If you are following a keto diet, having high-fat and low-carb snacks already made really helps curb cravings and stick with the diet. These tasty fat bombs can be stored in the freezer for up to 6 months!
This easy and kid-friendly meal can easily be prepared on busy weeknights when you don't have a lot of time to cook. I like to use extra lean grass-fed ground beef here because there isn't a chance to drain the fat off after cooking the beef. Leave the cheese off if you are dairy-free! Serve with a simple cabbage and cilantro salad with sliced avocados on the side.
I grow a large variety of hot chili peppers in my garden every year. Poblano peppers are easy to grow and they're mildly spicy. They are delicious roasted, added to soups, stews, egg-vegetable scrambles, and stuffed! Serve these paleo stuffed peppers with my dairy-free avocado crema sauce and an arugula salad.
Could the toast you ate for breakfast bring on your afternoon headache? Could the milk in your coffee cause joint pain and brain fog? Could your healthy tofu stir-fry slow your metabolism? Yes—there is an age-old, powerful connection between what you eat and how you feel. Just as no two bodies are the same, no two diets work for everyone. The only way to discover your ideal diet is to follow an Elimination Diet that will help you link foods to symptoms and customize a diet that works for you.
An Elimination Diet is a powerful tool to get to the root of most diseases and disorders. Why? Because most disease begins in the gut. The gut has the highest concentration of immune cells, and the most common thing that the immune cells will react to is food.
Elimination Diet Clues
If you are experiencing these symptoms then it’s time for an Elimination Diet:
Weight Gain / Weight Loss
Fatigue / Lethargy
Foggy Thinking / Memory Issues / Lack of Focus
Moodiness / Anxiety / Depression / Racing Thoughts
Aggression / Hyperactivity
Gas / Diarrhea / Constipation / Bloating / Cramping
Food has the power to heal, and the power to harm.
Over a typical lifetime, the average person will consume 25 tons of foreign matter through their mouths. This food will pass down their “inner tube of life” otherwise known as the gastrointestinal tract. The cells that line this tube are specifically designed to keep out potentially dangerous food particles and bacteria. Just in case this barrier fails, our body puts over 70% of our entire immune cells directly on the other side of the barrier to neutralize any harmful food proteins or bacteria that make it through. But this system is rarely without its problems. Stress, toxins, bacterial overgrowth, medications, and even the foods themselves can easily damage the cells of the intestinal wall allowing for food particles to come in contact with the multitude of immune cells that reside there. The result is inflammation.
Odds are that foods you are eating every day are leaving you sick and tired. How do you find out which ones? The Elimination Diet.This foundational tool of Functional Medicine has been used for centuries to discover which foods are making you ill and which ones can make you feel incredible.
What is an Elimination Diet?
An elimination diet is a simple experiment that helps you to discover which foods may be causing problems and which foods are not. An elimination diet is a simple process of removing all potentially problematic foods from your diet until your symptoms subside—usually a few weeks. Then you slowly reintroduce foods back into your diet, one by one, to see which ones bring your symptoms back. By finding the foods that are behind your suffering, you can completely turn your health around and elevate your quality of life.
Getting Started on an Elimination Diet.
If you don't already own a copy of The Elimination Diet, pick one up from your local bookstore or online retailer.
Create a meal plan for each phase of the diet using the recipes on this site.
Private Consultations
Nutrition & Special Diet Meal Planning Consultations
Are you confused about what the perfect diet is? Paleo? Vegan? Mediterranean? Vegetarian? Gluten-Free?
There is no perfect diet! We each have our own unique dietary needs based upon many factors. Our diets need to be fluid and flexible, and able to evolve with our changing lifestyle needs such as pregnancy, breastfeeding, environmental exposures, health conditions, stress levels, and the seasons.
I can help you create a healing diet that will work for you. I coach clients via phone consultations, online video Zoom meetings, and in person.
Private Cooking Instruction
I am available for local private cooking instruction in your kitchen. Did you recently get prescribed a certain diet by your health care provider and don't know how to implement it? Let me help you learn how to cook new recipes and shop for new ingredients. I can help you come up with a meal plan that you feel good about.
