A Pursuit of Healthy

First up the cheesy broccoli rice!

One-Pot Broccoli Cheese and Rice

Prep Time: 10 min. | Total Time: 45 min. | Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. butter (or you can use olive oil)
1/2 cup onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
1 cup brown rice (here is the healthy swap!!!)
1 tsp. salt
2 cups water
1 medium head broccoli, florets only, finely chopped (or however you want them!)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation Instructions:
Melt the butter, or heat the oil, in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 2-3 minutes or until they're translucent. Add in the garlic with the onion and saute for an additional 30 seconds or so.

Add the brown rice and stir around to coat in the butter and onions. I like to let it cook for a minute or 2 because I feel like it gets better flavor. Typically, I'll let it cook until I smell that awesome buttery nutty flavor. Try it, you'll know what I mean. If you're afraid of burning it, just let it cook about 1 minute. Add the salt and water and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low and let the brown rice cook for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, add in the chopped broccoli right on top of the rice, don't even bother stirring it. Cover and cook for an additional 5 minutes. This time may be a bit longer if you chopped your broccoli into larger pieces. Turn off the heat and let it sit, covered, for an additional 5-10 minutes to steam that broccoli.

Remove the lid and stir the broccoli into the rice. Add the cheddar cheese and stir to get everything mixed together really well and melt the cheese. Taste and season with salt and pepper if you think it needs it. I thought it needed it! Serve with a little extra cheddar cheese sprinkled on top! Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from here.



Next up the salmon! Even if you think you're not a fish person, try this. The sauce and breading really add a nice flavor and crunch to the fish, and I think takes away a lot of the fishy flavor. We both loved it! And a friend with a 2 year old came to eat with us and both of them liked it! Kid tested and approved, boom!

Panko Crusted Honey Mustard Salmon

Prep Time: 5 min. | Cook Time: 10 min. | Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 (6 oz) salmon fillets
1 1/2 tbsp. dijon mustard
1 1/2 tbsp. honey
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley, or about 1 tbsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. lemon zest
2 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra lemon for serving

Preparation Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray, or aluminum foil, and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together mustard, honey, and garlic. In a shallow dish mix together the bread crumbs, parsley and lemon zest. Drizzle olive oil over this mixture and toss around to evenly coat everything with the oil.

Working with one piece of the salmon at a time, brush the mustard mixture on one side of the salmon and then put that side face down into the breadcrumb mixture. While it's in the breadcrumbs, brush the other side with the mustard mixture and then turn over to coat with the breadcrumbs. Transfer to a baking dish and repeat with the other 3 salmon fillets.

Bake 13-15 minutes until salmon is cooked through. Serve warn with lemon wedges. Enjoy!

Recipes adapted from here.

I'm still getting used to the lighting in my new kitchen...sorry if my pictures suck for a bit.

I didn't have to do a ton of prep for this week since our menu is really pretty simple, but I did do a few things. First I hard-boiled a bowl full of eggs. I like to have some eggs ready for snacks or quick breakfasts when my husband has to run out the door. Cooking my eggs is super quick and simple because I have a nifty gadget! We received an Egg Genie as a wedding gift 6 years ago and we still use it. It perfectly cooks 7 hard-boiled eggs in minutes. I don't have to do a thing!

The next thing I did was to whip up some homemade ranch dressing to use as a veggie dip and salad dressing all week. If you've never made your own ranch, you really need to! The difference is amazing! And it's really not difficult at all. I follow Pioneer Woman's recipe, link here.


The flavor is so much better than store bought, but also I know exactly what went into it. There are no preservatives or fillers, and no extra sodium. It's just better all the way around. When it's made, I just pop it in a mason jar and into the fridge. I also cut up some carrots and celery. And yes, I'm one of those crazy people who cuts their own carrot sticks.


