Whether you’ve made a resolution to eat healthier in the new year or you’re simply looking for a few more options to add to your culinary repertoire, Nashville has two new and easy ways to help you meet your healthy eating goals. From Hillsboro Village’s newest hotspot to a French-trained chef’s meal plan service, 2021 is already delivering some delicious and nutritious Music City fare.
Get ready to enjoy even more delicious, healthy food in 2021, Nashville! Image: Emily Dorio
2 New & Easy Ways to Eat Healthy in the New Year
Greenery Co.
1705 21st Ave. S., Nashville, TN 37212 • (615) 915-1235
Hours: Monday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Greenery Co. recently opened its doors, and Hillsboro Village is all the better for it! With online takeout that began in December and dine-in service that just started this month, the new fast-casual restaurant is making our mouths water with its salads, grain bowls and more. Co-owners and sisters Caroline Gaston and Whitney Abblitt make their food from scratch daily, and it’s so fresh that their kitchen doesn’t even possess a freezer.
The concept was born out of Caroline and Whitney’s desire to find lighter, healthier fare during college. “While attending Vanderbilt University, Nashville became our home away from home,” says Whitney. “We love this community, but we always found ourselves looking for healthy and tasty eating options that fit our fast-paced lifestyle. As years passed, we decided to bring our passion for wholesome eating to the city that we love.” They also bring with them a plethora of culinary and business expertise. With Caroline’s degree in Entrepreneurship and Culinary Management from the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City, and Whitney’s finance and accounting experience, the duo is poised for success. But their secret ingredient might be Chef Barclay Stratton, who Whitney describes as “an old family friend who has consulted on the project from day one.”
Sisters and Vanderbilt graduates Caroline Gaston and Whitney Abblitt are upping the Hillsboro Village restaurant game with their newly opened eatery, Greenery Co. Image: Emily Dorio
For the Greenery Co. owners, it’s all about finding convenient ways to fit being healthy into your daily life. “We created Greenery Co. with the mission to make thoughtful choices simple,” Whitney tells us. “We believe our restaurant is a starting point for people to create healthy habits around what we eat and how we treat ourselves. Healthy looks different for everyone, but we’re confident that we have options that fit into most lifestyles.” In fact, their range of protein and vegetarian options allow for a superb and savory create-your-own salad or grain bowl experience. Not to mention, gluten-free selections abound. In fact, the entire menu is gluten-free, except for the triple chocolate chip cookie, housemade crackers, and Dozen Bakery bread.
Popular menu items include the Chicken Pesto Salad, a beautiful mix of roasted chicken, spring lettuces, Parmesan cheese, cherry tomatoes, roasted broccoli, crispy chickpeas, and fresh basil with a pesto vinaigrette, and the Alotta Burrata Salad, which is a vegetarian lover’s dream with its burrata, arugula, roasted broccoli, marinated beets, and toasted almonds with a balsamic vinaigrette. For a heartier option, their warm grain bowls are divine. The Chimmi Churrasco Bowl, for example, features seared steak, quinoa, kale, roasted sweet potato, roasted broccoli, radish, and toasted pumpkin seeds with chimichurri. If you’re looking to combat the cold weather with some soup, the menu boasts two seasonal selections — roasted carrot and cauliflower. Shareable snacks offer a light, mid-day, on-the-go option, and they even have a kid’s bento box that gives parents the ability to create a well-balanced meal for their kiddos.
RELATED: Your Updated Guide to Hillsboro Village
Greenery Co.’s Southern Cobb Salad is a delightful combination of roasted chicken, romaine lettuce, local hard-boiled egg, Gifford’s Bacon, blue cheese, marinated beets and cherry tomatoes, with jalapeño dijon vinaigrette. Image: Emily Dorio
“We believe that goodness starts from the inside out, but we aren’t willing to compromise on flavor,” says Whitney of their carefully curated menu. “We have put thought into each ingredient that we use. With the year that everyone just had, we want to be sure that we’re making it as easy as possible for our guests to make thoughtful choices.”
