Kitchen Smarts

Just Desserts

December 6, 2019December 5, 2019 by Melissa Walshe

Dessert is an ever-evolving challenge at Guiding Stars. We all love a little bit of something sweet now and again, and let’s be honest, most of us wish that sweet treats could fit into a well-balanced eating plan a little more often. Chasing the sweet food that’s not only nourishing but actually a delight to the senses is a little bit of a Holy Grail quest for those of us who work on recipe development for Guiding Stars. These are a few of our best tips for getting nutrition and dessert to come together.

Smart Leftovers

November 29, 2019November 21, 2019 by Melissa Walshe

No matter how many dinner guests you have and how modest you might try to be in your preparation of Thanksgiving, leftovers are inevitable. If you’re not excited about an endless litany of turkey sandwiches and Thanksgiving dinner endlessly reprised in the microwave, knowing how to make “nextovers” is a must. Turkey soup and turkey pot pie are well-known tricks, but have you tried breakfast hash before? Crispy, sweet, and savory, you will love this dish for using up leftover turkey and sweet potatoes.

Smart Dessert

November 22, 2019November 21, 2019 by Melissa Walshe

Pie is delicious, but crusts made with wheat flour and butter make it unfriendly to guests with wheat or gluten sensitivities or who are following a vegan diet. This torte wouldn’t work if your guests’ primary allergy concern is tree nuts, but it’s fantastic for the subset of dinner guests that often end up having fewer options to pick from. Using dates to sweeten good apples and a crust made of nuts, it’s also bringing some serious nutrition to the table. If you skimped on the meal food to save room for dessert, this is an option that will both please your tastebuds and sustain you.

Smart Sides

November 15, 2019November 14, 2019 by Melissa Walshe

If you can get fresh green beans, they really don’t need more than a light treatment of garlic and herbs to be worthy of playing handmaiden to the sacrificial bird, so to speak. Color and crunch are also often lacking on a Thanksgiving table. While you could provide those with a salad, you could also save yourself time, money, and oven space by swapping in a fresh green bean recipe like this one instead.

Smart Appetizers

November 8, 2019November 7, 2019 by Melissa Walshe

Snacking during the parade in the lead up to dinner is a tradition in my family. The array of nibbles, however, isn’t really all that different than the same kind of snacks we have access to all year. Cheese, nuts, shrimp cocktail, cream cheese and olives on celery. The dominant flavors are salt and fat, and the truth is, the apps tray can lean towards the side of more calorific than flavorful.

Smart Thanksgiving

November 1, 2019October 31, 2019 by Melissa Walshe

When I say “smart,” I mean…follow me off the beaten path, here. Let’s play with the traditional ingredients of Thanksgiving, but put them to work in different and delicious ways. This month, I’ll be showcasing some recipes that our team especially enjoys using fall flavors to their best in recipes you don’t see every year.

Ham It Up

October 25, 2019October 23, 2019 by Melissa Walshe

Here at Guiding Stars, our algorithm is intentionally designed to help you minimize the saturated fat and salt in your food. Ham, of course, is full of both. Ham, bacon, pancetta, and salt pork are not products you will find labeled with any stars. Slow cooking, however, gives us a beautiful opportunity to showcase the philosophy that no food is “bad” food, per se, but rather, that enjoying great nutrition and a good relationship with food is all about balance.

Souped Up and Slowed Down

October 18, 2019October 16, 2019 by Melissa Walshe

Soup is probably the food most people associate strongly with slow cookers. The long cooking time brings a special oomph to the flavor of even basic dishes. That being said, we’ve all had soups from a slow cooker that were maybe a bit overcooked or had a weird balance of textures. These tips will help you soup up your slow cooker soup game.