Having these veggies and dressing ready to go in the fridge ensures we'll have healthy snacks when we need them. It never fails that I'll study all day, starve and raid the fridge. I'm not alone in that though, a lot of times my husband gets so busy at work that he doesn't have the chance to eat all day, then comes home and eats whatever he sees. If I have better options readily available, chances are we'll both make better decisions!

Meal Planning Tip of the Week: Make a weekly theme night like Taco Tuesday or Pizza Friday. We're having both this week because we haven't had either in a while. Taco Tuesday is really simple and delicious, and a perfect weeknight meal. Pizza Friday just seems like an American thing to do. We make our own whole-wheat crust (I'm pretty sure I've shared that recipe on here before) which is enough for 2 pizzas. My husband really likes to help out when we make the pizza and makes a really delicious BBQ chicken pizza with red onion and cilantro. Then we make a big loaded supreme pizza with the second crust. I think theme nights can really help with the planning process because when you sit down to start your menu, you're not overwhelmed with a blank page and nowhere to begin. Give it a try and let me know what you decide to have each week with your family!

You guys...Hey! It's been a minute, huh!? This summer threw us for a loop and my poor little blog here just fell by the wayside. I apologize. So here's a recap of the last 3 months of my life:

Baked Honey Mustard Chicken and Veggies

This would be the perfect side dish for any Memorial Day barbecue you may have going on this weekend. And it's packed with veggies! I really like this crunchy ramen salad because it's a good combo of sweet and savory, and it has a great crunch! Yes it uses a couple packages of ramen noodles, which are not normally something you'd find on a healthy eating blog. But you're going to toss the seasoning package that comes with it since it's full of junk anyway. The Asian honey vinaigrette that is used as the dressing in this salad is really amazing and easy to make. I hope you give it a try!

Crunchy Ramen Salad

Prep Time: 10 min. | Total Time: 10 min.

Salad Ingredients:
1 (16 oz.) bag coleslaw mix
2 ( 3 oz.) packages of ramen noodles, crumbled (toss the seasoning packet)
1 cup shelled and cooked edamame
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
1 mango, peeled, pitted, and diced
1/2 cup thinly-sliced almonds
1/2 cup thinly-sliced green onions (scallions)
Asian honey vinaigrette

Vinaigrette Ingredients:
2/3 cup vegetable oil (or any cooking oil)
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. sesame oil
Pinch of salt and black pepper

Preparation Instructions:
Whisk together vinaigrette ingredients and set aside. Add all ingredients together in a large bowl, pour on vinaigrette and toss until combined. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. This will last in the fridge for a couple days, just remember that the avocado will brown the longer it sits, especially since it's sitting in an acidic vinaigrette. Also, I like it best fresh because the ramen noodles is still nice and crunchy! Enjoy!


I hope you all  have a relaxing and safe Memorial Day weekend!

I'm still alive! I took a bit of a blogging hiatus to gear up for finals and to get our house ready to list. Well, our house sold in a day and I just submitted my last final! Hallelujah!! I just had a ginormous weight lifted from my shoulders and I'm ready to party! Okay honestly, get a massage and sleep is more on my agenda.

I'm so excited to share this recipe with you guys because it's been one of my favorites lately! I don't know that I would go so far as to say these are "healthy" double chocolate zucchini muffins, but they do contain whole wheat flour (fiber!), zucchini (veggie goodness!), honey and applesauce (natural sweeteners!), so I wouldn't discourage you from calling them healthy. If you are looking for something to satisfy your sweet tooth without grabbing a candy bar or something super unhealthy, I think you should definitely try these!

The zucchini and applesauce make them incredibly moist, and the cocoa powder and chocolate chips make them oh so chocolately and delicious. And yes, they do have green flecks in there because of the shredded zucchini. If that bothers you, just don't look at it! You can't taste any zucchini at all. Give them a try and let me know what you think! Find me on Instagram or post your muffins with the hashtag, #apursuitofhealthy, I would love to see what you make!

