The 5 Best Gut-Healing Weeknight Dinners

Because, however, I know how good healthy food makes my body feel (say it with me three times: I know how good healthy food makes my body feel), I've developed a few foolproof strategies for getting a homemade meal on the table during even the most hectic weeknight. And in case you, like me, spent much of December indulging in a little too much natural wine and healthy gingerbread cookies, I've added a gut-healing twist to each weeknight meal, so you can take care of your digestion and get things, well, moving right along. Here are my five favorite gut-healing weeknight dinners.

When they're just set, I remove them from the heat and stir in a spoonful of miso, a probiotic-packed superfood that adds a sophisticated umami note to the dish. The sum far surpasses the individual components, tasting surprisingly elevated for what amounts to a spruced-up scramble. 

Swap the stock with some bone broth (I like Bonafide Provisions, which, surprise surprise, is also stored in the freezer) and you've got a perfect, customizable gut-healing meal.

I add a ton of greens, which pack the dish with cell-healing phytonutrients1, and, more importantly for gut-healing purposes, add a ton of fiber, which helps move waste through the digestive tract (important to know but maybe not something you want to think about while eating the 'dilla). I sauté up some Brussels sprouts or kale and add a layer between the tortillas, or I top the finished product with a heaping ton of Romaine, which adds a cold, quenching crunch that perfectly balances the hearty savoriness of the cheese and beans.

While you can buy hummus at most grocery stores, you can amp up the gut-healing benefits by making your own at the beginning of the week—it takes literally three minutes (time yourself and come yell at me if you disagree) and lets you control the ingredients that go in and preserve all of the nutrients of gut-healing, anti-inflammatory foods like garlic and olive oil. To make it, just add a 15-ounce can of chickpeas to a blender or food processor (I like Eden again, to avoid the lectins!) with 2 tablespoons of tahini, 3 cloves of garlic, ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, the juice of 1 lemon, and ¼ teaspoon each cumin, paprika, and fine-grain sea salt. Process and blend until very smooth, then store in the fridge for up to a week. Bonus: You can uplevel your tahini by adding some seasonal vegetables or herbs like roasted butternut squash in the fall and winter, and fresh basil in the summer.

Get ready—I'm gonna have you head to your freezer again. I love sautéing some frozen broccoli, water chestnuts, and red pepper in avocado oil with a generous splash of tamari and a few chopped cloves of garlic. If I want meat, I might add some pastured rotisserie chicken or leftover grass-fed short ribs; if I'm feeling more vegetarian, I might boil up some soba noodles in generously salted water to serve my vegetables over. I top the whole thing with sriracha, a sprinkle of dulse, sesame seeds, and then—here's the kicker—add a generous scoop of kimchi. The Korean peppery fermented cabbage adds a hefty dose of both fiber and probiotics, making it easy to digest the other ingredients in the meal. It also adds a kick of spicy sourness to the umami-rich meal, making it wholly more satisfying (I find I actually am full earlier when I add kimchi to my meals).