Food Balance Your Body Type Archives - Page 28 of 48

Healthy Protein Foods – Plant Based

Healthy protein foods are a priority at the top of healthy eating and weight loss. They go hand in hand with healthy fats.

And plant based foods are fun to plant into your overall diet because they add color, textures and flavor.

In catering, we always leaned into plant based foods for the color like in a Crudite dish with raw crunchy veggies and the rainbow effects from the anti-inflammatory polyphenols.

…which makes them wildly nutritious and can be the healthy rainbow food on your plate! 🌈

Making them delicious in dishes from their natural bland-boring taste and out of their whole identity or grocery packaging is what makes the tasty edible difference.

Well… when it’s reframed that way, then we can embrace adding more plant-based foods to our healthy diets. They’re sustainable.

But the real problem with veggies if there is one, is that they’re not filling to our bellies.

Most are low calories leaving us feeling hungry. And that can be good for weight loss when balanced in our lives…

Plus adding healthy protein foods to fill in the gaps for us.

Like these examples:

A plant-based tofu “chorizo” healthy protein foods dish doused with balancing Ayurvedic spices.

Tofu qualifies as healthy protein foods. — Tofu chorizo recipe below. 🌱

You can add alliums like onion and garlic that are fiber and good for immunity. Plus green veggies like green bell peppers, and plenty of spices make this a balanced healthy meal.

You can save tomato for your Italian dishes and lean in on the sweet potato in this dish. 🍠

The spices add the flavor and this one has paprika, turmeric, 5 spices, garlic powder, and cumin.

And for healthy proteins, while sausage is usually high in saturated fats, tofu has healthy fats (Omega-3 and unsaturated fat types) and nutrients like magnesium and calcium so it can be a chorizo substitute.

A Three Sisters snack is corn, squash, and beans that has healthy protein foods. — Three Sisters is a corn, bean, and squash trifecta.

Other healthy protein foods include a 3 Sisters dish that celebrates beans at the heart of plant-based healthy protein foods.

This is a complete meal. If you have a corn, beans, and squash trifecta, and also add olive oil or avocado to the meal, then you have all your macros in one. That’s tasty and healthy smart eating.

The stuff I get wildly excited about, plus playing with food. 😊

…Like a plant-based homemade pizza that can be made with wholesome healthy whole wheat, and in as much time as it takes to place a pizza order and have it delivered… and it’s funny I would know because for 4 teenage years, I was a pizza maker for Domino’s Pizza.

That would be a long time for a teen in today’s working world… but I had fun working. People at all ages stay put when they’re happy.

Back then, like most my age I leaned into the carefree happy over healthy.

These days, wiser having tried more food experiences, we can make better choices.

And we can bake and make our own meals where we get to choose ingredients.

Whole wheat flour is slightly higher in protein and fiber than everyday white flour. And that reminder can help move us closer to healthy desires.

Each step starting with food thoughts make us intentional about what we manifest in this Life.

If we source healthy ingredients and foods, then that’s what ends up on our plates and in our bodies.

And the choice of healthy protein foods is a healthy leader for us and our meals especially when we choose the protein foods first.

Too often we have healthy intentions but end up with the happy for any number of reasons. 😋

So balance or a happy medium I like to say is the best approach… and in my world, I lean into the happy tastes and end up doing the healthy without compromising taste…. and happy to give healthy friend advice.

It’s simple when there’s no pressure to eat healthy, so then it’s easier to make the healthy choice most the time because the freedom of choice…

And we can do that when we go out also. There are plenty of healthy and tasty places to eat these days.

Intentional good foods is what happened when I planned events for American restaurants serving Mediterranean cuisines.

Those experiences made me appreciate small plates and family style foods with healthy flavors.

At a Spanish tapas place, small appetizer plates were the only plates they had.

They also had gigantic paella pans (that could’ve held all the small plates inside).

One was the Friday happy hour pan fit for as big as a dining room table.

I remember back when I would blog every day and the people I worked for didn’t even know what a blog was. I just told them it’s marketing and they let me do my thing, haha.

But the people that were coming to the blog, got it.

You all get it. 😀

I shared recipes and special happenings that’s still the way things are today.

And in the Italian, Spanish, and Lebanese restaurants where I was a food insider, one common ingredient used was tomatoes. Often it was a subtle hint as part of a mixture of flavors we call a relish.

Like Meshi Bel Zeit stuffed veggies that was the vegetarian option for Lebanese events.

