That got us wondering: how can we add more flavor and texture to our meals without increasing calories?? Turns out, with just a few simple tricks, you can make everyday meals vibrant, satisfying, and delicious without adding unnecessary calories. Consider adding some of these to your next grocery list. 

1. Fresh Herbs

• Why it works: Adding fresh herbs like parsley, cilantro, basil, or mint to your meals enhances brightness and makes any dish feel fresh. They’re also great sources of antioxidants and nutrients, reducing inflammation, improving heart health, and aiding weight management.
• Try This: Keep a jar of herbs in water in your fridge (like a bouquet) with a plastic bag over the top. Don’t wash them in advance (they’re more likely to go bad) instead snip off leaves as you go. Add them to eggs, pasta, or even a sandwich. 

2. Citrus Zest and Juice

• Why it works: Elevate your dish with added citrus. Lemon and lime juice cut through richness and creamy, fatty flavors. Zest adds intensity you can’t get from juice alone. The acidity balances salty and sweet flavors, creating more complex and balanced taste profiles. Yes, chef!
• Try this: Add lemon zest to roasted veggies or orange zest to oatmeal for a gourmet touch. Keep your citrus sliced in the fridge so it’s easy to add to water to help you stay hydrated. Want other ideas for how to keep your fridge stocked? Check out this article on how Rachel stocks hers.

3. Shop Your Spice Rack 

• Why it works: Smoked paprika, cumin, turmeric, and chili flakes transform boring meals into bold ones. Not only that, but adding spices reduces the need for unhealthy additives like sugar and salt. Spices add color, complexity, and diverse flavors to your meals.
• Try this: Toast your spices for 30 seconds in a dry pan to wake up their oils before adding them to food.

4. Vinegars and Acid

• Why it works: You don’t want your soups, stews and salads to be basic. A splash of balsamic, apple cider, or rice vinegar brightens dishes without the added fat. It also balances sweet flavors. Vinegar has numerous health benefits including managing blood sugar, lowering sodium intake, and supporting digestion.
• Try this: Finish soup, chili, or roasted veggies with a dash of vinegar right before serving.

5. Garlic and Onion 

• Why it works: Garlic is the backbone of flavor in almost every cuisine. Even powders work when you’re short on time. Garlic also boosts your immune system and acts as a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent.
• Try this: Stir onion powder into salad dressings or sprinkle garlic powder on roasted potatoes.

6. Broths and Stocks

• Why it works: If you are looking for a flavorful base to soups, rice, vegetables, stews, sauces, and gravies, look no further than broths and stocks. Cooking grains, veggies, or even pasta in broth instead of water adds instant richness and an enhanced flavor profile.
• Try this: Simmer rice in chicken or mushroom broth for a flavor boost without butter.

7. Chili Peppers and Heat

• Why it works: A little spice makes food feel more exciting and satisfying. The added heat that chili peppers bring to any dish is thanks to their key ingredient: capsaicin, which is also responsible for boosting circulation and stimulating the immune system.  
• Try this: Add red pepper flakes to pasta, a swirl of hot sauce into soup or some sliced jalapenos on basically anything.

8. Mustard

• Why it works: Tangy and sharp, mustard makes marinades, dressings, and even mashed potatoes taste better. This low-calorie condiment is also a great source of fiber and magnesium.
• Try this: Whisk Dijon mustard into vinaigrettes or stir stone-ground mustard into roasted Brussels sprouts.

9. Umami Boosters (Soy Sauce, Miso, or Nutritional Yeast)

• Why it works: There’s no need for salt if you have Umami on hand. Umami boosters deepen savory flavor without adding fat. They also act as a flavor enhancer that balances sweet, sour, salty, and bitter tastes.
• Try this: Sprinkle nutritional yeast on popcorn for a cheesy, dairy-free topping or stir miso into soup.

Adding flavor doesn’t mean adding calories. It’s about getting creative with herbs, spices, acid, and a few simple pantry staples. The next time you’re cooking, try one of these swaps. Healthy food should taste good, and these little tricks prove it can.

Because let’s be honest, meal planning is one thing, grocery shopping is another but if you actually turn all that prep work into a completed meal —with all the other responsibilities you have— it’s a massive victory. 

Today, I thought I’d share what actually helps me to consistently feed my family in a way that feels best to me: healthy, whole foods, ingredient diverse. Whether you’re cooking for one or cooking for eight, I hope these ideas might help with how to make healthy dinners easier.

