Chipotle Pumpkin Cheddar Grits & Black Bean Bowl

This post is sponsored by Cabot Creamery, in conjunction with Healthy Aperture, as part of a blogger cooking contest. All content, opinions and enthusiasm remain my own!

I’m starting to get those fall-time feels! Cooler weather, cozy meals, seasonal flavors, and this year more family time around the dinner table. Not only are we staying home more and eating out less, we’ve also got a couple college kids who are able to extend their visits thanks to this new online learning situation. Quick, easy and affordable! This budget-friendly family favorite makes a great fall-inspired dinner on busy nights. White cheddar and pumpkin make stone ground grits so creamy, and chipotle chile powder adds just a touch of smoky heat. Add my suggested toppings to make it a balanced meat with under 400 calories and 20g protein per serving. Gluten free, lower carb and meal prep / freezer friendly. Get more quick and easy meal recipes and clean eating ideas at thefitfork.com

That being said, I’ve had to flex my creative cooking muscle to come up with budget-friendly ideas that will keep my three hungry guys filled up without breaking the bank (and interfering with my running shoe budge, lol). Cheesy, hearty meals are ALWAYS a winner with them, so I’ve relied on flavorful Cabot cheese, along with staples from my pantry) to create a Chipotle Pumpkin Cheddar Grits & Black Bean Bowl. Continue reading

Best Ever Balsamic Mushrooms & Onions | Paleo, Vegetarian

Balsamic Mushrooms & Onions are one of my favorite side dishes and seem to go with almost everything! If vegetables could have a little black dress, this would be it – easy but elegant and suitable for all occasions!Balsamic Mushrooms and Onions are an easy 30 minute side dish that is paleo friendly and vegetarian.

This simple sauté is a flavorful accessory to steaks, you’ll be transported to the feel of white tablecloth steakhouse dining in your own home.  Not just a steak side dish though, also pairs magnificently with seafood, chicken, pork . . . or pile up on a baked sweet potato or bowl of grits for some ahhhh-mazing comfort food feels. Read on for this best of the best sautéed mushroom recipe: Continue reading

Detoxing Watermelon Cranberry Gazpacho

This post is sponsored by Cape Code Select Frozen Cranberries; however, all opinions, content and enthusiasm remain my own.

We’ve already broken the 90 degree mark several times this year, and it’s only March! This unexpected early tropical weather, recent quarantine comfort-food indulgences, and holding on to hopes that I will be frolicking on a Mexico beach in June, has me looking for some light, fresh, cool, slimming meals.Detoxing Cranberry Gazpacho makes a lovely light chilled soup for your meal. Blended with healthful ingredients like cranberries, watermelon, cucumber to flush the body of excess water and toxins.

My Detoxing Cranberry Watermelon Gazpacho is just that, plus it’s a no cook soup recipe too! No heating up the kitchen in the prep of this vibrant, vitamin-packed chilled soup that can help rid the body’s excess water, toxins, salts and other impurities. Read on to get the detox soup recipe and all the details. Continue reading

Instant Pot Tex-Mex Bean Medley | Pantry Prep

As a lifelong Texan, most of our celebratory meals include a side of beans – typically pinto beans, that’s the Lone Star way. However, during this recent Corona Virus situation, I couldn’t find a single pinto bean or dried bean of ANY variety on the store shelves to pair with a brisket taco recipe I was delivering to Mom’s house for birthday!

Instant Pot Tex-Mex Bean Medley

That got me to thinking about the abundance of “this” and “that” that I already have piled up in my pantry — half empty bags of various food staples that “I’ll get around to finishing up sometime.” Well, “sometime” was TODAY and I created Instant Pot Tex-Mex Bean Medley using only the mish-mash of beans, canned goods and dried spices that I already had on hand! Continue reading

Bánh Mì Soup | Vegetarian, Vegan-friendly

This post is sponsored by Sweet Earth Foods, however all content, editorial comments and enthusiasm remain my own. Thank you for considering products that support The Fit Fork.

Soup or a sandwich, it’s so hard to decide! Bánh Mì, a traditional Vietnamese sandwich, is one of my favorite lunches – all those sweet crunchy vegetables and distinctive herbs packed into a baguette, so scrumptious. But, as cold-natured as I can be, a piping-hot soup seems a more practical cold-weather meal. So, to enjoy the best of both, I created a Bánh Mì Soup – it’s just as vibrant and lively as it’s namesake sammie, but ready to chase away the chill! Banh Mi Noodle Bowl Soup

Today’s Bánh Mì Soup is bread-free thanks to a swap of the crusty baguette for crowd-pleasing rice noodles. Just a trivia FYI, the bread is a holdover from when French had colonial control of Vietnam in the late 1880s. Notably, Bánh Mì Soup is suitable for vegetarian and vegan diets thanks to Mindful Chik’n. Read on to learn more about this new plant-based protein from Sweet Earth Foods and get the Banh Mi Soup recipe. Continue reading