Wellness Mama®
Simple Answers for Healthier Families
My favorite healthy, real food pork recipes for busy families can be found below. All recipes are grain-free, dairy optional and kid-approved. Need help meal planning? Check out my meal planning service!
When I gave up grains I thought spaghetti and meatballs would be off the menu. Turns out you can have your grain and gluten-free meatballs and eat them too! This gluten-free meatball recipe is simmered in a delicious tomato sauce and works great with gluten-free spaghetti or spaghetti squash. The Best Gluten-Free Meatballs It depends …
Zucchini boats with sausage are a great weeknight meal that pulls together quickly. We have several variations we make regularly and the kids love helping make them. It’s an easy way to help my kids get the nutrition they need with a meal the whole family loves. Zucchini Boats They’re naturally gluten-free, low-carb, and keto …
I’m a little late to jump on the sheet pan meal train. And I don’t know why. One-pot meals, like soup or pizza stir fry, are the best, so why wouldn’t sheet pan meals be just as awesome? I made one salmon and asparagus sheet pan meal and then never took the idea any further. …
Having some Louisiana roots, Cajun Gumbalaya (also spelled gumbolaya) is a family favorite around here. It combines the flavors of gumbo and jambalaya for an intensely flavorful recipe. As they say: “Laissez les bons temps rouler” (Let the good times roll!). What Is Gumbalaya? I’ve also always been somewhat of a rule-breaker, so while gumbo …
I love cooking pork tenderloins. I was looking through the recipes on the site recently and realized that I don’t have any recipes for pork tenderloin on here. Crazy! I’ve done smothered pork chops and tacos al pastor with pork roast, but never a tenderloin recipe. Well, better late than never. This roasted and stuffed pork tenderloin is one …
This quick and easy breakfast pizza recipe was born one morning when the kids couldn’t decide between bacon and sausage. They were also tired of our basic scrambled eggs and veggies. I decided to use the same basic breakfast ingredients but serve them in a more fun way. Since then, this has become a Saturday morning …
Who doesn’t like Mexican food? Seriously, is there anyone out there who doesn’t? Anyway, I know my family sure does. These beef and rice bowls are one of our busy weeknight favorites. And the kids are always excited about a guacamole snack. And if we can have taco-truck-delicious tacos at home, then it’s a definite win. Tacos al pastor …
I love sweet and savory flavors together and while chocolate-covered bacon fits the bill, it isn’t the best for a nutritious meal idea. These sausage stuffed apples make a delicious meal and their fun packaging makes them appealing to kids. This recipe is incredibly versatile and you can make this into sausage-stuffed sweet potatoes or sausage-stuffed winter squash …
Soups have got to be one of my favorite things to make. They fall into that wonderful one-pot meal category — proteins, veggies, everything you need all in one bowl. Granted they don’t always work year round (no one wants to eat a steaming bowl of mulligatawny soup in August), but for several seasons of the …
I love a filling one-pot meal, and soup is a great place to pack in a wide variety of colorful vegetables. This hearty, veggie-filled soup with Italian sausage is a nice change from the usual and one I make whenever the weather is cool enough. Goal for this year: Freeze my garden zucchini (which is …
Pizza is definitely a kid favorite, but not usually a healthy one. My kids love our alternative, Meatza, but it is messy to make and takes multiple pans. I’m a huge fan of stir-frys and decided that the toppings of pizza would make a great sti- fry. After a few tries, I finally have a recipe …
Grilling season is a great time of year because it makes my husband love to cook! Plus, fewer dishes and mess in the kitchen is a bonus. This grilled pork loin recipe is one of our favorites to make and an easy alternative to the typical burgers on the grill. Pork loin is a relatively …
I have a confession, I’m not a food blogger — just a mom who loves to cook. When I started out, my recipes were good, but my pictures were bad. Really bad. Since then, I’ve learned a little about photography and improved some (I hope), but I’m still just a mom who cooks and sometimes, …
Growing up in the south, I’m pretty familiar with pork barbecue. I’m also familiar with the fact that most commercially available versions from barbecue places have high fructose corn syrup or other non-foods in their sauce. Boston butt is one of the easiest cuts of pork to cut and it is also one of the …
I must admit, smothered pork chops were something I had not tried before we switched to all real food eating, so I don’t technically know how they are supposed to taste. I do know that this version is really, really good, so while it may not be an exact replica of the not-so-healthy version, it …
Ribs are one of those foods that always intimidated me, and while I liked them, I was never brave enough to cook them for the first few years I was married. Then, one day, there was a huge sale on ribs at our local store, and having no better idea for dinner, I bought them. …
Stir-frys are one of my biggest mommy hacks. They are full of flavor, only take one pan to make, and come together in just minutes for a fast and simple meal. This summer squash sausage stir-fry is especially good as a seasonal recipe when squash and zucchini are in season because they are so inexpensive …
I’ve written before about my Irish heritage and the foods I’ve adapted from my family’s traditional recipes. One traditional Irish favorite that I’ve adapted to my real food lifestyle is Irish bangers & mash. Like many Irish dishes, it involves meat and potatoes, but I make it without the potatoes. This is a simple and satisfying …
Apple pork chops are an easy and fast recipe that my kids love. I keep pork chops in the freezer for nights I know I will be in a rush. The apples add great flavor to the pork and the balsamic vinegar gives a bit of a sweet and tangy taste. I love that this …
I was diagnosed with autoimmune disease almost a year ago and I’ve felt incredibly better by following a modified autoimmune protocol and making sure to eat enough protein in the morning per my doctor’s recommendation. At first, it was difficult to get enough protein first thing in the morning and I was getting tired of …
Sausage-stuffed winter squash is an easy and healthy recipe that can be made and re-heated for lunch the next day. My kids loved the “bowls” made of squash, and I loved that these were a filling and healthy dinner. You can change up the inside mixture to fit your tastes. I’ve done this with grass-fed …
