This post is sponsored in partnership with Produce For Kids.

If there is one thing that can make or break a busy week in our family, it’s meal prep and planning. As our kids have gotten older, they are involved in more and more activities and sports after school which keeps us moving before, during and after what used to be our dinner hour. It’s a short season of life, and what I’ve learned is how important it is for me to meal prep and plan to help things run a little more smoothly during the week (weekends too!), helping us to eat more meals at home.

Mission For Nutrition

I’ve partnered with my friends at Produce For Kids during the month of March in celebration of National Nutrition Month and their Mission for Nutrition program. Produce For Kids has recently launched the Mission for Nutrition program that will raise awareness on the importance of meal planning and prep to achieve regular healthy family eating.

Produce For Kids is providing a free e-book for you to download that includes a weekday meal plan and ideas for breakfast, lunch and dinner. On the Mission for Nutrition website, you will also find several articles for meal planning tips as well as links to meal planning podcasts. These are all great resources for anyone in need of meal planning ideas!

Partners of Mission for Nutrition are donating 80,000 meals to families in need through Feeding America®.

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The post Healthy Easy Skillet Meals For Busy Weeknights {Plus Meal Prep Tips for Families} appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

If there is one thing I’m learning it’s that I will always thank myself on Tuesday night for cooking up a batch of brown rice Sunday. Food prep like cooking grains, baked potatoes and even shredded chicken in the slow cooker ALWAYS saves me during the school week.

When I find myself unsure of what I want to make for dinner (not to mention, short on time), it’s always incredibly helpful to have a few staples already cooked up and waiting in the fridge. Brown rice is one of those staples and helps to make this super quick and easy Vegetable Fried Brown Rice possible even on the busiest of nights.

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For the last couple of months, I’ve been doing a great job of not only planning out dinners each week, but also going through my beloved cookbook collection to try out new recipes. I have quite a few favorite go-to cookbooks, two of them from my friend Mary of Barefeet In The Kitchen blog. Her style of cooking is my style of cooking – simple and perfect for our busy family.

I shared with you Mary’s Cheesy Southwest Beef & Potato Skillet from her first cookbook a couple of years ago and let me tell you, this dish is requested OFTEN in my house. My kids love it and have nicknamed it “cheeseburger on a plate”, I’m thinking the beef, cheese and potatoes have something to do with that. I’ll take it.

Mary’s most recent cookbook The Weekday Lunches & Breakfasts Cookbook is just as awesome as her first one. She writes her recipes so well, with clear and easy instructions that her young sons can follow and cook from. I love how she involves her family in the kitchen (if you follow her on Instagram you can catch glimpses of her sweet family).

This Asian Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry is the first I tried from her new cookbook and it’s one I know I’ll be making again. Seriously, so simple and comes together in under 30 minutes – my family loved it. I cooked it for dinner but it would be absolutely perfect if you are looking for something to meal prep for lunches throughout your week.

How do you make healthy chicken and broccoli stir fry?

1. Heat large stainless steel skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 tablespoon of oil, and let it warm for a few seconds. Add the onion strips and let them cook for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and stir. Push the garlic and onion to the outside of the pan.
2. Pour the remaining oil in the center of the skillet. Add the chicken. Spread across the skillet and sprinkle with cornstarch. Cook without stirring for 2 minutes, until browned, and then use a sturdy metal spatula to lift and flip each piece of chicken. Cook for 1 minute.
3. While the chicken is cooking, stir together the soy sauce, honey and chili paste. Add the sauce to the skillet and stir to combine.
4. Add the broccoli on top of the other ingredients and cover with lid. Cook for 2 minutes. The broccoli should be bright green and barely softened. Remove the lid and stir, scraping up any bits of sauce or meat from the bottom of the skillet. Simmer 1 minute to thicken the sauce, stirring frequently. Serve on its own or over rice, if desired.

All you need for this healthy chicken and broccoli stir fry is a skillet and a few ingredients – you can’t beat that!

I also cooked up her Slow Cooker Green Chile Pulled Pork last week which was great for quick quesadillas or rice bowls. There are so many recipes I have marked to try including her Slow Cooker Nutty Coconut Granola and Taco Rice (all pictured in collage below).

In addition to sharing Mary’s healthy chicken and broccoli stir fry recipe, we are giving away a copy of her newest cookbook, The Weekday Lunches & Breakfast Cookbook, as well as a bonus copy of her first cookbook, The Weeknight Dinner Cookbook. These are two cookbooks I feel will be a wonderful addition to anyone’s kitchen – especially busy families like mine and hers. These cookbooks are true gems! See directly below to enter giveaway. Recipe follows.

