Nothing tastes better than homemade meals with the freshest ingredients, and guests and family really appreciate eating it. My goal is to shop for easy healthy meals,and have myself and my children enjoy the benefits of longevity, brain health and greater immunity for my family. But as I roll down the grocery store aisles, it can be daunting to know what to buy, how to put a meal together, and if my picky kids will eat it.As a working single parent, I simply don’t have the time (or let’s face it, the energy) leftover to search and find homemade recipes for our meals that check all the boxes for flavor, nutrients, fresh wholesome ingredients, AND that I can make with full confidence,without needing a degree from culinary school.
That is until an acquaintance of mine introduced me to Maurica Hurley from Maurica.com Maurica was on her own quest to integrate wholesome foods, and desiring to feel good every day, she began researching critical information from our nation’s leading Nutritionists, Health Influencers and Celebrity Doctors. She tested hundreds of recipes for simplicity, flavor and nutrients and put the BEST of the BEST together into a cooking show called The Best Day Ever Cooking Show at www.Maurica.com. Maurica did the work for us, so all we do is pick a recipe that looks delicious and make it along with her. I chose recipes based on mostly the incredible pictures of the food, but also the ingredients that I know my family will love. The cool thing is she has full day menus so all the work and planning is done for you…easy-peasy. Some of my favorites were the salmon recipe and BBQ Bacon recipe, which were easy to make and look like ‘Michelin Star ’impressive meals. They were fantastic. I’m hooked now and am determined to try ALL of the recipes on Maurica.com.
Secondly, I contacted her and told her about my shopping dilemma and she rapidly rattled off a whole bunch of Grocery Store and Healthy Food Buying Tips as I was quickly writing her wisdom down.Some of my questions were: What’s yummy but good for you? Do I have to drive out to specialty stores or find ingredients at any store? I love the taste of Keto foods, but I don’t know where to start.
I organized her tips below:
Tip #1: Honestly being home bound now is not so bad, it’s guilt-free online shopping.
Maurica mentioned that when she goes to the market, she’s really only buying fresh
veggies, fruit and meat— everything else is delivered to her from online shopping. I
loved this tip as it beats endless wondering down the grocery aisles. Many services are
popping up to even do your grocery shopping for you and have fresh food delivered to
your doorstep.
Tip #2: She suggested if I want to try “Keto Foods” to search online (even amazon.com)
and you’d be surprised at the amount and range of Keto foods. It is a great way to
discover new favorites. I bought Keto cereal that I actually eat as a snack food at my
desk, pure hot chocolate powder which smells like the real European chocolate, and
salad dressings and more. You can find pork rinds, protein bars, cookies, banana
caramel muffin mix, coffee beans and pre-made iced Café Mocha, tomato sauce, etc.
Tip #3: For a low carb lifestyle, Dr. Hyman (a thirteen-time New York Times bestselling
author, and Board President for Clinical Affairs for The Institute for Functional Medicine)
and Dr. Brett Sher (a board certified cardiologist) suggest you consume no more than
20 grams of carbs per day. They also recommend when you are shopping and counting
carbs to calculate the net carbs for whole foods, and to count the total carbs on any
packaged foods, and try to stay away from packaged foods as much as possible.
Tip #4: Make your kitchen your Safe Zone. “If you don’t see it, you won’t eat it”. Try to
keep as much junk food out of your house as much as possible. The KEY is to focus on
the nutrients in the foods you are eating and finding healthy replacements or
alternatives when needed.
Tip #5: Think Low Carb Replacements. Instead of your typical sugar cereal, try keto
cereal you buy online or make your own by mixing your favorite nuts, coconut flakes,
sunflower seeds, cinnamon, hemp seeds, chia seed mix, and top with coconut milk full
fat. Sundays I always make pancakes so instead she suggested I try the protein
pancakes episode here, to watch how to make protein rich pancakes that include apple
sauce and vanilla and almond flour – all tasty ingredients.
For healthy desserts, try buying your favorite fresh berries and topping them with full fat
coconut milk from a can for a thick cream on top, or avocado pudding, or her decadent
30-minute healthy chocolate cake recipe, which I made and it’s out-of-this-world and
super easy. What I do is scroll through her cooking show episodes and pick 1-3 recipes that I want
to make that week (which lasts me 4-5 days with left overs), print them out and head to
the store if need be yet often I have these common yet nutritious ingredients in my
fridge.
I love the fact that if you have never cooked before you can easily make these impressive, healthy and ‘to-live for’, yet incredibly delicious meals that everyone will love. In fact, they are so good, that I don’t even tell my family it’s healthy. They just gobble it right up. View The Best Day ever Cooking Show here: https://maurica.com/.
The Best Day Ever Cooking Show contains episodes of Maurica Hurley’s ’favorite meal plans and cookbook reviews from top health influencers including Celebrity Doctors and Nutritionists. Maurica shares a lighthearted approach to cooking and storytelling. Recipes for loving food, loving life and the magic of mindset are all here on https://maurica.com/