A couple nights ago I made the best meal I've ever prepared for myself. I don't feel too arrogant saying this because my standards for home cooking are not terribly high; I generally don't like to put too much effort into making food for one, and I'm more concerned about consuming nutritious meals than gourmet ones. That said, if I can achieve low maintenance, healthy, and delicious, I'm pretty wowed. This particular meal was inspired by a black-eyed pea dip I had at Fodder & Shine  recently. I wanted to make my my own, which really is just hummus with black-eyed peas instead of garbanzo beans, but I also wanted use it in a way that felt more like a meal than a snack. I also remembered some vegan tacos I'd recently had at Bartaco , which included cauliflower and almonds in the filling. The carrots and onions just seemed like a nice complement to the roasted cauliflower. Then I needed something green, and the collards helped bring everything together (lite...

I was planning meals last week and thought the  kale and cannellini-stuffed sweet potato  meal I'd made before sounded good, but then I remembered a friend's recent Instagram post that showed a pan full of sweet potato "noodles," and I was reminded that I wanted to try that out. I'd had some  success  making "zoodles," or zucchini noodles, and I wanted to experiment more with alternative forms of pasta. So I basically decided to deconstruct the stuffed sweet potato meal and switch out kale for spinach. Ingredients 2 medium-to-large sweet potatoes 2 bags baby spinach 1 BPA-free box cannellini beans 2 cloves garlic, chopped olive oil salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne I used the same piece of equipment--a mandolin--as I used for the zoodles. I had a little more difficulty with the raw sweet potatoes, as they're much firmer than zucchini, so I had to press the potato across the blade with more force, which made me more likely to also slice a finger ...

I should note up front that I'm not  getting reimbursed or anything for this product; I just happen to love it. I first discovered Joe's Oat Patties in pre-mix form at a downtown sort of "gourmet" grocery store. It was an easy solution to dinner -- nutritious, vegan, gluten-free (some flavors are, at least), organic, and fast and easy to prepare. Oh, and delicious! But then, last weekend while at Whole Foods (which I must say is less of a nightmare to shop at because of the new grocery-shopping nightmare that is Trader Joe's ), I noticed the product in the freezer section., for even lazier people (like me) who don't want to go through the hassle of mixing a few things together in a bowl. So of course I bought them. And then on Tuesday night, after running at Four Green Fields , all I had to do was slice and season my potatoes, pop them in the oven while I steamed the green beans and put these pre-made patties on the stove for a few minutes each side, and voil...

This meal was inspired by a  Pinterest recipe  I'd pinned long ago, but I didn't feel like looking at the actual recipe; I knew basically what I needed and decided to just experiment. Plus, I used marinara from a jar, which I happened to already have at home. Ingredients: 5 small zucchinis (or 2-3 large) 2 c. cooked lentils 3/4 jar of marinara (because that's what I had) 5 crimini mushrooms,  wiped clean  and diced 2 cloves garlic 1 small shallot bulb olive oil, salt, pepper, basil, cayenne Equipment: I used a mandolin slicer with a special blade to get the zucchini in the right shape, but you can also use a  spiralizer  or a  julienne peeler .  Because I already had the lentils pre-cooked (in my handy rice cooker--who knew!), I didn't need to bother with cooking them. I just put the marinara, lentils, and mushrooms in a pot to heat up (and cook the mushrooms) and added the spices. Next, I peeled the zucchini, w...

For Christmas, I asked for and received from my older sister (thank you, Catie!) a slow cooker. Especially during marathon training, it's hard to have energy left for cooking after going from a full day of work to a run or workout that usually lasts over an hour long. So I figured this would help solve some of my problems. I pinned a bunch of gluten-free, vegan recipes from Pinterest , and this is the first one I tried. I'll admit that, while the slow-cooking part is great, about 15-20 mins prep time was still required for this particular recipe (I know, I know--that's not a very long time). I haven't quite figured out when to do the prep--night before? morning of? But how lovely it was to come home after my workout, take a quick shower, and have a warm meal just waiting for me. Granted, I have to look for the recipes that take 8-10 hours in the cooker to make this possible (on a weekday, anyway), but that doesn't seem hard to do so far. From www.thesw...

