Hearty Warm Salad for Busy Weeknights

This hearty warm salad is a quick, easy way to get a plant based, super nutritious, and filling meal into your busy week. All you need is to make sure you have a good variety of vegetables and starchy vegetables on hand. You can pretty much substitute any ingredient here for whatever you want to use up in your kitchen. This recipe proves that healthy doesn’t have to be hard!

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Nutritional Cleanse- How to Know What’s Best for You

nutritional cleanse

Detox, fast, cleanse, master cleanse, fat flush, nutritional cleanse…I’ll bet if you try to follow a fairly clean and healthy lifestyle, that you have run into each of these terms a few times. Some people love trying different approaches to improving their well being, and may have tried all these approaches, yet others see the popularity of a detox as just a fad or even a product scam. I suppose there are some inferior products out there, and that could lead to poor results, and the impression that one is being scammed. But in general, it is widely believed, and supported, that ridding your body of toxins, resetting your metabolism, and interrupting addictive eating behaviors is a really good idea.

So how do you know who to trust, or which products are not going to leave you feeling “scammed?” I have some basic guidelines that you can easily

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Zucchini Noodles with Shiitake Mushrooms

Here’s a nutrient-dense powerhouse utilizing zucchini noodles, that’s also bursting with flavor. Shiitake mushrooms have little-known nutritional talent, providing a great source of B vitamins and other nutrients not as commonly found in other plants. I also love how quick and simple this is to make. It can be enjoyed right away as a warm dinner, or stored in mason jars for lunch on the go. Enjoy!

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vegan caesar-style salad with roasted yams and pomegranate

I love making hearty, colorful, nutrient dense salads for dinner, like this vegan caesar style salad.

Some salads consist of a variety of fresh, raw vegetables. For this filling-yet light salad, I used leftover oven roasted yams. But leftovers or not, you can roast up some yams, beets, rutabagas, and put together a delicious, plant-based entre salad in less than 30 minutes. Read More


Root Vegetable Stacks with Wild Mushroom Ragout

These root vegetable stacks are a great example of what you can prepare with just a few ingredients, and at those times when you have nothing planned for dinner. Thinking of what to make for dinner always sits in the back of my mind throughout the day, no matter what else is going on. The other day I was experiencing a busy and challenging day. I knew I needed to go grocery shopping but didn’t have the time. So I resigned to the idea that I would just work with whatever I had in the kitchen when I got home. By the time it was over, I was reminded that sometimes breaking the pattern of relying on regular grocery staples is just the ticket I need to get the creative culinary juices flowing. What is the point of this story? When you are charged with preparing dinner and all you have on hand is a yam, a beet, and some mushrooms, take a pause, make like you are in a cottage in Provence, and romance some garden herbs and that jar of Dijon mustard sitting in the back of the fridge! In most cases, simpler is actually a lot better. Embrace what you have, make it the star, and you will never go wrong!

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3 Reasons Why Fast Weight Loss Never Works

fast weight loss

We see it over and over again – people want to lose weight.  They don’t feel great about how they look and so they go to a “fast weight loss” program that promises quick and easy results.  Sometimes, those programs even deliver – in the short term. Which is perfect if you only want to lose weight for a short period of time, say for a wedding or other special occasion. But most people would probably rather shed unwanted weight for good, if asked to give their honest intentions.

The problem with fast weight loss (and the reason it never works in the long run) is that your body isn’t designed to lose weight fast.  As soon as you

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Healthy Cocktail for Valentine’s Day

You don’t have to intoxicate your body just to prove your love to your valentine. Instead of the typical toxic alcoholic beverage, try this healthy cocktail instead! If you and your special someone truly love each other, you’ll want to support each-other to live happy, healthy, long lives! With that, here is a super simple recipe for a healthy adult beverage that will support digestion and provide your body with antioxidants

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4 Ways to Create Healthy Lifestyle Habits that Last

healthy lifestyle habits

Sometimes no matter how much great nutrition advice we get, it really comes down to our ability to create sustainable healthy lifestyle habits. With that, I created this quick “pop-up” blog post to help readers simplify their healthy lifestyle routines. See if you can apply any of this to your day-to-day life. Enjoy, and tell me what you think in the comments!

Start Early in the Day

Your willpower tends to be highest at the beginning of the day, so harness that energy and use it to your advantage.  A great example is crockpot cooking: your desire to be healthy can motivate you to toss ingredients into a crockpot in the morning, so you’re not dealing with cooking when you’re tired after a long day at work.

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More Variety Coming to the Whole Dish!

healthy meal planner

When I started blogging on the Whole Dish a handful of years ago, I just wanted a way to document my healthy journey and share all the new stuff I was learning about how food can be delicious and therapeutic for the body at the same time.

Since that first day, when I posted a recipe for quinoa blini, my journey has grown into a full blown nutrition practice and multi-media health coaching business. With that, we’re bringing the Whole Dish up to speed, by introducing a wider variety of education, recipes, tips and resources to empower our readers to lead healthier, happier lives in the most enjoyable and efficient way possible.

If you are used to only seeing recipes on here, you will start to see articles and other featured information, designed to give your experience here a lot more value. Check out this quick video to learn more about it! And let us know how you love the changes in the comments!


Portobello Mushroom Stuffed with Miso-Ginger Squash

I’ve always suspected that butternut squash and miso would love hanging out together… and I was totally right! This combination, along with the marinated Portobello mushroom, packs a lot of flavor. And it’s a super easy way to warm up your winter weeknight dinner table.

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