Kara Lydon | The Foodie Dietitian Blog

Instant Pot Guinness Beef Stew

March 15th, 2018 | Posted in Entree, Holiday, Recipes | 28 comments

Super hearty and inherently Irish, this Instant Pot Guinness Beef Stew is the perfect recipe for a St. Patrick’s Day feast.Ya’ll know how much I love St. Patrick’s Day.

I have such fond memories growing up of spending St. Paddy’s Day at my grandparent’s house, eating corned beef and cabbage and listening to all the Irish jigs and ballads. It was a fun and lively celebration and I try to recreate that every year at home. It seems like the last couple years we’ve had travel over St. Paddy’s weekend though, leaving me to make our Irish feast either a little early or belated.This year, we celebrated early, just Steve and I. I made corned beef and cabbage in the slow cooker (my first time eating corned beef in 18 years!), my Irish soda bread (and if you want the recipe for whole wheat Irish soda bread, I’ve got you),…

Cozy Lavender Almondmilk Latte

March 8th, 2018 | Posted in Beverage, Recipes | 12 comments

Warm, grounding and totally cozy, this lavender latte made with Almondmilk is perfect for a slow morning or when you just need a peaceful moment to yourself.This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almond Breeze. Thanks for supporting the brands that make TFD possible and, as always, opinions are my own!

Currently curled up in my comfy chair with a bulky sweater on and sipping on my lavender almondmilk latte as I write this post. Doesn’t get much cozier than this.I know I’ve written a few odes to tea on this blog because I’m an avid tea drinker but what you may not know about me is that I’m a sucker for a mid-afternoon latte. I really do love the taste of coffee. Even more so, I love the haunting aroma of coffee. But coffee hasn’t always loved me back. As someone with a sensitive stomach, coffee doesn’t always agree…

40 Best Vegetarian Comfort Food Recipes

February 26th, 2018 | Posted in Entree, Recipes | 11 comments

Spring may be around the corner (hopefully!) but until then let’s spend the last of winter’s chilly and snowy days hunkered down with one of these 40 vegetarian comfort food favorites.Easy Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili Mac via The Foodie DietitianRoasted Vegetable Lasagna via Triad to Wellness

Slow Cooker Lentil Sloppy Joes via Michelle Dudash

Coconut Curry Stuffed Peppers via The Grateful Grazer

Slow Cooker Vegan Italian Wedding Soup via The Foodie DietitianGrandma’s Cheesy Potato Soup via Your Choice Nutrition

5-Minute Vegetarian Chili via Sinful Nutrition

Vegetarian Eggplant Meatballs via Byte Sized Nutrition

“Cheesy” Vegan Mushroom Quinoa via Fannetastic FoodAfrican Almond Butter & Root Vegetable Stew via Katie Cavuto

Artichoke and Spinach Risotto with Lemon Cashew Cream via Neat & Nutritious

Butternut Squash Noodles Carbonara with Mushroom Bacon via The Foodie Dietitian

Creamy Avocado Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Zucchini via C it NutritionallyVegan Baked Mediterranean Lasagna via Sharon Palmer

Simple…

Instant Pot Raisin Bread (No Knead!)

February 22nd, 2018 | Posted in Appetizer, Breakfast, Recipes, Snack | 32 comments

Use the instant pot to help your bread rise in just a few hours, no kneading required! This Instant Pot Raisin Bread is an old family recipe that I tweaked to be able to make in a fraction of the time.When the Recipe Redux announced its monthly recipe challenge was bread recipes, I immediately knew what I had to make. You see, my grandpa passed away in December, just a couple months ago, and this bread recipe was something he made religiously for our family after my grandma passed away. I originally tweaked this recipe to make it a little more nourishing with whole-wheat flour and applesauce and wrote a tribute to my grandma and you can find that post for Gram’s Irish Raisin Bread here. Since I have a post dedicated to my Gram, I wanted to carve out some space for my Grandpa here too.This recipe goes back…

Instant Pot Vegetarian Pho (Vietnamese Noodle Soup)

February 15th, 2018 | Posted in Entree, Recipes | 15 comments

Traditional Vietnamese pho takes an entire day to make; this version only takes under an hour! Instant Pot Vegetarian Pho is perfect for a quick refreshing and comforting weeknight meal.It’s been almost a year since Steve and I traveled to Vietnam but I still dream of pho, Banh Mi and Banh Xeo on the regs. Pronounced “fuh” (I always used to say “fo” before traveling to Vietnam), pho is probably the most well known Vietnamese dish here in the U.S. While the base of pho is rice noodles and a flavorful broth, accompaniments vary from beef (pho bo) to chicken (pho ga) and vegetarian options in-between. In Northern Vietnam, pho is left unadorned and the flavor of dry spices like star anise, cassia bark, black cardamom, cloves and coriander seeds shine through. In the South, pho is piled high with bean sprouts, fresh herbs like cilantro and condiments like hoisin…

Why Counting Calories Doesn’t Work for Weight Loss

February 12th, 2018 | Posted in Intuitive Eating | 7 comments

Stuck on calorie counting as a way to manage your weight? Sharing reasons why counting calories doesn’t work and how to transition away from calorie counts.The only thing that counting calories achieves effectively…is making you feel miserable and anxious.

There was a time when I thought calories mattered. A time when I believed in the calories in versus calories out equation. I think that most of us (dietitians included!) have fallen pray to the promise of an equation and numbers game equaling weight loss. I was never an avid calorie counter but there was a time when I was committed to counting points (yup, thanks Weight Watchers). And looking back, I can see how detrimental this was. For one, I was 12 or 13 years old at the time and an obsession with trying to stay under a certain point number for the day ended up developing into a full…

Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies with Sea Salt

February 7th, 2018 | Posted in Dessert, Recipe ReDux, Recipes | 41 comments

Ooey, gooey, melty chocolate chunk cookie goodness. Whip up a batch of my Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies with Sea Salt this Valentine’s Day (or any night you’re craving a delicious treat!)

Homemade chocolate chip cookies hold a special place in my heart.

I remember as a kid sitting on my kitchen countertop, big mixing bowl in my small lap, one hand wrapped around it, the other hand holding an old wooden spoon trying to use all my six-year-old strength to mix the cookie dough.

There was no better feeling than smelling the cookies baking in the oven and eating one while it was still warm and melty and gooey and chasing it down with a tall glass of milk. All the stirring was worth it for that sweet, sweet moment. Today, homemade chocolate chip cookies are still one of my favorite desserts. I’ve always been partial to…