Healthy Recipes

Healthful eating involves providing your body with nutrients that can help support your immune health, gut health, and mental health, all while reducing your risk of chronic diseases. Nutrition is individualized and not the same for everyone.

Eating needs to be about what you enjoy and not what you should do.  A good guideline is to eat a wide variety of foods with a wide variety of colors.  You should not feel as if you are depriving yourself.  Many “unhealthy” foods can be modified so they are healthier.  If modification is not possible, exercise moderation.

For your health and safety, if you have any concerns or questions about your health, you should always consult with a physician or other health-care professional.

If you would like to share a recipe you have enjoyed please send it to Vanessa at vbural@clark.edu. 

 

Recipes Categories

The recipes here are listed by category: Breakfast, Light meal, Main meal, Snack, Treats.  The recipes listed will be linked to their source website, so you can easily find more recipes that suit your preferences. 

We understand that eating habits isn't one size fits all and that many people have different dietary restrictions or preferences. To accommodate a variety of diets we have provided a substitutions list. The Substitutions will be listed by category: Liquids, Flours, Sweeteners, Miscellaneous.  

Breakfast

Sausage apple corn bread skillet breakfast

Chocolate Berry Smoothie

Light Meal

Lentil Tabouleh Salad

Mushroom "Scallops" in Warm Pesto

Snack

Sweet Potato Chicken Muffins

Healthy Snacks on a Budget

Treats

Peanut Butter Fudgesicles

Ingredient Substitutions

Whether you are out of an ingredient or need to avoid certain ingredients, it is always helpful to have access to ingredient substitutions.  There are some general substitutions listed first.  Then there are links to websites that have charts with measured amounts.

 

  1. Gluten
    1. Gluten free baking mixes work well for most needs. If you are making a pastry, such as a short crust, use the pastry right away.  The longer the pastry is stored, the less pliable it becomes.
    2. Gluten free flours are rice, teff, sorghum, quinoa, bean flours, corn, tapioca, potato.
  2. Sugar
    1. In baking, you can substitute pureed fruit for sugar. Commonly used fruit substitutes are applesauce, pureed blueberries, pureed plums, etc. You will need to adjust for the extra liquid that is being added, and the pureed fruits are not usually as sweet as sugar.
    2. Monk fruit can be substituted 1 to 1. Monk fruit has a particular cool feel as an after taste.
    3. Stevia is the Sweet Herb of Paraguay. The extract from stevia is much sweeter than sugar and has an after taste.  If you use pure powdered stevia 1 teaspoon stevia is equivalent to 1 cup sugar.  To reduce the aftertaste of stevia, add a teaspoon of maple syrup or honey.  When using stevia in baking, you will need to compensate by using less liquid, or the mixture will be too runny.
    4. Honey, maple syrup, and brown rice syrup are all good substitutes for processed sugar.
    5. Dates, especially dates softened in hot water, make a good sugar substitute.
  3. Eggs
    1. If you are allergic to egg yolk, just use egg whites.
    2. Yogurt
    3. Ground flax or chia seeds and water. 1 egg = 1 tablespoon ground seeds + 3 tablespoons water mixed and then added to the mix.
    4. Tofu
    5. Aquafaba
    6. Fruit puree. Remember this will add some flavor and sweetness.
    7. Pumpkin puree.
    8. Commercial egg replacer
    9. Avocado
    10. Milk, both dairy and plain nut milk or plain soy milk

 

University of Nebraska - Lincoln shorter list of ingredient substitutions

Spruce eats fairly comprehensive list of ingredient substitutions