Pecan Butter Millionaire Bars

Cook, Bake, Eat & Entertain: The Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide

It’s gift guide time! This year I got my act together a bit earlier than usual, so hopefully you can take advantage of all the black friday/cyber monday sales coming up soon.

I scoured the internet for the best gifts for the foodie in your life, and have divided this massive gift guide up into sections for anyone who loves to cook, loves to bake, loves to eat, loves to drink, or loves to entertain (I mean, it’s basically five gift guides in one.) Did I go overboard? Probably. But I hope someone out there finds it useful. ;)

Everything in this gift guide is something I either own and love, or would love to own (I even pulled some of these gems right from my own wishlist).

Happy holidays indeed.

(Note that this post is not sponsored in any way and no brands have paid to be included here, however we have worked with some of the brands here as part of past/present brand partnerships. There are also affiliate links in this post, FYI. And if you’re reading this post in RSS or email you might want to click through for easy clickable links to every item on this list!)

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White Bean Shakshuka with Feta

Favorite Recipes for Processed Foods Made Healthier

How to be healthier? Eat healthy versions of your favorite recipes! Here are examples of processed foods with a healthy makeover.

How to be healthier? One way is to eat a lot of “healthy” food like salads and smoothies–which is a great way to start! But what if you could eat healthier versions of your favorite recipes? Here are our top 8 examples of processed foods with a healthy, real food makeover. From a fancy homemade version of a hot pocket to crispy baked fries to vegan nacho cheese, there’s something for everyone.

Rule #39 in Michael Pollan’s book Food Rules says that you can eat all the junk food you want, as long as you make it yourself. He figures that with the effort required to make it, you’ll indulge only occasionally. This is just how Alex and I feel about our old nostalgic processed foods. After working to minimize the processed foods in our diet, we’ve begun to make many of the foods we used to buy. Ready for our favorite recipes?

Favorite recipes | examples of processed foods made healthy | How to be healthier

Homemade Baked Tater Tots

Love tater tots but not processed foods? Try these homemade tater tots, made simply with potatoes and olive oil and baked until crispy. It’s a bit of a process: you peel and parboil the potatoes until they are slightly tender but not mushy. Then you grate them, mix them with a bit of flour and spices, and form them into nuggets. After brushing the tater tots with olive oil, they’re roasted in a very hot oven, turning occasionally until they’re crispy. Baking them in this manner results in tater tots that are a bit flatter than the traditional fried cylinder, but the flavor is just as good. And honestly, they’re not too terrible for you either, since they’re made simply with potatoes and olive oil!

Tip: Try our homemade baked tater tots as Loaded Tater Tot Nachos — Totchos (shown above).

Greek Yogurt Ranch Dip

Another in our favorite recipes for examples of processed foods made healthier: this Greek yogurt dip is a ranch dip! Made with a few real food ingredients, this healthy snack comes together in just 5 minutes. Alex and I grew up eating that ranch dip that was made of a packet of ranch seasonings (and lots of other preservatives, no doubt) mixed into sour cream. What if ranch dip could be made with real food ingredients and spices from the pantry? This ranch Greek yogurt dip recipe is made with Greek yogurt and spices you’ll likely have in your spice cabinet: no random preservatives here! We love to serve it as a game day snack or kid food to eat with veggies and pretzels. The flavor is fresh and delicious, like a heightened version of the traditional processed stuff!

Crispy Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Want to make sweet potato fries in the oven–without using that bag of frozen processed fries? These crispy sweet potato fries require very little oil to brown in the oven. Our secret? We use a little cornstarch to get a perfectly crunchy fry. You’ll also need to bake these sweet potato fries at a high temperature and keep them from touching each other as much as possible while cooking. If you like dipping your fries in something, might we recommend this homemade honey mustard? The combination of sweet potatoes and tangy honey mustard is hard to beat!

Easy Veggie Calzone (Homemade Hot Pocket)

Did you know that before Alex and I learned to cook, I subsisted on Hot Pockets? Yes, back in my college days it was microwaved hot pockets for dinner, most nights! Luckily, there’s a real food version of this that’s way tastier: a calzone! This easy calzone recipe is another in our favorite recipes for examples of processed foods made healthier! It features a homemade pizza dough and a spinach, mushroom, and two-cheese filling. Calzones originated in Naples, Italy (where all the best food comes from) and are essentially a giant pizza pocket. This recipe is made with our Easy Homemade Pizza Sauce, and there’s extra leftover for dipping! You can make your own pizza dough, or substitute purchased dough for a time shortcut.