To enjoy all that Greenery Co. has to offer, head to historic Hillsboro Village to dine-in at the beautiful new restaurant designed by local interior designer Sarah Bartholomew and local design studio Powell Architecture + Building. Free guest parking behind the building makes stopping by a breeze. Alternatively, you can order online for curbside pickup or takeout. If you’re in the Vanderbilt Hospital community, they even offer two free daily delivery times!
Learn more at greeneryco.com.
Macro Chef Meal Plans and Catering
In June of 2020, award-winning chef Bob Adams officially launched Macro Chef, a meal plan and full-service catering company that had been in the planning stages for a long time. The concept is simple and straightforward — he’s showing people that eating healthy doesn’t have to be flavorless, and he’s helping us celebrate and enjoy food without the guilt. “At Macro Chef, we believe that eating healthy doesn’t have to suck,” he says. “It’s really easy to get trapped in a cycle of eating boring, bland food because we think it’s healthy. The problem is, that’s not always sustainable. We believe that by focusing on bold, unique flavors, while only using fresh, wholesome ingredients, people can enjoy eating clean, healthy meals and lead a more active life.” Macro Chef is geared toward athletes and those with an especially active lifestyle, but no matter your level of daily activity, Bob has you covered.
Though his kitchen is in Lebanon, Bob is changing palates everywhere. He’s currently offering home delivery in Wilson, Sumner, Davidson, Williamson and Rutherford counties, and he has pickup locations in Columbia and Clarksville. The menu covers everything from main meals to healthy snacks and treats, with seasonal specials and dietary options such as vegan and keto. Standout dishes include Moo Shu Chicken Tacos with roasted cremini mushrooms, green onion, kale slaw and Gochujang drizzle, and buffalo sauce-marinated chicken meatballs with house-pickled celery and carrot sticks and protein-packed ranch dipping sauce. The variety of cuisine is no surprise, based on Bob’s culinary background — he was trained at the French Culinary Institute in New York and cut his teeth at restaurants in Detroit, New York, Baltimore and Louisville (which is where he won the AAA 4-Diamond Award).
Award-winning chef Bob Adams found a solution for his own weight gain — he turned it into an inspiring business. Image: Logan Hyder
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Bob’s motivation to begin Macro Chef started with his own weight gain, a personal narrative he’s very open about. “I had gotten up to over 300 pounds and realized I needed to make changes,” he explains. “The big thing was, I knew better! So, as I lost weight (over 70 pounds) and started spending a lot more time in the gym, the Macro Chef brand started to develop in my mind. To me, Macro Chef is about more than a meal; it’s a movement. It’s a call to action that we can eat really good food that tastes great, without it being overly processed and loaded with unhealthy additives.”
Bob is taking Macro Chef to the next level to further that movement by partnering with high-quality cattle and poultry farmers and cultivating his own hydroponic garden for home-grown herbs and lettuces. “By doing these things, we hope to show people how much flavor can come from fresh products that are treated properly,” Bob tells us. “I think we are also inspiring people to get creative in their own kitchens. Our line of bulk foods allows people to create their own recipes without having to process and cook a bunch of raw ingredients. It’s exciting to see people tag us in posts with their creations!”
The “chef-prepared, athlete-approved” meals from Macro Chef cover breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything in between. Image: Logan Hyder
Since Macro Chef isn’t a subscription service, there are no ordering minimums or maximums. There’s no need to commit to several months of delivery, and there are à la carte selections available outside of the standard meal menu. To place an order, you can simply visit the Macro Chef website (macrochefmeals.com) and add items to your cart. Orders placed between Saturday at 9 p.m. and Wednesday at 9 p.m. are available for home delivery or designated pick up on Friday. Orders placed between Wednesday at 9 p.m. and Saturday at 9 p.m. are available for home delivery or designated pickup on Monday.
Cheers to happy, healthy eating in 2021!
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