I love to eat!

Christmas Eve Feast!

I love food.  I love to cook, I love restaurants, I love BBQs, I love to eat!  I've printed so many recipes online, I would pretty much have to quit my job and do nothing but cook if I had any plans to get to them all.

I also love my clothes, so I need to find ways to adjust my eating habits to stay healthy.  Let me tell you, it's getting harder and harder as those birthdays rack up.

I thought I would share with you a few of my favorite recipe resources.  I really try to eat healthy, and more recently, eat clean foods.  Less preservatives, less processed food. 

My very favorite recipe site is http://www.allrecipes.com/.  You can find recipes there for absolutely anything, and there are tons and tons of reviews, which makes it fun.  Here are a few of my favorites:

1.  Worlds Best Lasagna  OK so I'm Italian and I can cook up an Italian feast in my sleep. I'm shocked myself that I'm using someone elses recipe.  This is fabulous.  The calorie count isn't too bad as it's printed, you can use lower fat cheese and whole wheat pasta if you want to healthy it up.

2.  Strawberry Spinach Salad  Just because it's a salad doesn't make it healthy, and this does have a good amount of sugar in the dressing.  I love pure sugar, and almost never use sugar substitutes, so I love this recipe.  Give it a try this summer!

3.  Marinated Grilled Shrimp  Another great summer recipe.  There are a bunch of great shrimp marinades on this site, this is my favorite, maybe because it has two of my favorite ingredients, basil and garlic.

4.  Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread     This is so easy to make, freezes well, and is an unusual brunch type bread.  Served with some brie, and an assortment of fruit, and I feel as if I'm at the Mad Batter in Cape May!

I can go on forever, so maybe I'll do this again in a few weeks, but for now lets move on to cookbooks.

Very recently there have been a bunch of new cookbooks featuring healthy recipes.  Of course I have a few favorites, so I'll share them and some of my favorite recipes.

1.  The Eat Clean Diet Recharged by Tosca Rena
This is my current favorite.  This particular book is a "how to", but has some recipes.  There is also Eat Clean Cookbook which is all just recipes, based on the Eat Clean Diet.  These recipes are all "no preservatives, no processed" foods.  It's a little expensive to eat this way, and you have to really re-think what you have in your cabinets.  Throw out the Aunt Jemimas syrup, pick up some organic maple syrup or agave nectar.  Stock up on whole grains, and lots of fruits and veggies. 

Some of my favorite recipes?  From the first book, Mango Salsa (yum!) and Caribbean Chicken.  From the cookbook, Lettuce Wraps, Homemade Polenta (gotta get the Italian in there!), Nutrition in a glass, and Orzo Summer Salad.  I put some homemade tomato sauce on the Polenta, close my eyes, and I'm back in Nana's kitchen!

2.  Hungry Girl 123  by Lisa Lillien

I'm new to Hungry Girl (thanks Eva!) but I love it.  The tag line is "tips and tricks for hungry chicks".  Don't you love it?  I can relate.  Lisa basically takes food she loves, and tries to make it yummy, with less calories.  Nothing fancy, no elaborate plan, just good food, less calories.  Thanks Lisa, for all your hard work!

My favorites?  Girl on Grill Veggie Wraps, Pan Fried Chicken Parm, Slow Cookin' BBQ Chicken.  I've only had this book for a few weeks, so there are a LOT I haven't tried.  I'll update later!

3.  Skinny Italian by Teresa Giudice

I've never watched the Real Housewives shows before, but of course I have to check in with the NJ ladies, they live in my neck of the woods!  Teresa just came out with a fabulous cookbook.  She tries to cook with less fat and more flavor.  There are some GREAT recipes in this book!

My favorites so far?  Teresa's Favorite Tagliatelle, Pizza Napoletana, Bellinis, and the bruschetta recipes.  So far, everything I've tried, I love.  I love Italian food, and I especially love Italian food that keeps me in the same size jeans!


So did I mention I love to eat?   At breakfast I think about what I'm having for lunch, and at lunch I'm thinking about what I'm having for dinner.  FOR SURE, I don't eat healthy all of the time, I try to stick to the 80/20 rule.  I try to keep 80% of what I eat healthy, low calorie, but more importantly, preservative free.   I try to keep my house stocked with healthier choices, from natural peanut butter to whole grain breads.  Try it, I promise, you'll get used to it!

I have days, even weeks, that end up 20/80.  Those weeks I make sure I get in some extra spin classes!  Anyone that I work out with will tell you that I look at my heart rate monitor after a workout, and routinely say something like "cool, 400 calories, that's ice cream tonight"!

I would love to hear about your favorite recipe resources, and favorite recipes!