For home meals, a dish like that would pair well with a common tomato dish that goes well with many healthy protein foods including peas.

Green peas are a good source of healthy protein as are chickpeas. That makes us hap-pea! 🫛

And quinoa is good to add to our healthy protein foods list. It’s another complete meal.

Quinoa has 9 essential amino acids that our bodies can’t make, so you can definitely feel full after a bowl. It’s a food illusion because you’re eating what looks like a cooked grain (starch), but as a pseudo-grain it’s acts more like a protein super food when it lands in your body.

Quinoa and peas are healthy protein foods. — Frozen peas cooked in with quinoa. Hold the salt.

And even more of an illusion when you add quinoa as a breakfast cereal. This would’ve been a great way to start the back-to-school days if we knew about the super grain way back then.

3 Tips for Cooking Quinoa – Healthy Protein food

1. Use a pan (instead of a pot) for more even cooking.

2. Toast your quinoa on the stovetop before cooking.

3. Don’t salt your dish until the end if you use peas so they don’t dehydrate.

You can make a quinoa paella like this one made of quinoa instead or rice, and then add other healthy protein foods on top. This way you can get all your protein grams in that day with a bottomless quinoa dish.

If gram numbers count for you… the easy way to remember is to take your weight and divide by two for a rough idea of how many pr0tein grams you’re looking for.

Quinoa paella would also be deliciously paired with a za’atar cracker.

You can also pair a tasty, cool healthy beverage to go with your healthy dishes.

Vegetarian Chorizo Tofu Dish with Spices

Course Breakfast, lunch

Cuisine American, vegetarian

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1 package tofu, firm or extra firm
spices: paprika, five spices, turmeric, cumin and onion powder (or fresh onion)
frozen peas

Instructions

Take tofu out of package. Drain water and place on a pan. Break up tofu with a spatula into small crumbles.
Turn on med-high heat for a few minutes.
Add balanced Ayurvedic spices to taste: paprika, five spices, turmeric, cumin and onion powder.
Add frozen peas. Tip: do not add salt while cooking, so peas don't dehydrate.
Turn down heat and cook for another 15 minutes or so, until tofu is firm.

Fish and Chips Cod Healthy Recipe – Baked + Waffle Chips

Fish and Chips with Cod is a recipe to share because it’s easy, filling for a family, and made healthy light when baked (and not fried)… and that’s a tasty way to make healthy food count and enjoy the calories.

fish and chips baked and waffle recipe. — Baked fish and chips cod recipe below. 🧡

This one is accompanied with no-fried waffle chips with a salty and tangy sour dip that has balanced tasty notes (…what’s not to love?). The recipe is below. 🧡

My inspiration for making fish and chips takes me back to travel and one special place memory of my time in U.K. 🇬🇧 hoppin’ in and out of London Cabs after dramatically being re-routed from visiting the Mediterranean south.

I didn’t mind as I had worked in food party planning for Mediterranean (Lebanese, Spanish, and Italian) restaurants for years, so that felt a little like home.

And, re-route is part of adventure.

Oh and travel is always an adventure… and GOOD times…

…even if it’s serious business getting history (Stone Henge) downloads.

…And then getting my bearings back up to food familiarities like with these small BUT mighty food bites at Covent Garden near Westminster where I stayed…

…Even as big as London is, somehow I found the comfort food. What a memory! 💕

And one memory dish that U.K. is famous for and you don’t have to look long and hard for there is Fish and Chips.🐟 … it’s as common as U.S. served crab cakes, corn on the cob, and potato chips.

That’s a mouthful of “c’s” to say.

Saying Fish and Chips is much easier…

The common U.K. fishes sourced for the dish are salmon, cod, and haddock.

The healthiest fish are wild fish anywhere you source because the fish eat what they would in the wild… makes sense.

And cod is the best choice.

Why cod?

It’s easy to source and that means affordable groceries .

Most U.K. fish come from the shared seas in the North Atlantic and Norway I learned working with chefs and travel.

My last fishy travel tale was in the Bergen, Norway fish market as I’m going down memory lane 🐟

…And in the U.S., we have our own fish markets. it’s common that we source wild fish from the Northwest Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

But anywhere you are and anytime of the year, you can make your light (aka healthy) baked Fish and Chips.

This healthy baked fish dish is served with waffle potato fries that doesn’t compromise taste or healthy food notes… and is so simple to make.

Potato waffle fries are made with a little extra virgin oil love that’s healthy. You can use a waffle iron if you have one or you use a skillet on the stove and make potato hash or flat potato pancakes.

