These are some simple whole food meals in my current rotation. Nothing fancy and nothing that requires me to think too hard after a long day. I have been eating this way (whole food, lower carb) for about a year now, and at this point, it is just how I approach my meals.

Spaghetti squash has become my absolute go-to for pasta night. I roast the squash with oil and garlic, scrape out the strands, and mix with a meat marinara with mushrooms and Parmesan. It is so so satisfying and genuinely does not feel like you are missing anything at all. This one does take a little more time, but it is worth every minute of it. I prefer this to pasta now, and it is in my top 5 for sure.

I love grilling on the patio when it finally gets warmer! Chicken thighs with rosemary and lemon, or a simple steak with nothing on it but salt and whatever herb I just snipped from the patio. Grilling is the thing that makes cooking feel the least like cooking. You go outside, you tend the fire, you bring something back in. There is a rhythm to it that I love so much.

This cucumber salad recipe is in the fridge more often than not, especially in the Summer months. Sliced cucumbers, red onion, olives, cheese, salami, Italian dressing. Sometimes cherry tomatoes if they look good at the store. A handful of fresh parsley, if I have it, which by late June I will have from the patio garden. I make a big batch and eat it for a few days with lunch and/or dinner.

And then there are the blueberry chaffles, which are technically breakfast, but I have eaten for dinner quite a few times and do not feel bad about it. A chaffle is a waffle made from eggs and cheese in a mini waffle maker. Way better than they sound, more satisfying than they have any right to be. Fresh blueberries and a little whipped cream on top, and that is the whole meal.

These are some of my favorite lower-carb, whole food staples right now, and honestly, they have made eating well feel so much less complicated. Let me know if you want any of the recipes! I plan to post some soon.

Some of these do take a little more time. Meal prepping can help if that is something you are short on. The chaffle situation requires a mini waffle maker and a little patience. The grilling requires actually going outside and starting a fire. But I have stopped treating that time as an inconvenience. Cooking real food is one of the few things I do in a day that feels genuinely mine, and it impacts my actual health. Every. Day

I am not trying to be impressive about any of it. I am just trying to stay fed in a season that keeps asking me to be somewhere else and share along the way!