Want a healthy way to start your Christmas Day? Make this apple bake for breakfast if you have holiday guests staying with you. Or even if you don't. I can't get enough of it lately!

...are you still using bottled salad dressing? Ditch them and make your own instead! It's as easy as dumping a few things in a jar and giving it a shake (hence the name of this dressing).

Many bottled dressing are laced with sugar, corn syrup, preservatives, low-quality oils and other yucky ingredients.

I suppose it’s a little cliché to talk about being grateful this week. But I’m doing it anyway.

Last week I detailed the craziness of my past few months. I got a lot of responses telling me to keep my head up, that it would get easier, that I was doing a great job. First of all, thank you for the responses. You’re awesome.

Granola is one of my all-time favorite snack foods. Unfortunately, a lot of store-bought granola is loaded with sugar and refined oils. Luckily, it's SO easy to make your own at home. Usually I use rolled oats when making granola, but since they've been giving me wicked heartburn lately, I branched out to other grains. So glad I did, because this mixture was delicious!

When the desire for a sweet treat sets in, I listen. Keep in mind, though, that pregnant or not, I'm a Real Food Junkie. So I'm not reaching for Pop Tarts or Oreos or Fig Newtons. Nope— I'm getting crafty in the kitchen, figuring out different ways to combine whole, real, nourishing foods and shape them into desserts that I feel good about eating.

The salads I construct at home are so far superior to what I can get out at restaurants that I don't even want to call them salads. They are huge bowls filled to the brim with high-quality produce, satisfying protein sources, satiating healthy fats, and a slug of super yummy homemade dressing. So really, they're more like bowls of bounty. Bounty Bowls.

Admittedly, buying fresh-made organic juice can be expensive (with good reason—it takes a lot of produce to make one glass of juice). Making your own at home is more convenient and cost-effective, but not everyone owns a juicer. Most of us, however, do have a blender. Here's an great way to make fresh juice in your blender.

The other night I was really in the mood for mashed potatoes, but thought I would add a little twist. The twist turned out to be not-so-little, but the result was delicious. My husband had no idea what he was eating (Mashed potatoes? Turnip?). Nevertheless, he finished his plate in record time.

My favorite thing about this recipe is that the kale doesn't always make it into the oven. Because kale leaves slathered in this sauce are delicious on their own. The last time I set out to make kale chips, I ended up saying screw it, chopped the kale even smaller, put it all in a bowl and ate it as a salad. One head of kale trumps one bag of potato chips every day—no matter what form it's in.

I don't have much to say here other than this soup is awesome. Super easy and, paired with this chutney, unbelievably tasty. The combination of flavors just works. Kinda spicy, kinda sweet, kinda salty, kinda tangy—you've got it all here.

This dish—in one form or another—has been on heavy rotation in my house lately. It's quick, easy, draws upon local goodies, can be made in big batches to last a few days, and my husband likes it. Wins all around.

I'm a HUGE fan of buying food in bulk. Just so we're clear, when I talk about buying in bulk, I am not referring to the 5 gallon jugs of ketchup at Costco (although go for it if that's your jam). I'm talking about getting nuts, seeds, grains, dried fruit, spices and dried beans from the bulk bins at a health food store or local grocer. I talk about the ins and outs and hows and whys of this in my upcoming End of Summer Reboot group cleanse. The long and short of it: when you buy food in bulk, you reduce waste, limit your exposure to potential toxins like BPA, and save a TON of money. Win-win-win.

There's three things you need to know about me to understand how this sangria came to fruition:

1. I don't drink cheap wine.

2. I don't like to waste anything.

3. I'm picky about my cocktails.

So I've heard that the term "Open Sesame," the command that unlocks the treasure-containing cave in the story Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves—stems from the fact that sesame pods pop open when the seeds are mature and ready to eat. Whether or not this is true, one fact remains: sesame is a super nutritious and tasty food to work into your routine.

With mac 'n' cheese on the brain, I remembered seeing Alfredo sauce made with cauliflower on Pinterest I'm a huge fan of all things cauliflower, and figured I could puree my way to some healthy and comforting mac 'n' cheese. Back at home and armed with a glass of wine, I set out to create some yumminess. The end product was epic.

So I'm trying to curb my mid-afternoon coffee and/or dark chocolate habit. At this point in the game, I'm pretty okay with my reliance on morning java, especially on the days I'm getting up at the crack-ass of dawn to teach yoga (it's reeeeeally tough to distinguish right from left at 6am with an uncaffeinated brain).

I had family in town Friday through Sunday, so while I didn't find much time to blog about my salad concoctions, I still found time to eat my greens and successfully complete 7 full days of the Salad-a-Day Challenge. Truth be told, this was not much of a challenge for me. I love to eat leafy greens in all shapes and forms—cooked, raw, chopped, blended (yes, blended—Green Smoothies!), so I typically consume at least one big salad every day.

Sick of salads? Sounds like you need some inspiration...or some Pinspiration. Yes! That same site used to plan imaginary weddings, hoard inspirational quotes and gather organization techniques you will never use can actually be utilized for something other than killing time on commercial breaks!

My husband came home from work the other day excited to share with me a new veggie he had tried at his office salad bar.

"It's a cross between a pear and a potato," he told me, but I don't know the name."

My first suggestion for the Salad-a-Day Challenge is to make your own dressing. It's a simple way to jazz things up AND keep things healthy. Many bottled dressings are laced with sugar, corn syrup, preservatives, low-quality oils and other yucky ingredients. When you make your own dressing at home, you know exactly what's going into it, and you can alter it to fit your own personal tastes.