Lucky Lunch Date #13: From “Waist Training” to Slow Cooker Baked Apples

Hi friends! Welcome back to another mid-week lunch date news roundup. Thanks for finding the time in your busy day to catch up!

Here’s my collection of articles and recipes from the last week, from healthy fast food to slow cooker baked apples.

But wait…

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What I’m Reading:

Food News & Trends:

• Bye-bye, burgers: New fast-food chains bet on healthy eating – Shan Li for LA Times

• 10 pumpkin and squash varieties you should know – Libby Sander for The Washington Post

• Kombucha: Is it really good for you? – Ellie Krieger for” The Washington Post

Mindfulness:

•  Small steps everyone can take to arrive at greater joy – Emily Sohn for LA Times

Food, Nutrition & Health:

• What’s Up With Kim Kardashian’s “Waist Training”? – Love this post by  To Live and Diet in L.A. She’s got a funny, sarcastic way of breaking down the trends.

• Power Foods for the Workplace – Chan Tran for Livestrong

• 5 Ways to Make Any Baking Recipe Healthier – Robin Hilmantel for Women’s Health

• The Benefits of Buying in Bulk – Danielle Ziegler for Mind Body Green

• What’s the difference between club soda, seltzer and sparkling water? – the kitchn

Home Decor & DIY:

• 40 Rustic Home Decor Ideas You Can Build Yourself – DIY & Crafts <- the twig candle holder pulled me into this post…

• 12 DIY Candle Holders for Entertaining – about home <- I love the gold-dipped painted log candles

What I’m Salivating Over:

Breakfasts:

• Breakfast Smashed Avocado Tomato Toast  with Fried Poached Egg – Jeanette’s Healthy Living

• The Best Ever Pumpkin Oatmeal – edible perspective

• Healthy Oatmeal Recipe Roundup – Eating Bird Food

Salads:

• Roasted butternut squash salad with warm cider vinaigrette – Barefoot Contessa

• Kabocha squash salad – Honestly Yum

• Mediterranean kale salad – Meatless Monday

• Panera’s Asian Sesame Chicken Salad – Iowa Girl Eats

Soups:

• How to Make a Comforting Fall Soup – Without a Recipe – Rochelle Bilow for Bon Appetit

• Butternut Squash Soup with Fontina Cheese Crostini – Giada de Laurentiis for Food Network

 Main Courses:

• 10 Pantry Must-Haves for Packing School Lunch – Eating Made Easy

• Low-Carb Taco Boats – Iowa Girl Eats

• An Easy Packed Lunch + Snacks – fANNEtastic food

Slow Cooker:

• Slow Cooker Baked Apples – Kara Lydon, The Foodie Dietitian

• 10 Slow Cooker Side Dishes – Holley Grainger, MS, RD

• Slow Cooker Moroccan Chicken with Apricots, Olives and Almonds – Food & Wine

• Slow Cooker Chex Mix – Gimme Some Oven

Snacks:

• Chewy Granola Bars – The Live-In Kitchen

• Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough Dip – Living Well Kitchen

Desserts:

• Peanut Butter, Banana, Honey & Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies – Cookie + kate

• Cranberry Raisin Tart – Blogging Over Thyme

Thanksgiving/Holiday:

• Lightened Up Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Oat Streusel – Ambitious Kitchen

• Cranberry and Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake – Bon Appetit

• The Grinch Fruit Kabob – Nourishing Minimalism

All of these recipes & many MANY more on my Pinterest page. Follow me!

 

Photos From the Week:

I took a selfie while developing a recipe – mainly to show you my cute apron from Anthropologie…I love aprons!! I find that the messier I cook or bake, the better the food tastes, so I just embrace the mess and fortify myself with an apron.

FYI. It’s hard to find a carving pumpkin at 4:00 PM on Halloween. The best place to look (and the third place I went)? Trader Joe’s. Just another reason to love the place. A & I had a cozy night in – pumpkin carving, dinner, and a classic spooky movie. We carved the castle using a fantastic kit from CVS and then had a delicious dinner of lamb chops with pistachio tapenade, haricots vert and a sweet potato. Orange and green for Halloween! To cap off the evening, we watched a surprisingly awesome movie called Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978).

Be well! I’ll see you for another mid-week lunch date next Wednesday!

 

Question…Are you a messy cook, or a clean cook?