Monday night's dinner was inspired by a Pinterest recipe from Mind Body Green , called "Autumn Kale & Quinoa Salad." It looked delicious as soon as I saw it pop up in my Facebook feed, so I went to the recipe to check it out.  Photo cred: Mind Body Green I'm always looking for new and healthy meal ideas, but they also have to be pretty filling, as I'm feeding two marathon-trainers. This one actually fit the bill. It's hard to see, but the salad does have a decent amount of quinoa in it, so it's not lacking the important carbs that give us energy for training. But of course, as with any recipe I see online, I have to make my own modifications.  The first one actually came about because, in the picture above, I thought I saw (and still think I see) salmon in the salad. However, salmon is not listed in the original recipe's ingredients. But it seemed like a good addition anyway, so I added it. I also decided to add some chopped red oni...

Last week I made a meal I'd created before but never written up, so here goes. For some people, lettuce wraps are a great way to cut the carbs from their diet. But for me, because I love those healthy carbs, it's just a way to add more veggies to a meal.  Choosing the lettuce is the biggest obstacle in making lettuce wraps. You want something sturdy, but not too tough and bitter. I've used Romaine before, but it's not as flat a I'd like; it can break easily when you try to wrap it around the stuffing. The butter lettuce worked pretty well, I think. I almost went with lacinato kale, but I think it would have been to tough to digest raw. These wraps have a taco-inspired mix inside, consisting of quinoa, black beans, corn, tomatoes, green peppers, and onions. It's seasoned with chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Because I almost never measure anything, I'm going to guess at the amounts that went into this meal: 2 c. cooked quinoa 1 can bl...

Last night, I was excited to try this new kind of "pasta" I found at Whole Foods (by the way, for a really funny retelling of a Whole Foods shopping experience, I highly encourage you to read this Huff Post blog post by Kelly MacLean ). I was looking for a more traditional-style gluten-free pasta, if that makes sense, but I happened instead upon this Explore Asian Organic Black Bean Spaghetti : It's gluten-free, loaded  with protein (25g per serving), and, I mean, it's black pasta, which I think is pretty cool. I was a little concerned about how it would cook, because other types of gluten-free pastas I've tried have tended to fall apart or stick together. But it actually cooked perfectly, and quicker than wheat or other grain pasta.  I cooked a bunch of stir fry vegetables, some of which were pre-packaged, and some of which I added in (carrots, celery, white onion), and I also added in frozen shelled edamame. I seasoned everything with olive oil, ...

Last night I made one of my best meals to date (this was conferred by the boyfriend). It was also one of the simplest. Here's what went in: Gluten-free penne pasta (I like this one  by DeBoles) 1 can cannellini beans (sometimes called white kidney beans) 1 head fresh spinach 1 bag sundried tomatoes, julienned  olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic I first boiled the pasta, which is a little more tricky with gluten-free pasta. As you can see in the picture, it tends not to hold its shape as well as traditional semolina/wheat pasta. I might have let it boil a minute too long.  Next, I heated a frying pan and poured in some olive oil, probably a couple table spoons, then a spoonful of minced garlic, then added the other spices to my liking.  I added into the pan the rinsed and torn spinach (if the leaves are large), beans, and sundried tomatoes, all over medium heat. I let it cook until all the spinach leaves were slightly wilted--probably 6 or 7 min...

Tonight I made an altered version of a quinoa stir fry that I've made before. I realized after grocery shopping that I'd forgotten to get a protein for the stir fry, but then I remembered I had chickpeas at home. I wasn't entirely sure they would work, but they ended up being a delicious addition! I also found this sample packet of roasted hemp seeds that I'd picked up at a natural food store a while back: More protein, and added crunch! I tossed the whole packet in to a large frying pan, which also contained the following: A little less than 1 lb. pre-chopped, mixed stir-fry vegetables from Whole Foods (I cheated, and I'm glad) 1/2 white onion, chopped 1 large carrot, sliced into rounds 1 can cooked chickpeas 1 c. frozen organic peas 2 c. cooked, whole grain quinoa About 4 strands (whatever you call them) of scallion, chopped Organic sesame seed oil, 2-3 tbsp. Braggs Liquid Aminos, about 1 tbsp. Few shakes each cumin, paprika, turmeric, Mr. ...