And if potatoes are not on your menu choice and you want a different style with the same basic ingredients in baked fish and chips, alternatively you can cook your fish with boiled potatoes.

But if you just want to stick with the traditional fish and chips fare made in a healthy cooking way, enjoy this recipe with no guilt.

You can even pair with a healthy cottage cheese dip as the tartar sauce.

Healthy Baked Fish and Waffle Chips

A healthy baked fish and no-fried waffle chips.

Course dinner, lunch

Cuisine American, british

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

waffle iron

Ingredients

6 oz white fish such as cod, whiting, or flounder
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
1-2 white or all-purpose potatoes
1/4 cup cottage cheese for tartar sauce
1-2 pickles or gherkins

Instructions

Brush fish with olive oil to keep from drying. Add to oven at 325℉/165°C until fully baked.
For bread crumb topping, toast panko crumbs in a separate pan from fish. Set bread crumbs on the top oven shelf so they don't burn. They will toast brown in about 5 minutes or less on the top shelf.
Cook/soften your potatoes until they are mashable. Scoop out small balls about the same size and flatten. You can make the "chips" in a waffle iron or on a sautee pan with olive oil.

Avocado Smoothie with Coffee to Break Fast

Avocado smoothie is a powerful way to start your morning and to break a fast or start your breakfast.

You can mix with your coffee, literally where you have an avocado coffee smoothie.

This one is chillin’ and you can see it’s melting from its frozen state as a frozen treat.

Avocado smoothie is one of the healthiest smoothies you can drink.

It has antioxidant Vitamins C and E plus some B vitamins for skin, cells, and brain health as highlights.

🥑 Another avocado point: it’s high in glutathione antioxidant benefits that’s also raised with coffee in research studies.

And it can be two ingredients simple: avocado and milk.

Plus coffee… in a layered effect for a little change up in variety if you choose?

And learning how to make organic cold brew coffee would be good for this cold drink that’s another healthy (less acidic) habit move.

Either avocado smoothie way, an avocado super fruit is one good healthy fat food to eat first thing because of its profile. 🥑

An avocado has fiber, protein and healthy fat that will help your muscles, and prevent blood sugar spikes that’s easier to do on an empty stomach before you’ve had your first meal.

And all that helps prevent weight gain from cravings.

It also helps our bodies and especially natural Kapha bodies in healthy weight loss diets and goals.

And on those missions, you can add one more healthy step intention.

But what if your avocado isn’t ripe?… and maybe quite the opposite. How can you speed up the ripening?

Because you’ll want to do that, otherwise you could be waiting days or a week to make a smoothie.

So the tip I suggest is to put your avocado(s) in a closed brown paper bag with (an)other fruit(s) that release ethylene (e.g. tomato, apple, banana).

…All in all, this could take about 2 days to induce your ripe avocados (or you can have avocados ready💭).

Then when avocado is ready, you can make your avocado smoothie more of a savory experience with a little vinegar, leaning into its veggie appearance. Yes, adding a little vinegar like in a salad but in your smoothie.

It’s better with the simple avocado smoothie only, but up to you if you add to your avocado coffee as a healthy smoothie enhancement.

Vinegar with acetic acid is a natural probiotic and can help balance gut, improve digestion, and lower bloating and gas.

As food as medicine goes, ACV can be your remedy for heartburn symptoms taken before or with your meals. No more popping pills.

A good way is to add a few ACV eye dropper drops full or a teaspoon of vinegar to your avocado smoothie that you’ll barely taste.

And one last easy step (or bonus) for your healthy balanced living is growing an avocado seed to a plant.

This way you keep all the avocado parts, in sustainability efforts.

The steps are easy to grow an avocado plant from a seed and help us practice patience. And you get a nice healthy plant that takes little effort. 🌱

The plant can serve as a daily reminder that an avocado could be your healthy change you make today toward your brighter future.

For healthy inspiration and other delicious anti-inflammatory smoothie recipes 🌈 , get the free 7-day Healthy Smoothie Recipe Guide while it’s available.

Avocado Smoothie with Coffee

Avocado is one of the healthiest ways to break the fast in the morning. It's high in glutathione antioxidant that's raised with coffee in research studies.

Course beverage

Cuisine breakfast

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

ripe avocado
almond milk (or milk of choice)
coffee

Instructions

Blend the avocado and milk.
Pour into glass.
Refrigerate for a few minutes.
Add coffee of choice to make the second layer.