Virtual Cooking Coaching
Do you need help learning how to cook some staple, nourishing recipes specific to your dietary requirements but live 1000 miles away? I can still help you with my virtual cooking coaching using Skype or Zoom right from my kitchen!
Recipe
Grain-Free Chocolate-Almond Cut-Out Cookies
This crunchy chocolate grain-free and egg-free cut-out cookie recipe is fun to make for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Valentine's Day! Use my Cashew-Honey Icing to frost them, or drizzle with melted dark chocolate chips!
Cobb salads are typically made with crumbled blue cheese, but my dairy-free version is just as good! Serve this flavorful salad for lunch or a weekend brunch. Hard boiled eggs can be prepped ahead of time and stored in the fridge until you are ready to serve the salad.
These gluten-free and vegan apple pie bars make a great nutritious after-school snack for your children or a delicious kid-friendly holiday dessert! Walnuts and oats are rich in antioxidants, and oats are an excellent source of beta-glucans (a soluble fiber that feeds beneficial bacteria in the gut)! It is important to use a soft baking apple in these bars so they cook properly during the baking time!
Serve this easy plant-based meal on a busy weeknight! Tempeh is a naturally fermented soybean product that can be found in the refrigerated section of your local health food store. It is high in plant-based protein and easy to digest. I like to serve Thai food with extra fresh red Thai chili peppers, fresh cilantro, and Thai basil or purple mountain basil.
A galette is a freeform French pastry made from a single pie crust and filled with fruit, sugar, and butter. I am using a small amount of maple sugar here to allow the sweetness and flavors of the plums to shine through. It is important to roll your gluten-free and egg-free pastry crust on parchment paper and then transfer it to a cookie sheet before adding the filling ingredients.
Serve this easy and nourishing ground beef stew on a busy weeknight. If your diet allows for white rice, then try serving each bowl with a scoop of either cooked jasmine or basmati rice. Homemade Beef Bone Broth works best here, but if you don't have any on hand try chicken stock instead.
Steamed vegetables make a great side dish to a weeknight meal. Serve steamed vegetables with roasted chicken or baked salmon and winter squash for a nourishing meal.
This easy pasta salad makes a great meal prep recipe for school lunches! Other ingredients can also be added, such as sliced kalamata or black olives, cherry tomatoes, and cooked navy beans. If you have fresh basil on hand, try adding a large handful of that as well!
This flavorful North Indian style curry is very easy to make, and if you make it in your Instant Pot you can cut the cooking time down tremendously! Serve with basmati rice, or riced cauliflower if you are on a grain-free diet, and a raw chutney for an easy, nourishing weeknight meal. For faster meal prep, use an 18-ounce glass jar of organic diced tomatoes! Jovial is the brand I use.
Serve these nutrient-dense breakfast sausages on a busy morning. The patties can be made ahead of time and stored on a covered plate in your fridge for a few days. Serve on a bed of greens with some sliced oranges or concord grapes.
When you have hungry teenagers who need calorically dense meals, try this recipe! It can be made on a weekend and then reheated throughout the week for breakfast on school mornings. Look for uncooked, ground pork breakfast sausage from your local health food store. Regular ground pork can also be used, but you'll need to add some extra salt, pepper, and seasonings.
This antioxidant-rich, anti-inflammatory soup makes a great lunch. Stir in cooked shredded chicken for extra protein. Fresh turmeric can be found in the produce section of your local health food store, usually near the fresh ginger.
Though this recipe requires some time for the chicken to marinate, it is very easy to put together for a weeknight meal. Leftovers are delicious the next day tossed with some baby arugula, along with a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve this low-FODMAP recipe with steamed green beans or kale for a balanced fall meal.
Shepherd’s Pie is traditionally made with ground lamb, vegetables, and a mashed potato topping. My version works well for the Elimination Diet, as well as other diets such as a Nightshade-Free Diet (no potatoes or tomatoes in this recipe) and the Low-Histamine Diet. Use a Homemade Chicken Stock for best results!
