You know I’ve been to Costco when you start to see recipes with pesto and goat cheese popping up frequently on the blog. I can’t help it. There are a few staples from Costco that I can’t be without and their pesto and goat cheese are two of them.

I have to admit, since trying the pesto from Costco I really haven’t made any at home – it’s that good (for store bought!) and you just can’t beat the convenience or price.

These Roasted Red Peppers with Pesto and Goat Cheese were inspired by my neighbor who made for us once and brought some over for me to try. He actually cooked his on the grill and wow, they were amazing. I could not wait to make them for myself. I wanted to try them on the grill, but honestly this past week here in Florida has been so brutally hot and muggy that the thought of standing over a grill “testing” a recipe just didn’t appeal to me. Roasting them up in my oven worked just as well, and I got to enjoy the a/c while doing it.

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Click here to pin this Harvest Farro Salad recipe!

Originally published in November, 2016.

Have you all tried farro yet? I’ve shared a few recipes using it here (like this Garden Farro Salad with Feta and Italian Tuna and White Bean Farro Salad – you must make both!). Farro is amazing – and for so many reasons. It’s a hearty whole grain with a lot of oompf to it, quite the opposite of quinoa or couscous. It’s got so much texture and a nutty flavor that I love, which is why I enjoy it so much in salads like this.

Here’s the other thing I love about it, it’s got 7 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber in it. It will fill you up and make you feel good. Salads like this are perfect option for lunches in my opinion. A no brainer.

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Pin this Honey Roasted Parsnips and Carrots recipe!

I originally posted this recipe in October of 2015. I have been craving roasted veggies so much lately and was eying parsnips at the store yesterday so I remembered how much we loved them prepared this way.

It’s my favorite time of the year – fall! So much to love about fall, but for me I really do love the shift in what we are eating. Summer food is fresh and fun, but fall brings in so many warm flavors to experiment with – wouldn’t you agree?

I’m really trying to change things up at home lately and introduce some new foods to my family. Carrots are obviously not new, but parsnips are! I’ve made them for myself before and loved their unique taste, and I couldn’t wait to try them again and try some new parsnip recipes on them.

To help my family (specifically my kids) be more open to trying a new veggie, I thought it would be helpful to pair them up with a vegetable they are very familiar with and already love – carrots. We eat roasted carrots almost weekly so it was nice to change it up just slightly with these Honey Roasted Parsnips and Carrots recipe.

Like this parsnip recipe? Pin it here!

I sliced up the carrots and parsnips into “sticks” so they were more like a finger food. You can do this easily by cutting any long vegetable at an angle, then cutting again longways. As soon as they came out of the oven my kids gravitated toward them, first saying how good they smelled, then asking to try them. I could not keep them from eating them right off the baking sheet!

That’s always a good sign.

Don’t forget to sprinkle them with plenty of kosher or sea salt. It’s all good, trust me!

If you have any favorite roasted parsnip recipes, please share them with me, I would love to try more.

These roasted parsnips and carrots would be absolutely delicious served with Mini Honey Mustard Meatloaves or Cajun Baked Salmon Cakes. If you are craving more fall veggies check out these Maple Balsamic Roasted Vegetables, Fall Panzanella, or this Farmhouse Shepherd’s Pie with Fall Vegetables.

For those that don’t know, I contribute monthly to Produce For Kids blog. I love this organization! This Honey Roasted Parsnips and Carrots recipe was inspired while writing my latest article for them, a roundup of Roasted Root Vegetables for Fall – check it out for more ideas and links to recipes for autumn root veggies.

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Honey Roasted Parsnips and Carrots

• Author: Aggie Goodman

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Ingredients

• 4 parsnips, peeled, cut diagonally then into strips
• 4 carrots, peeled, cut diagonally then into strips
• 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• coarse salt and fresh ground pepper

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine oil and honey at the bottom of a large bowl. Add carrots and parsnips to bowl and gently toss until all your vegetables are coated in oil and honey mixture.
2. Place vegetables onto a large baking sheet. Sprinkle liberally with coarse salt and fresh ground pepper.
3. Bake for 15 minutes. Take baking sheet out and using a spatula carefully flip over carrots and parsnips. Bake for another 5-7 minutes until veggies are nicely and evenly browned. Season to taste with additional coarse salt and pepper.

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Years ago, I discovered this Green Bean Salad with Feta recipe in a Southern Living magazine and made it pretty much every time there was a family get together or pot luck. I was obsessed with it and it became my signature recipe (at least in my mind). I love green beans, more so in a salad form than any other way. Especially in the summertime.

I decided to turn my beloved Green Bean Salad into this Lemony Green Bean Pasta Salad, making it more of a meal. I don’t know about you, but I appreciate pasta salads during the summer because it means not having to really cook if you aren’t in the mood for anything too heavy. This green bean pasta salad is simple but filled with so much flavor. It includes veggies, walnuts, feta and whole wheat pasta so it is filling and substantial in the best way possible. I made the switch to whole wheat pasta over 10 years ago and it’s all my family eats now, but feel free to use your favorite type of pasta.

