5 Wholehearted Recipes to Try At Home

Eat well! Live well! Being healthy starts with making smart food choices and the best way to know what’s in the food you eat is to make it yourself. You don’t need to be an executive chef to make heart-healthy, nutritious meals. Here are some wholehearted recipes to get you started!

Overnight Oats

Chocked full of fiber, this is a great way to start your day. The best thing? It doesn’t take any time because you prepped the night before. You could even make a batch in advance and just grab and go for the week! The recipe here is just to get you started but feel free to mix and match different fruits, nuts, etc. It’s so easy!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of milk of your choice (low-fat dairy/ almond/ soy)
• ½ cup of rolled oats
• 1 Tbsp. of chia seeds
•  1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 banana (sliced/chopped)
• A small handful of nuts of your choice (almonds/ walnuts/ pecans/ etc.)
• Honey/maple syrup to taste

Procedure:

1. Get a mason jar or any small resalable container.
2. Add the milk, oats, chia seeds, honey, and vanilla extract.
3. Cover and give it a good shake.
4. Refrigerate it overnight.
5. When ready to eat just open the jar and put your toppings and mix. Enjoy!

Vege Sticks with Creamy Cucumber-Dill Dip

Vegetable sticks with dip, is a classic healthy snack! This recipe has a nice twist of cucumber and dill. You can make as much or as little as you like and can dip any kind of vegetables you’d want. Not only is it a dip but it can also be used as creamy topping for other dishes like chicken or salmon.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of plain, fat-free yogurt
• Half of a medium cucumber, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh dill or 1 and half teaspoon of dried dill
• 2 tsp. of minced onion
• Vegetables of your choice (tomatoes/ carrots/ bell peppers/ squash/celery, etc.)

Procedure:

1. In a small bowl combine the yogurt, cucumber, dill and onion and mix well.
2. Let it chill in the fridge.
3. Cut the vegetables into slices or sticks or however you like to be dipped and eaten. Enjoy!

Hummus Wraps

It’s a wrap! The most convenient form of eating comes in a wrap. Just place whatever ingredients you want, roll and done! This wrap combines the heartiness of beans, richness of avocado and cucumber, bell pepper crunch. You can mix and match whatever fillings you’d like and use leftover hummus as a dip!

Ingredients:

• 15.5 oz. canned, no added salt/low sodium beans of your choice (chickpeas/cannellini/black beans/kidney beans)
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 3 Tbsp. water
• ¼ tsp. ground sweet paprika
• ¼ tsp. ground black pepper

Wraps

• 1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
• 1 medium cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1 bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced
• 4 handfuls of lettuce
• 4 (10 inch) multi grain/low fat/low carb wraps

Procedure:

1. Drain and rinse the beans.
2. Add the beans lemon juice, water, sweet paprika and black pepper in a food processor and puree for about a minute or until smooth.
3. Spread about 1/3 cup of the hummus over each wrap, leaving about ½ - inch border around all the edges.
4. Divide the vegetables onto each wrap.
5. Fold each side of the wrap and roll, and then cut in half if you like. Enjoy!

Apple Nachos

Apples loaded with dried fruits, nuts and peanut butter. How easy is that? You can pick and choose any apple variety and whatever toppings you’d like to combine (other dried fruit/granola/nuts/seeds/shredded coconut etc.). Finger food snacking at its finest and freshest!

Ingredients:

• 3 apples, cored and thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup of dried, unsweetened cranberries/raisins
• ¼  cup of sliced almonds, unsalted
• 2 Tbsp. hulled, unsalted sunflower seeds
• 1-2 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. of hot water
• ¼ cup of reduced-fat, smooth peanut butter
• 1 Tbsp. of honey

Procedure:

1. In a small bowl, combine the cranberries/raisins, almonds and sunflower seeds.
2. Layer some of the sliced apples onto a large plate and sprinkle with the lemon juice.
3. In a separate bowl combine the hot water, peanut butter and honey and stir until smooth.
4. Use the spoon to drizzle the peanut butter sauce over the apples and sprinkle with the cranberry/raisin mix.
5. Top with more apples, cranberry/raisin mix and peanut butter sauce. Enjoy!

Vege-loaded Fish Soup

Soup has always been one of the ultimate forms of healthy comfort food. You can put anything you’d like, boil it and be done. This recipe combines the goodness of salmon and the heartiness of vegetables. But feel free to combine different fish, and vegetables. So versatile, filling and nutritious to the very last drop!

Ingredients:

• ½ kilo of fresh or frozen salmon, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 medium onions, cut into ½ - inch pieces
• 3 large cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 2 celery stalks, cut into ½ - inch pieces
• 2 medium carrots, cut into ½ - inch pieces
• ¼ kilo of squash (butternut/acorn), peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 4 cups of fresh or frozen greens (spinach, chard, cabbage, kale, mustard leaf) If you use tougher greens like cabbage, it should be chopped into ½ - inch strips.
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. black pepper
• 4 Tbsp. of fresh cilantro, chopped
• 8 (6-inch) round corn tortillas, warmed on a grill or microwave (optional)

Procedure:

1. Make a vegetable stock by combining half of the onions, celery and carrots in a pot with 8 cups of water.
2. Bring to a boil, cover, lower the heat and simmer for about 15-30 minutes.
3. Remove the vegetables and put aside and add in the squash, potatoes, other half of the onions, celery and carrots, garlic and hot sauce(optional).
4. Boil until the squash and carrots are tender, about 15 minutes.
5. Add the salmon and cook for about 2-3 minutes until the fish turns opaque.
6. Add the stock vegetables back into the soup.
7. Add the greens and cook for 2-3 minutes until they get tender and turn bright green.
8. Taste the soup and salt and pepper to your liking.
9. Serve in bowls, garnish with cilantro, and dip with tortillas. Enjoy!

Grape Granita

This is one of the easiest frozen desserts you could ever make. All you need are grapes and honey. Make as much as you like. How simple is that? Not only is it simple but it’s oh so refreshingly tasty to boot!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of seedless grapes (red/black/green combine if you like), frozen
• 2 tsp. of honey

Procedure:

1. Place the grapes and honey in a food processor fitted with a chopping blade.
2. Process and scrape down the bowl if necessary until all of the grapes are finely chopped and smoothed.
3. Divide into small glasses serve and eat it before it melts. Enjoy!

So there you have it! 5 easy, health, and hearty recipes you can make at home. Feel free to experiment according to your tastes. All recipes are inspired from www.heart.org so you can be assured that these are super great for you! Which recipe is your favorite? Do you have any heart-healthy recipes you can share?