The herb marinade for this recipe is a beautiful bright green color! Serve chicken with steamed red potatoes, cooked frozen peas, and a green salad for a nourishing springtime meal. 

Serve a piece of this nourishing cake along with a cup of green tea and a hard boiled egg for a quick lunch. It also makes a healthy treat for your child’s lunchbox. Dollop with Vanilla Whipped Coconut Cream for a healthy after dinner sweet treat. If you don’t have cashew butter on hand use almond butter instead.

This delightful alternative to ice cream uses plant-based ingredients, with no added sweeteners, to create a nutrient-dense, creamy frozen dessert. The sweet flavors in this recipe come simply from fruit! Keep a batch of this nutritious dessert stocked in your freezer to satisfy those sweet cravings!

Frozen bananas can create the creamiest dairy-free ice cream! Whenever our bananas are getting too ripe I peel them and freeze them whole in large containers. This way we always have a supply for smoothies and sweet treats like this recipe! Serve with sliced bananas and raw cacao nibs.

I like to frost these cupcakes with the Honey-Cream Cheese Frosting and decorate them with fresh edible flowers. If you are following a diet that excludes dairy products, then frost these cupcakes with my Dairy-Free Sweet Potato Buttercream Frosting. 

I like to make this grain-free paleo cake when I have too many overripe bananas. Nobody can tell that it is grain and gluten-free! Top it with the Fudgy Coconut Frosting just after it comes out of the oven. Double the batch and bake in a 9x13-inch pan if desired. 

Not only are these cookies gluten-free but they are also vegan, meaning they contain no dairy or eggs. The combination of the orange zest and shredded coconut gives these cookies a sweet flavor without needing to use a lot of sugar in the recipe.

These amazing little gluten-free cookies are fun to make with children. They can help roll out the dough and cut it into shapes using different cookie cutters. Try pumpkins for Halloween, gingerbread people and stars for Christmas, and hearts for Valentine's Day. Frost the cookies with the Cashew-Honey Icing or a simple powdered coconut sugar icing. 

I love that these cookies are sweetened completely with nutrient-dense medjool dates. I always feel good seeing my children pack one of protein-rich these cookies in their school lunches! Serve cookies with chai tea for a nourishing afternoon snack.

I love making this summertime dessert when the raspberries are just coming into season. If raspberries are unavailable try fresh strawberries, blueberries, or pears!

Serve this simple, nutritious grain-free crisp in autumn when apples are in season. I like to make this dessert and serve it after a hearty meal of roasted organic chicken, root vegetables, and steamed kale. Because the topping can burn easily, I partially cook the filling first on the stove and then transfer it to a baking dish and add the topping. 

This decadent vegan tart can be made with any berry but I especially like the combination of tart raspberries and sweet chocolate. The tart is best served the day it’s made. You can also use a smaller tart pan (an 8-inch works well) and cut the ingredients in half if you are serving less people.

Serve this simple, nutritious grain-free, vegan dessert for brunch or after a special occasion meal. The turmeric powder gives the filling a beautiful yellow hue; add more or less depending on how bright you would like the tart to be!

These brownies are amazingly fast to prepare, and no baking required! You will need a food processor for this recipe. A high quality cocoa powder can make all the difference with this recipe—I use an organic raw cacao powder. My children love to pack these nutritious raw brownies in their school lunches! These brownies will keep for up to two weeks in a covered glass container in your refrigerator.

Gravy can be made from the rich pan juices that are created when roasting a whole chicken or turkey. Be sure to add enough savory herbs and vegetables to the bottom of the pan! I like to use celery, onion, garlic cloves, carrot, rosemary, thyme, sage, and savory. Adding plenty of sea salt and black pepper is also essential for creating a rich-tasting gravy!

Don’t be fooled by the long list of ingredients. This lively fruit pie is relatively easy and fast to prepare and perfect for a summer picnic when fresh fruit is in season.

Check your local meat market, farm, or grocery store for 100% grass-fed beef tenderloin. Grass-fed beef is higher in CLA, or conjugated linoleic acid, which is known for its anti-obesity and cardiovascular-protective effects. Serve tenderloin with baked potatoes, steamed green beans, and a green salad.

This recipe makes for a delicious vegan and gluten-free dessert. The creamy dairy-free filling is made from cooked millet and raw cashews! Serve slices of pie with fresh raspberries and sliced kiwi fruit. You'll need a 9-inch springform pan to make this recipe! 

This gluten-free, soy-free, and vegan pumpkin pie is a nutrient-packed dessert that is as delicious as it is healthy. Agar powder is a seaweed gel that will cause the filling, when cooked and cooled, to become firm. You will need one medium sugar pie pumpkin for this dessert, though butternut squash works as well.

A decadent dessert that is also nutritious? Yes! This raw fudge recipe serves as a sweet treat and a powerhouse of nutrients, including medium-chain triglycerides from the coconut oil, antioxidants in the raw cacao, vitamin C and amino acids in the goji berries, and essential fatty acids in the chia seeds. Sometimes I will have a little piece of this raw fudge with a green smoothie for breakfast!

Tart and tangy rhubarb is the quintessential “fruit” of spring. Of course, rhubarb is a vegetable, not a fruit, but its culinary use is much like a fruit. In most climates it comes up before any other fruits are available, making it the perfect component of a spring dessert. This recipe pairs tangy rhubarb with spicy ginger and sweet honey for a taste sensation!

