5 Healthy Foods I Love: Part 3

eggs

Read part 1. Read part 2.

1. Eggs.

Cannot even imagine a world devoid of eggs. Scrambled, fried, poached, hard or soft boiled, painted, sitting tan and pretty in their paper crate- I love them. I pay not a thought to cholesterol and have at least one egg each day. Satisfying in a way only eggs can be.

mayonnaise

2. Mayonnaise.

I don’t eat mayonnaise often, but I will say that it is my favorite condiment. Real, full fat and yolky mayonnaise. Hellmann’s or Best Foods only. A dollop is creamy and rich and so smooth it hits every taste receptor in my mouth and makes me smile upon contact. Nothing compares to egg salad with mayonnaise, a thick smearing on a sandwich, melting under the cheese on a steak sub, in just about every aioli…pure joy for me.

maple syrup

3. Pure Vermont Maple Syrup.

I used the sugar-free kind for years after I lost several trillion pounds. I thought the pure version to be unworthy of so many calories. I was content with my 25 calorie faux syrup. And then I tried the real stuff. My whole world turned right side up.

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It’s worth every dripping, sticky drop of a calorie. The satisfaction you’ll find if you dip pancakes, waffles, french toast, and bored fingers, into syrup tapped from some husky maple in Vermont, is one of the purest pleasures of life.

zico coconut water

4. Coconut Water.

I did not anticipate liking it as much as I do.

fave food 2 112

I’d seen it around and simply thought that it was trendy and wildly overpriced. Both those things are true, but it is absolutely delicious. Slightly sweet and subtly coconutty.

taste nirvana coconut water

Super duper hydrating. Lots of vitamins, minerals, and about a zillion electrolytes. Zico is good, Naked is just fine, but this can, this brand- it’s sweeter, milkier almost, and it’s absolutely worth 2 bucks.

black beans

5. Beans- navy, pinto, black, garbanzo, kidney.

I eat a cup of beans each day. I don’t know how or when or who lets me eat them so relentlessly, but I adore them. For years I bought the conventional & canned, then moved to organic & canned, then I began soaking dried beans overnight and simmering them for an hour ‘til their tummies turned soft and pasty.

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I won’t say I’ll never go back to canned, because, well, I love things in cans- green beans and creamed corn, included. But the soaked and simmered beans are by far the best in taste and texture- they’re firmer and fresher tasting.

Which foods are you loving right now?

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44 thoughts on “5 Healthy Foods I Love: Part 3

  1. Taylor

    I think you’ve inspired me to finally try coconut water…I’ve been holding out too long! I am loving the unsweetened dried mango from Whole Foods right now. I just can’t get enough!!

    Reply
  2. Amanda June

    i love that maple syrup and full-fat mayo make your ‘healthy foods’ list. makes me smile.

    Reply
  3. Lea @ Healthy Coconut

    I’m loving fruits in my salad. Today I tried mango and cubed cheese, delicious. I also love strawberries in everything right now.

    As for beans, my fave type is adzuki beans. I do the soaking overnight (but I also put seaweed during the soaking part) then cook it the following morning. Love it on it’s own or with a wrap.

    Btw, are you going to HLS?

    Reply
  4. Halley

    I love udon noodles, brussels sprouts roasted and tossed with garlic cream sauce, fried bananas, oatmeal and maple syrup on weekends – all three were flirtatious but now it’s serious. L-o-v-e.

    Reply
  5. Anne

    Some of my favorite healthy foods overlap with yours: Laughing Cow wedges (the plain old Swiss is still a fave since it’s great on crackers w/ fig jam as well as in savory uses), black beans, Trader Joe’s turkey chili mixed with nutty Japanese brown rice. Farro farro farro- just in love with this grain, especially in cold salads tossed with cherry tomatoes, olive oil, red onions and Italian parsley. Green beans tossed with olive oil and baked in a super hot oven, then left to crinkle up and get slightly crispy by turning off the oven and letting them sit overnight. Ditto with thinly sliced zucchini.

    Salsa mixed with fat free Fage greek yogurt dolloped- no, dumped- onto anything Mexican. Olive oil whole wheat tortillas filled with tuna salad, romaine and onions and rolled up, usually eaten standing up right there in the kitchen. Cold chicken right out of the fridge…not sure what it is about cold, roasted chicken but it’s just so good. Extra-extra well-toasted multigrain bread with a healthy smear of avocado topped with sea salt and pepper. Al dente whole wheat spaghetti tossed with grated pecorino, olive oil and black pepper. How’s that for starters?

