Add a Little Healthy Goodness to Your Meals

If you’re like me, eating healthier is one of your goals for the coming year. But, to be honest, making healthy choices does not come naturally to me.

So I’ve been on the hunt for easy ways to sneak in more fresh fruits and vegetables into my diet and wanted to share a few of the best ones I found with you.

1. Hummus. I love this stuff. But I always end up buying the pre-made stuff at the store. However, I recently discovered how easy it is to make – it's just canned chickpeas, tahini (sesame paste), and olive oil. Most recipes also call for lemon juice, but since I am allergic, I just skipped it. In addition, you can add a whole host of other ingredients into it – for example, roasted red peppers, garlic, pine nuts are all great additions. I’ve heard that beets or avocados can be added too – but since I’m not a fan of those I’m going to hold off on adding them! You can also use dried chickpeas – but that takes a little extra planning (soaking overnight)

2. Black Bean Burgers when I was in University in the UK, Burger King had an AMAZING black bean burger on the menu. I mean so good that I would eat that over anything else when I was craving fast food. Since then I’ve been looking for a good recipe. My Mum makes a host of great vegetarian burgers, but when I tried to ask her for the recipe…let’s just say that never goes down well. It’s a little of this and a little of that – depending on what she has on hand – no measuring required. I found this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction – every one of her recipes that I have tried I have loved, so I’m confident to share it with you – even though I haven’t made it yet – hopefully this weekend

3. Mac and Cheese is such a great vehicle to add all sorts of great things to. There are so many options, but one I recently heard of that I wanted o share with you is sweet potato. Yes, you read that right. Pureed sweet potato can be added into the sauce, giving it the colour that a lot of kids expect from the pre-packaged stuff, but with added nutritional value.

4. Soups are a great way to add more vegetables into your diet, especially at this time of year. You can make them with pretty much any vegetables, beans, and/or meat. And if you make a creamy soup, I love using the leftovers on rice or pasta to easily give leftovers a new life as lunch.

5. Cake….with avocado. I know this might sound strange, but believe me, this is delicious! I am not a fan of avocado but when my Mum made this Avocado, Poppy Seed and Almond Cake for the first time, I couldn’t get over how moist the cake was – and you really cannot tell there is avocado in it!

BONUS: Epicure Bliss Balls are a staple for me! I am not someone who eats breakfast, so having these handy in my fridge is non-negotiable. That way when I want something to eat at 10 am or a post-dinner treat, I can easily pull a couple out and not feel so guilty!