12 Healthy Favorites for #FoodDay2014

Happy Food Day 2014! I'm very committed to eating healthy food, but also making it taste great. So I had to join in on this day celebrating real food, and share 12 healthy favorites for #FoodDay2014. 

Good, healthy food means something a little different for everyone. For me, it means building meals around vegetables, whole grains (yes, I like whole grain pasta!), and a modest amount of lean protein. We love our cheese, but use it in moderation and always the real deal. Extra virgin olive oil goes quickly in our house. Organic and local when possible; meat and fish that meet humane and sustainable standards. Limiting highly processed foods is a must. If you've read this blog before, you know that many of these wholesome meals are enjoyed with a glass or two of nice wine, typically from a small producer.

I also believe that if most of our eating conforms to the above goals, we don't have to sweat an occasional veering from this path. But I find when you come to appreciate what good, real food tastes like, you will opt for the sweet potato with cumin sage butter over the potato chip most of the time!

OK, that's it for my #FoodDay speechifying. On to 12 recipes that prove healthy and tasty work wonderfully together!

Grilled Tuna with Eggplant and Peppers This one shown at the top of the post gets lean protein from the tuna, and was a creative way to use the abundance of eggplant we had on hand from our farmshare.

Butternut Squash Soup with Sautéed Mushrooms and Sage This simple vegan soup gets a touch of elegance from the sautéed mushrooms. One of my popular posts to date!

Cilantro Lime Marinaded Pork Tenderloin I had to get a pork recipe in here! Tenderloin is a lean cut of pork, not to mention delicious. The healthiness and flavor of this dish gets punched up a notch by serving it with Sweet Potatoes Mashed with Cumin Sage Butter.

Grilled Swordfish with Garlic Soy Marinade This is a quick, easy way to enjoy healthy swordfish. We use the low sodium version of soy sauce in the marinade. Our 9 year old loves it, so we have this a lot.

Salmon with Mixed Mushroom Sauce Probably my favorite fish, it was hard to pick which recipe to feature here. I gave the nod to this tasty one with mushrooms, which goes very well with a nice glass of Pinot Noir (I'm in the red wine is healthy camp!).

Linguine with Kale Pesto I was excited to come up with this way to make one of my favorite things--pesto--featuring the super-healthy green kale. For someone skeptical about kale, this could be the one to sway them over!

Muhammara Spicy Red Pepper Dip Figured I'd throw in one appetizer here! No cream here like other dips. The flavor comes from plenty of garlic, and it has pomegranate molasses in the mix to get some of that healthy fruit.

Mediterranean Chicken with Penne, Red Peppers and Spinach A nice way to get your healthy protein and veggies all into one dish.

Hearty Chicken Stew I make this stew with homemade broth, made from leftover roasted chicken. Packed with veggies along with chicken, I'd anticipate this might be even better for you than traditional chicken soup!

Grilled Swordfish with Pineapple Salsa Swordfish is good many ways, but topped with this pineapple salsa is especially tasty! And pineapple is a good fruit to mix into the diet. In fact, reminds me I haven't chopped one up for us in awhile.

Penne with Red Lentils and Ginger Ok, I just posted this recipe, but it definitely qualifies! It's a lightened up version of one I got originally from Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons. You get protein from the lentils, some good green spinach, and ginger which is pretty healthy too. Not to mention, it's super-tasty!

Farm Fresh Tomato Sauce with Ground Turkey OK, you may need to bookmark this for next summer to make with farm fresh tomatoes. But I needed one more to make it an even dozen here, and this was another one of my post popular posts so thought it would be good to share. That makes dozen of my favorite healthy recipes to enjoy on Food Day or any day!