Crafting Healthier Meals with the Collective Wisdom of the Blogosphere

The true power of the blogosphere lies in bringing people together to inspire each other. I get the greatest ideas for new dishes while chatting on Twitter or reading blog posts. Last Wednesday, the talented women of the Motherhood organized an online cooking class on Healthy Meal Makeovers and asked me, Rachel, and Renee to host. The class lasted an hour, and the inspiration flew fast and furious the entire time.



Here are a few of the tips and ideas shared by the incredible women who participated.

• Many agreed with me that diet was a dirty word. Rachel added that for her, it's about moderation and small changes, not drastic diets.
• Renee shared a great resource for quick meal inspiration called ReadySetEat and pointed out that an entire section of it is dedicated to healthy meals.
• To help kids choose healthier snacks, Ilina suggested edamame or eggplant hummus because kids love things they can dip and spread. She doctors up store-bought hummus with a squeeze of lemon juice, fresh cracked pepper, oregano, and a drizzle of olive oil.Other participants shared links to popcorn trail mix and Tricia's homemade granola bars.
• Head over to the Motherhood to see the long and exciting list of healthy appetizer recipes participants shared. I'm planning on making these baked sweet potato chips and these zucchini nachos.
• I loved Debbie's suggestions to add more vegetables in meals by mixing canned pumpkin in with browned ground turkey for taco night and adding in shredded carrots to tomato sauce on pizza or pasta, and moistening meatloaf with shredded zucchini.
• I'm very tempted to try these healthy entrees: black bean and pineapple enchiladas, sweet turkey and quinoa meatballs, and chicken tortilla soup.
• And finally we dug into healthy desserts, many starring fruit, but also using alternative sugars, or just small quantities plated beautifully. I shared my clementine sorbet topped with meringue, my make ahead chocolate souffle, and simple grilled peaches.
• I can't wait to try this one-ingredient banana ice cream.
  

Although the class is now closed, you can still read the transcript at the Motherhood.