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!
This past Spring Break, we took a family trip out to California….and pretty much fell in love with it. We especially loved Southern California! Luckily, being in the Stand Up Paddleboard business, we have a lot of opportunities to travel out there. Actually, Darren just spent a week in Laguna Beach and Coronado for some meetings, networking, and a race. I loved seeing all of the pictures, but was kind of bummed that I didn’t get to make the trip with him this time. I shouldn’t complain too much since we have some pretty awesome beaches and trails near us. Whenever I need my “beach fix” I just head across the street to this….
Today was the perfect day for a jog on the trails –
running the stairs-
and a cool down walk on the beach –
Ending with a few yoga poses since I missed my usual class this morning.
I was definitely ready for lunch by the time I got home! It only seemed fitting to make this quinoa salad inspired by the flavors of California. My fellow SUP and yoga-loving friend made this for me this summer and I completely forgot about it until just recently.
It’s a lot of chopping…..
But I promise it’s worth it!
California Quinoa Salad
Ingredients (amounts are estimates, use more or less based on your taste preference!)
1 cup quinoa (red, white or a mix)
1 ripe mango, diced
1/4 large red onion, finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 cup pre-steamed or frozen edamame (shelled)
1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds, toasted
1/2 avocado, diced
1/2 cup dried cranberries, cherries, or raisins
1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
handful of cilantro, chopped
2 T. balsamic vinegar (she suggests fig vinegar if you have it, but I used balsamic)
juice of 1/2 of a lime
1 T. olive oil
Directions
Rinse quinoa and cook according to package. I usually bring mine to a low boil (covered) for about 15 minutes and then let it sit covered off the heat for another 10 minutes. Place in a dish to cool in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Chop all veggies and toast almonds if necessary.
Mix balsamic, lime juice, and olive oil.
Combine cooled quinoa with all of the other ingredients and toss with dressing. Season with a little sea salt and fresh ground pepper.
What is going on with this cool weather?!? Summer can come back anytime now!!!
Well, I guess its a good excuse to make some soup. This actually works quite well as a summer soup since cauliflower is in season and it comes together so quickly that you’ll hardly have your stove on for more than 10 or 15 minutes tops!
Jake has really been into cauliflower lately so I had picked up this reduced-price cauliflower at the grocery store last week. And, well, who can pass up produce for 50 cents!?! It was a double score because lemons were on clearance too!
With these two ingredients, I knew I had to make this recipe that I had seen over at Kristens Raw. As a side note, I love that she is including more high quality cooked ingredients into her recipes now! This soup is seriously so easy that it can hardly even be considered a recipe!!!!
Lemon Butter Cauliflower Soup
Inspired by and adapted from here
Ingredients
2 heads of cauliflower, cut into florets and washed
2 T grass-fed butter*
Lemon, juice and zest
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
*See notes below for nutritional information on grass-fed butter. I highly recommend Kerrygold grass-fed Irish butter, which is easily found at Trader Joes and other grocery stores for less than $3.
Directions
Add water to a large soup pot (or Dutch oven) until it is 2-3 inches high. Bring water to a boil.
Add cauliflower florets to boiling water (water does not need to cover all of the cauliflower). Cover with a lid and steam for about 10 minutes or so, until it is tender enough to easily be pierced by a fork.
While cauliflower is cooking, zest the lemon and set aside. Then slice lemon in half and squeeze juice into a small bowl removing any seeds.
Scoop half of the cooked cauliflower into a blender and add 1 T of the butter and 2tsp of the lemon juice. Blend until smooth, adding some of the water from the pot as necessary to thin the soup.
Add remaining cauliflower, 1 T of butter, and 2 tsp of lemon juice and blend until smooth.
The entire amount fit nicely into my standard blender, but you can blend the soup in batches if necessary.
Season soup with about 1/2 tsp of sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Top individual bowls with additional pepper and lemon zest to serve.
Of course it always helps when you enjoy your soup outside with a beautiful view like this!
Beautiful view from the deck of our cottage!
The Happy Family loves this Healthy Plate because:
Antioxidants – cauliflower contains a ton of vitamin C and manganese, as well as carotenoids. These little florets pack a punch in fighting free-radicals!