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Next month, this blog turns 9 years old. I seriously can’t believe I’ve been sharing recipes online for that long. I’ve been digging around in my archives, looking at some of the food and recipes we’ve eaten over the years and to be honest, it makes me feel so nostalgic! I started a little project of remaking some of the recipes so I can update the photography and clean up the posts. One of the recipes I recently remade was from June of 2008, the first week I started blogging. I’ve made these Mini Honey Mustard Meatloaves with Roasted Potatoes so many times over the years and it’s one of my family’s favorites – not only did I add new photos to the post, but a video as well.

While I was revamping that post, I uncovered a slaw recipe from Cooking Light that I had made with it…and decided to change it up a bit. I love slaw salads of all kinds…some of my favorites include this Asian Almond Slaw Salad, this Mexican Slaw Salad with Black Beans and one of my lunch time go-tos this Broccoli Slaw Salad I make with gorgonzola, nuts and balsamic vinegar. Good stuff!!

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If you received my newsletter on Friday then you know I’m totally loving asparagus right now. It’s hard not to pick some up every time I walk past a display of it at the grocery store lately. Like most vegetables, I typically like to simply roast it, but I couldn’t help but add some of my favorite flavors to elevate it a bit – balsamic, gorgonzola and walnuts were meant to be together and you really can never go wrong with that combo.

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Click here to pin this brussel sprout recipe!

I am raising my hand to admit I ate way more Halloween candy than I planned on eating last night. As I was saying to a friend while trick-or-treating, if I can get through Halloween night without tasting anything from my kids’ stash then I can pretty up muster up enough self control to turn the other way the rest of the week that candy is unfortunately front and center. But, I could not resist a Snicker Almond or a 1000 Grand (rare delights) which then lead to my all time favorite Reese’s PB cup. This morning, I’m thinking I’m satisfied and can move on from the sampling of the stash. Well, that is what I’m telling myself!!

Here’s something else I feel like admitting. I’ve put on almost 10 lbs since this summer. Gulp. That is really hard to write! I’ve known it, and I’ve thought it, but writing it just feels different. Those 10 lbs are really getting to me. I’m not sure what’s going on but I know I’ve been eating way more than I need to, and am just feeling really lazy about food choices lately (resulting in a lot of empty calories). It doesn’t feel good at all. Besides my clothes not fitting (obviously), my lower back is hurting more than normal and I’m feeling a little less confident and just plain uncomfortable. It’s time to nip this in the bud!

Plan of action: Daily cardio/strength workouts, tracking food in My Fitness Pal, 10k steps on my Fitbit, and meal/snack planning. No excuses!!

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Remember how I mentioned I got a second dinner out of the pork I cooked for Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Pork Tostadas that included brown rice and vegetables? Well, these Sautéed Cilantro Lime Vegetables are the veggies that landed onto that dinner plate.

This vegetable medley of zucchini, yellow squash and red onion is the perfect side dish for so many meals from simple oven baked black bean and cheese quesadillas to Mexican baked pasta (both go-to dinners in my house). One of my favorite ways to cook veggies is by sautéing them over medium high heat with a tiny bit of oil and finishing them off with a squeeze of lemon or lime and fresh herbs.

Super quick and easy – not to mention, healthy and delicious. This is how to get your family to eat their vegetables!

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I’m not sure how it happened, but it’s August. Yikes. My kids have informed me they have mixed feelings about going back to school in just a couple of weeks. There’s the excited anticipation of finding out who your teacher is and what friends are in your class, and of course there’s also the dreaded grind of homework that is lurking around the corner. So mixed feelings it is. For me too.

This Orzo with Pesto and Peas dish reminds me a lot of something my mom would make us when we were kids. We always had pasta with peas or even rice with peas for dinner. I think I understand why – it’s quick, inexpensive and is just enough to fill up small children’s bellies. I’ve made this pesto version (because, you know me + pesto = <3 ) quite a few times and it works as a great side dish to grilled chicken or salmon or on it’s own for a light (lazy) dinner. The sun dried tomatoes add a color and flavor that I just love.

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This Toasted Almond Herbed Brown Rice recipe was created in partnership with Fisher Nuts.

I don’t know about you but I have herbs growing like crazy right now. I finally found the sweet spot around my home as far as where my herbs thrive and grow well. While they need plenty of sun, a little shade really helps keep them from burning up and drying out in the summer heat. A spot where the sun is filtered through the shade of a tree and close enough to a hose for easy watering (they need lots of watering, especially if they are in pots like mine) is the perfect location for healthy happy herbs. I’ve definitely learned to move my potted herbs around over the years until I find that sweet spot.

So when you have a ton of herbs, what do you do with them? Well, it’s pretty obvious what to do with some of them (I’m looking at you, basil). Something I tend to do often take some clippings from a few different herbs and add them to recipes for a fresh boost of flavor, like in this Toasted Almond Herbed Brown Rice.

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