Lemon Trifle with Strawberry (Low-Sugar)

Lemon trifle with strawberry is a cool light summer treat for the senses and a sweet afternoon pick me up. Made with yogurt and eggs, this would make a great brunch waffles idea! 🎉

I love a delish layered dessert with a divine summer fruit pairing like strawberry and lemon (…you too?) that you can make year round in the day…

And night…

Lemon strawberry parfait with berries topping zhugh. — Luscious lemon trifle with berries.

This luscious, low-calorie parfait is better than any store pudding I’ve ever tried… and as healthy as a smoothie.

Here’s the ingredient low-down that makes this dessert healthy:

…Oh and I almost forgot that it’s happy too! Because a lemon color that’s more sunny than cool yellow makes me smile. ☀️

Lemon – this is the ingredient in many cooked dishes especially close by the Mediterranean. If there was a fruit as commonly used as butter, it would be a lemon. 🍋 Yes?

A fresh lemon is tart and acidic enough to make you want to pucker up.

Lemons are anti-inflammatory Vitamin C-rich fruits good for anti-cancer pink ribbon breakfast ideas. 💗

They’re also loaded with limonene that’s anti-stress, so calm-soothing… and that’s why we get happy with citrus scents around, like bergamot.

If the lemon color didn’t create a favorable emotion, the powerful lemon zest flavors in the curd are bound to make your lips curl. 😊

Then when you pair the tart with a sweet balanced flavor like a strawberry, you’re in for a divine food pairing marriage that won’t disappoint.

Strawberry – you can use frozen strawberries for this recipe and that’ll be useful for a later date when strawberries aren’t in season.

These days, it’s hard to tell which season we’re in by the temperatures outside and as we see summer fruits in the winter, and vice versa. With a freezer, you can freeze the effects and have a year-round grocery store with your fave foods. 🎉.

So you have options. Either you buy fresh and freeze or you can also buy a bag of frozen strawberries, like the kind you would use for smoothies.

Also, organic strawberries are in-season in the summer, and getting strawberries from your local farmers market is a good idea. Organic ones are the ones I would recommend eating as free from pesticides.

Plain Greek yogurt – when selecting yogurt, it’s best to take a look at the ingredients. With so many yogurt options, you can zero in on the lower sugar content tubs.

Whole milk texture consistency will work well with this recipe, but all plain yogurts will taste good. The star ingredients for this parfait is the lemon and strawberry (in case that wasn’t obvious).

Making the lemon curd is pretty easy too, but makes this parfait taste perfect.

For an extra citrus zing-y experience, add zest to the zhugh. Because afterall, zhugh is the zest of life… at least in food anyway.

For zing, there’s no better substitute in this lemon strawberry parfait than lime zest to compliment the lemon tart and strawberry sweetness… and bring out the balanced sweet paired dessert vibes in a cool lemon zig and lime zag way.

Or you can lean into the very berry berries…

Light Lemon Strawberry Parfait Trifle

This is a divine pairing that's cooling, light, luscious, and healthy!

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

lemon curd
frozen strawberry
Plain Greek yogurt (low-fat or 2% milk version)
additional lemon zest for zhugh
lime zest (optional)

Instructions

Thaw frozen strawberry so that it's mushy and there's strawberry juice. Mash to the bottom of your glass. Then freeze again until ready to make the parfait.
Make your lemon curd and refrigerate until cold.
Add your lemon curd ontop the frozen or semi-frozen strawberry layer. You can de-thaw in the fridge a few hours before you're ready to eat.
Add yogurt to the top layer as it makes this snack luscious to enjoy! Zest with lemon for zing and also lime for a citrus twist!

Weight Loss Diets for Kapha Body

Weight loss diets are a prime topic for many of us these days. Healthy eating and dieting is front and center especially with age and slower metabolisms that’s common in a natural Kapha body.

This was my Sunday brunch. Recipe on the saffron shrimp white omelet below. 🍤

Let me first start by saying that food is a passionate lifestyle for me where tasty and healthy is a food pairing marriage from heaven.

…I started out as a buttery hotel food catering professional and moved into more healthy olive oil menu event planning in Mediterranean restaurants not too long ago.

Even though I’ve retired from those corporate industries, the experiences live daily in me and is my way of life I live and breathe. And why I’m writing and researching on the topics daily.

…I also do believe you can eat deliciously daily like a healthy foodie and still keep your consistent healthy weight whether you’re a Vata, Pitta, or Kapha.