    Looking back at this list- it’s just a list of a lot of my favorite foods and they happen to be healthy. Don’t get me wrong- a plate of crispy onion rings sounds pretty great all the time- but I just like real food!

    Reply
  6. Raquel

    1. “pedrosillano” chickpeas, a tiny Spanish type which is to die for.
    2. Agave syrup: can´t live without it.
    3. Frozen strawberries: I buy 2 kilos in the market and I freeze them (cut) to do ice cream (with milk and Agave syrup)
    4. oatbran and wheatbran for my daily pancakes (with frozen bananas, another winner!)

    Reply
  7. Riss

    I’ve become slightly obsessed with oatbran. And if I had my wish, I would eat about 2 pounds of fresh pineapples+mangoes+papaya every day of my life. I stuff myself silly with it when I visit my parents in the Philippines.

    Oh, and lentils-the lazy person’s beans. Can’t live without those. No soaking required!

    Reply
  8. Evan Barbour

    This series rocks my socks. I found myself thinking “can I get an amen?!” to each and every food you mentioned.

    Along with eggs, mayonnaise, maple syrup, coconut water, and beans, healthy foods I love now (and always) are: honey, all chocolate (obvi), bacon, coconut oil, bananas, peanut and cashew butter, steak, chard, beets, kale, kabocha squash, and potatoes. I really could go on and on! :)

    Reply
    1. Katie P

      Ooooooo kabocha squash I second that! I will eat it till by belly is ready to burst it’s so good!

      Reply
  9. Carissa

    I tried a version of coconut water and didn’t love it but it had a lot of potential. I’m going to try the brand you recommended!

    When you cook your beans, do you ever freeze them? I usually cook 3 huge pots of different kinds and then freeze them in baggies filled with 2 cups each. I read somewhere that you should slightly undercook them when doing that because freezing makes them expand, and since I started doing that they come out just right.

    Reply
  10. Parita

    You don’t know how happy you made me by saying you love mayonnaise. So many people look at me with disgust in their eyes when I mention that I occassionally use it. YAY!

    Reply
  11. The Chocolate Covered Kitchen

    For years I’ve been drinking coconut juice (available at Asian food stores) — I’m not sure how it compares to this new hype for coconut water, but it’s fantastic, very hydrating, and half the price of the “water.”

    Reply
  12. Laurel

    I love beans too- to excess. I’m also enjoying as many fresh tomato/cucumber/mozzerella/basil combos as I possibly can because that combination blows my mind.

    Reply
  13. Lisa

    Radishes. Fresh out of my garden. And greens, spinach, lettuce, Swiss chard, beet greens. I helped plant the radishes and they didn’t even die!

    Cucumbers are another thing that I can’t get enough of. Fresh, pickled, whatever.

    If you’re going to eat syrup, the real stuff is the only way to go. The ingredient list on the “light” stuff is disgusting.

    Reply
  14. Donna

    Avocadoes.

    Splashed with lime juice, sprinkled with pepper, and a spoon.

    My avocado and i are eloping, if you’ll just excuse me.

    Reply
  15. Sharon

    Lentils are such a wonderful summer supper. I stumbled across a recipe for lentil tacos spiced like taco meat. I am totally trying this for dinner.

    Also, poaching eggs in a skillet of simmering tomato sauce. Serve over toasted wheat potato bread. Once you break the yolk, it’s so delicious that you won’t even think about the parm in a can.

    Reply
  16. Shawna Beamish

    Speaking of eggs and mayo…what a perfect post to read today! Just made egg salad for lunch… organic eggs and mayo, a little dried mustard, dill, salt/pepper and a little chopped onion… served on toasted bread with lettuce… heaven!!! definitely one of my favorite things. i also really like it with fresh basil in it, if i have any. fantastic!

    Reply
  17. Krystina (Organically Me)

    I am absolutely enamoured with:

    – Boiled eggs with yolks ever so soft in the middle.
    – Heirloom tomatoes. Nothing compares to a fresh one, diced and mixed with olive oil, sea salt, oregano, and the littlest drizzle of white balsamic.
    – Avocados. Mashed, sliced, in a sandwich, grilled, sprinkled with sea salt and eaten with a fork.
    – Berries. They’re overtaking my fruit drawer.
    – Salt & vinegar Pop Chips.
    – Ice cream. Vanilla soft serve completely smothered in rainbow sprinkles, especially.