Enjoy these nutrient-dense muffins in Autumn when pumpkins and other squash are in season. Feel free to use canned pumpkin or your own Homemade Pumpkin Purée. These gluten-free and dairy-free muffins make a fun treat for a Halloween gathering!
Here is an easy and nourishing anti-inflammatory soup to enjoy when the weather begins to get cooler. You can add some cooked garbanzo beans or leftover cooked chicken to increase the protein content if you would like. This soup makes a wonderful lunch or light dinner!
Serve this flavorful stew over cooked brown jasmine rice with a dollop of plain yogurt on top. Replace the squash with potatoes or yams if desired! You can also omit the chickpeas and serve this stew as a Thanksgiving side dish!
Noodle and vegetable stir-fries are easy to prepare for busy weeknight dinners. Many different vegetables can be added, such as thinly sliced green cabbage, chopped bok choy, chopped celery, and chopped zucchini. I have added cooked mung beans to this stir-fry for a source of easily digested soy-free plant-based protein. The sauce here is soy-free as well, however, if you are fine with soy products then replace the coconut aminos with an equal amount of wheat-free tamari.
Roasting a whole chicken for dinner is one of the easiest meals you can make. Leftover roasted chicken can then be used the following days for salads, soups, or grain bowls. The leftover bones and skin can be used to make a delicious bone broth. Serve roasted chicken and potatoes with steamed kale or green beans for an easy, nourishing family meal.
This easy Mediterranean-inspired lunch is rich in potassium and calcium, plus many different beneficial phytochemicals in the tomatoes, basil, olive oil, and peaches. Healthy lunches don't need to be complicated!
A meal planning systemdesigned for your specific dietary needs.
Gluten-Free? Low-FODMAP? Low-Histamine? Peanut-Free? Vegetarian? No problem!
With over 1800 recipes to choose from, our unique meal planning system can accommodate for your specific dietary needs and generate nourishing recipes that work for you. Select the recipes you'd like to cook and either create a meal plan or save them to your meal planning calendar. Customized grocery shopping lists are quickly made for you based on the days you select from your calendar or from a specific meal plan. Your meal plans are saved to your account, so you can always go back and use them again.
Choose from over 50 different diets and food allergens. Our meal planning tools allow you to choose from a wide variety of special diets and specific food allergens. Choose one diet or combine several diets and food allergens to create your own personalized diet profile. Our system knows which ingredients are allowed for each diet and food allergen, so you don't have to worry about trying to find recipes that work for you. After you’ve selected your diets and allergies, you can then remove any additional ingredients you’d like.
Search for Recipes
Use our powerful recipe search tools to find recipes. Find recipes based on meal type, recipe categories, cuisine, season, special occasion, and flavors! Combine your diet with these categories to find exactly what you need! Additionally, let's say you have a few different ingredients that need to be used up. You can plug those ingredients into a search and find recipes that contain those ingredients, reducing food waste and saving money! Easily add recipes to one of your Meal Plans or to a specific date on your calendar from the "Add Recipe" button on all recipes.
Create & Save Meal Plans
Create personalized meal plans or save sample plans from Nourishing Meals®. Create meal plans for special occasions, a meal plan with a list of your favorite recipes, a meal plan for a special diet you are following, or a meal plan you would like to share with another member. Need some meal inspiration? The Diet page contains meal plans for different diets that you can save to your user profile. All of your Meal Plans are saved in your user profile so you can go back to them and use them over and over, editing to add or remove recipes as needed.
Add Recipes to your Calendar
As a member, you have a meal planning calendar that you can add both recipes and full meal plans to. Easily edit your calendar and move recipes to different days, or delete recipes you have added and no longer wish to use. Use the month view, week view, list view, or day view to stay organized. Each recipe is color-coded for the meal type you have chosen (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Meal Prep). When you are ready to cook the recipes you have chosen for the day, click on today's date to show the full list of recipes.
