The older I get, and the more I learn about nutrition, the less elaborate I get when it comes to cooking. These days, I prefer simple thrown together recipes with a few fresh ingredients like beans, veggies, sweet potato or lentil pasta…that type of thing.
I do tend to get stuck in a food rut as well, and end up eating the same things over and over and before I know it I’m bored.
Recently though, I broke out of my rut when I found a website called Botanical Kitchen and was immediately blown away by the mission, the recipes and the nutrient aspects of all of the recipes!
Botanical Kitchen was created by Karina Hines who is not only a chef, but also a functional nutrition practitioner, and herbalist who combines all of her skills into amazing food as medicine recipes. I signed up for her Whole Plant Life membership plan right away and it has been my go to inspiration when im making all of my meals.
You know my philosophy for eating is food quality, digestion, and micronutrients…and Botanical Kitchen ticks all of my boxes. I mean…chef, functional nutrition, AND herbalist?? Did we just become best friends?
I’m kidding but I did reach out to Karina on her instagram and told her how much I appreciate her work and how I have been using her recipes and referring friends and client there as well and she was so kind and actually responded back to me.
Botanical Kitchen offers anti-inflammatory recipes that you can also filter for different goals like:
- Anti-Inflammatory
Blood Sugar ~ Low GI
Digestion + Gut Health
Heart Healthy
Immune Support
Stress + Anxiety
Weight Management
Low FODMAP + IBS
You can also filter by season, allergies and dietary preferences like paleo, vegan, or plant based. Along with those filters you can filter by meal type such as breakfast, sweets, etc.
There are 2 memberships you can choose from to get recommended weekly recipes that Karina shares based on different themes. The current theme is zucchini, so you’ll find recipes that all use zucchini (my favorite!). There are free recipes as well so you can try some of the recipes and then decide if you want to sign up for a membership.
There’s a Whole Plant Life membership ($9/ month) for those who are plant based, then there’s the Chef’s Table membership ($12/month) for those who are omnivore, and that membership also includes all of the plant based recipes as well.
I have really enjoyed all of the recipes I have tried and think $9 per month for real fresh recipes using ingredients that are easy to find and prepare is such a great deal. If you want to try some of my personal favorite recipes from Botanical Kitchen, I have created a PDF that you will find below with links to the recipes included. Note that some recipes are free and some are subscription based but I tried to include both so you could get an idea of what kind of recipes you’ll see.
If you are new to this type of eating, or are currently eating out alot or more processed foods, your tastebuds will take a little time to adjust to food that isn’t salt or sugar heavy. That is normal and perfectly ok!
Taste buds naturally regenerate and replace themselves every 10 to 14 days, but to actually rewire your taste for certain foods can take up to 21 days so just be patient if that is something you are struggling with.
Lastly, Botanical Kitchen does offer a 14 day guided reset that you join and do as a group and I will be doing this myself at some point just to see what changes I notice in my digestion and energy levels. I think this will be fun to see!
Curious about Botanical Kitchen? Check out Karina’s recipes here and let me know what you think and if you love it as much as I do!
If you are interested in trying out Botanical Kitchen memberships, you do get a free trial to see how you like it which is great.
If you have any questions or want to work with me personally, reach out at the links below!
See you next time