Blog Brûlée + Clean Eating Recipe Round-Up

I spent last weekend at Smuggler’s Notch in Vermont attending Blog Brûlée, a super-fun blog retreat (a.k.a. party) hosted by four amazing RD friends of mine. My attendance at Blog Brûlée was partially funded by the Sponsors of the event, but I wasn’t compensated to write this post.

Gretchen Brown, Deanna Segrave-Daly, Robin Plotkin and Regan Miller Jones are not only super cute, they’re also smart, the best at what they do, and they know how to put on a fantastic event!

The retreat was such a great time. It’s always fun to meet in person the people you connect with online every day. And this was a truly inspiring group of healthy food bloggers. The attendees were all affiliated in some way with The Recipe Redux and Healthy Aperture, both of which are the brain-child of Regan Miller Jones. She started these projects with the belief that healthy food bloggers could be successful in a world where the most popular blogs were posting ooey gooey desserts made with cream cheese and butter and stuffed with fudge and Nutella. Okay, so I’m being dramatic. But not really. The sad fact is the most successful blogs are those posting the most unhealthy food.

What did I learn at Blog Brûlée? There’s always something to learn with food photography and I got some very useful tips from Gretchen, who is an amazing food stylist and photographer (check out her gorgeous blog, Kumquat). I learned from Deanna how to take and edit pictures with my iphone that will amaze you (this Snap Seed app is a must-have). Deanna uses an iphone for all of her pictures on her blog, Teaspoon of Spice — can you tell?

All in all the weekend was part party (including wine, cheese, and chocolate tastings) and part educational, with presentations ranging from food photography and styling, SEO and marketing strategies, building a blog community, and how to work with food sponsors while staying true to your own brand.

The speakers included Anne Mauney, MS, RD of Fannetastic Food, Carolyn Ketchum of All Day I Dream About Food, EA Stewart, MBA, RD of The Spicy RD, Janice Newell Bissex, MS, RD and Liz Weiss, MS, RD of Meal Makeover Moms, and Brierley Wright, MS, RD, the Nutrition Editor at EatingWell Magazine.

By far the best part of the trip was meeting the other healthy food blogger attendees, all of which I can now call friends. I encourage you to visit their blogs if you’re looking for healthy recipes and reliable nutrition information:

Jessica Levinson, ms rd – nutritioulicious
Diane Boyd, mba rd – cape fear nutrition
Kylie Held Mitchell – immaeatthat
Meme Inge, rd – living well kitchen
McKenzie Hall, rd – nourishrds
Kara Lydon, rd – the foodie dieititan
Kristina Larue, rd – love & zest
Julie Harrington, rd – rdelicious kitchen
Karman Meyer, rd – nutrition adventures
Marisa Moore, mba rd – marisa moore nutrition
Ann Dunaway Teh, ms rd – dunaway dietetics
Holly Larson, ms rd – grass roots nutrition
Jen Haugen, rd – down to earth dietitian
Min Kwon, rd – the adventures of mj and hungryman
Ashley Galloway, ms rd – the fresh beet
Rachael Hartley, rd – an avocado a day

I also want to mention the very generous sponsors of Blog Brûlée. These are food companies I am proud to say I work with, and who were instrumental in making the weekend possible for us:

Okay, now on to the food!

In honor of my clean eating detox starting on Monday, I thought I would share some clean eating, detox-friendly recipes from a few of these great blogger gals!

McKenzie’s Raspberry Coconut Carrot Cake Muffins are gluten free, dairy free and have no added sugars. Perfect with a cup of herbal tea on a chilly detox morning.

Kristina’s Butternut Squash with Beets and Quinoa is a great option for a detox dinner or yummy lunch!

Kylie of Immaeatthat (and my roomie at Smuggs) has an amazing Instagram feed with over 14,000 followers. This girl can cook. And her Thumbprint PBJ cookies are the perfect detox-friendly treat.