Generate Shopping Lists
Generate customizable grocery shopping lists. Each meal plan generates a unique ingredient list to streamline your meal planning and save time grocery shopping. The ingredients list is completely customizable; quickly remove items that you already have and edit ingredient amounts if you needed. Then send it to your Shopping List. You can also enter a date range on your calendar and send ingredients to your Shopping List this way. Our system allows you to plan meals and create shopping lists in different ways.
Stay Organized with Prep Notes
Our recipes contain Preparation Notes with steps that need to be done ahead of time. Once you add recipes to specific days on your calendar, any recipes that contain Preparation Notes will show up on your user profile in a timeline. If you need to soak beans or grains before making a recipe, our system will alert you to what needs to be done and when. Everything is organized for you under "This Week" in your user profile.
Memberships Include:
Recipes
Access to over 1800 member-only recipes
Recipes with Modifications for different diets
Recipes with Ingredient Tips and Special Diet Tips
Access to our detailed search features
Serving size adjuster on recipes which automatically updates ingredient amounts for you
Access to all new recipes added to the site weekly
Member updates with meal inspiration and new features
Meal Planning
Create a user profile with your own unique diet
Create meal plans and share them with other members
Save pre-made meal plans from our site to your user profile
Add recipes to a calendar in your user profile
Easily create detailed shopping lists from certain days on your calendar
Stay on track with dietary change.
In order to reach our highest potential and serve the world with our unique gifts, we need to have the mental, emotional, and physical energy to do it! Diet and nutrition are foundational to reaching and maintaining a higher state.
With over 70 different diets and food allergens to choose from, and the ability to combine these to create a customized diet, Nourishing Meals® stands out from other meal planning systems. Additionally, our recipes have been developed with care and passion by those who have been in the recipe development field for decades. Crave the foods that will nourish you to stay in alignment with your fullest potential!
Our meal planning tools allow members to save recipes, create meal plans, use a personal meal planning calendar, and quickly generate grocery shopping lists in a multitude of ways. Nourishing Meals® inspires and supports members with dietary change.
Each of us has unique genetics, health conditions, lifestyle factors, and environmental stressors that change how our bodies respond to the foods we eat.
Digestion and immune functions can be compromised by what we eat and how we live. Food sensitivities—to gluten, dairy, corn, and soy, for example—are a reality for many. You may have a specific health condition that requires a specific diet. As a result, some people thrive on one diet while others don’t. Your goal should not be to try the hot new lifestyle trend, but to find a way of eating that is best for you. Nourishing Meals® offers recipes for all diets, from keto and low-carb to vegan and pescatarian. We recognize the value in modifying your diet based on your own unique needs, and updating it as you need to.
Nourishing meals from our kitchens, to yours.
Our team has a passion for creating nourishing whole foods recipesfor different diets so you can enjoy cooking and meal planning with less stress. We are certified Nutritionists with Master's degrees in Human Nutrition. All recipes are family tested and kid-approved! Good food that tastes good, so you can feel good!
Our Team
Alissa Segersten holds a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from Bastyr University and a Master of Science in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine from the University of Western States. She is a Functional Nutritionist, the mother of five children, a whole foods cooking instructor, professional recipe developer, food photographer, and cookbook author. She is passionate about helping others find a diet that will truly nourish them. Alissa is the author of two popular gluten-free, whole foods cookbooks and guidebooks: The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook and Nourishing Meals. She is also the co-author of The Elimination Diet. Alissa is the founder and owner of Nourishing Meals®.
Marisa Dooley holds a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Culinary Arts from Bastyr University and a Master of Science in Nutrition from the National University of Natural Medicine. She is a professional recipe developer and food photographer who is passionate about helping families learn to cook nourishing meals at home and enjoy the process. Marisa has worked in a variety of professional kitchens, including the farm-to-table foodservice program at an all-girls middle and high school, and assisting a personal chef in preparing SCD-compliant meals for a research study out of Seattle Children’s Hospital. Marisa is a recipe contributor extraordinaire for Nourishing Meals®.