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Prep Time: 10 min. | Total Time: 35 min. | Serves 12

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. oil, whatever kind you want, coconut, vegetable, etc.
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 egg white
1 cup shredded zucchini (about 1 medium)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup milk, I used regular ole 2% but you could use any type of milk you like
1/2 cup regular or mini chocolate chips

Preparation Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 12 cup muffin tin by either using cupcake liners or spraying the tin very generously with nonstick cooking spray.

Super important step! After shredding your zucchini, squeeze it to get rid of all excess water. Zucchinis are full of water and it will mess up how the muffins turn out if the excess water isn't disposed of. I've explained this before in a zucchini dessert post, but this is what I do. I line a bowl with a couple layers of paper towel, then set my box grater in the bowl and shred the zucchini right into it. Then when done, I gather the edges of the paper towel into a little bundle and squeeze it over the sink. Easy peasy!

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add oil, honey, vanilla, egg and egg white; mix on medium-low until smooth and well combined. Add zucchini, applesauce, and milk to the wet ingredients and mix well. Slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Be careful not to over mix. Gently fold in chocolate chips.

Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin tin. I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup and that really made it an easy job. Bake 22-25 minutes, depending on your oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes in muffin tin. After 5 minutes, remove muffins and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!

Warning: these are incredibly addictive and won't last long. I may have even one for breakfast yesterday while I was cooking my actual breakfast. Ridiculous. In fact, these muffins didn't last long enough for me to take pictures of them.


Nutrition Information:
     Serving Size: 1 muffin
     Calories: 160
     Fat: 6 g
     Carbs: 25 g
     Sugar: 14 g
     Fiber: 2.3 g
     Protein: 3.4 g

Happy Monday! I know it's not Taco Tuesday yet, but I'm giving you ideas a little bit early. I LOVE Taco Tuesday! When we were remodeling our kitchen, I couldn't cook for a good 2 months (Ah!!) and we became well acquainted with Taco Tuesday at our local Mexican restaurant. It's just the best concept ever. Today I have a really awesome fajita recipe for you!
Seriously who doesn't love fajitas! I think I'm going to establish Fajita Friday at our house. These fajitas are so simple and "skinny", not that fajitas are a particularly unhealthy recipe to begin with. These are made with your own seasoning, so no packets here, helping you control what is in them particularly the sodium. Just remember it's the type and amount of toppings you put on them that can really add the extra unwanted calories!

Chicken Fajitas

Total Time: approx. 30 minutes | Serves 4

Ingredients:
1-2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts **
2 bell peppers, any color you like, cut into strips
1 medium onion, cut into strips
3 tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. chili powder, or to taste
Salt and pepper
2 tsp. olive oil
8 whole wheat flour tortillas, fajita size

Toppings:
Shredded cheese
Sour cream (optional)
Sliced avocado or guacamole (optional)

Preparation Instructions:
Marinate the chicken breasts with lime juice, and season with chili powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder and cumin. Set aside.

Season the sliced vegetables with salt and pepper and toss with olive oil. You can either grill your veggies and chicken indoors or outside on the grill. To grill the onions and peppers outside on the grill, use a cast iron skillet or vegetable basket and grill covered over medium heat until tender-crisp, about 10-12 minutes. Or, to cook them indoors, you can use a large skillet on the stove over medium heat for about 12-15 minutes, covered until the onions and peppers are tender-crisp. I like my veggies to still have a bite to them, not mushy, so cook them to whatever consistency you like best. When finished cooking, remove onions and peppers to a separate plate, and set aside.

Heat an outdoor grill or indoor grill pan over medium heat; grill chicken until cooked through, about 8-10 minutes on each side. Transfer to a cutting board when completely cooked and cut into strips. Once cooked, combine with the peppers and onions. I cooked my chicken in the same pan that I cooked the vegetables, and then when I had sliced the chicken, I just combined everything back in the original pan to heat up the onions and peppers again.

Serve immediately with warm tortillas, cheese and whatever toppings you like! Enjoy!

