Springtime Frittata & 4 Tips for Making it Perfect
source: Meg van der Kruik
One of my all time favorite dishes to make is a frittata! I love the fact that I can substitute almost any combination of herbs, vegetables, and cheese that I have on hand and it always turns out great. Since asparagus is in season and readily available in my crisper drawer right now I decided that I had to try a variation of my frittata including our favorite springtime veggie.
You may not be new to making frittatas, but here are a few tricks that I have learned along the way that have helped me to master the art of the frittata:
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Mighty Minestrone Soup
Never underestimate the power of a humble bowl of vegetable soup.
On bone-chilling winter days, nothing says comfort like a steaming bowl of warm broth and vegetables. A treasure-chest of nutrients, this easy minestrone soup packs loads of vitamins and minerals into every spoonful. If, like me, you’re continually making an effort to incorporate more fresh produce into your diet, than you’ll definitely want to add this nourishing one-pot meal to your arsenal!
With colds and flus spreading like wildfire through our communities this time of year, we have all the more reason to support our immune systems with megawatt nutrition so that our bodies can combat whatever bug comes their way. Vegetables are the foundation of an immune-boosting diet.
Let’s take a look at a few of the vegetables you’ll find in this soup and just what it is that they do for our bodies:
Keep reading for health benefits and Hallie’s recipe!
Comforting Chicken Pot Pie & the Benefits of Coconut Oil
As I mentioned last month, one way I simplify my life (as a family who sometimes goes for weeks without eating out) is by making double batches of everything. Leftovers are a beautiful thing 
At this time of year, when it’s cold (and often snowing) outside, I love to make a double batch of chicken pot pie. Chicken pot pie was one of the first comfort foods I made as an adult. I have fond memories of cooking chicken pot pie in our first townhouse, the winter after we were married. It felt so cozy.
I still get that cozy feeling every winter making chicken pot pie for my family. Only now I make it much healthier. One way I make it uber-healthy is by using coconut oil in the crust. Have you heard that coconut oil is unhealthy? It’s a common misunderstanding. Dr. Mercola explains how this misunderstanding happened here: Is Coconut Oil REALLY Healthy?
Keep reading for more tips and recipes from The Balanced Platter…
Menu Planning & Ham Chowder
I don’t make weekly menu plans, but I secretly admire those who do. Menu plans appeal to my love of organization, much like this pantry of canned goods.
However, I wanted to show you what a week of meals looks like at my house. So I wrote down a week of meals like a journal. You can use it as a menu plan, or let it be an inspiration to you for the beauty of leftovers
As you can see, I rarely make a single batch of anything. I double most of my recipes so we have leftovers. It saves me so much time and energy.
Also, you can see a theme running through this week’s meals — beans! I save so much money buying dry beans and using them in my cakes, breads, and more. Plus, soaking dry beans and cooking them yourself makes them much easier to digest than canned beans.
Planning your menu for the week starts the weekend before, and for this week in particular it starts with cooking lots and lots of beans. But when you realize that this meal plan is for four people, you see that it isn’t really so many beans per person.
Saturday: Soak 7 cups of dry Navy Beans in enough water to cover the beans, plus three inches.
Sunday: Strain the soaking water and simmer the beans in enough fresh water to cover, plus about two inches. Simmer beans for about one hour.
Store half of the cooked beans in the fridge and freeze the other half for later in the week. (Beans usually last about four days in the fridge.)
Bake Coffee Cake for breakfast Monday and Tuesday.
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