Hearty Veggie and Brown Rice Salad Bowl

I love copycat recipes. I've made a couple before and google them often. One of my current favorite salads is Starbucks' veggies & rice salad bowl, but it costs about $8 each time I buy it (which is very often). I decided to make it for myself and spent about $15 on ingredients that made about five salads! The recipe is below and makes two salads.

Low-Fat Peanut Butter Dip

I think it's safe to say that I am addicted to peanut butter. I can eat (and have eaten) peanut butter as a part of every meal of my day. I realize that this isn't a sustainable model, especially if I am trying not to gain a million pounds simply because I can't cut out Jif. I found this recipe on FitSugar and it promises to be much healthier and lower calories (40 calories)** than peanut butter, but still has the same taste. I tried it out and was pleasantly surprised. The dip doesn't have the same consistency as peanut butter, but it does taste similarly! I'd suggest eating it the same way you would peanut butter, with fruit, veggies, sandwiches, etc. (although I haven't tried eating it on anything warm yet, not sure how that would go). Enjoy!

Coconut Banana Bread

I found this recipe on Pinterest and immediately wanted to make it. Not only does it add coconut (one of my favorites!) to banana bread, but it's low-fat at only 115 calories per slice! The recipe originally comes from FitSugar and makes one loaf of delicious bread.

Four-Bean Salad

Okay, so you know three-bean salads. They're delicious, healthy, full of protein. Well, I upped the ante and added a fourth bean. I know; I take some pretty intense culinary risks. This healthy and filling salad is perfect with tortilla chips, on a green salad, on pasta, or on its own. Enjoy the protein and the hearty taste! This recipe is based off of a Real Simple recipe and makes a huge bowl.

Corn Salsa

This is a copycat recipe of Chipotle's corn salsa (one of my favorite toppings to get at Chipotle!). Make a bunch of this and keep it on hand for tacos, salads, or even to snack on by itself with some tortilla chips. This recipe makes a small bowl, but feel free to change what you need to make a batch to fit your needs.

Balsamic Strawberry Spinach Salad

This is a lovely salad that will get you in the mood for warmer weather. Not to mention, it's really easy to throw together, this recipe makes enough to share, and it's healthy. Enjoy!