easy Archives - Nutritious Eats

Pesto Chicken Salad

May 14, 2013 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD12 Comments

Chicken salad is so personal- everyone makes their own favorite version. I have never loved a heavy-mayo based chicken salad until I had one at a wedding shower a long, long ago- it was made with fresh tarragon, celery and some other basic ingredients. Even though I have come around to mayo-based chicken salads (although I am still super picky about which ones I'll eat) I have been obsessed with this version lately, pesto chicken salad. It's such a nice change from your typical chicken salad and if you are using homemade pesto, it's even better. The great part about chicken salad recipes is … [Read more...]

Filed under: Brunch, Poultry, Salads, Sandwiches Tagged with brunch, chicken salad, dairy, easy, greek yogurt, lunch, make-ahead, pesto

Lemon & Garlic Rainbow Swiss Chard

May 12, 2013 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD13 Comments

Hope all you mothers had a wonderful relaxing Mother's Day! Mine was perfect- the best gift you can give a mom is sleep so I got to sleep in for a change, then went to mass, followed by a homemade brunch and lots of relaxing down time. Just what I wanted to do! First thing my husband said when he saw this rainbow swiss chard I picked up at Pike's Place market...."did they dye that?". Shocking the the answer is no, right? Rainbow chard is just a mix of the other colored varieties as opposed to being a variety unto itself. Swiss chard is a nutritional superstar with it's … [Read more...]

Filed under: Sides, Vegan, Vegetables Tagged with easy, garlic, greens, side, swiss chard, vegetable

Corn and Tomato Salad & Meal Planning

May 5, 2013 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD30 Comments

Corn and Tomato Salad | www.nutritiouseats.com

I am sort of addicted to this salad. I was trying to come up with a side dish last week when I thought we were out of all vegetables. I found a few sweet peppers, tomatoes and shallots in the drawer of my fridge and I always have frozen corn in the freezer. I think most people have had some version of this salad and often you'll see something similar in a salsa form. I haven't made a corn salad since last summer and this one is a little different because I omitted the black beans and added the sweet peppers and shallots. It's such an easy, super side that goes well with a variety of … [Read more...]

Filed under: Salads, Salsa, Sides Tagged with corn, dip, easy, lime, salad, side salad

Creamy Dill Cucumber Salad

April 24, 2013 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD10 Comments

Have I ever mentioned I am a magazine junkie? Well it's true. Over the last couple years I was good and cut back to two cooking magazines. Then I don't know what happened- actually I do. This crazy discount magazine site sent me emails about all the sales they were having I picked up a couple of subscriptions for $3.99 (for a whole year!). I could pass up those deals. Another discount site offered 5 magazine subscriptions for the year for only $19.95. Seriously? I couldn't even buy those magazines at the full retail price one time for that value! I take stuff to our local consignment shop on … [Read more...]

Filed under: Brunch, Sides, Vegetables Tagged with BBQ sides, cucumbers, dairy, dill, easy, low carb, side, sour cream, vegetarian

Spaghetti Squash Au Gratin

March 27, 2013 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD7 Comments

Who doesn't love that cheesy creamy hash brown casserole that usually makes an appearance around the holidays? If you are trying to avoid potatoes, this is a great substitute...Spaghetti Squash Au Gratin. It's lower in fat, calories and carbs. What more could you ask for? Oh and it tastes good too! I used plain Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream which adds about triple the amount of protein and subbed spaghetti squash for the hash browns. There is a recipe similar floating around Pinterest, but the one I saw used sour cream and hardly any cheese. If calories weren't a concern I'd … [Read more...]

Filed under: Brunch, Easter, Sides Tagged with cheese, christmas, dairy, easter, easy, gratin, greek yogurt, holiday side, spaghetti squash, thanksgiving

Chocolate Almond Microwave Mug Cake

March 22, 2013 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD20 Comments

So I saw some lady on Martha Stewart, or maybe it was Oprah, like 10 years ago (I think, I don't really know when it was but it was a long time ago) and she was making individual microwave mug cakes. I thought the idea was kind of silly and figured the cake would taste pretty bad. Fast forward all these years, I don't know what possessed me to revisit the idea but I looked up recipes online and decided to make my own adaptation. Oh.My.Goodness. Why did I wait so long to try this? Several of the ones I looked at had 3 Tablespoons of butter (per cake). Yikes! And I am in no way implying that … [Read more...]

Filed under: Cakes and Cupcakes, Desserts Tagged with 1 minute cake, almond butter, chocolate, chocolate cake, easy, microwave, mug cake

Fettuccine with Seared Tomatoes, Spinach and Goat Cheese

March 10, 2013 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD18 Comments

Fettuccine with Tomato, Spinach & Goat Cheese-1

I am a magazine junkie- I subscribe to at least 5 food magazines and love them all! However, the one I have subscribed to the longest, and is still my favorite, is Cooking Light. I can't tell you how many their recipes I have tried- an insane amount and they are all fabulous. Last week for Lenten Friday I decided to do a couple vegetarian pasta dishes and this dish inspired from Cooking Light was delicious and so simple- Fettuccine with Seared Tomatoes, Spinach and Goat Cheese (the original recipe used Burrata). I love a good, easy pasta recipe and since I have been running a lot more … [Read more...]

Filed under: Vegan-adaptable, Vegetarian Tagged with easy, pasta, quick, running, vegan-adaptable, vegetarian

Chipotle Roasted Sweet Potato and Cabbage Salad

March 6, 2013 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD11 Comments

Chipotle Roasted Sweet Potato & Cabbage Salad-1

I am so happy to be sharing this delicious Chipotle Roasted Sweet Potato and Cabbage Salad recipe today. I had envisioned making this all weekend and really meant to get a post up on Sunday but it was just one of those days that I literally ran out of time. We got home from mass around 11:30am, the weather was gorgeous- a warm 50 degrees with blue skies and the kids thought it was so warm that they decided to play with the water hose in their swim suits! No joke. My Texas born children now think 50 degrees is swim suit weather. I baked some breakfast cookies that I had hoped to post but … [Read more...]

Filed under: Gluten Free, Salads, Sides, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian Tagged with cabbage, cilantro, easy, gluten-free, homemade dressing, lime, lime dressing, paleo, roasted sweet potato, spicy, vegan

Chocolate Covered Marshmallows & More Valentine’s Treats

February 11, 2013 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD11 Comments

I totally on board with a little dessert splurge around the Holidays. I tend to gravitate towards chocolate but that's just me. I wanted to make an easy Valentine's treat for the kids and when I saw these heart shaped marshmallows I knew I needed to make something with them. I didn't have to think very long because as soon as I got home and looked at the back of the package I saw this easy recipe for chocolate covered marshmallows. Better than buying the store bought ones! I used a few different options for toppings- sprinkles, shredded coconut and candy hearts. Use your imagination … [Read more...]

Filed under: Desserts, Meal Planning, Other, Valentine's Day Tagged with chocolate, easy, marshmallows, treats, Valentine's Day

Flourless Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies ( Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)

December 19, 2012 by Melanie Flinn, MS, RD15 Comments

Congratulations to Katie C. the winner of the Uncommon Goods Giveaway! I know you will enjoy the gifts as much as I did! Hi friends. It has been way too long. I am back from vacation in San Diego and totally behind schedule. I planned on blogging while I was there but I took my lap top which I don't usually blog from and it was so slow that I couldn't handle wasting precious vacation time trying to post. I didn't take many real photos but if you are on instagram you can see a few of the ones I did take while in San Diego (click on the IG button up top). We hit up Disneyland, California … [Read more...]