Vitamin K and Omega-3 Fatty Acids – both of these help to reduce inflammation in the body. Cauliflower contains omega-3 fatty acids, the same healthy fats found in salmon and flax seeds, but with the added bonus of practically no calories!
Fiber – Each serving of cauliflower contains 3 grams of fiber, helping to cleanse the digestive tract.
Loads of B Vitamins – Cauliflower contains an array of B vitamins: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 9 to be exact. That includes folic acid, so if you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, be sure to add this vegetable to your weekly consumption.
Grass-fed butter – this deeply colored, vitamin-rich version of butter is a source of healthy saturated fats and is naturally high in Conjugated Linolenic Acids (CLA), which has been linked to heart health and better body fat composition. Grass-fed butter is also high in Vitamin K2 which appears to reduce, prevent, or even counteract arterial plaque, and it helps the body use calcium correctly and effectively.
Lemon zest – Lemon peels consists of components known as salvestrol Q40 and limonene, which are known to fight against cancerous cells in the body. Also, the flavonoids present in the peel are effective in curbing the division of cancerous cells.
I am not going to lie….our Meatless Monday dinner was AWESOME tonight! I love when healthy meals turn out really, really GOOD! It is a Southwestern (and vegetarian) spin on classic stuffed peppers.
Some food for thought – bell peppers are the #3 most pesticide contaminated produce on the Environmental Working Group’s Shopping Guide to Pesticides in Produce, with up to 15 different pesticides found on a single pepper. If you are looking to reduce your exposure to the toxins in pesticides, you can refer to the list of the “Dirty Dozen” fruits and vegetables, and try to buy these fruits and vegetables organically grown, if possible.
Start with some bell peppers (we prefer the red, yellow, or orange for this dish). Cut the stem out of the center and remove the seeds and membranes inside.
I prefer to serve pepper halves so I sliced each pepper in half from the top down.
In a large stock pot, boil the peppers for 5 minutes. This will ensure that they are perfectly done, and not “crunchy” after baking. When peppers are done, remove from water with tongs and place into 9 X 12 casserole dish. Sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt.
Chop 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, and a jalapeno.
In a large skillet, saute onion, garlic, and jalapeno in 2 tsp. of olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes, until veggies are softened.
Add in 1 can of fire roasted tomatoes, 2 cups cooked rice, 1 cup of frozen corn, 1 1/2 cups of cooked lentils, 1 tsp. ground cumin, 1/8 tsp. of ground chipotle pepper, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Mix well and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Scoop rice mixture into peppers. This amount of rice would fit nicely into 4 whole peppers (8 halves) but I knew 3 peppers would be plenty for us. Any leftover rice can be baked separately in a small dish.
Top each stuffed pepper with a couple of tablespoons of shredded jalapeno pepperjack cheese and crushed tortilla chips.
Bake uncovered for 25 minutes. Serve with guacamole and extra chips on the side.
Southwestern Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
3-4 bell peppers (we prefer red, yellow, or orange)
1 cup rice (cooked according to directions on package, yielding appx. 2 cups)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds and ribs removed, finely diced (or substitute mild green chilies)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 cup frozen corn
1 1/2 cups cooked lentils (I buy them pre-cooked at Trader Joes. I believe you can also buy them canned similar to beans)
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp chipotle chili powder
Topping Ingredients
1/2 cup shredded pepperjack cheese
crushed tortilla chips
“quick guacamole” (1 mashed avocado with a squeeze of lime and pinch of salt)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook rice and lentils as necessary.
Bring large stockpot full of water to boil.
Remove stems, seeds, and membranes from peppers. Slice in half vertically if desired.
Boil peppers for 5 minutes. Remove with tongs and place into a 9 X 12 casserole dish. Sprinkle with kosher salt.
Heat 2 tsp. of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat (being careful not to let it smoke). Saute chopped onion, jalapeno (or green chilies), and garlic for 5 minutes, until softened.
Add into skillet 1 can of fire roasted tomatoes, 2 cups cooked rice, 1 cup frozen corn, 1 1/2 cups cooked lentils, 1 tsp. ground cumin, 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, and 1/8 tsp. chipotle chili powder. Mix well and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Stuff pepper halves with rice mixture. Top with 2 T. shredded pepperjack cheese and some crushed tortilla chips.