**For just my husband and I, I used 1 lb of chicken and we had leftovers. So use 1-2 lbs depending on how many people you are serving.

Recipe adapted from SkinnyTaste.

I have been in the need lately for some very quick, easy, healthful weeknight meals. Between class work and doing various projects to get our house ready to sell, I don't have a lot of time to cook in the evenings. With recipes like this one, we can still eat well at home quickly and don't have to resort to either take-out or a drive thru. I love this recipe and I think you will to! I'm a huge fan of bruschetta and tend to make it a lot when tomatoes are in season. This is a bit of a twist on typical bruschetta with bread, in this recipe you replace the bread with grilled flank steak. Yum! This is also a good recipe for those who want to eat healthier but still like to have some beef in their diet. Just be sure to trim off any extra fat from your flank steak.

Flank Steak with Tomato Bruschetta

Approx. 6 servings | Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
2 lb flank steak, excess fat trimmed off
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Garlic powder
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
3-4 tomatoes, diced (roughly 3 1/2 cups)
1 tbsp fresh basil

Preparation Instructions:
To prep the steak, remove from package and sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Let sit for about 10 minutes at room temperature. This will, of course, season the meat, but bringing it to room temperature helps it to cook more evenly.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the chopped red onion, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Let this all sit together for a few minutes. This allows the flavors of the raw onion mellow a bit. I don't know about you, but super strong raw onion can really ruin a good recipe for me, so this step is really key for me. Combine with tomatoes and fresh herbs, if using. Be sure to taste it at this point and see if you need to add any seasonings.

Heat grill, inside grill pan or broiler to high. Cook the steak about 7 minutes on each side for medium rare, this time will vary depending on the thickness of your steak. The ones I used were really very thin, so I cooked it about 5 minutes per side. Remove the steak from the grill and let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing to be sure the juices don't all run out. When ready, slick the steak on a diagonal, top with tomato mixture and serve! You can have this with a nice big salad (which we normally do) but this night I just grilled up some fresh bread with it and we had both steak and regular bruschetta. It doesn't get any better than this guys!


Nutrition Information:
     Calories: 167 (based on the recommended 3 oz. portion)
     Fat: 8.3 g
     Protein: 18 g
     Carbohydrates: 4.7 g
     Fiber: 1 g
     Sugar: 0.5 g

Recipe adapted from here.

Oh you guys, my last post was March 4...ugh. You know when you have a never-ending to do list and feel like you can't climb out of it? And then just when you can't take much more, another heap gets piled on? Well that's me right now. My school work to-do list is just ridiculous. My Passion Planner (which I love and you can check out here!) has had the same weekly goal of "catch up" since like early February. I was still trying to catch up over my spring break....break, ha!! And then just last week we were given a notice that we'll be moving for my husband's job. While we are very excited (and a little sad), we have to be in our new town/house/area by mid August. So now we have to get our little house ready to sell. *insert anxiety attack here* Anyway, so I'm sorry for neglecting my blog and I'm going to try harder to update it more often. Here's a big one!

I always have people asking me, so since you're a nutritionist do you eat perfectly all the time?! The answer? Absolutely not. Nobody is perfect. I do give it my best shot and mainly just strive for balance in my life. I try to stick to an 80/20 ratio of healthy eating in our lives. 80% of the time we eat good whole foods, typically at home. The other 20% of the time is for those meals when you go out with friends or are stuck on the road and don't have better options available. I don't expect myself to stick to whole foods 100% of the time because that just sets me up for failure. When I have a craving for something not so great, I do give in, but I don't let myself go crazy. My cheat meal doesn't turn into a cheat day. Also, I barely count calories. I know a lot of people get really stressed out and overwhelmed when they start keeping track of calories. When I do track them, I use the My Fitness Pal app. It's so easy to use and has a great scan option to scan bar codes of foods and products. It's the easiest calorie tracking app I've ever used. My goal when setting up my meals is to strive for variety, color and foods that are in their most natural state. Simple as that. So here's what I ate last week:

