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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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This post is sponsored by Fisher Nuts.

Every time I walk past the seasonal squash display in the produce section I have to grab a couple of something. Until I cooked up this Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe a couple of weeks ago my counter was filled with a family of acorn squash, delicata squash and old reliable, spaghetti squash. It’s a good thing they have a pretty decent counter life because I’ve been more of a collector than a cooker lately so it took some time to finally getting around to baking them up.

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the acorn squash though. I have prepared Stuffed Acorn Squash before and I absolutely love it. This stuffing is filled with crumbled Italian chicken sausage, kale, walnuts and grated Parmesan cheese – so simple and so delicious when you scoop up a bite with the sweet squash. Sausage and kale are a match made in heaven and adding crunchy walnuts to the mix just put it over the top. I’m very texture driven so I loved the crunch from the walnuts, along with the earthy nutty flavor.

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This post was created with America’s Dairy Farm Families and Importers, in partnership with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. However, the views and opinions included are my own.

A few weeks ago I spent a morning at Milk-A-Way Dairy, a dairy farm just a couple hours from my house. In just a few hours I had such an eye opening and educational experience, learning so much about dairy farming, the families and people behind it and the cows themselves.

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As much as I try, I don’t always leave the grocery store with everything on my list. There are things I forget, and there are things I add on. There are always things I add on. I have trouble walking through the produce section and not leaving with a good amount of extra produce that I have absolutely no official plans for, but couldn’t resist picking up and putting in my cart. Poblano peppers, I haven’t purchased them in forever and there was no way I was going home without them when I saw them the other day.

There were a few things I had in mind for these poblano peppers. I wanted to add them to this Summer White Chicken Chili. I also wanted to remake this Kicked Up Cucumber Salad from years ago.

Instead, the idea for stuffing them came into mind and I went with it. So glad, because these Stuffed Poblano Peppers turned out amazing and fed me some easy lunch for a couple days I made them for dinner. (more…)

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Like this healthy pesto pasta with turkey recipe? Pin it here!

I love connecting with other moms in the same “season” as me. With having 2 kids ages 12 and 9 along with a toddler age 3, I sometimes feel like I’m straddling in between two different worlds off motherhood. If you have kids in the older elementary school/middle school age that are active in sports and other activities, then you probably understand what I mean when I say weeknights have become quite the juggling act between homework, dinnertime and practices. I absolutely love that my kids are involved in sports and I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way.

I find that most moms sitting at their kids’ practices usually have dinner on their mind and it always comes up in conversation. We are all trying to figure out how to get everyone fed in the easiest, healthiest way possible and get to where we need to go. That is the reality we are in and I have a feeling this season will fly by, just like the others have (until I have to do it all over again with the little guy!).

 

A photo posted by Aggie Goodman (@aggieskitchen) on Oct 27, 2016 at 2:02pm PDT

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This Turkey and Black Bean Burritos recipe was created for Bush’s Beans.

My kids were introduced to Chipotle burritos within the last year and they are completely hooked – my son in particular. It’s fun to see them order something other than a cheese quesadilla when we are out for Mexican so I’m happy they picked burritos because it’s given me another family meal idea to work with at home (we make a lot of quesadillas and tostadas already).

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One big thing I’ve been doing lately is trying to cook from my cookbooks more. I have a huge cookbook collection that I covet, yet sadly they are just sitting pretty on a shelf in my kitchen the last couple of years. How did that happen? (The internet, that’s how). Well, things are changing. My kids have heard me talk about how I miss cooking from my cookbooks and they’ve been pulling some off the shelves and onto the kitchen table lately so that we can look through them and find something to try. This has been fun for all of us!

I bought this cookbook last year when it came out – Aarti was one of my FAVORITE Next Food Network Star contestants and I watched her show regularly after she won her season (did she win her season? I can’t remember now). Total sadness that it is no longer on air. My daughter loved her show too, and my husband and I pretty much were introduced to Indian food because of her (LOVE). This recipe for Kheema comes from her cookbook and made it to our meal plan this past week. We loved it.

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I am so excited to share today’s recipe for Spaghetti Squash (aka “Squashta”) with Turkey Bolognese with you. Not only is it one that includes spaghetti squash (my low carb / low calorie answer to my beloved pasta cravings), but it’s a recipe from The Skinnytaste Cookbook written by Gina Homolka. Gina has been writing the Skinnytaste blog for as long as I can remember looking up recipes online (I actually remember when it was called by another name way back in the day). Her blog, as well as her new cookbook, is filled with flavorful healthy recipes, easy enough to make any day of the week for your family. What I love most about Gina’s recipes is that they are filled with wholesome real ingredients, lots of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains – definitely my kind of food…and the way healthy eating should be.

I have a pretty good feeling most of you probably already know who Skinnytaste is. 🙂

The Skinnytaste Cookbook: Light on Calories, Big on Flavoravailable for pre-order on Amazon or enter for a chance to win a copy – see giveaway details at the end of this post.

