Kara Lydon | The Foodie Dietitian Blog

Mangonada

August 3rd, 2017 | Posted in Beverage, Recipes | 16 comments

Move over frose, this mangonada is your new favorite frozen summer drink!This recipe (and media article) was created in partnership with the National Mango Board. As always, opinions are my own!

Ok, I still haven’t tried frose (despite desperate attempts to find it in Boston) but this frozen mango drink is arguably even better. Especially with a splash of your favorite spirit – tequila, rum or vodka would work well.

Mangonadas are a staple snack/treat in Mexico and slowly starting to gain traction here in the U.S. in states like California, Colorado, Arizona and Texas. The recipe is simple: fresh mango, lime juice, ice and chamoy sauce.

Authentic chamoy is made from salted, pickled fruit like apricots, plums or mangos and dried chiles. Once a condiment found only in the street food scene in Mexico, chamoy is slowly starting to make it onto the culinary map; chefs are now adding it to cocktails and using it in their fine-dining…

50 Best Summer Berry Recipes

July 28th, 2017 | Posted in Recipes | 10 comments

It’s that time of year when berries are in-season! Get the most out of this season’s fruit bounty with these 50 best summer berry recipes!Strawberry Basil Avocado Toast via The Foodie Dietitian

Strawberry Chocolate Oat Bars via Eat Real Live Well

Healthy Strawberry Shortcake via Snacking in SneakersBlueberry Watermelon Shaved Iced via 80 Twenty Nutrition

Strawberry and Goat Cheese Salad via Jessica Cording Nutrition

Lemon Raspberry Breakfast Cookies via The Foodie DietitianFruity Quinoa Salad via Nutrition to Fit

Strawberry Salmon Salad via Nutrition to Fit

Whipped Cottage Cheese Berries Crostini via Food Pleasure & HealthWhole Wheat Lemon Blueberry Muffins via Stacey Mattinson

No Sugar Added Blueberry Pancakes via Nutrition a la Natalie

4 Ingredient Strawberry Jam via Home Cooked HappyHealthy Raspberry Blackberry Mojito Spritz via To Live and Diet in LA

Healthy Blueberry Oatmeal Snack Bars via Hummusapien

Vegan Raspberry and Coconut Cream Nutella S’mores via The Foodie DietitianBerry and Angel Food Cake Skewers via Stacey Mattinson

Blackberry Cobbler Minis via My Menu Pal

Berry…

Mushroom Black Bean Veggie Burger

July 27th, 2017 | Posted in Entree, Lunch, Recipes | 3 comments

A plant-based burger you’ll definitely want to sink your teeth into. This mushroom black bean veggie burger is perfect for summer BBQs and cookouts! Summertime is for veggie burgers in our house. I love making a big batch of homemade veggie burgers on a Sunday evening and being able to freeze leftovers for future weekday nights when we don’t have as much time to cook. I also can never get bored with veggie burgers because there’s so much room for customization in terms of ingredients and flavor profiles, hence my Buffalo Quinoa Chickpea Burgers and my Spicy Hummus Black Bean Burgers. And in today’s burger, mushrooms and black beans are taking the spotlight.

A simple formula for veggie burgers is protein (beans, lentils, tofu) + grains (quinoa, brown rice, bulgur) + veggies (onion, garlic, bell pepper, mushrooms) + dry base (oats, quinoa flakes, breadcrumbs) + binder (egg or flax egg) +…

Five Days in Hanoi, Vietnam

July 20th, 2017 | Posted in Travels | 5 comments

Recapping our five days in Hanoi, Vietnam. Lots of street food and rich culture.I’m not going to lie when we first arrived to Hanoi late at night, I wanted to immediately hop back on a plane to Laos. Here we were in another bustling city packed with motorbikes that don’t stop for you coupled with the constant background noise of honking. Not to mention our Airbnb situation with a boxspring as our mattress and a mosquito tent that made us feel like we were outdoors camping.But as the days went on, the city bursting with rich culture and old character really started to grow on me. Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi is known for its centuries-old French and Chinese influenced architecture, the narrow streets and trades of the Old Quarter and its street food. There’s so much to see and eat in Hanoi, you could easily spend a week here. Hanoi is about 3.5 hours from Halong…

The Best Hanoi Street Food Tour

July 13th, 2017 | Posted in Travels | 4 comments

Hanoi, Vietnam is the place to go for delicious, authentic street food and Hanoi Street Food Tours is the company to book with. Recapping the best Hanoi street food tour! In Hanoi, we went on the best street food tour EVER. On our 3.5 hour shuttle ride to Halong Bay, we met a couple American girls from D.C. who swore by this street food tour they took in Hanoi. They warned us that it was pretty pricy for a Vietnam tour ($85 pp) but worth every penny. Hanoi Street Food Tours, which has been given praise by the New York Times, is a two-man run show, by Mark Lowerson, an Australian expat who’s lived in Vietnam for years and Tu, a local who worked in Hanoi’s restaurant industry before joining forces with Mark. Mark and Tu limit their tours to no more than 6 people so that you get a completely…

Grilled Eggplant with Pecan Pesto

July 11th, 2017 | Posted in Entree, Recipes, Side | 22 comments

This grilled eggplant with pecan pesto is deliciously satisfying for a summertime side dish or plant-based main!This post is sponsored by The American Pecan Council. Thanks for supporting the brands and organizations that make TFD possible! As always, opinions are my own.

If I had to pick one sauce to eat all summer long, it would have to be pesto. Light and refreshing, pesto goes well on just about everything: soups, salads, pastas, sandwiches, fish, meat, vegetables, pizza, you name it. And with the abundance of produce that we have at our fingertips during summer, pesto is an easy way to use up excess herbs and greens. I love to make a big batch of pesto during the summer and freeze it in an ice cube tray so that I can pop ‘em out whenever I need ‘em.

Most people are familiar with basil pesto made with pine nuts, parmesan…

5 Days in Luang Prabang, Laos

July 7th, 2017 | Posted in Travels | 4 comments

Recapping our 5 days in Luang Prabang, Laos. Waterfalls, elephants, Buddhist temples, delicious food, and rich culture.I literally started tearing up looking back at my photos from Laos. Have you ever traveled to a place where you feel completely at peace and at home? A place that speaks to your soul? A place that fills you up inside? Laos was that place for me. Laos was our third stop on our trip – we were coming from two major cities in Vietnam, which were like NYC but on steroids. It literally would take us five minutes just to cross RUN across the street when there was a break in the sea of motorbikes. Vietnam was very stimulating to say the least.

So to land in quiet Laos and be greeted in the traditional way of putting your hands in prayer at your heart and bowing and saying sabai dee (hello in…