What is No Bullsh*t Healthy Recipes all about?

Have you ever been to a recipe site where all recipes were proceeded by a very long story, 10 pictures of the food from every angle, ads that fill up chunks of the screen and then the recipe?

This is what food bloggers do to generate income (ads) and content as an attempt to get better SEO (search engine optimization) for a very crowded market. I don’t blame them for it, but to be really useful for people looking to try new recipes or dip their feet into cooking, it’s exhausting to sift through. Apparently it was such an issue that there are now browser add-ons that allow you to jump right to a recipe (and some food blogs offer the same thing).

This is not that. This is the first level of “no bullshit” you’ll find at this site. You’ll get some simple instructions, the recipe and a photo (taken by me on my mobile phone … unless for some reason I spaced when making the dish and didn’t take a photo). No fluff and no life stories to go with it. Some of the recipes are also submitted by friends and may occasionally have a few more photos or more of a description.

If you really want to start reading full articles, head over to the Blog.

I’m not a professional chef. My profession is actually the founder and Creative Director at JVM Design. However, I’ve been baking since I was a kid and got into cooking at an early age as well. While I’ve taken some professionally taught cooking classes here and there what I’ve done a lot more of is pored through hundreds of cookbooks over the years, made some colossal mistakes, and experimented by picking apart recipes and creating new ones of my own (usually in an attempt to make them healthier or to agree with me more). If there was an inspiration recipe that gave me the original idea, I will always do my best to reference that one. There’s even a few handed-down-through-the-family recipes here.

What makes these healthy?

Healthy really is a relative term with a lot of connotations and pre-conceptions that healthy=not tasty. I’m here to tell you that healthy can be tasty.

My definition of healthy is using fresh ingredients whenever possible (preferably organic and/or locally grown – I realize this is very much a privilege of location and means and not a necessity to food being healthy), using healthy oils (ex: avocado oil), eating a variety of veggies and fruits, eating what agrees with your body (very important!) and eating foods that are nutrient-dense. Basically, it’s the whole “plant-based” thing you’ve likely heard about in passing. Another level of “no bull” is literally no bull … and no other kinds of meat either.

Most importantly, I would like to encourage everyone who stumbles on this site to give cooking a try…

  • whether you’re advanced or you feel like you’re not “good” at cooking;
  • even if you’re on a tight budget;
  • even if you don’t have a fancy kitchen outfitted with lots of gadgets, etc;
  • even if you have a special diet you follow or allergies to certain foods.

I have confidence that you can cook your own, healthy food and I’m sure you can find some tasty plant-based and vegetarian recipes here.

Words of encouragement:

  • You absolutely can eat healthy on a budget by cooking your own food.
  • The majority of the recipes here do not take a lot of time (either in prep, or cooking).
  • You don’t need a gourmet kitchen, fancy appliances, expensive pots and pans, etc. to cook healthy food.
  • For a lot of recipes, you literally only need one frying pan to pull it off.
  • Even if you only cook 1 meal a week, that’s something and can put you on the path to cooking more regularly.
  • Try foods you’ve never tried before.
  • Don’t give up on cooking. It might take a little practice, but it is 100% worth it.

Quick tips:

  • You will see icons at the top of recipes that tell you right away if it’s: fast, gluten free, grain free, plant-based or vegan, vegetarian, good for meal prepping, budget friendly, etc.
  • In order to pull off the majority of the recipes here, you don’t even need a ton of pots and pans and kitchen utensils. See my blog post on the Basic Cookware and Utensils.
  • Spices are your friend. They’re one of the things I usually invest in paying a little more for, but I have totally bought Dollar Tree/99 Cent Store spices and had them work out too (just look at the expiration dates – the further out they are, the fresher they usually are).
  • If you really want to invest (aka buy something more expensive) in one, key thing, make it an all purpose kitchen knife.

One final note …

I’m not part of any affiliate programs and I don’t ever plan on having ads on this site. That’s also part of my “no bullshit” policy. If I happen to link to a 3rd party site it’s meant as an additional resource/for further reading. If I mention a product or brand, it’s usually only because I’ve specifically used it and can vouch for it myself.

Every now and then I might post a friend or family member’s recipe. In those cases, there will always be a line of credit to them.

I’m not a nutritionist. If I cover any nutrition topics on the blog, I will lean on my nutritionist consultant, Tammera Karr, Ph.D, BCHN®.