1. Create a “Recipe” for Dinner

This piece of advice is aimed at anyone who is new to the dinner game— so, basically me 20-ish years ago. That was the first time I really tried to figure out how to grocery shop and cook dinner with consistency (before then it was all frozen dinners, canned soup and take-out). The bit of wisdom I wish I’d known back then is to establish a baseline for what every dinner is going to include. 

Don’t have one yet? Feel free to steal mine: protein + greens + complex carbs(think rice, potatoes, quinoa… whole food carbs). Nearly every dinner we make is a combination of those three things. I say “nearly” because on Saturdays we make a big family dinner which usually involves swapping out our complex carb for a simple one: homemade bread, pasta, naan, etc. By having a “recipe” for each dinner you make it infinitely easier to grocery shop. Ever read Atomic Habits by James Clear? He says “make your habit so easy you can’t say no”. 

2. Cook Once, Eat Twice

I have three teenage boys, that means we’re basically cooking enough to feed an army. Every night. The simplest way I’ve found to make dinnertime easier, is to set yourself up for tomorrow while making today’s meal. We do this in two ways: making enough so we’ll have leftovers for lunch and doubling up on anything we could repurpose later. This includes things like…

• Roast two whole chickens instead of one (or double your thigh recipe or grill more breasts) and tomorrow you’ve got the perfect base for chicken salad or stir fry. You can also use the carcass of the chicken to make your own bone broth— which is so stinking easy you’ll never want to pay for chicken stock again. Make extra roasted or grilled vegetables to toss into omelets, grain bowls, or wraps.
  
• Making Spaghetti Sauce? Always double (or triple!) your recipe; it freezes beautifully. Allow the extra sauce time to cool, then portion it out and store in the freezer. If you’ve always got frozen sauce in the freezer and dry pasta in the pantry, you’ve got spaghetti (my kids favorite dinner) on very little notice.
  
• Making ground beef for tacos, spaghetti, etc? Double your mince and keep the seasoning simple (I do salt, pepper, garlic and onions so it can be used for almost any type of cuisine we eat). This week when I made tacos I made extra and then this morning I used the leftover ground beef as the base for my slow cooker chili we’ll eat later tonight. *I took a picture to show you guys below.

3. A Little Prep Makes a Big Difference

There’s a reason so many chefs swear by mise en place—the simple act of prepping ingredients in advance. Whether it’s washing and chopping vegetables for the week, marinating proteins, or making a big batch of homemade soup we can eat on all week long, small efforts on a Sunday afternoon can turn a rushed Wednesday evening into a peaceful, joyful cooking experience.

Not sure where to start? My best meal prep tips are right here on the blog.

4. Shop Your Freezer

A well-stocked freezer isn’t just practical—it’s a little luxury. Ours is stocked with the proteins we eat all the time, frozen fruit and spinach for my smoothies plus a bunch of other super helpful ingredients.

• Meat – If your family eats animal protein, then the freezer can be your best friend. Ours is filled with various cuts of venison (we’re on the subscription from Maui Nui because 1. we love that brand and 2. wild venison is so lean and healthy) We also keep hamburger patties, chicken thighs and one gigantic brisket that producer Jack got me for Christmas that I still haven’t smoked yet. Look for your favorites to go on sale and then stock up the freezer.
  
• Fruits / Veggies / Herbs – I keep spinach and frozen berries in the freezer at all times so I can easily add them to my green smoothie everyday. I’ve also got a container of fresh mint I washed and froze that I use to make “fresh” mint tea almost every night. We’ve got tons of sliced bananas frozen in there too because every time bananas are about to go bad we freeze them and then later, Cez bakes them into our favorite gluten free banana bread.
  
• Bread – I’ve typically got sourdough bread and burger buns in the freezer so we never run out when we need them. Also, anytime the sourdough bread gets down to the last dry piece or nobody ate the heel, I tear it into pieces and add it to my “crouton” bag. When you want croutons, just put the frozen bread pieces on a sheet pan (it defrosts in about 15 min) drizzle with olive oil, salt and dried herbs and toast up in the oven. Delicious!
  
• Shop Before you Shop – Here’s the thing, you actually have to use what’s in the freezer for it to be helpful. Start your meal planning by opening the freezer first to see what you can use. Pull out the proteins you want as your base for this week and put them in the fridge to slowly defrost. Then plan your grocery list.

