This is a sponsored post, all thoughts and opinions are my own
Alright people, Father’s Day is quickly approaching and the last thing Dad wants from you is some boring food that doesn’t excite his man cravings. Also, if you want your Dad to live long, you want to feed him some healthier-ish food. Suddenly we find ourselves in a paradox, Dad wants tasty food, but we want him to eat healthy. Well, thankfully you can now do both with the great healthy options out there. I mean they even make Vegan cheese! What a time to be alive.
In your quest to make Father’s Day guilt free, but still delicious I’ve teamed up with Whole Foods to give you some really good menu options that can satisfy even the manliest of dads or the most health conscious of dads. What I really like about Whole Foods is that they don’t shy away from sticking to their principles when it comes to using good ingredients even in their affordable products. Just because something is cheaper, doesn’t mean you have to scrimp on quality ingredients, so I can appreciate that since I’m an ingredient snob.
All of these menu items are relatively easy to make, affordable and can come together in less than 30 minutes.
With Father’s Day being right on the cusp of the official start of summer, you’ll definitely want to cool dad down before you fill him up with tasty treats. Ice cream floats are a delicious partnership where a delicious liquid teams with ice cream to form some sort of super-heroesque dynamic duo. Everybody loves iced coffee these days so we figured out a way to combine the two by making this ice coffee ice cream float. It’s painfully simple and really addictive, you just take a half cup of ice coffee and mix it with a scoop of coffee ice cream and you have a float that will bring pops back for more.
If coffee isn’t his/or your thing, we have this awesome smoothie that looks healthy but doesn’t taste healthy! The best kind of healthy! All you do is take some frozen kale, a frozen banana, 2 cups of coconut water, and a handful of frozen pineapples put them in a blender and blend them all together. The end result is a dreamy mixture of an almost tropical drink that has no hint of kale flavor in it. Between the coconut and the pineapple that masks the flavor completely and all you’re left with is a smooth refreshing ice cold drink to start the day off right.
Once daddio has gotten his fill of drinks and probably some adult beverages, you want to feed him an appetizer/salad. What’s better than a salad made exclusively out of carbs? A salad that’s made exclusively out of carbs AND cheese!
This smoked mozzarella salad that Whole Foods has in their prepared foods section is a great twist on traditional pasta salad, sprinkle in some delicious cured meats if you’re feeling adventurous and you have a ridiculously tasty “salad” option.
Next up is the first of two main meal options, this one is going to throw you for a loop. It’s a vegan cheese burger with vegan mayo. I know. I know. Never trust vegans we’re told. But these magical wizards have actually managed to make something that’s entirely plant based to taste good! The burger itself is made by Engine 2 which puts out a wide array of vegan foods, this burger patty is comprised of what seems like beans, rice, and some other items that give it a burger-ish flavor.
Let’s be real, this is not a meat burger it wont replace a delicious hamburger patty, but if you or your dad is health conscious or you’re all trying to be health conscious this is a pretty good vegetarian option. I topped it with a slice of vegan American cheese because I figured I might as well so all in with this vegan stuff right? I finished it off with a vegan mayo which is made from aquafaba (Again culinary alchemy people!) and homemade pickled veggies. This was actually really good, like so good I came back downstairs for a snack and scarfed it down.
If dad’s a carnivore and literally gives you a death stare at the mere mention of a vegan burger, calm his nerves with a delicious cut of chicken breast with rosemary and mustard. I’m usually not a big fan of chicken breast, but I really liked this preparation. The rosemary mustard sauce is basically olive oil, dijon mustard, fresh rosemary, and lemon juice, the chicken came out so juicy and delicious. The trick to cooking grilled chicken is twofold.
One you want to cut the chicken breast so it’s thinner rather than one big chunk of chicken. This cooks the chicken faster and will help you not dry out your chicken. Two, you want to only cook the chicken to the right internal temp then remove it, once you’ve overcooked your chicken breast there is no going back. This chicken dish is great by itself, with some tasty veggies, or on a delicious piece of bread. Let your dad choose, make him feel special. Because what’s more special than choosing bread over veggies right?
Finally. Dessert. This can be a pain if you don’t feel like cooking so this menu option is perfect for my readers who don’t really want to go through the hassle of cooking a dessert. You can buy these amazing, bourbon preserved peaches from Whole Foods, sautee them in a little butter and brown sugar then you have this instant decadent dessert that is insanely good. Better yet, top it off with some whipped cream and or ice cream and you’ll have a literal riot on your hands trying to fight back people from storming your kitchen from eating all of it.
Enjoy your Father’s Day people, for those of us who are lucky enough to have amazing dads just remember having an amazing dad is one of the best gifts you could ever receive in life and they shouldn’t be taken for granted no matter how lame, annoying, grumpy, or out of touch with reality they can be some times =).
*Whole Foods gave me the food to prepare these meal ideas, the opinions are all my own.*
