Meet Krista from Joyful Healthy Eats

We’ve been getting an extra helping of joy with stops by one of our favorite food blogs – Joyful Healthy Eats – by Krista, one of our favorite bloggers. At Krista’s blog, you’ll find healthy eats that bring joy to your life and kitchen. Some of our favorite are these Zucchini Noodles with Meat and Mushroom Tomato Sauce and this Grilled Chicken Margherita Pizza.

And the best part? All of the joy and health happening on Krista’s blog is served up with a perfectly portioned side of sweet in recipes like this Skinny Dark Chocolate Pomegranate Hazelnut Fudge.  And if you are just beginning your kitchen adventures and need some help getting up to speed on the basics, Krista has a whole section just for you called How to: Cooking Basics.

We chatted with Krista recently to get the scoop on what keeps her ticking.

What inspired you to become a blogger?
I started blogging because I had just become a stay-at-home mom and needed something to occupy my time. I loved to cook so I thought, “OK, I’ll start a food blog.” Now, it’s a passion for me. I like to say that I feed stomachs and souls. Sure, I post recipes a couple times a week, but what I love to do is encourage people’s hearts and help them see the bright joyful side of life!

Favorite food to eat:
Um … anything with Balsamic Reduction! If you’ve had the stuff, you understand. If you haven’t, you need to. You are soooo missing out!

Favorite trick of the trade when it comes to cooking/baking:
Add ingredients and taste, taste, taste! If you aren’t tasting it along the way you’ll never know what your finished product is gonna be, and by that time it is gonna be too late to change the flavor. This has changed the way I cook and therefore, my finished dish!

Favorite food substitute when cooking/baking:
I have a couple … coconut oil, coconut milk and white whole wheat flour.

One piece of advice you would give to novice cooks:
Just start! As you’re beginning, just think of layering flavors and different textures to a dish. It will help you on your culinary adventure. Enjoy messing around in the kitchen even if it’s a failure. Don’t stop. After a failure may come a huge success, because you weren’t afraid to fail.

Favorite kitchen gadget:
My inspiralizer, hands down. It makes adding vegetables to food so easy. Your kids won’t even know it, when you sneak one past them! {muahhhaaaa …evil laugh}

Biggest food flop:
I tried making Shrimp Kabobs one time. They were made of shrimp, cherry tomatoes and pineapple. Then you brush on a Homemade Raspberry Chipotle BBQ sauce. It sounded good in my head but the finished product was put in the trash immediately – so gross! Definitely will not try that one again!

Favorite recipe you’ve posted:
Well, it’s between two, the first being my Crock Pot Southwestern Corn & Potato Chowder. I actually use coconut milk in there to make it creamy and it adds a fun and unexpected sweetness to the chowder.

The other one would be my Chili Rubbed Flank Steak with Chimichurri Sauce served on Parsnip Puree. This dish is just amazing – so many different flavors that just keep your taste buds guessing what you’re going to get next!