Several years ago, I began a quest to find 50 healthy recipes to add to my at-home cooking arsenal.
I was young, in college, and unused to cooking for myself, much less my boyfriend.
Luckily, Pinterest and Youtube provided me with tons of inspiration, alongside learning the go-to meals my mom made as I grew up.
This quest for 50 meals also kept me pretty healthy because I was staying away from fast food, packaged food, and large portions. Instead, I was learning what *to taste* meant, and just how long to cook meat.
Over the years I have tried many new recipes, but find myself in somewhat of a rut, always turning back to those original 50 meals.
Occasionally, I will try a new recipe to substitute for the old, or a new technique tailored to the flavors of my palette.
Lately, I have become bored with my food choices and find myself ordering food, picking up fast food, or packaged meals that are less than ideal for my health.
However, this summer I found myself inspired to find new recipes again! I sat down to watch tv and found myself watching America’s Test Kitchen.
Much of my cooking inspiration used to come from cooking shows. My enthusiasm for finding new recipes to add to my arsenal has been sparked, and I plan to add fifty more over the next year.
The goal is 100 different recipes by year-end. Healthy? No, because I know how to make substitutions to make recipes healthier. Instead, I just want to focus on the delicious, worth making over and over again factor.
I also want to add more meatless meals and fish recipes to my arsenal.
The planet needs us, meat-eaters, to choose less meat in everyday life. I try to make that a priority by learning new vegetarian and vegan meals I can truly enjoy.
Along the way, I have learned that the best meatless meals are not substitutes for their meaty counterpart, but instead take advantage of the flavors vegetables and legumes can offer.
Plus, my use of spices and sauces has definitely amped up to meet the needs of meatless cooking.
The original list of 50 recipes include:
- Banana bread
- Beef and broccoli
- Beef stroganoff
- Black bean hemp burgers
- Black bean burrito bowl
- Butternut squash soup
- Chicken fajitas
- Chicken and rice
- Chicken noodle soup
- Chicken stir fry with garlic sauce
- Cowboy butter baked salmon
- Crispy baked chicken wings
- Crispy salmon
- Deviled eggs
- Egg salad
- Fried rice (chicken, shrimp, vegetable)
- Garlic chicken, zucchini, and corn
- Gourmet chicken salad
- Haitian red beans and rice
- Ina Garten cornish hens
- Italian baked chicken and root vegetables
- Jamaican pepper steak
- Jerk chicken
- Mahi-mahi with basil butter sauce
- Margherita pizza
- Massaman curry
- Moroccan couscous stew
- Moro Negro and rice
- New Orleans crab boil – bag
- Orange tofu
- Pan-fried pork chops
- Roast garlic red sauce with pasta
- Philly cheesesteak stuffed peppers
- Quesadillas (black bean and sweet potato, chicken and cheese, pepperoni pizza)
- Rosemary pork loin
- Salmon and cheese grits
- Samosa chickpea wraps
- Shrimp & pineapple fried rice
- Slow cooker apple cinnamon oatmeal
- Slow cooker beef and barley stew
- Stuffed peppers – traditional
- Beef tacos
- Texas-style chili
- Teriyaki chicken/tofu and broccoli
- Thai red curry
- Thai salad with honey lemon dressing
- Tomato braised chicken
- Tuna salad
- White bean and collard green soup
- White chicken chili
For the most part, links to the original list of 50 recipes can be found above. However, there are a few I simply learned from my mother, passed down through the generations.
This time around I purchased new cookbooks, and am more open to flavors I would previously stay away from. So, stay tuned to share in the recipes I try this next year, alongside some of my original favorites.
If you care to share, please leave a comment with your go-to most delicious recipe(s) for me to try.
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