Making Home a Place of Intention

I started working on my home almost 25 years ago. It’s taken me at least that long to find rhythms and routines that work for us. Every new season of our lives brings new challenges: like learning to make baby food when the kids were infants or prepping school lunches when the started school or learning to eat for my cycle when I entered perimenopause. I mention this because it’s so incredibly easy to hear someone else’s ideas and feel like we should be further along in our own process. If for any reason these ideas made you feel anxious about not doing more, take a breath, wiggle your toes and feel yourself present right where your feet are. You are exactly where you’re meant to be. You don’t need to have it all figured out (none of us do!) Just start with intention. That’s what matters. What’s one thing you can do this week that will better set you up for success in some way? Start there, take it one step at a time, build your life and your home with a solid foundation.

I don’t manage to do it every weekend, but when I do, it makes such a big difference in the flow of our week. So if you’re curious, here is a picture of my actual fridge from about 5 min ago and some of my favorite things / ways to meal prep for the week.

Here’s How I Meal Prep

Pre-Chop Your Veggies: I typically grocery shop on Saturday and then prep the veg on Sunday. My two youngest still take their lunch to school, so washing and pre-slicing things like cucumber and bell pepper really help when I make lunches. I always keep sliced lemon in the fridge because we all love it in water. Carrots are something I buy pre-cut but still put into containers so it stacks with the other snacks. When you can see things every time you open the fridge, you’re way more likely to eat/use/cook with them.

Hard Boil Eggs: We go through waves with hard boiled eggs (and right now we’re in the phase where we eat them rather than prep and forget 😂) So until we get tired of them again, I’ll have them in the fridge for an easy snack.

Overnight Oatmeal: I ate the last of my oatmeal this morning so it’s not in the pic, but it’s a longtime addition to prep for the week. My favorite recipe has been on my website for years and you can find it HERE.

If you’re not in the mood for cold oatmeal (which OO is) I’ve also been known to make a big batch of oats on the stove and then store the extra in a container to warm up the micro later. It’s not as good as a fresh pot (which is so dang easy to whip up) but it does save a ton of time or thought process.

Leftovers as “Prep”: You’ll notice in the picture up top, I have a ton of leftovers in the mix… some roast chicken, a burger patty, grilled steak and some venison spaghetti sauce and pre-cooked pasta. This is absolutely crucial for me to have healthy lunch options for myself or hearty choices from my usually “starving” 6 year old when she gets home from school. It’s super simple too: I always double dinner recipes that make good leftovers. I never needed to do this when my kids were younger but now that I have two teenage boys in the mix, doubling up is absolutely vital.

Add Flavor with Condiments: You cant see my fridge door in the pic, but if you could you’d find it packed with condiments that add flavor. This is important when I cook but also essential so I don’t get sick of eating the same flavors. See the big jar in the top right corner that’s filled with a bunch of veggies? I’m trying out a new recipe of Pikliz (a Haitian topping of vinegar and spicy cabbage). It needs 3 days to marinate so I’ll let you guys know how it turns out.

Homemade Nut Butter: This one is 100% NOT necessary and truly reserved for nerds like me who love experimenting in the kitchen. I started making my own nut butter several months back because I wanted to utilize it for seed cycling. I now prefer my version over anything I can find in the store.

I dream of buying an industrial nut butter machine so it can blend at room temp 😂(using a food processor heats up the nut butter and once it gets hot it’s never quite as creamy)

Cute Containers: It’s worth mentioning that I have a lot of cute little containers to hold and store things. That’s a preference but in no way, a necessity. I love a cute little package for anything (even cucumbers!) but prep can be stored in any container that you’ll actually use. And for my young Mamas, remember, I’m 41 and have been collecting these things for well over 20 years. You don’t need to buy anything to be more organized. Work with what you’ve already got. Then, keep an eye out when you pass a garage sale or a thrift store for super inexpensive containers to make your prep prettier as you go.

Hope those ideas were helpful for y’all. I’ll be back soon with more ideas to share! Until then, as always, I love you and I’m rooting for you.

Because here’s the deal you guys… I want this day to be fun and festive for my kids, but they are going to get 9,000 pieces of candy. So if I’m doing anything for them it’s going to be creating treats that are a little more wholesome and don’t add to the riot of sugar they’re getting from the neighbors. Here are some of the things I do

As always you want to think in terms of elevation on your table… a buffet where all of the items are at the same height feels a little sad. I incorporate boxes or cake stands or even upside down bowls to bring dimension to each tablescape.

