‘So Good!’ Feel Good Foodie’s Yumna Jawad Shares Her Secrets to Easy, Stress-Free Meals (EXCLUSIVE)
Must-try tips and tricks, from air-fryer cookies to her simple one-pan, no-fuss, no-mess weeknight meal
Cooking shouldn’t be complicated, says Yumna Jawad, who creates mouthwatering meals in her home kitchen and shares them with nearly 10 million followers on social media as Feel Good Foodie.
“I’m all about keeping things simple, flexible and flavorful,” she says as our Woman’s World cover girl (get your copy here!). “At the end of the day, I just want to make things that are easy and nourishing and something the family is actually going to eat.”
That includes several air fryer recipes that have gone viral, from chocolate chip cookies to crunchy pasta chips—foods Yumna, her family and her fans deem “so good!”
Read on for more about Yumna and to discover her tips to make cooking fun and feel-good.
Who is the Feel Good Foodie?
Yumna, 43, lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she cooks meals for her husband, Wassim, and two kids, Carine and Adam. In addition to sharing recipes online, she’s written a cookbook, The Feel Good Foodie Cookbook, featuring 125 Mediterranean-inspired dishes made in 30 minutes or less using 10 ingredients or less.
And when her overnight oats recipe became popular, she created Oath Oats, a clean, simple dry mix made of organic oats sweetened with dates in flavors like Crunchy Dark Chocolate and Mountain Wild Blueberry. Just add milk, chill overnight and enjoy.
Feel Good Foodie’s tips for saving money
“I try to plan my meal around ingredients I already have or ingredients I can use in multiple ways,” says Yumna. “So if chicken thighs are on sale, I’ll buy a bunch. Then I’ll use some in sheet pan dinners. I’ll throw some in the air fryer to get nice and crispy, and any leftovers from either meal end up going in a salad, sandwich or wrap.” And that’s just one way to make an ingredient extend further. She also keeps frozen and canned veggies and other pantry items like beans on hand. “It’s cheaper than buying fresh, and they save time and money, because they take out an extra step of chopping or preparing them.” Tip: When it comes to frozen veggies, Yumna recommends cooking them on very high heat in the air fryer or in the oven to remove excess moisture and make them crispy.
Feel Good Foodie’s smart shortcuts save time
“I like to buy some prechopped vegetables, like cauliflower,” says Yumna. “It’s such a time-saver.” She’s also a fan of freezing fresh cilantro (rinse and chop, pile in an ice-cube tray, cover with olive oil, freeze and store in a zip-top bag) and garlic (pop peeled cloves in a food processor, blend into a paste and freeze in a zip-top bag) and adding to soups.
For busy nights, Yumna makes breaded chicken tenders for everyone to enjoy as they like. “My kids put them in a sandwich, my husband will have a few with broccoli on the side and I’ll have them on a salad. We all eat the tenders different ways. And the kids just love them!”
Feel Good Foodie’s #1 toss-together weeknight meal
“I love a sheet pan dinner,” says Yumna, whose no-fuss formula for these roasted meals is simple: a protein, a veggie and a starch, mixed with oil and seasonings. “I like to do chicken, potatoes and broccoli. Start with potatoes, cut up, then 20 minutes later, add chicken and 10 minutes later, broccoli.” Or try fish, tomatoes and snap peas; they all cook in 12 minutes. Yumna cooks on parchment paper and serves from the pan to keep it mess-free.
Feel Good Foodie’s four air fryer meals
They include a Greek Salmon Recipe, an Air Fryer Whole Chicken Recipe and more! To view them all, click through the links below.
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