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In the age of PR gifting and paid influencer partnerships smattered all over social media, it's hard to know whether a recommendation is wholehearted or winking. Is this product actually a must-have? Or did you get it in a gift bag and, yeah, it's not too shabby. Or worse (but understandably)—did your friend found a company and you’re giving her free press?
We want to know: What do people spend real dollar dollar bills on? We're dying to hear what you buy and re-buy, what you recommend with every fiber of your being, what your hard won earnings go toward. With brands sending free stuff to the microest of influencers, we decided it's high time for a roundup series that includes exclusively products that have been purchased and loved outright. Think of Receipts as a fun-things-only money diaries.
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Yumna Jawad, known online as @FeelGoodFoodie, has carved out a colorful, drool-worthy space on the internet with her vibrant recipes that combine the punchy, herby flavor of her Lebanese heritage with the cozy comfort of her adopted Midwestern cuisine. Whether you’re looking for kid-approved breakfast ideas or elegant dinner party fare, Jawad's blog Feel Good Foodie offers endless inspiration. And if you want to outfit your kitchen to match Jawad's culinary POV, we got the inside scoop on her must-have pantry, fridge, and kitchen gear.
Jawad partnered with meal kit company Home Chef to develop a menu that reflects her Midwestern meets Mediterranean cooking style. The dishes include these loaded chicken gyros with tzatziki, feta-baked salmon with crispy potatoes, and herby chicken breast with couscous and green beans. With this partnership, Jawad aims to help home cooks enjoy her family’s favorite dishes without the hassle of grocery shopping, planning, and ingredient prepping. BTW, New Home Chef customers can receive 18 free meals plus free shipping with code FEELGOODCHEF.
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Yumna mostly uses her Vitamix immersion blender to blend creamy soups, but she also loves using it for a quick hummus with canned chickpeas. Or, if she doesn’t feel like chopping, she’ll run soft veggies like tomatoes through the immersion blender for a rough but efficient cutting job.
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Jawad admits to having “chickpea anxiety,” which means she buys a can or two almost every time she grocery shops. Though she doesn’t discriminate between different brands, she especially loves the Mediterranean brand Ziyad because the chickpeas are slightly larger.
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Jawad always has a supply of what she calls “flavor boosters” in her pantry, which include sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and tahini (she keeps tahini in the pantry because she uses it so quickly, but if you’re not making as much hummus and tahini pasta salad as Jawad, keep yours in the fridge). Jawad prefers Cortas’ single-ingredient tahini because it’s made simply with hulled sesame seeds.
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Jawad says her kids “go crazy” for couscous. They particularly love a recipe on her Home Chef menu that she makes on repeat at home: One-pan chicken and couscous. To make it, she sautés chicken breast in a skillet, adds couscous and broth, and pops everything in the oven until the couscous is fluffy and cooked through.
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Jawad loves her Staub cookware. Though she admits it can be difficult to clean, she doesn’t stress about it. “Those things are so tough, and they're supposed to be passed down, just like recipes,” she says. She loves that the cast iron lends flavor to meals like her one-pan chicken and couscous, and that it goes easily from the stovetop to the oven.
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Google “overnight oats,” and Jawad’s viral recipe will be at the top of the list every time. With over 37,000 5-star reviews, it’s clear she knows how to make a mean bowl of creamy oatmeal. So it makes sense that Jawad has her own line of oats. Oath Oats are pre-flavored with dark chocolate, almond butter, or blueberries, so all you have to do is add milk.
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Jawad doesn’t drink alcohol, but she loves a festive sip. For entertaining, she mixes up Pellegrino-based mocktails using fresh fruit and herbs. One of her favorites is a cranberry mocktail with orange juice and simple syrup. She’ll top it off with fresh sage or mint for a colorful garnish.
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Jawad has her own cookbook, but she also finds recipe and flavor inspiration from London-based Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi. His recipes feature seasonal produce, tons of fresh herbs, garlic, and dairy like yogurt and labne—many of the same ingredients you’ll find in Jawad’s kitchen.
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Yogurt is a constant in Jawad’s fridge and recipes. She encourages readers to use it for more than a granola catch-all—her kids love yogurt over rice for breakfast, and she often makes yogurt-marinated chicken in the air fryer. Stonyfield is her favorite brand, and she buys both regular and thicker Greek yogurt for various recipes.
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You’ll always find feta cheese in Jawad's fridge, and she especially likes the whole block and crumbled options from Athenos. She calls this tangy cheese her “MVP ingredient” because of its versatility and the way it instantly reminds people of the Mediterranean. Recently, she’s been stuffing meatballs with feta and making mashed potato pancakes with crumbled feta and dill to add her Mediterranean flair to a classic Midwestern dish.
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If you’re looking for vibrant Mediterranean recipe inspiration, Jawad has you covered with unique twists on classic American fare. From frothy tahini milkshakes to mac and cheese made with tangy Greek yogurt, her site and Instagram feed are the perfect place to find recipe inspiration—and if you have no interest in picking up a chef’s knife or turning on the oven, it’s worth tuning in just for the stunning photos.