5 Ways To Make Salads More Interesting

It’s hot and lately, my go-to meal has been some form of a salad.  I posted a quinoa salad recipe on Friday and I have a Swiss chard salad coming your way this week that I can’t stop making.

But let’s face it, not everyone loves salads.5 Ways To Make Your Salads More Interesting | Life Healthfully Lived Continue reading

Pesto Quinoa Salad

I feel like I can’t get enough basil lately.  Every time I think about what flavor I want in my food, I want basil.  That’s what made me come up with this basil hummus dressing and that’s also what made me make this pesto quinoa salad.  The other reason I made this salad? Pesto Quinoa Salad | Life Healthfully Lived

It was ridiculously hot.  Continue reading

Weekday Meal: Lettuce Taco Boats

Summer and the oven don’t really go together.  Even if you have air conditioning, turning on your oven heats things up and makes everyone uncomfortable.  And really, do you crave a hot meal in the summer?  Sure, things right off the grill are tasty but when it gets hot all I want are nice cooling meals.  Continue reading

Mexican Bell Pepper Casserole

You know what’s no fun?  Growing out a pixie haircut.  90% of the time you just have to deal with looking stupid.  The other 10% is the two days right after you get it trimmed (because you have to get it trimmed like every other month so all your layers can catch up) when you look fairly decent.  Then day three hits and you’re back to looking stupid again.  And there are only so many ways you can hide your stupid-looking hair.  It’s too short to really do much with and the things you can do with it require 5,498 bobby pins, half of which you lose throughout the day causing you to wonder if your body is absorbing the bobby pins and if at this point you are made up of 50% bobby pins.  You could always wear hats and scarves and bandannas unless of course, you are one of those people who look stupid wearing those things so you get to pick between looking stupid in a hat or walking around with stupid-looking hair.

Mexican Bell Pepper Casserole | Life Healthfully Lived

This is my life. Every. Day.

Can you tell I’m having some emotions about growing out my pixie?  Continue reading

My Best Summer Recipes

Since summer is (almost) officially here, I thought I would share some of my best summer recipes to get you ready for the warm months ahead!

Tomato Cucumber SaladMy Best Summer Recipes | Life Healthfully Lived

I could eat this on repeat and never get tired of it.  I love the bite of vinegar, the crunch of the cucumber, and the sweet of the tomato/basil combo.  Make a huge batch of this and eat it throughout the week because it gets even better with time!

Curried Quinoa Salad

This is a great dish to bring to a BBQ or potluck because it makes a lot and doesn’t have to be served hot.  Plus it’s free of gluten, dairy, eggs, and meat so it can please a lot of diets.  Oh, and it’s delicious.

Even Better BBQ SauceMy Best Summer Recipes | Life Healthfully Lived

This is a re-do of my original BBQ sauce and it’s one of my favorite things in the summer.  I use it on vegetables, in marinades, and try to put it on every dish.  It comes together quick and doesn’t have any funky ingredients.

Avocado and Corn Gazpacho

Ok, hear me out on this one.  I know cold soup sounds really unappetizing and for a long time, I avoided gazpacho because gross.  But when it’s really hot out and nothing sounds good because it involves heat in some way, gazpacho is really refreshing.  And this one is super creamy and delicious and you can have a refreshing dinner quick.

Tahini BBQ Vegetable Bake My Best Summer Recipes | Life Healthfully Lived 

I like making this casserole ahead of time and then serving it up cold or room-temperature.  It’s best if you do all of the cooking in the morning so you don’t have the oven on during the hottest part of the day.  And the tahini BBQ sauce is finger-lickin’ good.  Yeah, I said it.

Simple Ratatouille

Have a vegetable garden and 20 lbs of vegetables that you don’t know what to do with?  Send 10 lbs to me and then use the other 10 lbs to make this ratatouille!

Key Lime Popsicles My Best Summer Recipes | Life Healthfully Lived

If you like key lime pie and popsicles then boy are you in luck!  These take a little bit of prep work but once they’re done you will be thankful you made them!  Cool, tangy, and refreshing, they’re perfect for hot summer days!