Let’s talk about spaghetti squash, have you tried it? Do you like it? I love it. I started eating spaghetti squash not long after I had my daughter several years ago, around the time I started to really pay attention to how I was eating, cutting back on carbs and calories and really focusing on losing weight. I have mostly made it “Italian style” like in this Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Vegetable Ragu or served with Turkey Spinach Meatballs. I’ve even gotten a little creative and kicked it up in this Thai Curry Spaghetti Squash recipe – so good. I think learning how to cook spaghetti squash is usually the first hurdle to get past, but once you get the hang of how to cook it the ideas are endless.

If you are wondering if spaghetti squash tastes like pasta, let me assure you that it does not. It most definitely tastes like a squash. It has a very mild flavor and light stringy texture so to me adding a hearty sauce to it like this turkey bolognese sauce along with a little Parmesan cheese really satisfies any craving for pasta when I don’t want to actually have pasta. Like I said, I love it.

This little guy loved it too. (He’s at such a fun age to introduce new foods.)

When I received The Skinnytaste Cookbook in the mail last week I knew right away I was going to make this recipe, especially since I had just picked up a spaghetti squash from the grocery store the day before. But I’ll be honest with you, it was hard to settle on one recipe because there are plenty of recipes that I can not wait to try.

Corny Banana Blueberry Pancakes, Chicken Marsala on the Lighter Side, Bangin’ Good Shrimp and Butternut Squash Lasagna Rolls are just a few recipes that I can’t wait to make for my family.

This recipe for Skinnytaste Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Bolognese is a keeper, that’s for sure, and one I will be making again.

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(I have to thank a reader seeking out this recipe – that was originally posted on another site – for letting me know the link to that recipe was no longer active. I’m bringing an older post up to the surface today, with the full recipe included. Have a great week! PS…thank you to all who commented on my last post on blog burnout, I appreciate every single one of you!)

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Originally posted on January 11, 2012.

Note to self: make lettuce wraps more often at home.

Seriously people, don’t you just love lettuce wraps? Why do I always forget about them?? I’m obsessed with the ones at PF Changs (the vegetarian tofu ones are awesome for first-time tofu tasting!) and have had the copykat recipe bookmarked for them for years, but never got around to it.

Well, these probably aren’t as good as theirs, but they are still good. And they are low carb, and diet friendly. And you just feel good after eating them.

Here are the cast of characters that made these lettuce wraps possible…

I like to keep the Asian section of my pantry and fridge stocked up for meals like this. For this recipe I cooked with lean ground turkey breast, and if you’ve cooked with lean ground turkey breast then you know that it can be kinda…well, kinda plain.

Chinese five-spice powder is still new to me and I really like it (I’ve made it on this fish before and it was awesome). It’s interesting…and unique. I sprinkled it over the turkey breast while it was browning with some onions and carrots. Nakano rice vinegar is pretty much a staple whenever I’m cooking up Asian because it just adds so much flavor and brightens things up without any calories, fat, etc etc. I combined the rice vinegar, tamari, black bean sauce and agave into a sauce mixture and added it to the meat toward the end of cooking to develop and finish off the filling.

My entire family loved these turkey lettuce wraps. This is the only time my son eats lettuce, the excitement he has over lettuce wraps is mind boggling since he is so anti-salad. If that’s not a reason for making them more often I don’t know what is.

Hope you’re having a great week!

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I don’t make meatloaf – of any kind – very often, for no other reason other than it just doesn’t come to mind when I think of what to make for dinner. That’s probably because I didn’t really grow up eating meatloaf, so it doesn’t really fall into the everyday comfort food category for me. Does it for you?

There are two meatloaf recipes that I have made over the years when I have made meatloaf and they have become my go-to meatloaf recipes. They are both very different from each other and it just depends on whether or not I want a more traditional recipe like this copycat Boston Market Meatloaf recipe, or a lighter but oh so delicious one like Barefoot Contessa’s Turkey Meatloaf (I love this one!!).

Anytime I do make meatloaf, my meat loving husband is a happy man. And after making these Mini Cheddar-BBQ Turkey Meatloaf Muffins apparently now I know that my children are both fans as well. I guess I know whats going into the dinner rotation more frequently (along with this Mini Honey Mustard Meatloaf recipe we love).

I was inspired to make this mini versions of meatloaf from my friend Liz, who writes the blog The Lemon Bowl (I’ve been finding myself stalking her blog for dinner ideas quite frequently, along with Melanie’s blog, Nutritious Eats). It’s nice to get ideas from other busy moms that like to eat food you like to eat, and have to still feed young children food that they will like as well – I’m always inspired by both ladies!

These turkey meatloaf muffins came together super easily and quickly, using ingredients I always have on hand.

Side Dish Recipes For Mini Turkey Meatloaf Dinner

Oven roasted potatoes like these Roasted Red Potatoes with Smoked Paprika or Dill Potato Wedges are always great side dishes for this meatloaf recipe.

Other veggie side dishes for this dinner:

Corn, Tomato and Basil Saute

Roasted Green Beans with Almonds

Honey Roasted Parsnips and Carrots

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