Blog Posts by The Editors of EatingWell Magazine

By Hilary Meyer, Associate Food Editor, EatingWell Magazine

I'm trying to give my eating habits a little cleanup this year. I'm cutting back on saturated fat, refined grains, processed foods, sugar and salt. It's easy to pay close attention to what I'm eating on the weekends when I've got tons of time on my hands to prepare delicious meals, but during the week when time is less available I feel the pull of convenience foods for their, well, convenience.

Don't Miss: 30-Minute Clean-Eating Recipes for Fast Dinners

But you can eat clean on the weekdays if you keep a few tips (and some easy, healthy recipes) on hand. Here's what I try to live by when all I have is 30 minutes to prepare a "clean" meal:

1. Rely on Quick-Cooking Whole Grains
Trying to eat clean means avoiding refined grains like white pasta, white bread and white rice in favor of whole grains. Unfortunately, a lot of whole grains take close to an hour to cook, which isn't ideal when you're in a rush. You have

By Wendy Ruopp, Managing Editor of EatingWell

This quinoa veggie burger recipe is a meat-lover's burger: toasted pecans, mushrooms, Cheddar cheese, fresh herbs and red quinoa pack this vegetarian burger full of delicious flavor. It's one of the new tasty quinoa recipes I liked from the last issue of EatingWell Magazine, so I was happy when my husband surprised me by saying, "Let's make these quinoa veggie burgers." (He's mostly a don't-fence-me-in creator in the kitchen, but he was so inspired by that delicious-looking photo that he was willing to follow a recipe for a change.)

New Recipes to Try: Quinoa Lasagna & 19 Easy Quinoa Recipes

These quinoa veggie burgers are worth following a recipe for. Not only are they simple to put together, but you can make your time in the kitchen go even further by freezing part of the batch you make for a future meal. And if you can find red quinoa, they will be especially beautiful. The quinoa takes just 15 minutes, unattended, to cook; while it

By The EatingWell Magazine Test Kitchen & Cheryl Sternman Rule

The start of warmer weather inspires us to cook on the grill. Grilling adds a unique, smoky flavor to foods, and it's a super-quick cooking method. The grill's flames can develop rich, complex flavors in standard fare like burgers and chicken and even in less-traditional grilled dishes, such as pizza and desserts. These 13 grilling tips will have you cooking with fire like a pro in no time!

--The EatingWell Magazine Test Kitchen & Cheryl Sternman Rule

Don't Miss: Best Summer Cookout & Picnic Recipes Made Healthy

By Stacy Fraser, Test Kitchen Manager at EatingWell

While pasta salad is a crowd-pleaser at potlucks and picnics, traditional recipes typically weigh in at over 500 calories per serving. They also skimp on good, healthy ingredients like whole grains, crunchy vegetables, fresh herbs and lean protein. Here are our 5 secrets for making a healthier pasta salad that's full of flavor, plus 5 pasta salad recipes all under 315 calories per serving.

Don't Miss: See How to Make Garden Pasta Salad with Creamy Dressing That Cuts 350 Calories

1. Pick the Right Pasta
Whole-wheat pasta adds 2 grams of heart-healthy fiber per ounce of dry pasta versus white pasta. The amount of dry pasta to start with depends on the shape. To get 4 cups of cooked pasta, use 2 cups elbow macaroni, 2 1/2 cups shells, 3 cups bowties or fusilli. Cook pasta and drain (but don't rinse). Spread on a large baking sheet to cool.

Get our FREE Broccoli & Feta Pasta Salad Recipe How-To!

2. Load Up on

By Hilary Meyer, Associate Food Editor, EatingWell Magazine

Do you love pancakes but want to make a healthy pancake recipe for breakfast? Pancakes can be part of a healthy breakfast if you use a few tricks to make them a little better for you by adding whole grains and using low-fat dairy. They'll still be delicious and will be much healthier for you than a traditional stack of white-flour cakes smothered in butter and syrup. Here are our secrets for how to make healthy pancakes.

Don't Miss: See How to Cook Pancakes Perfectly

1. Use Whole-Wheat Flour to Boost Fiber
Most traditional pancake recipes call for white flour, which has a neutral flavor but doesn't offer much in the way of nutrition. To make healthy pancakes, use whole-wheat flour instead. Whole-wheat flour has 16 grams of fiber per cup compared to 3 grams of fiber in white flour. For milder flavor, you can use white whole-wheat flour, which is most similar to white flour with a slightly nutty flavor, but

By Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D., Nutrition Editor, EatingWell Magazine

Juicing and smoothies are all the rage right now. While both can boost your fruit and vegetable intake (something most Americans need to do) and are great for getting a variety of produce into your diet, one is the better choice.

That's the smoothie. Why? Juicing leaves behind a pulp--which contains fiber and nutrients that you end up tossing away--and thus you lose most of the benefits of whole fruits and vegetables. Blending produce into a smoothie, however, preserves fiber--and a smoothie can deliver an extra boost of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals because it often includes fruit skins and pith. If your smoothie includes yogurt or milk, you get some calcium too. Blending, however, introduces oxygen and sometimes heat, which will knock out a little vitamin C and some B vitamins. (No big deal really, as most of us get plenty of C and produce isn't a top source of the most sensitive B vitamins.) Add these 6

By Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D., Nutrition Editor, EatingWell Magazine

Eating a Mediterranean diet may lower your risk of heart attack, stroke and death from heart disease by up to 30 percent, according to a new, highly publicized study out of Spain, published in April 2013 in The New England Journal of Medicine.

When older adult participants (aged 55 to 80 years) were divided into one of three groups (Mediterranean diet with extra-virgin olive oil, Mediterranean diet with nuts or a control diet), those who followed either of the Mediterranean diets reaped the heart-protective benefits.

Don't Miss: 8 Ways to Follow the Mediterranean Diet for Better Health

You can start eating the Mediterranean diet today--and help your heart health--by adding these key foods (which were staples in the diet of the study participants following the Mediterranean diet) to your meals.

1. Olive oil. The study participants' main culinary fat was olive oil--they ate 4 or more daily

By Wendy Ruopp, Managing Editor of EatingWell

Does it ever occur to you to make Caesar salad at home? I never think of it until I'm at a restaurant and it suddenly looks like the best thing on the menu--especially with some grilled chicken on top (even if I have to pay extra for that).

With this recipe dreamed up by the EatingWell Test Kitchen, it's not just the chicken that's grilled--the romaine lettuce is too! (Another thing I'd never think of.) That lightly charred lettuce adds more delicious smokiness to the Caesar salad filling for this easy meal rolled up in a warmed spinach wrap.

New Recipes: Healthy Grilled Salad Recipes and More Unexpected Foods for the Grill

Because you can pick it up and eat it, this portable wrap makes a great lunch, too, or quick take-it-with-you dinner for an activity-filled evening.

Don't Miss: More Light Wraps & Sandwiches

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad Wrap
Print, share and save this recipe!
High Fiber Healthy Heart
Makes: 4 servings
Active time: 30