How many of you made a health focused New Year’s Resolution? I did! What I’m eating has the biggest impact for me. Eating healthy can be intimidating and expensive though! Here are 10 of my favorite recipes and a few tips on how to save money with the Ibotta App.
I’ve mentioned that I use the Ibotta App a lot in the past. It’s basically the 2019 version of your mom’s coupon box. Everything is within the app – it’s so easy. They have a bunch of different categories to save in – you can catch up on my fashion, travel, beauty posts if you missed them – but I noticed the grocery category expanded a TON in the last few months. There are over 40 grocery stores with coupons in the app! If you prefer meal delivery services, they even have Home Chef!!
The Ibotta app has both local and national chains including some of my favorites like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. If another one of your New Year’s resolutions focuses on saving money (I know a lot of you said that on Instagram!), using the app is a 2 for 1! You can also use the “search” function to find a specific item within the app. It will search all the retailers at the same time which is really convenient!
To get you started with cooking at home, I rounded up my 10 favorite recipes. I’ve also added a few tips on how I change the recipes or where to get certain ingredients! Preparing my own food versus going out to dinner is key for me. It’s so much easier to monitor what is going into your food and portion control! I pin a lot of great ideas on Pinterest so make sure you’re following me!
1. Butternut Squash Quinoa with Kale, Cranberry, and Goat Cheese
This butternut squash is one of my favorite meals to make especially during fall and winter because it’s warm and really filling. You can swap out any kind of nut for the walnuts! I also grab the pre-cut butternut squash from Trader Joe’s to make life easier. Have you every tried to dice a full one? It’s way too much work!
2. Buffalo Cauliflower
Buffalo Cauliflower is one of my favorite side dishes to make because we love spicy food! It’s a great alternative to wings too if you have someone that is vegetarian or vegan in your home! There are only a few ingredients trequired. I usually swap out the butter for the Earth Balance vegan butter. If you wanted to make this a full meal, turn them into buffalo cauliflower tacos!
3. Cauliflower Fried Rice
If you haven’t noticed yet, I really like experimenting with substituting Cauliflower in for carbs. I like the taste and for the most part, the texture is reasonably close! Last week, I shared how to use up all your veggies in cauliflower fried rice on Instagram Stories! I really like using the Soyaki sauce from Trader Joe’s!
4. Kale and Quinoa Salad
I usually make this up myself depending on the type of dressing I have in the refrigerator! I also meal prep this for the week so I can take it to work. I make a big batch of quinoa (something I’m going to try to do every week this year) and mix it in with the kale. Remember to massage the kale with your hands (scrunch it up until it stops crunching). This weekend, I added Trader Joe’s crispy chickpeas, Avocado Cilantro dressing, fresh squeezed lime juice, and a MorningStar buffalo chik patty for protein. I’ll share this on Instagram tonight for you guys!
5. Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
I usually do a variation of this recipe! I also tend to throw anything I have lying around into them. I really like the Mexican flavors because most recipes can get a little bland. The spicier the better!
6. Thai Peanut Noodle Salad
Some of these recipes can be a little time intensive. I’ve found a huge time saver is using the Thai peanut dressing from Trader Joe’s instead of any other sauce or trying to make your own. It’s a little thin since it’s a dressing but I usually cook it down so it thickens up. I like to get inspiration for what to put in the salad by looking at the photos. Some staples are carrots, edamame, peppers, cilantro, and cabbage. The more colorful the better!
I’ve saved a version of this in my Instagram highlights!
7. Black Bean Burgers
After trying so many frozen burgers, I think homemade ones are my favorite. The frozen ones are good but they always seem to lack something! There are tons of ingredients in these southwest black bean burgers and I use this as another catch all when I need to use up ingredients. You can use a flax egg to keep it together if you don’t want to use real egg! I usually make them with a side of crispy sweet potato fries.
8. Sloppy Joes
You can use almost any recipe you find for this! I substitute vegan ground “beef” for regular meat in these recipes! My mom has a recipe and I usually use hers! I feel like everyone has one in the family! They’re also super filling and something is so nostalgic about sloppy joes!
9. Tempeh Stir Fry
Tempeh is what I recommend to people before tofu usually because it’s easier to acquire a taste for it. This is one of Matt’s favorites and we make this at least once every other week. It’s an easy way to use up ingredients (noticing a theme yet?) because you can throw any vegetable into it (fresh or frozen). The first step is to cube the tempeh and brown it in a pan with olive oil. Then, add veggies and at the end, add the Trader Joe’s Soyaki sauce. You can use any Asian spice but we really like that one! Top with sriracha if you like it spicy! I’ve also saved this in my Instagram highlights!
10. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Okay, so these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies aren’t exactly a meal but they are a healthy dessert! What better way to end this list than with something sweet? I’ve made these for Matt, coworkers, and Friendsgiving – no one can tell they are vegan! There are a lot of ingredients so don’t get overwhelmed because they are so worth it. You can find the ingredients at any market so make sure to check the Ibotta App to see if some things have coupons before you shop! If you like ice cream with your cookies, there is a $1.10 cash back coupon for ENLIGHTENED mint ice cream in the app!
I also saw that my favorite vegan protein powder has a special deal in the app (see below)! It tastes SO good. It isn’t chalky at all. If you want to watch how I make my protein shake, it’s saved in the “Food” highlights on my Instagram profile! There is also 15% cash back on Thrive Market. For those of you that don’t know what Thrive is, I wrote a post about it here! I also shared my favorite healthy snacks if you’re looking for a small bite instead of the meals I shared above! I also saw a few coupons for RXBAR and GoMacro protein bars in the Ibotta App under Whole Foods!
What was your New Year Resolution? Do you have any favorite ways to save on eating healthy?
Let me know what you think!