Vegans Will Love These Inspirational Pinterest Recipe Boards

Whether you're a vegan or you simply try to cut out meat a few days a week, vegan dining is a great way to improve your health and do some good for the environment. Here are a few inspiring Pinterest boards that are filled with vegan recipes that are sure to get your mouth watering.

Best Vegan Recipes
This Pinterest board is bright, colorful and filled with nutritious meals for every time of day. From hemp seed snack smoothies to grilled veggie fajitas, there's something to inspire every meal.

Vegan Food Lovers
This community Pinterest board features contributions from some of the best vegan food bloggers online. Here, you'll find sweet, frozen snacks, globally inspired lunches and even a variety of different ways to prepare tofu.

Earth Balance's Vegan Recipes
If you're looking for some inspiration for lunch or dinner, this is the board to check out. It features main courses like vegan pot pie, savory Indian curries and lots of veggie-packed soups.

New to Cooking? Memorize These Four Common Cooking Terms

Reading a recipe might require you to learn a few new terms to make sure that the end result is as delicious as possible. So even if you’re a seasoned chef, brushing up on the definitions of key cooking terms is always helpful. Here are four must-know cooking terms:

  1. Beat. An easily recognized and commonly used term, to beat means to mix an ingredient in itself so quickly that air is incorporated, making a smooth mixture.
  2. Au jus. This is a common word on restaurant menus, but most people don’t consider what it actually means. It’s a way of referring to the natural juices of the food.
  3. Truss. If you read a recipe and it asks you to truss the food while cooking or grilling, that means to bind it together with skewers so it holds its shape during the process.
  4. Julienne. To julienne means to cut food into thin strips. The term often refers to preparing vegetables.

The Basic Kitchen: Glossary of Cooking Terms [Le Petites Gourmettes]
Glossary of Cooking Terms [Better Homes and Gardens]
Cooking Terms [Recipe Goldmine]
Glossary of Cooking Terms [Cookery]
Culinary Terms: Food Dictionary and Glossary of Cooking Terms [Culinary Arts About.com]

4 Unique Dishes to Take to Your Next Potluck

A potluck dinner is a fun way to experience a wide variety of different cooking styles, inviting every guest to bring a covered dish to contribute to the meal. Whether you’re tired of your usual potluck recipes or you’ve never brought a dish to a party before, don’t sweat it. If you’re invited to an upcoming potluck but don’t know what to bring, these four recipes will help make your dish a hit.

Caramelized Onion and Bacon Tart [Oprah.com]

Best Broccoli Salad [Mr. Food Test Kitchen]

Make-and-Take Potluck Dishes [Chow]

Old Fashioned Pineapple Upside-Down Cake [All Recipes]

Public Domain/Public Domain

4 Cookie Recipes that Make the Perfect Little Treats

From chocolate chip to oatmeal raisin, there truly is no bad type of cookie. Cookies are fun to make and make great treats for special occasions, and just about everyone loves them. Here are just a few of the sweet, creative cookie recipes available online.

Raspberry and Almond Shortbread Thumbprints
These little, buttery cookies are full of flavor, and they look classy enough to serve at fancy dinner parties or celebrations. An almond drizzle adds a little something extra to the traditional shortbread, and the tart raspberry center is the perfect finish.

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
The name says these are the best, and who are we to argue? Everyone’s favorite cookie is fast and easy to make, and the ooey, gooey chocolate chips taste even better when they’re warm out of the oven.

Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies
With no baking involved, these cookies are perfect to make with your small children. Simply blend cocoa, peanut butter, oatmeal and a few other simple ingredients and you’ll have deliciously chewy cookies in a matter of minutes.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze
For those who prefer a more savory cookie, this lemon ricotta recipe is a perfect choice. The sweet lemon flavor offsets the rich ricotta to create a unique flavor that’s just as good as gourmet.

Three Recipes for a Healthier You

Whether you have just a few minutes or a whole hour to spend, cooking at home can be just as delicious as eating out. Health.gov offers a list of more than 100 different recipes for heart-healthy dishes for every meal of the day, all with less sodium, saturated fat and calories than many foods.

Here are a few favorite recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner:

Applesauce Pancakes
Just because you’re trying to eat well doesn’t mean you have to give up pancakes. Including a whole serving of fruit and using low-fat ingredients, this healthy recipe for applesauce pancakes may just delight the whole family.

Tuna Salad
Traditional tuna salads are high in saturated fat, but this one uses only tuna and a few flavorful ingredients to create an equally delicious, stripped down version. Full of celery, onions and low-fat mayonnaise, this may just become your new favorite sandwich spread.

Chicken Marsala
The Italian food dish gets a healthy makeover in this delicious and nutritious dinner recipe. Using the savory flavors of chicken stock, Marsala wine and fresh lemons, this dish offers flavor without empty calories!

Find more healthy recipes by visiting Health.gov.

Public Domain/Public Domain

Tips for Healthy Snacking

Your little ones love sugary cookies, while you just can’t resist a savory snack every now and then. If you’re looking for healthier snacks for the whole family that still tasty and satisfying, these tips from the NIH can help you find them.

  • Create healthier versions of your favorite snacks. Instead of your usual cheese and crackers, substitute low-fat cheese and whole-grain crackers. Instead of buttery, salty movie theater popcorn, make some fat-free or low-fat popcorn.
  • Make healthier dessert choices. Instead of your usual homemade milkshake, blend a banana, ice and low-fat chocolate milk for a chocolate smoothie that’s still delicious.
  • Choose smarter condiments. Sauces and other toppings can add fat and empty calories to an otherwise healthy snack. Instead of cheese, choose salsa, and instead of regular ranch dressing opt for a fat-free variety.

For more healthy snacking tips, visit the NIH website.

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