Monday 

Breakfast: I eat a variation of the same thing everyday for breakfast. There is always an egg, some avocado, a grain of some kind and some fruit. Today I had 1 large egg, 1 whole grain English muffin, 1/4 of a large avocado and about 1/2 cup cut up strawberries. And of course, coffee! I put Stevia and unsweetened vanilla almond milk in my coffee. I started eating this breakfast over the summer when I did my training, and I love it. It represents all food groups and the protein, fat and grains keep me full. When I don't have an English muffin, I'll have oatmeal or smush the avocado on a piece of toast and put the egg on top of that. Delish!

Lunch: I leave for campus around noon on Monday's so I threw together a quick easy salad. I put together some mixed greens, baby spinach and kale with cut up broccoli (from my prep day!!), a few halved cherry tomatoes, a small sprinkling of cheddar cheese, about 1/4 cup diced ham and a little light ranch dressing.

Snacks: My second class of the day is an almost 3 hour lecture on micronutrients. I need a little pick me up halfway through, it's a long freaking time to sit. I took a couple baggies with baby carrots and a cut up apple, and of course, my water bottle that is with me at all times. I almost always take an apple, but normally I'd take some cashews or almonds with it, but we were out that day. Oh and when I got home I was starving for some reason, so I had a whole wheat pita with some hummus.

Dinner: I've recently re-discovered the awesomeness that is Trader Joe's. Their prices are amazing! I can buy a package of frozen wild-caught salmon that has 2 really big pieces of salmon for about 6 bucks. What!?! Dinner on this day was baked lemon garlic herb salmon, a little orzo rice pilaf (thanks Trader Joe's!) and a mixed greens/spinach/kale salad with cherry tomatoes and organic Italian dressing.

Tuesday

Breakfast: Today I had an egg with an English muffin, 1/4 of a large avocado and about 1/3 cup cut up strawberries and a kiwi. And coffee!

Lunch: I hate wasting food so I eat a lot of leftovers for my lunches when I'm home. This day I had the other half of my salmon from Monday night's dinner and about 1/2 cup of Mexican rice we had eaten over the weekend.

Snack: When I'm stressed I bake. This was the day I got the news about our moving and the panic of selling our house set in. So naturally I baked banana bread. Snack this day was a piece of warm banana bread with a smidge of butter and a hot green tea with a little honey. It was all about comfort!

Dinner: Grilled pork tenderloin with garlic citrus sauce and a large salad made with mixed greens/baby spinach/kale, diced carrots and broccoli, cherry tomatoes, a little cheddar cheese and some ranch. We eat off of our smaller plates, just in case you were worried about my portions. Also I ate another 2 small slices of the tenderloin because it was just so stinkin' good!

Wednesday

Breakfast: Wednesday for breakfast I had 1 egg, 1/4 of a large avocado with some hot sauce sprinkled on top to wake up my metabolism and digestion, 1 kiwi, 1/2 cup quick oats with PB2 and about 1/3 cup blueberries. And of course, coffee!

Lunch: One my favorite quick lunches is a fast tuna salad. For this I mix 1 can of tuna in water, 1/4 avocado, a couple squirts of mustard and a tablespoon-ish of sweet relish. If I have a hard-boiled egg, I'll throw that in too. I eat this in a whole wheat pita and then have some baby carrots with hummus.

Snack: No snack on this day, which is odd for me. I only eat when I'm hungry though, so lunch filled me up.

Dinner: We ate out this night because we were both exhausted after a long day and somewhat emotionally spent. We headed to a local grill and I couldn't control myself so I had a burger and sweet potato fries. I didn't really feel guilty about this, even though it's not the best option, but I did try to eat somewhat slowly and pay attention to how I felt so that I didn't overeat. I definitely know when I shouldn't eat this stuff because I don't feel so hot later. Major indigestion that evening.