Bake uncovered for 25 minutes.
Serve with simple guacamole and additional chips, if desired.
“One of the greatest opportunities to live our values – or betray them – lies in the food we put on our plates” -Jonathan Saffran Foer, Eating Animals
Ever since reading books like “Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “Eating Animals” and seeing the movie “Forks Over Knives“, I have made an effort to limit my consumption of animal products including meat, fish, dairy and eggs. This isn’t to say that I don’t eat these things. I just try to limit them in my diet. I think there are so many compelling reasons to cut back on meat consumption. For me, these include the global and environmental impact of factory farming, the painful truth about the conditions in which the animals are raised and slaughtered, and the health implications of consuming animal protein. While I was trying to make sense of the information that I was learning, I thought the answer was to purchase organic or farm-raised meat and dairy. But after reading The China Study and seeing the documentary “Forks Over Knives”, I learned that degenerative diseases such as diabetes and heart disease and some forms of cancer have all been linked to the consumption of animal protein, some of which can be reversed through a plant-based diet. Seeing as how these diseases run in my family, I made the decision to start experimenting with more plant-based recipes and make a concerted effort to cut back on animal protein.
For our family, a flexitarian approach works best. My husband prefers to eat a higher protein diet and our kids don’t care for meat very much – either way, I would never force anyone to change or eat something they don’t want. I tried to cut out all meat completely for a couple of years, but in the end it was just too much trying to cook different meals to please everyone. I could take a simple classic like Broccoli, Cheese, and Chicken Casserole and spend an hour and a half making it three different ways: traditional style with a homemade soup base (no canned soups for us!) with the chicken and cheese, some without the chicken, and mine with a cashew “cheeze” sauce and no chicken. It just couldn’t go on that way every night for dinner! I also wasn’t happy with the amount of mock-meat substitutes that I was relying on in order to feed everyone a similar dinner. Therefore I have tried to simplify our meals by cooking a couple of vegetarian meals a week and include some meat the rest of the week for each person to choose whether or not they want to include it.
This is a decision that I am very much at peace with now. Most days, I eat vegetarian or vegan until dinner. When we do include animal protein, I try to buy the most humanely raised meat, eggs and dairy that I can reasonably locate and can afford. I feel like it has brought a little bit of balance back to my diet and I am a much more sane and happy person when it comes time to make dinner.
Tonights dinner was a new-to-us vegetarian recipe that was cut out of the newspaper by my husband. I always try to make any vegetarian recipes he suggests since he is the most apprehensive about meatless dishes. This one was a veggie burger from “The Meat-Free Monday Cookbook” by Paul McCartney and his daughters, Stella and Mary. It had great “meaty” flavor and just a hint of spice and held together very well compared to other veggie burger recipes I’ve made. Even my kids gave it the thumbs up. That is a winner in my book!
Chickpea, Cheese & Onion Burgers
Adapted from “The Meat-Free Monday Cookbook”
3 T. olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (I probably used closer to 1/8 tsp)
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups cooked lentils (I use the pre-cooked lentils from Trader Joes)
1 T. tahini
2 T. fresh parsley, chopped
1 egg, beaten
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (see directions below)
1 1/2 cups swiss cheese, shredded
1/2 tsp. salt
Flour, for dusting
Directions
For fresh breadcrumbs, toast 4 slices of Ezekial sprouted grain bread. Pulse in a food processor until breadcrumb consistency and set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet. Add onion and cook over medium heat until tender. Add garlic, cumin and cayenne, and cook 30 seconds. Remove from the heat.
Put lentils and chickpeas into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add onion mixture, tahini and parsley, and pulse again until combined and nearly smooth. Spoon into a large bowl and add egg, breadcrumbs and cheese. Mix using your hands and add salt and pepper. Shape into patties and lightly dust with flour.
Heat remaining oil in a large skillet (I used my cast iron which gave them a nice “crust” on the outside). Place burgers in pan cook until golden on both sides (about 5 minutes per side).