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Asian Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry

• Author: Mary Younkin | The Weekday Lunches & Breakfasts Cookbook
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: 4-5 servings
• Category: Dinner
• Method: Skillet
• Cuisine: Asian

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Quick, easy and healthy! This Asian Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry from The Weekday Lunches & Breakfasts Cookbook is a great addition to your weekday lunch or dinner rotation.

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Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tablespoons light flavored oil or refined coconut oil, divided
• 1 medium onion, sliced thin
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon chili paste
• 3 cups bite-size broccoli florets
• Cooked rice for serving (optional)

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Instructions

1. Heat large stainless steel skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 tablespoon of oil, and let it warm for a few seconds. Add the onion strips and let them cook for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and stir. Push the garlic and onion to the outside of the pan.
2. Pour the remaining oil in the center of the skillet. Add the chicken. Spread across the skillet and sprinkle with cornstarch. Cook without stirring for 2 minutes, until browned, and then use a sturdy metal spatula to lift and flip each piece of chicken. Cook for 1 minute.
3. While the chicken is cooking, stir together the soy sauce, honey and chili paste. Add the sauce to the skillet and stir to combine.
4. Add the broccoli on top of the other ingredients and cover with lid. Cook for 2 minutes. The broccoli should be bright green and barely softened. Remove the lid and stir, scraping up any bits of sauce or meat from the bottom of the skillet. Simmer 1 minute to thicken the sauce, stirring frequently. Serve on its own or over rice, if desired.

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Notes

Great for meal prep: Store this in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stove. This can be stored in one large container or portioned into individual servings for storage and reheating.

Note: Boneless skinless chicken breasts can be used in place of thighs in this recipe (I used chicken breast because it’s what I had in freezer). However, breasts will cook faster, so take care not to overcook.

Looking for more skillet meals that are great for make-ahead lunches or dinners? Check these out:

Skillet Italian Sausage and Peppers

Skillet Lemon Pepper Chicken with Artichokes, Mushrooms and Asparagus

Southwest Chicken Skillet

Sweet Potato Skillet Tex Mex Style

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This post was originally published September 24, 2014. I’ve updated it with new pictures and wanted to share it again since it’s apple season!

When Fall (and football season) hit I pretty much crave two specific (adult) beverages – pumpkin beer and hard apple cider. It’s a happy day when the pumpkin beer display appears at the grocery store. Hard apple cider, I’ve noticed, seems to be available all year round which is a treat because sometimes a cold, refreshing, slightly sweet apple bevvy really hits the spot on a warm evening on the patio.

I don’t cook pork chops very often at home. No reason why really, it just doesn’t seem to be something I remember to include when I am planning our meals. I really should start adding them into regular rotation because I’ve noticed when I do make them, everyone devours them – including the kids (the whole family loves these Parmesan Baked Pork Chops!).

I’ve always loved the flavor of pork chops with apples – adding the hard cider the mix just makes it better! If you are cooking for your family, don’t worry – the alcohol cooks off in the skillet making them kid friendly. (You can always use regular apple juice or apple cider instead.)

How to make Skillet Pork Chops with Apples and Onions

1. In a small bowl mix together salt, pepper, rosemary and garlic powder. Season both sides of pork chops liberally.
2. In a large heavy skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Place the pork chops into pan. (If not enough room, cook pork chops in batches). Cook on one side for 4 minutes until chops are golden brown and releases from pan easily. Cook other side for additional 3-4 minutes.
3. Take pork chops out and place on to a plate. Repeat with remaining pork chops, if needed.
4. Add sliced onions and apples into skillet. Season with pinch salt and pepper. Pour in part of hard apple cider (about 1/4 cup) to deglaze pan while tossing apples and onions. Add rest of hard apple cider and let simmer for 5 minutes uncovered or until liquid reduces a bit. Add pork chops back into skillet and cover.
5. Turn off heat and let sit for 1-2 minutes. Using tongs, take out pork chops and place in dish. Pour apple and onion mixture over pork chops and serve.

Since the pork chops are boneless and thin, this Hard Cider Skillet Pork Chops with Apples and Onions recipe cooks up fairly quickly making it a good option for a weeknight dinner. I don’t know about you, but I love skillet meals like this.

We ate these skillet pork chops with apples alongside these Cheddar Dill Roasted Red Potatoes but mashed potatoes or wild rice would be another great side as well.

PS…I’m curious, what’s your favorite hard cider or pumpkin beer?

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This recipe was inspired by one I found in Everyday Food Magazine – does anyone remember that magazine? It was always one of my favorites, and I’m so happy I chose to save a huge stash of them. I was just looking through them the other day and I can’t tell you how many pages I dog-eared with recipes that I want to make. Their recipes are always simple and straight forward, which is definitely my style of cooking.