    Did I mention I love food? And I felt like leaving you a novella? Maybe I should just write up a post like this.

    Reply
  18. Amanda

    Hi! Can you please share the “bean” recipe shown above? Looks super healthy and delicious!

    You’re such an inspiration!

    Reply
  19. Betsy

    In the summer I adore getting sweet onions and tomatoes from the farmers market. I peel the onions, but leave everything whole. I drizzle them with olive oil and then broil them till they’re soft, charred, dripping with magic. Then I use my veg peeler to throw on a little bit of Parmesan, add just a wee bit of kosher salt and some capers. Add a nice bottle of beer* and you’ve got one of my favorite summer suppers.
    *Buffalo Bill Brewing Company’s Orange Blossom Cream Ale will change your life.

    Reply
  20. Adrianne

    I love the satisfaction I feel after knowing my black beans (and chickpeas) started out dry. I’ll use them canned occasionally, but right now I’m a from-scratch kind of girl. People look at me with crazy eyes when I stare at the chickpeas in amazement of how much they’ve grown! To me, it’s entertaining. Call me crazy.

    My one true love has been, is, and always will be potatoes. Cook them any which way and I’ll eat ’em. My favorite right now is roasted in the oven with olive oil and dusted with (read: covered in) cajun seasoning.

    Reply
  21. Kacee

    How do you soak your beans? Also, Do you have that bean recipe on your site? It looks yummy. I can’t get enough yellow kiwi, watermelon and sweet cherries right now. YUM

    Reply
  22. Cindy

    i cannot afford my coconut obsession anymore so I’m on the wagon.

    right now it’s summer fruit, mostly off my tree.

    oh my!

    Reply
  23. Lisa

    Lately, I’ve been loving eggs, tuna, and avocado….so satisfying!
    I definitely am a fan of that brand of coconut water too—far and away the best!

    Reply
  24. Liz @ Tip Top Shape

    Healthy food- kale. I somehow ended up loving this. Don’t know how! lol

    Unhealthy food- dream bars. I made some for the 4th and have been eating the leftovers. They are thankfully gone now, because I could have easily eaten an entire second batch myself. So good!!

    Reply
  25. Pingback: 5 Healthy Foods I Love Part 4 | Can You Stay For Dinner?

  26. Paige

    I have to admit…the only beans I simmer myself are lentils! and that’s just because I’ve never found them available canned :-P

    Reply
  27. Natalie S.

    My love for beans is coming into full blossom. I currently have a bowl of chickpeas soaking, and I just helped myself to two serving of quinoa-black bean salad.

    Which, of course, I’m eating out of a mug. I also love eating things out of mugs.

    I’m loving fresh figs picked off my boyfriend’s aunt’s tree. Washing and cutting and freezing them makes me feel delightfully domestic.

    I love cilantro.

    I’ve fallen in love with Shiner Ruby Redbird beer. It’s gingery and tastes like summertime. It’s a summer blend, which means it’ll disappear forever come August. Hold me.

    I think I love coconut water. Every time I have a can, my first sip tastes refreshing, then absolutely disgusting. The second sip is tolerable. The third sip ignites curiosity. By the last sip, I’m trying to shake the last drops out before I buy another can.

    Reply
  28. haya

    i disagree with you regarding the mayo (cannot stand the stuff), but we can still be friends!

    i just finished unpacking the kitchen stuff and now have a whole lovely row of big mason jars filled with grains and beans. after i also unpacked the pressure cooker (i didn’t even know we owned one!), i have decided that i am going to try switching to mostly dried.
    i love how that can says: happiness inside. yes! it’s true. coconut water is awesome.

    Reply
  29. Pingback: Healthy Foods List | Healthy Eating | Free Tips and Information

  30. Debra

    Coconut water is extremely beneficial for those undergoing chemotherapy. It aids in keeping their vital white cell counts up. It is the closet thing to human plasma. Who knew?!!!

    Reply
  31. Leigh

    Wow. I knew we were meant to be friends. As I was scrolling down the page, I saw ZICO, and felt sad. I said to myself “self, that is NO Taste Nirvana.” And lo and behold… We find ourselves ordering it by the cases in the summer from Amazon (no store that I can find sells it in where I live.)
    Have you tried Rancho Gordo heirloom beans? They are so good. Good mother Stallards are so delightful! Thanks for your insights!

    Reply

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