My husband has always been willing to pitch in and share the work of cooking for our family. His “I'll make dinner tonight babe,“ though, was invariably followed by, “What should I make?“ If you're the main chef in your household, you know that figuring that out is 75% of the work! And sometimes we just plain run out of ideas and need some inspiration. While I still love a great cookbook to flip through, and make up most of my own recipes, websites are a quick turn-to for me when I'm needing some new ideas. And websites are a great help for my patients and students in my online programs when they are learning how to eat healthy and want to keep it delicious and interesting. Here are the websites my team nutritionist, nurse/health coach and I put together for you to take the work out of the “What's for Dinner?“ question, and breakfast and lunch, too!
Gluten Free
Elana Amsterdam is the author of Paleo Cooking from Elana’s PantryandThe Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, and her website is full of recipes that are simple and easy to make. She specializes in grain-free and gluten-free cooking, and her recipes often contain no more than 6-8 ingredients and take only a few minutes to prepare. This site is also full of kid-friendly recipes, and this is a site that kids can sit down and scroll through and for the most part no matter what they pick, many of the recipes will be easy and fun to make.
Amy Green
Amy Green is the author of the book Simply Sugar and Gluten Free and her recipes are for the most part easy to find and budget friendly. This is also a great resource for families who are wanting to change their eating habits as a whole!
Vegan/Vegetarian
Naturally Ella is an excellent resource for vegetarians and those who just want to add more vegetables to their plate. Whether you’re looking for ideas for dinner, information on specific ingredients or just general inspiration for working with veggies, Naturally Ella has you covered!
Heidi Swanson’s beautiful blog, which chronicles her collection of 101 cookbooks, is a great resource for cooking inspiration as she focuses on working with natural, whole food ingredients. Perfect for both vegetarians and vegans or for those looking to add more veggies to their plate!
Great resource for plant-based recipes. I especially love that she breaks her recipe index not only into breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but she also breaks it up into seasons!
Angela Liddon is the author of the New York Times best-selling book The Oh She Glows Cookbook, and her blog features over 500 plant-based recipes that are also gluten and soy-free. This resource is not only great for vegans and vegetarians, but it is also a good one for kids!
Paleo
Danielle Walker’s site is a fantastic resource for those who follow the Paleo, Primal, SCD, GAPS, and Gluten-Free lifestyles. Her recipes are also kid- friendly, and my nutritionist Megan likes to sit down with her little ones and let them scroll through the recipe pictures so they can pick what meals/foods they want to experiment with in the kitchen.
Nom Nom Paleo is loaded with amazing and tasty recipes that not only inspire your taste buds, but the way she explains how to cook makes her recipes easy and fun to work with. If you have kids who are needing to eat paleo, this is also a really great resource!
Great resource for learning how to eat healthy (not just paleo) on a budget. An added bonus is that only do her recipes look delicious – she has quite a few free downloads, and she provides resources to help with menu/recipe planning which is key in eating a healthy diet!
This site is full of simple, nutrient dense recipes that have been inspired by a mama whose little boy was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. All of her recipes are some combination of gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-fee, sugar-free, and low-sugar. Most of the recipes can be used with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) as well.
Diane Sanfilippo has provided a phenomenal resource for those who are paleo or looking to go paleo. Her recipes are delicious and they are mostly easy to prepare (an added bonus is she usually adds a slow cooking option which is great for those who have a hard time finding the time to cook!), and she also provides a good amount of information on gut healing!
Clean Eating
This blog is full of clean, allergy friendly recipes (she makes sure to mark each recipe with what it is free of) that are gluten-free, mostly dairy-free, paleo-friendly, refined sugar-free, and soy-free. Both vegans and people who eat a paleo diet will find tons of inspiration in Lexi’s recipe collection, and many of her recipes take under 30 minutes to make.
Alissa Segersten created her blog to make navigating the realm of whole foods and clean eating easier. Not only one of our favorite resources for kid-friendly recipes, but you will also find everything from elimination diet recipes, bone broth recipes, and healthy vegan, gluten-free recipes, to using and working with food as medicine to help you heal.
My friend Amie Valpone has created a wonderfully easy to use resource that is loaded with recipes that are naturally gluten, dairy, soy and refined sugar-free. Her recipes are delicious and easy to work with, and you will find tasty, healthy meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks!
Rebecca Katz has been on a mission to teach people the power of clean eating for many years. Her blog and “Recipe Box” will inspire you to want to cook more with health promoting foods and ingredients. I learned how to use grapefruit in a salad from Rebecca and have been doing it every since. And her recipes substituting cauliflower for grains are genius.
Beautiful resource for adding veggies to your plate and I love that they have their recipes separated seasonally. Most dishes are finished with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, hence the name.
This blog is not specific to one dietary style but Sara and her husband Hugh use only clean, whole food-based ingredients, and their recipes are inspiring and look delicious.
Low Histamine/Histamine Intolerance
This is the go-to website I send all of my patients to when they need to be on a low histamine diet. Former CNN journalist turned citizen-scientist when she had to figure out the root cause of symptoms that were tanking her health – and life – Yasmina Ykelenstam has created the definitive recipe site to meet your needs if you, too, are struggling with histamine intolerance or mast cell disorders.
And of course, this article wouldn't be complete without including my own Natural MD Kitchen! I not only love the pleasure of good food – making it, eating it, sharing it – but food is the first medicine I go to for myself and in my medical practice. I hope these websites – including my own – make it easier for you to enjoy healthful food more easily, every day.Bon Appétit!