I originally made this Mini Honey Mustard Meatloaf recipe in June of 2008 when I first started blogging. Here’s the picture I took of dinner that night:

You have no idea how it feels to look back almost 9 years to one of the first recipes I shared on this blog. It’s like I remember exactly the day I made the meal, and served it to my, at the time, 2 children who were only 3 and 1 years old!! It’s crazy. I remember my husband loving this one, and he still does. My kids too – I don’t make a lot of meatloaf, so this was a real treat for them and their response is always a good one. I need to put this back in the rotation more often!

Like I said before, these are simple and straight forward. I used ground chuck in the recipe this time around but I’ve used lean ground beef before as well. Your choice. I tend to pick up ground chuck occasionally when I shop at The Fresh Market for their $2.99 chicken and chuck Tuesdays.

What’s great about this meal is you can use the oven to roast up the potatoes at the same time. My kids adore roasted potatoes so I make them pretty often. This is one of my go-to ways to make them – a little olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Easy peasy.

Round out your plate with a nice green salad and you’ve got yourself a nice home cooked meal. Comfort food right? The best part for me is the portion controlled meatloaf. It’s the perfect amount and although it’s not the leanest of meats, I know I’m not eating more than I should. If you are concerned about your fat intake, then definitely switch to lean ground beef.

Need more ground beef recipe ideas? Take a look at this Ground Beef Stroganoff and this Instant Pot Low-Carb Soup with Ground Beef.

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Mini Honey Mustard Meatloaf with Roasted Potatoes

• Author: Aggies Kitchen
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings
• Category: Dinner
• Cuisine: American

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Mini Meatloaf recipe topped with homemade honey mustard and cheddar cheese. Portion controlled and cute for kids! Serve with roasted red potatoes and salad and you’ve got yourself dinner!

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Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon oil or cooking spray
• 3 tablespoons mustard
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1.5 pounds ground beef chuck or lean ground beef
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1 cup shredded white cheddar (about 4 ounces)
• 1.5 lbs baby red potatoes, quartered
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Set oven racks in top and bottom thirds of oven. Brush a rimmed baking sheet with oil or spray with cooking spray.
2. In a small bowl, mix together mustard, ketchup and honey.
3. In a medium bowl, combine beef, eggs, panko, garlic powder, 1/2 mustard mixture, 1/2 cup cheddar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and teaspoon pepper. Form into six 2-by-4-inch loaves; place on baking sheet. Brush with remaining mustard mixture and top with remaining 1/2 cup cheddar.
4. On another baking, toss cut potatoes with olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
5. Transfer meatloaves to top rack in oven and potatoes to bottom rack. Bake until loaves are cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating baking sheets after first 10 minutes. Remove meatloaves from oven and continue to cook potatoes for another 10 minutes, until browned and crisp. Serve with oven roasted potatoes and salad.

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Notes

Nutrition info is based on using lean ground beef.

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Click here to pin this Smoked Sausage and White Bean Soup with Spinach recipe!

Soup is one of my go-to foods when I feel that I need to reset and recharge my eating habits. It’s filling, it’s healthy (if you make it healthy, of course) and it’s usually really easy to pull together any day of the week.

One of my favorite soups to make is this Smoked Chicken Sausage and White Bean Soup with Spinach.

This soup is filled with staple ingredients that I almost always have in my pantry and fridge. Beans and basic veggies like carrots, celery and onions are really essential ingredients to almost all of my soups so I try to always have them on hand. I love using this chicken apple sausage and usually have a few packages in the freezer (it takes no time at all to defrost!).

It really does make for a perfect weeknight soup and leftovers are great for lunch the next day.

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This post was last published in November, 2015. It is still one of my favorite soups that can be made with lean ground beef and all the veggies in your fridge (specifically zucchini, green beans and carrots). Although we are still experiencing 90+ degree weather in Florida, I crave this light, yet hearty, soup all the time. It’s perfect for light lunches and dinners – it’s nice to make ahead so that you have something to quickly reheat when you are short on time.

Click here to PIN this Italian Vegetable Beef Soup recipe!

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Are you all turkey’ed out or what? I know I am. I had a few good leftover turkey recipes swirling in my head over the weekend (my daughter wanted me to make a turkey pasta salad, mmm), but honestly, I just didn’t get around to any creative leftover creations. We had a lot of turkey paninis and just straight up Thanksgiving plate reruns. It’s all good.

Moving on from turkey…I’m bringing up this Italian Vegetable Beef recipe from the archives. I originally posted this recipe back in December of 2009. Crazy how long ago that was! I remember I made this soup to take to my daughter’s preschool teacher who had just had surgery. When she got back to school, she told me her and her daughters loved the soup so much and wanted more. Yea, a compliment like that pretty much always makes my day. 🙂 Since then, I have made this soup quite a few times. It’s a great change from my typical chicken based soups, the lean beef (or bison) makes it a little extra hearty but still easy on the calories.