Thursday

Breakfast: The usual! 1 egg with an English muffin and 1/4 large avocado, 1/2 banana and about 1/4 cup blueberries, and coffee.

Lunch: My husband had extra servings of his lunch, so I ate one to avoid wasting food. So skillet ground turkey, sweet potatoes and bell peppers. Yum!

Snack: Study break snack this day was a cut up apple and a couple slices of pepperjack cheese. If I had some Greek yogurt I would have had that instead of the cheese.

Dinner: I don't have a picture of this because I was in the car. We took an impromptu road trip to look at houses in the area we'll be moving to, and our planned dinner didn't happen. So we stopped at....Taco Bell. Don't hate me! I wasn't thrilled but really I didn't have much of a choice and I was starving. I kept myself to 2 tacos and water. Ideal? No. Realistic? Yep. This just happens sometimes. Definitely felt like crap after this one. Listen to your body, it definitely tells you what to do!

Friday

Breakfast: 1 egg with a whole wheat English muffin, 1/4 large avocado, about 1/4 cup blueberries and a kiwi. Kiwi's are my new thing! In my immunity and inflammation class I learned that kiwi are good for lung health, which is definitely very important to me! And coffee!

Lunch: Grilled buffalo chicken salad. We ate lunch really quick before our realtor came to look at our house and give us her opinions on what to do before we sell. So we grilled some chicken tenderloins that had been brushed with Frank's buffalo sauce (my favorite!) and put it on top of mixed greens and kale and then topped with a bit more buffalo sauce and a little ranch. This is one of my favorite salads ever!

Dinner: After our realtor appointment, we headed to our hometown to go to a friend's fish fry get together. We had fried fish (yes it was fried, not so great, but the batter wasn't really thick and I was careful to pick pieces that had a lot of meat) and then a bunch of sides. It was typical potluck food, so generally not the healthiest, but I did my best and just tried not to overeat. I didn't go back for seconds though, big win for me!

So that was my week! As you can see, I'm not perfect. I do think about everything I eat though and try to fuel my body with the best options. I don't have pictures of my drinks, because other than coffee, I generally just drink a ton of water. I try to drink at least 60 oz of water everyday and can absolutely tell when I don't. My skin will look ruddy and feel bad and get really dry, my lips get really dry, and I'll just feel sluggish. I also take a daily multivitamin, fish oil and linoleic acid supplement. I try to eat all of my essential nutrients, but I still take a vitamin just to be sure my body is getting what it needs. I hope that all helps you guys! Takeaway message: Do your best to make good choices, don't beat yourself up over not so great choices, and don't let cheat meals turn into cheat days! Mindful eating is all it takes!

Happy Friday friends!!! Yay we made it through another week! I think this semester is going to kill me, so being one week closer to spring break is giving me a really warm, fuzzy feeling right now! Here are a few of my faves this week:

1. Books! So since my last Friday Faves post, I've completed a few more books for the reading challenge I'm doing. Here's what I've finished so far!

1. "Call the Midwife" by Jennifer Worth. A book from the library. 5 days to read. 4/5 stars.
2. "Everything Everything" by Nicola Yoon. A book you can finish in the day. 1 day to read. 5/5 stars!
3. "Fun Home" by Alison Bechdel. A graphic novel. 2 days to read. 2/5 stars.
4. "Me Before You" by Jojo Moyes. A book being made into a movie this year. 7 days to read. 5/5 stars!! Amazing! Can't wait for the movie in June! Here's a link to the trailer.
5. "As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride" by Cary Elwes. A book written by a celebrity. 4 days to read. 4/5 stars. I had to read this since "The Princess Bride" is one of my favorite movies ever and the stories Cary Elwes had to tell about filming were so good!
6. "Cinder" by Marissa Meyer. A book based on a fairy tale. 7 days to read. 4/5 stars. Never did I think I would enjoy a book about a cyborg Cinderella this much, but I couldn't put it down! Luckily it's the first in a series so I can keep going!
7. Currently reading: "The Martian" by Andy Weir for the science fiction novel category. Also working on "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon for the book with over 600 pages category. 

