Welcome!
Hi, I'm Tori! Welcome to Healthy Plate Happy Family!
I am a fun-loving, healthy-eating, wife, mom, holistic
nutrition student, aspiring yogi, SUP-enthusiast, living
and loving life on the beautiful coast of West Michigan.
Here you'll find all of the whole foods, clean-eating recipes
that I am cooking up to keep my family happy and healthy!
Thanks for stopping by!
Oatmeal is probably the breakfast food that I have made the most for my kids. Hailey went at least two years straight, if not more, where she ate oatmeal every single day for breakfast. Smart girl….oatmeal is healthy!!
- It contains vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, and are a source of protein and complex carbohydrates.
- Oats contain a specific type of fiber called beta-glucan, which helps reduce cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease.
- The soluble fiber in oats helps stabilize blood sugar levels and keep you feeling full.
It’s still a favorite around here and I’ve found plenty of ways to mix it up and keep it fresh.
If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen the oatmeal-stuffed baked apple that I made yesterday. This was amazing and I had it again today!!
Directions
Use a sharp paring knife to cut out the core and some of the apple to make a nice big “well”. In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup oats, 1/3 milk (or non-dairy milk), 1 egg white, 1 T. ground flax, 1 tsp. pure maple syrup, and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Fill the apple and top with chopped walnuts or pecans. Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
Alternatively, you can stuff this into a halves of a hollowed out orange (with a little extra maple syrup and some dried cranberries) for more of an Orange Spice flavor!
Something that my kids have been loving lately is Oatmeal Parfaits. While the oats are cooking on the stove top, I get get the fruit and yogurt ready. Then, simply layer oatmeal, yogurt, and berries a few times. We like to stir a little honey into our Greek yogurt or just drizzle it on top.
If you are in more of a time crunch in the mornings, I highly recommend this recipe for Crockpot Overnight Steel Cut Oats. I have made these a couple of times and everyone loves it!!! My crockpot tends too run a little hot so I just set it on the “Warm” setting and cook it that way overnight. I also skip the butter and brown sugar and it’s still great.
If you want other ways to eat oats, check out some of these other recipes I have posted:
Baked Oat Recipes (can be made and then eaten all week long)
Overnight Oat Recipes (eaten cold or warmed up a bit in the morning)
Pumpkin Overnight Oats in a Jar
Overnight Chia Oats with Fruit
Welcome to another What I Ate Wednesday, the one day during the week where I post everything that I ate for the whole day!
Ever since seeing some cute little baby bok choy at the Farmers Market last week, I have been wanting to give them a try. I know the logical thing would be adding them to a stir fry, but this Mango Dream Bok Choy Smoothie on Pinterest had my name all over it!!!
Into the blender went 2 heads of baby bok choy (bulb ends removed), 1 whole mango (peeled and diced), 1/2 of a ripe banana, a few chunks of frozen pineapple, 1 tsp of coconut oil, 1 and 1/2 cups water, and a handful of ice cubes. If you are not using a high powered blender, you’ll want to blend the greens and water first, and then add in the fruit and ice in order to get a nice smooth blended drink. If its not sweet enough for your taste, you can add more banana. There is definitely a bit of an earthy green flavor to this drink, but I LOVED it!!!!
Before heading out for the day, we snacked on these little blueberry baked oatmeal “muffins”. I like them because its like a little bowl of oatmeal you can eat on the go, but unfortunately they didn’t go over too well with the kids….
After a fun day downtown at the Coast Guard Festival, we came home STARVING!
Crafting fun at the Coast Guard Festival Kids Day!
Food Should Taste Good chips to snack on while making lunch…
I reheated some of the Lemon Butter Cauliflower Soup from yesterday and also made a Greek salad for lunch. I am so in love with this soup!!!!
For dinner, we made use of the ever-abundant summer zucchini and made these Italian Stuffed Zucchinis on the grill. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen a sneak peek. They tasted every bit as good as they looked!! I will post the complete recipe tomorrow!
We served them with a simple salad topped with balsamic vinaigrette. Hailey loved the filling and had a few bites of the zucchini. Jake still has pretty simple taste so he preferred just the grilled sausage and a few bites of the zucchini. Plus they both ate their salad, so overall I consider the dinner a WIN!
I had made these little frozen yogurt tarts last week and it seemed like the perfect night to enjoy them.
The crust was walnuts, shredded coconut, and a drizzle of honey in the food processor. I needed to do something with the raspberries that got smushed on the way home from the Farmers Market, so I threw them in the blender with some plain Greek yogurt and a little honey, then topped it all off with the few remaining whole berries, and froze them in a mini muffin pan. These need to sit out for 5-10 minutes to thaw a bit before eating them. The kids and I like them, but they definitely have that Greek yogurt taste and texture. I may try making these with the frozen fruit and banana “ice cream” for a little more of a traditional tasting dessert.
What summer meals have you been enjoying lately??
I can’t believe summer is half over!! We have been busy doing all of the kids’ favorite summer things – bike rides, going to the beach, letterboxing, playing with cousins, picking blueberries, trips to the cottage, paddleboarding, sleepovers, and going to fun day camps. So much more still to pack into these next few weeks!!