Serve this easy-to-make pudding at the peak of cherry season when fresh cherries are in abundance. You can also use frozen cherries if fresh are not available. Serve the pudding to older babies or toddlers without the almond cream for a healthy treat.

Children will love this rich yet nutritious dessert made from tapioca pearls! Tapioca is the starch from the root of the cassava plant. The cassava plant is a shrubby tropical plant, which is grown for its large, tuberous, starchy roots.

This recipe is a version of my Lemon Blueberry Pudding. It is delicious served in the fall and wintertime, when pumpkins and other winter squash are in abundance. Any type of cooked winter squash will work in this recipe—try butternut, kabocha, acorn, or buttercup squash! Try topping the cooled pudding with some plain coconut milk yogurt, Greek yogurt, or Whipped Coconut Cream, and some fresh pomegranate arils! 

When my second daughter was two years old she spent a lot of time with my friends who were raw foodists. Chocolate avocado pudding was one of the treats she would get at their house. It is such a delicious way to have children eat avocados! Top each serving of pudding with goji berries, shredded coconut, hemp seeds, or chopped sprouted almonds if desired.

Using agar flakes or gelatin and organic fruit juice creates a nutritious dessert without all of the sugar, artificial flavors, and dyes found in packaged Jell-O mixes. This recipe makes for a light, nutritious dessert or snack that children will love. Try pouring it into parfait glasses with sliced cherries at the bottom. Sprinkle the top with shredded organic coconut for a deliciously simple dessert.

These healthful and easy-to-make little treats are always a crowd pleaser. They can be made a day ahead of time and stored in a covered container in your refrigerator until ready to serve.

Amaranth is an ancient Aztec grain that is rich in protein and calcium. Amaranth releases a lot of starch while it is cooking, creating a soupier cooked grain than a fluffy one. It is best not add salt to amaranth while it is cooking or it will not absorb enough water to become tender.

Rice with just the hull removed is brown rice. Rice with the hull, bran, and germ removed is white rice. There are a few different long grain brown rice varieties to choose from: Long grain, jasmine, and basmati.

Serve this rice with a hearty bean soup or use it to make sushi rolls. You may want to make a half batch of this recipe if serving for only a small number of people. The amount of water can vary in this recipe depending on whether or not you have soaked the grains overnight—use 4 ½ cups of water if the rice has been soaked or 6 cups of water for unsoaked rice.

Wild rice is a grass that grows in small lakes and slow-flowing streams and is native to North America. Native Americans harvested wild rice by canoeing into a stand of plants and bending the ripe grain heads with wooden sticks, called knockers, to get the rice into the canoe. Wild rice is closely related to true rice as both share the same tribe, Oryzeae. Wild rice is higher in protein than regular brown rice and contains a high amount of zinc. Cooked wild rice can be added to soups, made into grain pilafs, or stuffed into cooked winter squash.

Buckwheat can either be found raw or roasted at your local co-op or health food store. The roasted version of buckwheat is called Kasha. Both have a strong and hearty flavor that lends well for cold weather eating.

Millet is a small, round, yellow grain with a sweet, earthy taste. It is one of the oldest known grains consumed by humans. Millet is easily digested and is also one of the least allergenic grains. Millet can be beneficial for destroying harmful yeasts and bacteria in the gut.

Oats, or Avena Sativa, originated in Asia and have been cultivated throughout the world for over two thousand years. Oat groats are simply the hulled version of oats. Oats contain a specific fiber known as beta-glucan, which can significantly lower cholesterol levels and help to prevent heart disease. Oats contain antioxidant compounds called avenanthramides, which help to prevent free radicals from damaging LDL cholesterol, thus reducing the risk of heart disease. If you are gluten sensitive, be sure to purchase organic Certified Gluten-Free Oats.

Quinoa, pronounced KEEN-WAH, comes from the Andes Mountains in South America where it was once a staple food for the Incas. Quinoa contains all eight essential amino acids and has a delicious, light nutty flavor. Quinoa makes wonderful grain salads or is great served with a vegetable and bean stew.

Teff is a very tiny grain that is available in three colors―white, red, or brown⎯each with its own distinct flavor. Teff originated in Africa where it was once a foraged wild grass before it was cultivated as a staple grain for the Ethiopians. It is now grown in the Snake River Valley of Idaho.

Serve this colorful, nutrient-dense noodle dish as part of a balanced dinner, or pack it in your child's lunchbox! It also make a perfect potluck dish. Buckwheat does not contain any gluten even though the name implies so. Though if you are gluten-sensitive, be sure to use 100% buckwheat soba noodles that are also certified gluten-free. Brown rice noodles can easily replace the buckwheat noodles in this recipe if needed. 

Serve this easy-to-make dish with some grilled chicken or fish, and steamed broccoli for a complete meal. Brown rice noodles come in a variety of shapes and sizes, any of which can be used in this recipe. You can easily substitute the cashew butter in the sauce for organic unsalted peanut butter or almond butter if you would like.

This tasty rice dish is delicious served with a Vegetable Curry and Red Lentil Dal. If you cannot find brown jasmine rice in your area, then use brown basmati rice instead.

Serve this dish as part of a light summer meal or for a simple lunch. If you cannot find French lentils you may substitute green or brown lentils instead. This salad will keep in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.