Crispy Restaurant Style Fries

These crispy baked fries are oven baked and taste just like restaurant french fries! These french fries take a bit of time to chop and roast, but the hot oven takes a russet potato and makes crispy baked fries that rival any restaurant fryer. One of our “secrets” to these crispy baked fries is using powdered mustard as a seasoning with salt and pepper. It brings a savory quality to the french fries that’s just right. Eat with ketchup, or our garlic rosemary aioli sauce!

Vegan Nacho Cheese

You know that plastic looking jar of yellow goo labeled nacho cheese in the grocery? Want to make a healthier version of nacho cheese sauce at home? Our vegan nacho cheese (or vegan queso) is another in our favorite recipes for examples of processed foods made healthier. It’s a cashew cheese sauce recipe that’s ultra simple and delicious. Here, we’ve combined soaked cashews with traditional Mexican flavors. The special ingredient is a can of green chiles, which you should be able to find in most international grocery aisles.  The other ingredients you likely have in your pantry and refrigerator: chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, and yellow mustard. Blend together, and you’ll have a delicious nacho cheese sauce that’s like none other.

Creamy Mac and Cheese with Greek Yogurt

This creamy mac and cheese with Greek yogurt is a healthy take on comfort food! With spinach and Parmesan cheese, it’s pure delicious in under 30 minutes. We’ve taken this kid-friendly comfort food and infused it with some immunity-boosting foods. Greek yogurt is stirred in at the end, to give a creamy texture and provide a shot of live and active cultures and protein. Fresh spinach is gently wilted in for all the added nutrients, and turmeric gives a tiny immunity boost and some extra color. The flavor is nuanced with a bit of Parmesan cheese and fresh garlic, which makes the creamy mac and cheese taste a bit more grown up–but still tasty enough for kids!

Better Than Bottled Salad Dressing

And rounding out our list of favorite recipes for examples of processed foods made healthier: homemade salad dressing! Homemade salad dressing is simple to make and comes together in minutes. It tastes delicious and helps to avoid preservatives in store-bought dressings. Making homemade salad dressing is one of the first things Alex and I learned as new cooks. Nothing but a little olive oil and vinegar, and we could have dressing for days. Plus, we could avoid random preservatives and additives and get rid of the age-old crusty bottles of ranch in our refrigerator. Sold! Here’s our best simple vinaigrette recipe.

A Couple Cooks - Recipes for Healthy & Whole Living

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Pecan Praline Mini Cheesecakes

Pecan-lovers: you’ll love these ultra-creamy mini cheesecakes swirled with caramelized pecan praline and topped with a white chocolate praline glaze. There’s more pecans in the sweet and salty cookie crust too!

There’s no denying that mini-sized is more delightful, not to mention better for holiday entertaining, which is why these muffin-sized pecan praline cheesecakes are so perfect: everyone gets their own personal cheesecake, no big knives or serving plates or even forks required.

I initially set out to make a mashup between a pecan pie and a cheesecake.

Which sounds amazing in theory, but, as it turns out, those two things aren’t necessarily compatible (and trust me, I tried, I really did).

But as I was trying to find a solution, bumbling around the Internet, I came across something called paté praline, or praline paste.

And YOU GUYS.

It is a revelation.

Once I discovered the magic of praline paste I knew that was going to make for a much better final product than problematic pecan pie filling.

So here we are… in a pecan lover’s dream.

There’s ground up pecans in the crust.

I’ve swirled some of the praline paste directly into the cheesecake batter.

(I considered stopping here, because the swirled cheesecakes are quite pretty all on their own. But, when it comes to this praline paste especially, if a little is good, more is better.)

So I topped it with a white chocolate pecan gianduja (melted white chocolate mixed with my homemade praline paste). The white chocolate softens the intensity of the praline and also allows it to set up into a perfectly toothsome topping not unlike a ganache. (Also, I think it would be fabulous with milk chocolate too).

Oh, and the cherry on top is a single candied pecan. If only so unsuspecting tasters know right off the bat what’s inside.

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Easy Vegetarian Gravy Recipe

Norwegian Vegetarian Meatballs