I started off this morning with one of the most awesome smoothies I have made in a long time.
About 2 cups of spinach, 1/2 cup frozen papaya chunks, 1/2 of a mango, 1 teaspoon of coconut oil, and a squeeze of lime. YUM! If you are attempting your first green smoothie, try this one for sure!!
Be sure to blend the greens with about a cup of water first to get them fully blended. Then, add in the fresh and frozen fruit and blend again, adding enough water to get to your desired consistency.
For lunch, I had some leftover southwestern quinoa salad that I took to a family get together over the weekend. It was just a little variation from the recipe I’ve posted on here before. It was cooked and cooled quinoa mixed with black beans, fresh corn from the cob, red onion, yellow pepper, tomato, avocado, and fresh cilantro tossed in a simple vinaigrette of fresh squeezed lime juice, olive oil, sea salt, ground cumin and chili powder. I also had a little extra tomato and avocado on the side.
After lunch, the kids and I biked a couple miles down to one of our favorite parks.
We hiked up the 104 steps to see this view. The waves in Lake Michigan were crazy today!
We were all starving when we got back two hours later so we snacked on the Blueberry Lemon Oatmeal Squares from yesterday. We may have each had two of them! Hiking and biking makes us hungry!!!
For dinner, Jake requested the Lasagna Roll Ups that he made in his Gourmet Cooking Camp a couple weeks ago. They were so quick and easy and the kids gobbled them up! New family favorite here!!!!
Lasagna Roll Ups
Ingredients
9 whole wheat lasagna noodles
1 lb organic, grass fed ground sirloin (optional)
1 box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and excess water squeezed out
1 container part skim ricotta cheese
1 jar pasta sauce (we like the Newmans Own fire roasted tomato)
1-2 cups shredded mozzarella
Seasonings such as garlic powder, dried basil, oregano, and sea salt
Shredded Parmesan
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook noodles in boiling water according to package directions.
Cook ground beef and drain off any excess fat.
Mix together ricotta, drained spinach, cooked ground beef (if using), and season with a little sea salt and Italian seasonings.
Spoon half of the sauce into the bottom of 18 muffin tin wells.
Lay out cooked noodles on a large cutting board and blot dry.
Spread mixture onto noodles. Sprinkle with a little mozzarella.
Roll noodles up and slice in half. Place halves into muffin tin.
Top with more sauce and shredded mozzarella. Sprinkle with some shredded Parmesan cheese and bake for 25 minutes.
We served this with a green salad loaded with veggies topped with a simple homemade vinaigrette and the kids ate every last bite!!
Some people are all about the awesome deals at outlet stores. Some are really into picking up a treasure at a thrift store or garage sale. But me? I love scoring a deal at the grocery store!
I especially love the clearance produce section! Its a great place to pick up perfectly good produce for a fraction of the price (since you rarely see coupons for healthy whole foods or fresh fruits and vegetables). Some of the staples I can usually find at our store are onions, citrus fruits, and mini peppers. We have potatoes and apples a lot as well, but I prefer to buy organic versions of those.
One of my favorite things to find??? Bananas!!!! These are one of the few fruits that I am perfectly OK with eating non-organic since you don’t eat the outer part of the fruit. And even if they’re a little past their prime, they are perfect for cooking or slicing and freezing for smoothies and other frozen treats.
So this week when I found bags of clearance bananas, I cleared the shelves and brought home 7 pounds of bananas for a little over $2.00!
And I knew exactly what I was going to do with these guys!! I’ve been eyeing the Bananas Foster Baked Oatmeal at Oh She Glows. My kids love oatmeal and I thought this would be a little bit more special than their typical weekday morning oatmeal topped with raisins or thawed frozen fruit.
This was SO good – like a perfectly warm and cozy treat, very filling and not overly sweet. I love all of the healthy swaps from traditional bananas foster including coconut oil for butter and a maple syrup for the brown sugar. This will definitely be something that I make often!
Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!!!
Bananas Foster Baked Oatmeal
Adapted from Oh She Glows
Oatmeal Ingredients
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup oat flour (finely ground oats, I’ve started grinding mine in a coffee grinder instead of the blender)
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
2 1/2 cups unsweetened, plain almond milk
Bananas Foster Ingredients
4 bananas, sliced (or chopped into small pieces if you prefer)
1 T. coconut oil
2 T. real Maple syrup
3 T. rum
Sprinkle of cinnamon
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Topping
1 banana, thinly sliced
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a casserole dish (I used coconut oil).
Combine all oatmeal ingredients in a large bowl and set aside while you prepare the bananas foster.
Add coconut oil, maple syrup, and rum to a cold skillet and heat over medium low heat. As the coconut oil begins to melt, whisk to combine ingredients. When mixture is bubbling, add in bananas and sprinkle with cinnamon. Saute for about 5 minutes, reducing heat if necessary. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.
Stir bananas foster mixture into oatmeal and pour into casserole dish. Place sliced bananas on top and bake for 40-45 minutes.