2. Food shows! Pretty much any tv show or documentary that has anything to do with food or cooking, I'm going to watch. Lately I've been watching 2 different series, Chef's Table on Netflix, and The Mind of a Chef which is a PBS show but is also on Netflix.


Both are so good! Each episode of Chef's Table follows a different amazingly talented and famous chef and you learn how they got their start and their philosophy on food and cooking. Each season of The Mind of a Chef follows a different chef and you learn about their restaurant and their philosophy on food and cooking, and it's amazing! The second season follows chef Sean Brock, who I now have a major crush on! I mean, come on, he can cook, he gardens, and he cares passionately about real, home grown food and environmentally responsible/sustainable farming and cooking. I might have to travel to Charleston to go to his restaurant, Husk, and buy his cookbook. And I think he's adorable! If you love food and cooking, you should check these shows out!


3. Dried fruit! Lately I have been obsessed with dried fruit. I stocked up on banana chips, dried mango and dried papaya at Nature's Grocers the other day and have struggled to not just chow down all day long. Actually it's been game on with all fruit lately! Apples, particularly jonagold and gala's, have been really good lately, and I have one for my morning snack every single day. Also berries, for some reason, have been pretty good and not terribly expensive at my grocery store, so I've gotten my blueberry, raspberry and strawberry fix lately! I'm so ready for spring to get here so my farmer's market will open back up! 4 weeks to go!

4. barkTHINS! If you haven't tried this snack yet, you really need to! I love the dark chocolate almond with sea salt, but they have other varieties too, all of which are amazing. Try them! I know you'll love them!

These cookies are amazing!! I'm seriously in love with them! And bonus, they have NO flour and NO butter! You might look at the list of ingredients and think how in the world does this work? But somewhere in the chemistry of the peanut butter and oats and eggs combining, they puff and bake up like a regular chocolate chip cookie.

Tip: don't use your fancy natural peanut butter for this one. I made these cookies once with my all natural peanut butter and once with regular old Jiff, and something about the creamy Jiff with the stabilizers included made the cookies turn out better, and the flavor was different. The cookies with the natural PB seemed a bit oily. My husband liked them either way, but he'll eat anything!

Also, I made them once with rolled oats and once with quick oats, and I liked the texture of the cookies made with the quick oats the best. Just personal preference, because they were both delicious, so choose what you like best.

Enjoy these amazing gooey, chocolate-y, peanut butter-y, decadent cookies! I think they're my new favorite thing!!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Prep. Time: 5 min. | Cook Time: 10 min. | Makes 20 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 large eggs
2/3 cup rolled oats
1 tsp. baking soda
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Preparation Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Either spray a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray or line with parchment paper. In a small bowl mix together the oats and baking soda and set aside.

In a large bowl beat peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth, about 3 minutes. Mix in dry ingredients, then fold in the chocolate chips.

Now the messy part! Roll cookies into 2 inch dough balls and place onto cookie sheet 2 inches apart, then slightly flatten the top of the cookie with your hand. You don't want to really smush them down, just enough to make them not a ball anymore. To avoid the messy, you could simply use a cookie scoop to drop the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. This is the method I tend to use because this dough is really sticky!

Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes and remove when the edges have barely begun to turn a golden brown. The cookies may look underdone, but they'll keep cooking when you take them out of the oven. Cook for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.



Adapted from here.

Happy Thursday everyone! I don't know about you, but I'm pretty tired of hearing about the presidential election already....and we're still months away from the actual election. Ah! So I've decided to make my own poll here on A Pursuit of Healthy. I would love to know what you want to see more of here! So in the toolbar to the right of your screen you will see a poll right after the "about me" section. You can choose more than one option and stay completely anonymous. And if you have other ideas that aren't listed, comment here and let me know! It would really help me when figuring out what to post here, which I literally lie awake some nights coming up with ideas.

