Recipes

Baked Hasselback Zucchini

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Baked Hasselback Zucchini with Quinoa

It’s time to make some Baked Hasselback Zucchini.

No, this recipe, nor the classic hasselback potato recipe have any relation to the great Matt Hasselbeck. I know you most likely weren’t thinking that at all, but just wanted to clear the air.

Matt Hasselbeck Hasselback Baked Zuchinni
Photo by: Parker Anderson

The hasselback potato recipe is actually rumored to have originated at the restaurant in the Hasselbacken Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden. Essentially, it’s another take on a baked potato recipe, but this one involves cutting into the potato – allowing you access to more of the surface area of the potato. This allows you to get the potato more crispy in more places, and of course, loaded with good flavor from butter and seasoning.

Since this Hasselback Zucchini recipe is inspired from hasselback potato recipes, then I guess it originated from Sweden as well.

Anyway, back to the recipe at hand…

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Simple Lemon Garlic Salmon

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Cooking on a week day can be hard. Really hard. No one wants to work in the kitchen after working all day at.. work. That’s why after a loooong day I always go for a quick and easy recipe – like this one. Simple Lemon Garlic Salmon not only has a great name, but from start to finish it takes less than an hour. And it contains only 3 ingredients that are used to maximize flavor. Really, it hits all the criteria for a successful dinner – Its simple, its healthy, and its economical. Beats spending money on a pizza. Save that for the weekend. Here’s how to get it done:

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Blanched Swiss Chard in Light Garlic Butter

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Blanched Swiss Chard

Blanched Swiss Chard in Light Garlic Butter is the perfect side dish for lunch, dinner or even breakfast. The natural bitterness of Swiss chard is minimized by the blanching process, and the garlic butter adds a light, savory flavor to this leafy side dish (while still keeping it healthy). This recipe scores a 10 and I look forward to making it again.

Blanched Swiss Chard Score
Photo From: Guy Speed

I actually just got home from a week-long trip across the Southwestern United States – visiting Nevada, Arizona and Utah. National Parks were the focus of the trip and I saw Grand Canyon National Park and Zion National Park. The sites and hiking were incredible.

Blanched Swiss Chard - Travel Blanched Swiss Chard - Travel Blanched Swiss Chard - Travel

With travel also came a lot of eating out and spending. It was minimized by following these tips, but eating out and spending more than normal is unavoidable when traveling. So, now that I am back home and back in my routine I am trying to cook and eat as healthy and economically as possible to make up for a week of traveling, eating out and spending.

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Healthy Buffalo Chicken Bites

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Healthy Buffalo Chicken Bites

As you read in my Slow Cooker Avocado Chicken article, I recently gave up eating deli meat sandwiches for lunch. It just became too much to handle – eating a cold sandwich every day. Don’t get me wrong, I loved them for 2+ years and will probably eat them again, but in the meantime, I need to switch it up. I’m opting for hot lunches for the first time since elementary school. Except this time hot lunch doesn’t mean pizza and corn dogs, this time it means Healthy Buffalo Chicken Bites. They’re spicy, savory, easy to make and heat up beautifully so you can bring them to work every day for lunch. They go great in a wrap, with some brown rice and vegetables or on top of a salad. The best part is that a complete lunch featuring these Healthy Buffalo Chicken Bites will run you less than $3.

That’s fast food cheap.

Making this recipe is extremely easy too, and takes less than 30 minutes. I had some help along the way from some useful kitchen tools; my Le Creuset and wooden turner:

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Five Healthy On-The-Go Breakfast Ideas – Perfect for Traveling

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Five Healthy On-The-Go Breakfast Ideas

Traveling is a great way to explore, relax and fun have. Traveling can also be a strain on wallet, though. Between the flight, hotel, and many other expenses, I often forget to factor in how much I will be spending on food.

Eating out on vacation is usually part of the whole experience, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be smart about it and save a couple bucks by selectively “eating in” for a few meals. One go-to strategy that works well is to pack breakfasts when you travel. Packing on-the-go breakfasts will cut the number of meals you need to eat out for by one third, and not take away from exploring new places for lunch and dinner.

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The Seven Best Healthy Recipes for the Super Bowl

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Best Healthy Recipes for the Super Bowl

Only one week is left until the Super Bowl, and for those of you who will be watching, you will also probably be eating. This coming Sunday usually consists of pizza, wings and beer, but below are some healthier recipes that give the classic game day grub a run for it’s money.

With that, here are the seven best healthy recipes for the Super Bowl.

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Greek Yogurt Apple Salad

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Greek Yogurt Apple Salad

A few weekends ago I drove about an hour and a half to go to an Apple Orchard outside of Chicago. Picking my own produce (apples, berries, and peppers) for the week was fun, and the low prices really made the long drive worth it. We walked away with well over 20 apples, two containers of berries and a few peppers for about 20 bucks. Now, I’m sitting on more apples that I know what to do with, so I decided to make a simple version of a Fall apple salad – Greek Yogurt Apple Salad.

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Quick and Easy Quinoa with Avocado Dressing

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Quinoa with Avocado Dressing

Between travel and work, the past couple weeks have been busy and action-packed. It’s a huge cliche, but there are not enough hours in the day. Since I’ve been strapped for time, I’ve also been eating out more and subsequently spending more money on food than necessary. To get back on track, I decided to make something super easy for lunches this week. I baked some chicken and veggies, and whipped up this Quick and Easy Quinoa with Avocado Dressing. It took less than 30 minutes to make and only had 5 ingredients, leaving plenty of time to enjoy the weekend.

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Honey Cinnamon Blueberry Pancakes

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Honey Cinnamon Blueberry Pancakes

These Honey Cinnamon Blueberry Pancakes are great for the weekend. You can whip them up in about 20-30 minutes and skip the brunch rush.

Brunch is great, but since when is a Bloody Mary and a couple pancakes worth $15? The hipster brunch trend has really killed its true purpose – to combine two meals and save money while eating unique and delicious food.

Let’s honor Brunch’s true purpose and eat some budget friendly and delicious pancakes.

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Spring Arugula Salad with Homemade Balsamic Dressing

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Spring Arugula Salad

This past weekend the weather actually warmed up a bit in Chicagoland, I think it actually hit 60 degrees at one point. Not bad for early March. It motivated me to start embracing the warm weather and begin breaking out some Spring recipes, the first of which is this delicious and simple Spring Arugula Salad with Homemade Balsamic Dressing. It is the perfect Spring lunch, and is great as a side or an appetizer for dinner as well. This easy salad has 5 ingredients:

  • Arugula
  • Strawberries
  • Goat Cheese
  • Red Onion
  • Pistachios

Spring Arugula Salad Close Up

The homemade dressing is just as simple, and it takes this salad to the next level of salad greatness. It’s a simple balsamic dressing made with two parts olive oil and one part balsamic vinegar. I also threw in a touch of honey, dijon mustard, and salt and pepper for good measure.

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