.
Step 5: Assemble the rough puff pastry top/bottom and add any filling(s) you want to bake such as frozen berries. You can add jam and curds after baked.
Step 6: Brush pastry with whole milk or an egg wash if you want a light pastry top shine.
Step 7: Bake at 375℉ for about 35 minutes on the lower oven rack until golden brown. If you want more of a dark and crunchy texture, bake 40-45 minutes total or until deep brown.
Step 8: Let cool and add any additional zhugh, glazes, or sauces to your pastry.