Enjoy cooking and meal planning, with less stress.
Our online web application was created to reduce the stress and time it can take to find recipes and plan meals for special diets.
Reignite your passion for cooking and find meals your whole family will love. Create a user profile for your diet or use the detailed search feature to find recipes that family members can eat based on everyone's unique dietary needs. Then add the recipes to your user calendar and generate shopping lists for only the days you specify. Spend more time with your family, and less time meal planning with our unique system.
Join Nourishing Meals® today to get access to over 1800 nutrient-dense member-only recipes and our easy-to-use meal planning tools. Get inspired to cook again and take control of your health using the power of real food! Add meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, or use our system to only plan your evening meals. The choice is yours! Change the number of servings on a recipe if you are cooking for a large crowd or only cooking for one. It is completely customizable to your unique needs!
If you are following the DASH diet or another healthy eating plan, then it is really helpful to have easy and nutritious meals you can quickly put together. Cottage cheese is a probiotic-rich fermented dairy product that is high in protein and calcium. It is perfect topped with fruit and nuts, or hardboiled eggs and sliced veggies.
I created this gluten-free and egg-free pie crust recipe over a decade ago! It can also be found in my Nourishing Meals cookbook. This deep dish apple pie recipe is a favorite of many, and I am happy to share it with you here too. The key to this recipe is to use the “superfine” flours as listed below. These are very finely ground, much more than regular gluten-free grain flours. Authentic Foods is the company I buy mine from. They can be found online or possibly at your local health food store.
Crisp fall apples and bitter greens combine well to make a flavorful, nutrient-dense salad. A touch of sour balsamic vinegar combines these two foods beautifully. Top with toasted pumpkin seeds, or try adding some lightly roasted walnuts or hazelnuts. Serve salad with roasted chicken and baked sweet potatoes or winter squash for a nourishing fall meal.
When you are craving an easy comfort food meal, try this recipe! It works best using an enamel-lined cast iron Dutch Oven if you have one. If not, use a heavy bottomed 5- or 6-quart pot with a tight-fitting lid. Serve this gluten-free stovetop casserole with a simple green lettuce salad and a homemade ranch dressing or a crispy vegetable and cabbage slaw.
Brown rice and veggie salads are easy to prep on the weekend in order to have a ready-to-go healthy lunch to take to school or work for the following few days. Add leftover cooked chicken, cooked chickpeas, or feta cheese to the salad if these ingredients fit into your diet.
Do you have ripe bananas that need to be used up? Try cooking them with rolled oats to create a tasty and nutritious twist on plain oatmeal. Your children will love it! We like to top banana oatmeal with creamy organic peanut butter or sunflower seed butter and a touch of raw honey.
Roasted chicken and winter squash is a very easy weeknight family meal. Serve this recipe with some steamed vegetables and a salad for a balanced, nourishing autumn meal.
Serve this tomato-free black bean chili with brown rice or homemade brown rice flour tortillas and plenty of avocado slices to top each bowl. You'll need a 6-quart electric pressure cooker for this recipe.
Beef stew usually takes hours to cook over a low heat in order to tenderize the meat. With an Instant Pot, though, you can have beef stew in less than an hour! Serve this hearty gluten-free beef stew with a cabbage slaw for a nourishing weeknight meal.
This delicious, nutty quinoa salad makes a great lunch for school or work. It is also a lovely addition to a Thanksgiving feast! I prefer to use red quinoa for this salad because it offers a nutty flavor that complements the other ingredients in this recipe quite well. Look for it in the bulk section of your local health food store.
This easy, antioxidant-rich bean and rice salad is great to prep on the weekends for lunches during the week. Omit the hot chili pepper if you are serving this to young children. Use canned black beans or cook your own!
These gluten-free and grain-free chocolate cookies are sweetened with coconut sugar and made with roasted sunflower seed butter instead of flour! They have a dark chocolate flavor and are delicious served with a cup of homemade coconut milk, hemp milk, or raw almond milk.