Use fruit and veggies as the bases for your themed food instead of sweets and junk food. We made banana ghosts, celery spider legs and candy corn inspired fruit kabobs. The options are fun and actually, offer them wholesome options. Just remember to check with the other mamas whose kids are coming over about allergies: nut butter is a great source of protein so long as nobody is allergic. In which case, you can swap out for a dairy or seed-based spread.

Get creative with those beverages! For Halloween, we dressed our Capri Sun up like mummies and it took no time at all. 

Just wrap a Capri Sun in white streamers and attach some googly eyes. Pro-Tip from Mummy? Make sure your Capri Sun is totally dry (no condensation) or it will make your mummy’s wrappings all wet.

Speaking of Capri Sun, have you heard that they now have four products made with All Natural Ingredients and no added sugar*? The new Capri Sun Fruit Refreshers, Capri Sun Organic, Capri Sun 100% Juice and Capri Sun Fruit & Veggie Blends have no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, like the rest of their products.

Extra credit if you make some mandarin orange baby pumpkins or the apple vampire bites– both of which are popular recipes on Pinterest if you’re curious about how to whip them up.

Want some more Halloween table inspiration? Check out the Halloween dessert display I created last year. Happy Haunting!

*Not a low-calorie beverage

I’ve shared a lot about how prepping healthy snacks and keeping them in easy reach is a key to make sure I don’t reach for something off my diet when I’m feeling famished. Fruit and pre-packed veggie cups have always been a go-to for getting my kids to eat healthy and now that Del Monte has introduced the first ever fruit cup made just for adults, they’ve just made life a little easier on all of us.  

Healthy snacking has helped me maintain my weight for years, without feeling deprived or like I’m on a diet.  

Here are some of my favorite tips to make sure that I set myself up for success every day:

Plan Ahead! Staying on track is easy if you’re prepared.  Sundays are a great day to prep both your meals and snacks for the week ahead.  

Start your day with a healthy mindset! Have a healthy morning and you’re likely to continue to reach for healthy practices all day long.

Variety is your friend!  I’ve done a ton of research about different snacks and meals that fit with this diet so I never run out of options or get bored with my food. 

You can find these delicious new snacks at your favorite grocery store — happy snacking!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Del Monte. The opinions and text are all mine.

My boys and I are part of a pretty exclusive cooking club.

And when I say it’s exclusive, that’s because there are only four of us involved. Me, Jackson, Sawyer and Ford… the coolest cooking club around!

I had the idea at the beginning of this summer that it would be fun to have an activity with the boys that was just for us. The problem is, me and my boys don’t really have much in common so a shared activity we all liked seemed tough… until I thought of a cooking club! I think I’ve mentioned before when we made Rice Krispy treats or that other time we designed toast creatures  one of my greatest hopes for them is that they’ll grow up to be awesome cooks. Since they already had a good idea of what they were doing (how to use a real knife to chop, how to boil noodles, etc.) we decided that we would challenge ourselves with new recipe each weekend. About halfway through our summer of trying out new things to grill and discovering that spaghetti squash isn’t quite as delicious as spaghetti and meatballs I heard from Bayer about their program Making Science Make Sense. We worked with them on this program last summer and they asked if I had any fun ideas other parents could use to teach their kids science. Which reminded me of my Mommy + Boys Cooking Club!

Cooking is an incredible opportunity to teach, not just a life skill, but also science and math!

Ford is too little for actual kitchen duty so he goes to the grocery store with me. We talk about weight and the different measures for a liquid or a solid.

The produce section is a great opportunity to talk about how each fruit or veggie starts as a seed and what is necessary to help it grow all the way into what we’re buying. You can count things up, talk about fractions, discuss how different elements at the store are made. When you’re intentional about it, the opportunity for scientific discussion at the grocery store is endless!

For the bigger boys back at home we can talk through each step. What temperature will the water boil at? Why do some vegetables grow on stalks and others under the soil? Why would cooking your food help to eliminate germs? I honestly just throw out any questions I can think of based on what we’re cooking. What I’ve found is that the boys are excited to be doing something with their mom. It feels cool to them that we’re in the kitchen, doing grown up things and I hope the time together will help them have a life long appreciation for understanding the world around us, just like my dad taught me. 