There are challenges, especially for natural Kapha bodies where a slower metabolism is common.

I have some tips and strategies in this article for changing ways without giving up tastes… where rice cakes and lettuce doesn’t have to be the main foods in your diet.

The diet meaning here is the little “d” word as in what you eat and not the big “D” diet word of focusing on what not to eat that weight loss diets often focus on.

I like to focus on the positives for healthy change because then you become what you eat... whole food ingredients. Those are the affordable, delicious healthy foods and pairings that people at their ideal weight are eating most the time (that’s NOT a pipe dream). Those easy-to-find natural foods are filled with fiber, protein, and healthy fats that help to lose weight.

We know today that it’s not just how many calories in and how many calories out, as all calories are not created equal.

Healthy fats aren’t the lowest calories in the house but healthy fats are healthy macros.

From last week’s blog article, you can listen to my healthy fat journey I had over the decades compared to today’s healthy fat foods list.

Compared to my catering working days, we’ve come a long way in nutrition news!

Oh, and then there are the developing research areas. One evolving research example is that some foods that cause our bodies issues are high glycemic load carbs that spike insulin.

This one I embraced in the Inflammation-Free Diet book that I picked up decades ago. Since then, research in those areas has evolved and happy gut health has exploded.

Those were pre-mind-body balance days.

And so often it’s a mindset change choice we get to make with certain types of foods as we have built relationships with our foods that are hard to shake off.

Changing food mindsets not because of taste changes preferences, but because of wanting to live healthier lives is a good healthy push start.

When I started out as an adult, low fat foods were hailed for weight loss diets and healthy benefits. All fats were considered fats and bad.

So one college summer I ate all low fat foods as what I learned from the research at the time for weight loss Diets (with a big “D”).

I moved to the beach and worked at nearby ocean seafood restaurants.

Being a care-free summer when most of us want to eat lighter anyway in Pitta season, I thought that would be a good opportunity to get super slim.

I was skinny fat in today’s standards. I’m naturally a Vata body, but we all have our relative sizes in our one-and-only-body we get to live in and make decisions for.

My strategy then was avoiding all high fats (including healthy fats that we didn’t know about). I was scanning nutrition facts on labels for fat content.

Pasta was and is one of my fave foods that passed the test.

So, I went on a mostly pasta diet.

I ate pasta and a certain low-fat cookie in a green box that was popular at the time. I don’t see them around today.

It took just a few weeks for me to see that I had gained weight I never had before.

Most of us know those yo-yo diets where you gain all the weight back and then some more. That’s what happened to me.

So using percentages I had gained about 10% when I was trying to lose about 5%.

The principle is the same for anyone in their body so there’s no healthy comparing between people. The healthy way is to choose for your body.

And weight cycling can happen easily when you start to crave all the foods you’ve known to love, but aren’t eating. 🥲

I was a newbie at weight loss plans. So I didn’t have any experience with food willpower.

I just loved all foods and they loved me back without question. It was unconditional love that I didn’t feel in other areas of my life.

…and once I got a taste back into the real world of tastes again, I couldn’t stop.

And that’s how it is for most of us where certain foods are addictive.

These days, we can use low-carb, healthy fats and healthy proteins to point us in the better direction.

I’m following along with this better directed macros plan. And not my former macaroni plan. 🍝

I’ve seen the improved results as compared to decades ago where I learned that calorie counting is hard work.

No More Hardwork Calorie Counting

Calorie counting is hard work and exercising to burn calories is even harder work.

Today we know it doesn’t pay off consistently in the long run like eating healthy regularly that can be very enjoyable.

So saving ourselves the trouble from learning better information is a better weight loss plan.

What helps the most is giving your body what your natural body wants.

Some healthy foods are universally healthy to most bodies and some are unique often told by the story of our individual body’s tastes and preferences.

Ayurvedic food categories for our balances and imbalances are more predictable, where we crave certain tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, or salty) that are found in healthy foods.

We can make the natural switch to following our Ayurvedic preferences.

I compare it to getting off an alarm clock that’s like processed foods. An alarm is not when your body naturally wants to get up or do the activity you’ve set the alarm to.

If you naturally follow your body’s time instincts, you become naturally attuned to time changes and circadian rhythm that’s like the eating healthy balanced way.

Finding your subset healthy food list is a healthy balance. Many of the foods are also anti-inflammatory grocery list foods.

And if weight loss is a goal of yours, also focusing on keeping veggie fiber carbs balanced at the top of the list helps.