I’m sure most of you will agree that a bowl of good homemade soup is total comfort.  Soup has a way of warming up the body while nourishing it with so many health benefits at the same time.  I’m more of a broth base soup person, so I’m not really referring to the heavier creamy soups…not that those are bad, but they just don’t make me feel the same as a soup filled with lots of herbs and vegetables in broth.

Whenever I find that I have lots of vegetables in the veggie drawer that need to be used up, I usually make soup.  This particular day I had a nice variety of veggies….zucchini, squash, carrots and green beans. 

Add some dried herbs, lean ground beef and chicken broth and you’ve got Italian Vegetable Beef Soup.

Healthy Italian Vegetable Soup

1. In large stock pot, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat and add zucchini, squash, carrots, garlic and onions. Cook for about 8 minutes until vegetables start to soften.
2. Add seasonings, tomatoes and chicken broth to pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer.
3. Add green beans and cooked ground beef.
4. Simmer soup for about 20 minutes.
5. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve with Parmesan cheese and cooked pasta if you like.

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Italian Vegetable Beef Soup

• Author: Aggies Kitchen
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings
• Category: Soup
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: Italian

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Break out the vegetables for this light and savory Italian Vegetable Beef Soup recipe. It’s loaded with great vegetables like zucchini, squash and carrots. Healthy (and easy) comfort food!

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Ingredients

• 2 tb olive oil
• 2 zucchinis, quarter chopped
• 2 squash, quarter chopped
• 2–3 carrots, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1–2 cups green beans, cut in 1 inch pieces
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• good pinch of salt and pepper
• 1 32oz can of Italian diced tomatoes, with juices
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1 – 1.25  lb lean ground beef or bison, cooked and crumbled
• Parmesan cheese, optional

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Instructions

1. In large stock pot, heat 2 tb olive oil and add zucchini, squash, carrots, garlic and onions. Cook for about 8 minutes until starting to soften. Add seasonings, tomatoes and chicken broth to pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer. Add green beans and cooked ground beef. Simmer soup for about 20 minutes. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve with Parmesan cheese and cooked pasta if you like.

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Notes

Note:  amounts of vegetables can be varied.  Use what you have on hand.

Healthy Soup Recipes

Soup is one of my go to meals when I’m trying to trim some pounds or just generally feel healthier. Some soups I tend to make often are  Slow Cooker Italian Sausage and Kale Soup with Sweet Potatoes, Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup, Italian Tomato and Lentil Soup and Healthy Chicken Tortilla Soup. I’m ready to try this Beef Taco Quinoa Soup and Fall Vegetable Quinoa Soup!

Follow Aggie’s Kitchen’s board Soup, Stew and Chili Recipes on Pinterest.

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Click Here to Pin this Taco Rice Bowl recipe!

One thing I’m quickly learning these days is that the more prep I do as far as meals go, the smoother dinnertime is during the week. For instance, when you find yourself with some time to spare over the weekend (or while you are in the kitchen already cooking up something else), go ahead and cook up some brown rice to put in the fridge ready to go for another meal.

I’ve been trying to do that each week and because I did last week, for instance, these Taco Turkey and Black Bean Rice Bowl meals were a breeze to pull together for dinner. Cooking up the brown rice ahead of time freed up some cook time at dinner where I just had to pull together the taco meat and bean mixture while assembling the bowls.

Normally a pound of ground turkey doesn’t go very far for my hungry family of 5. I stretch it a bit by bulking it up with black beans, chopped red pepper and onion as it browns. Four out of 5 of us love black beans so adding them to our taco meat is always a more economical (and healthier) option in my book.

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A while back, I had a conversation with a friend about pesto – she had never really used it in her cooking and asked me “what do you do with it??”. I love conversations like this because it makes me remember how much I love exchanging ideas with others when it comes to cooking and food. What may be old news to someone may be completely new to someone else.

I’ve been making and cooking with pesto for years but it wasn’t something I grew up with – even in my Italian family. I started making it when I started cooking as an adult (thank you Giada) and I typically only make it when I have big pots of basil growing on my patio. As much as I wish I could make fresh pesto all the time, reality is, buying a jar of my favorite pesto from Costco happens more often than homemade. When I discovered this pesto (I’m usually hesitant to buy jarred sauces but the ingredient list is pretty straight forward on this one), it became a regular purchase for me when I shop at Costco. It’s one of my favorite convenience items that you can almost always count on finding in my fridge.

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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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