I Almost Broke Up With Chicken Breast And Then I Found This Website

Small quirk about me... I don't care for leftovers. Because I like a fresh food and I really enjoy cooking, I try to make dinner from scratch every night for my family. Not easy when you work full-time and have family obligations.

My daughter is almost seven. So, I've made roughly 2000 dinners since she's been born. Two. Thousand. Meals. And I hardly ever repeat recipes. I mean, you have your standard chili or tacos but for the most part, I want to try out new things. Problem is, who has time to come up with new recipes? 

Now, disclaimer: when I watch these Tasty recipes on Facebook, they might look really delicious but I can't get over the pound of butter, seven cups of sugar, and 32 tablespoons of lard they seem to use in every episode. I basically have a heart attack just watching them. Pinterest is my go-to to find new recipes but now it seems to show me the same thing all the time and after the 8 millionth time I've made chicken breast, I am over it. Like, I almost broke it off with chicken breast and cooking in general... It's not me - it's you. YOU ARE BORING. And can we talk about the truckloads of zucchini everyone and their brother is giving me right now? Who eats this much zucchini? Me. I must. Did I mention I also can't throw out perfectly good food? My dogs are currently snacking on a Pimento Cheese sandwich I got for lunch the other day and hated. I digress...

I was feeling pretty low a couple weeks ago and, of course, posted my chicken breast blues on Facebook. The old FB ghosts must have heard my anguish because I started seeing videos that were like Tasty pop up - but they were HEALTHY! WHA?!

The page is called SkinnyTaste. One particular video caught my eye - Greek Meatballs. They looked so good. Was this recipe a fluke? I did some digging - they ALL look so good. Who was this person that mirrors my food philosophies? According to the skinnytaste.com website,

Hi, I’m Gina Homolka, author, photographer and recipe developer of Skinnytaste.com which features delicious, healthy, family-friendly recipes made with real food. At Skinnytaste.com, you’ll find healthy dishes that don’t sacrifice any of the flavor that can be found in their full-fat origins.  My creations must be both “skinny” and “tasty” because after all, this is the same food I cook on a daily basis for friends and family, and they are some of my toughest critics! My food philosophy is to eat seasonal, clean, whole foods and maintain good portion control. When you cook your own meals, you know you can feel good about what is going into your body. Let me help you navigate your way around the kitchen and teach you how to prepare delicious, light, fresh meals your whole family will love (and they won’t even realize it’s good for them!)

Yep, I'm food crushing right now. I try to make sure that almost all the meals I eat are well-balanced and healthy. My diet is, "I watch what I eat" but there are a lot of my friends and family who follow stricter diets. This site has a key that labels everything based on diet restrictions. It also has labels for pressure cooker (YES, I use my Instant Pot a lot), Kid-friendly (always welcome in my house), and Air Fryer (I don't have one but I have a convection oven so basically a big version)!

Finally, she puts together a FREE weekly meal plan complete with calories and points so if you are dieting, it takes the guess work out of it. The only thing I wish was a little easier was the Pinterest integration. It IS my virtual cookbook. But, the extra steps I have to take are worth it.

It has made cooking and healthy eating exciting for me again. Did you know you can make meatballs out of ground chicken? Meatballs are my new obsession... I couldn't get over how the Greek meatballs turned out. I've made three more recipes since then and I'm giving out A-pluses like the heavens are handing out rain here in Southern IN. My next step is to order her cookbooks but the rest of her content like the meal plans are completely FREE. Gina's like my online food BFF. (I feel like we'd be real BFFs if she didn't live somewhere cool like Oceanside, NY, and I didn't live in Indiana. But whatevs.)

What are your go-to healthy recipe sites? Share them with me here!