If you’re a balanced Kapha body, then also lean into bitter tasting and astringent foods for weight loss diets (again the little “d” diet for what you do eat).

If off-balance, that’s where we can get into trouble until you restore balance. It’s easy to tell if you’re off balance with clues around you and a simple body balance quiz.

Healthy Weight Loss Diets

If you eat mostly healthy foods, you also slowly turn your taste buds to healthier choices.

You desire the healthy foods and crave less of the bad. It’s your lifestyle choice that makes your healthy intentions and changes your tastes.

…Like sugar habits that you can transform starting with plant-based breakfasts (I’m living proof 😊). I’m all about low-sugar baking that pleases the Vata sweet tooth.

Healthy ingredient and food substitution is a good weight loss strategy, that also develops creativity skills as a side benefit.

And when you prep, cook, and make your own goods you have more control over what you put in your body. You’re rewarded for the time and effort you put in. 🎉

…Cooking and baking daily, I’m in better shape today than I was last year, definitely from college years, and anytime in between…

I’m feeling nostalgic today because I wrote this Un-Diet Guide twenty plus years ago that I found.

I wasn’t blogging or writing anything else back then. So coming up with a 73-page manual with recipes was interesting at the very least (…maybe even strangely prophetic for my interests today).

Today my evolved manual would include sustainable healthy living meal prep habits and fasting once a week (but no yo-yo fasting habits). My motivation: living longer optimally (longevity). And if that’s you… amp up your longevity game with my free intermittent fasting guide.

I appreciate what I eat and drink more, and am more productive… enjoying LIFE and being active…. discovering new places 😉

I also enjoy more healthy foods in my diet that was a gradual change, when I started consistently making and baking in all my meal ingredients.

When you stay consistent and keep your favorite celebrational food and drink habits in moderation, you don’t yo-yo in weight or go overboard one day or season when the stress situation arises or willpower gives in. Been there, done that!

And in not denying, there’s no obsessing and making our binge food dreams happen. I learned that the hard way (and maybe you did too on your food journey).

Overall keeping most meals, snacks, and days as eating healthy real foods gives us our best results. Our healthy changes are gradual.

And when you choose your ingredients for meals and dishes, you do a couple of healthy things:

You become more intentional about what you source and put in your body. Every ingredient and amount you’ve sourced and researched. You know on some level what you’re putting into your body.

You also get to try new foods to bring in more rainbow variety, new flavors, and aromatic spices to your life.

That’s exciting to me (…you too?).

Never being bored with foods is a healthy norm.

You never grow out of loving food because there’s always a healthy substitution to turn to.

We’re not meant to be bored or avoiding eating. Our hunter gatherer forefathers didn’t live that way.

They were inventive and foraged for new tastes and ways.

Finding Your Lose Weight Food Diet

Wherever you are on your journey for trying new foods, it helps to carve out time to be food mindful.

When I first started out baking and cooking daily, I had to adjust to carving out time to think about meals and sniff spices.

My motivation was eating but also creating colorful plates.

I always enjoyed that part of my job in catering where I got to decorate food with food. It’s fun to play with your food.

In the same way, you can think of food as a creative outlet and the cherry on top is you get to eat and share it at the end.

You can’t do that with all other passions, like say making paintings that you either need to find a place to hang or else find a way to pass them onto others.

Embracing food passions can be an easy creative outlet.

I realized early on that I wasn’t the home kitchen maker that wanted to make complicated dishes.

Being easy and creative for me was not following a recipe if I didn’t have to.

So early on I didn’t create recipes at all. But now I embrace them as a way to share easy baking steps and shortcuts.

And I believe there’s always room to change ingredients, amounts, and methods.

Because even if you use the same ingredients and amounts provided in a recipe, so many factors could change your bakes…

Like temperature in the oven, outside temps, and materials used. …and especially how much love you put into your dishes.🧡

If you create when you don’t feel like it or on half-empty energy, your dishes will reflect and not be alive.

The myth that baking relies on recipe precision is a myth. Great baking I’m familiar with is an art and a science that you feel good about.

In my decade career managing hotel catering and Mediterranean restaurant event planning, I came across the most delicious ingredients…

They inspired this 15-minute Sunday brunch Saffron Shrimp Egg White Omelet dish that you can tastefully make and is good on a low-carb weight loss plan. 🍳🍤 And a delicious Gorgonzola Italian Bean Salad that’s loaded with protein and fiber. 🫘🥗