What are you doing this summer to make to get your kids interested in science? Maybe you’re planting a garden or finding ways to turn water balloon fights into experiments.  Whatever the case, comment below — I’d love to hear how you’re keeping your kids involved in science this summer.  And, if you need some new ways to make science fun for your kids, check out a few ideas from Bayer’s Science Library.  

I mean, can you even believe it? All that pink– and yes it speaks to the girly girl in me — but for a kitchen, it’s not exactly my favorite color. So we gutted everything and started for scratch and the process was long and pretty terrible (two little kids + a pregnant woman without a kitchen = no bueno) but it all turned out great. Check out video below for a tour of my kitchen remodel and then scroll down for the other details.

My kitchen is basically Design-By-Pinterest. Thats the cool thing about gutting your kitchen and starting from scratch… you can dream up anything. The giant butcher block? I saw it somewhere and loved the idea of a massive center island I could use to entertain.

I’m not totally sure what on earth I was thinking by getting a white table with three kids. In fact, the first time one of them took a permanent marker to it I actually sat down and cried for my own silly choice. But, this thing is super durable and I haven’t met a stain yet I couldn’t get out.

I love stainless steel and wanted it for everything so it would match my dream stove. But that means we’ve become very good friends with stainless steel wipes to get rid of tiny people’s finger prints. The dent in the fridge door? We didn’t properly think out it’s proximity to the dishwasher and that it might at some point meet it’s demise… oh well, we can’t win ’em all.  

I’m sure it’s not healthy to love your stove this much… or maybe, if you cook and bake as much as I do it is normal. Either way, this range is my boyfriend.

Like I mentioned in the video, so many of my accessories are used or flea market treasures. The fisherman picture I found at a garage sale down the street. The tiny embroidery is from nana and the little painting is another garage sale treasure. The pretty vase I store my flowers in was a hand me down pitcher from my Mama. I love them all.

As a mom, the idea of a TV in the kitchen seems ridiculous. I might even have used the term “they’ll rot their brains” when Dave brought up the idea. But the first time I was able to watch a cooking show while cooking? I became a total convert.

A toy box in the kitchen might be crazy… as in, crazy genius! At first I tried to battle to keep the toys . Finally I gave up and found them a place to live in this cute BOY toy box from ShopTen25.

If my stove is my boyfriend, then coffee is my best friend. When you care about something as much as I care about coffee you want it to look good! The silver tray was $10 at a Goodwill, the cinnamon shaker came from a second hand store in Tennessee and the tiny silver container holding the sweetener packets was from a flea market in Paris. That makes me sound super fancy but it’s worth noting that the $2 container was all my poor self could afford at the time. The cool thing about buying treasures on trips is that you remember them whenever you see the trinket.

I keep a frame at the back of my coffee set up and slip in cool quotes from month to month. It looks cute and it also hides the outlet behind it.

These little shelves were created for some of my cookbooks. I just love seeing my own cookbook sitting on them!

The part of our kitchen remodel I get asked about most? These hanging kitchen utensils. It was the simplest idea but it turned out so darling!

More fun treasures from Nana with these vases I filled with her old baking essentials. I heart being surrounded by treasures that have been loved for longer than I’ve owned them.

A farmhouse sink is the final finishing touch. I adore every part of this room because I was able to pick out each element myself.

Mother’s Day is this weekend and there’s a chance you’ve seen a million and one mother’s day gift guides already but we really wanted to give you an option under the DIY category. This is the kind of gift that grandma might make for her daughter and grand daughter, or an auntie might make for her sister. It’s DIY Mommy and Me Aprons and it’s so easy anyone can pull it off in time for Sunday! ~Rachel 

It’s such a sweet idea and I bet you know a mommy who loves to bake with her littles that this would be perfect for.

Glitter My World

Recently I found glittery cupcake toppers for sale on Etsy and I yelped in shock! Someone was actually asking money for these simple little beauties and I thought… don’t be silly, we can totally make those ourselves!

Here’s What You’ll Need

Glittery Washi Tape – Michaels has a ton of options

Toothpicks or little popsicle sticks – again, Michaels

Scissors

Cut a strip of tape, wrap it around your stick (like the photo) then snip off the ends into a flag shape.

Try out various sizes and shapes until you find what you like best and once you do, cut all the other toppers to match! I used mine in mini cupcakes but you can put these guys in any size, shape or pastry! ~Rachel