Hey everyone! So my menu planning posts have been a little lax lately and I really apologize. Our lives have been a little crazy and honestly I've planned our meals every week, but some weeks we only stuck to it about 4-5 days because we were just pulled in so many directions. Those weeks happen!

This week shouldn't be any crazier than others (fingers crossed) so I challenged myself to getting it planned out, sticking to it, and most importantly simplifying our menu. You'll see barely any actual recipes. I feel like so many people, myself included, think they need to use recipes all the time and use a myriad of different ingredients and spices, but we know that the simple and the least ingredients used equates to healthier meals. So you'll see a lot of healthy proteins and LOADS of vegetables. I encourage you to try it yourself! Play with your meals, try new things and different food combinations and figure out what you like.


Here is everything from my grocery trip. Lots of fruits, veggies and lean proteins!
So to prep for the week, I made this skillet dish for my husband's lunches and got them all portioned out in their containers to be ready for him to grab in the morning. It's really such a simple recipe, it maybe takes 20 minutes, and I know that he's getting a healthy, nutritious lunch with a good amount of both protein and fiber.
I also chopped  up a bunch of veggies to have on hand for any stir fry's, salads or snacks during the week. I'm really focusing on sticking to a plant based diet. I've read and heard thousands of times in my education that plant based diets are the healthiest and the best for our minds and bodies, so I'm doing my best! Practice what you preach! I also whipped up a couple quick marinades and salad dressings for this weeks food. They're so simple to make and not loaded up with junk like bottled products are. I'll share those with you later!
In addition to the broccoli, cucumbers and zucchini pictures above, I also chopped up a bunch of sweet potatoes into bite-size pieces so they're easy to toss with olive oil and either roast or saute.

I hope you all have a great week and have your meal plans set and prep done!

This is one of those recipes you eat and you're like, how in the world is this healthy!?! It's so good! I'm just like every one else, a major macaroni and cheese lover, but it's been hard to find a healthier version that is still creamy and decadent and actually fulfills the craving. Well I found it!


This recipe is a delicious combo of cheese noodles and lots of roasted vegetables and it's just amazing! Feel free to use whatever veggies you like, but the combo in the recipe below is really delicious. Also, use real cheese that you have to grate yourself. It's just a better option all the way around. I don't like using packaged shredded cheese, I don't think it tastes as good or melts as good. So grate your own, get a nice little arm workout in!

Roasted Veggie Macaroni and Cheese

Prep Time: 15 min. | Total Time: 1 hour | Serves 6-8

Ingredients: 
1 large red bell pepper, cored and diced
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 yellow squash or zucchini, de-stemmed and diced
1 small head broccoli florets, chopped into bite-size pieces
1 (8-oz) package button or baby portabella mushrooms, quartered or sliced
1 small white onion, peeled and diced
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 head garlic, cloves peeled
1 (12-oz) can 2% evaporated milk
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
Pinch of cayenne
12 oz. elbow macaroni (or any shape of pasta)
1 tbsp. butter
8 oz. freshly-grated smoked or sharp white cheddar cheese (I used the Cracker Barrel brand)
1/4 cup freshly-grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet, or two medium sheets, with parchment paper or aluminum foil. 

In a large bowl, toss all of your diced veggies with olive oil. Season with some salt and pepper then spread all the vegetables out in an even layer on the baking sheet. Place the garlic cloves into the center of a separate sheet of foil, drizzle with a little olive oil, and wrap the foil around the cloves to make a sealed packet. Place this in the center of the baking sheet. You're going to roast this garlic and when it's done it'll be amazingly soft and delicious. Bake the vegetables and garlic packet for 30-40 minutes, or until vegetables are sot and have started to get a little brown around the edge. Stir the veggies around halfway through the cooking time to prevent sticking.