Pin this Baked Bean, Sausage and Kale Skillet for later!

First things first, I miss being here on the blog! My last post was weeks ago and I can’t even believe how fast this month has gone. Life has been a little hectic since I started my classes last month – I have humbly admitted to those in my life that have had to witness my craziness lately (my poor husband and kids), taking two science classes with labs (Anatomy & Physiology 2 and Chemistry I) in one semester was not the best idea. (For anyone who doesn’t know, I went back to school earlier this year with the end goal of becoming a registered dietitian). I am drowning a bit and struggling to keep up with the school work, not to mention the learning curve (which I hugely underestimated) that comes with a class like chemistry – think scientific calculators, basic algebra and math equations and safely working in a lab with test tubes, beakers and “stuff” (aka chemicals). Oh my. The math by itself is rocking my world a bit, my brain is definitely rusty in that department!!

Deep breaths.

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What’s everyone making for dinner these days? I have to ask my friends what they are having for dinner all the time because let’s face it, it can be a chore to constantly come up with new dinner ideas every week. I am always looking for ideas!

Food blogger or not, the struggle is real to figure out what I am going to be able to get on the table within our schedule and that everyone will happily eat each night. I definitely try to stick with a rotation of a few regular meals, but it’s nice to change things up too. Since I already know my whole family loves the chicken cutlets my grandfather always makes for us, I had a good feeling they would love these Parmesan Baked Pork Chops too.

I was right. They gobbled them up.

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My kids went back to school this week. Although I truly enjoy the laid back, non-structured days of summer, by August I find myself feeling a little bit of a mess and craving some routine. Every start of the school year always makes me feel a bit more refreshed and energized and ready to take on a new season. Can anyone else relate??

(Welcome to 3rd and 5th grade! The little guy started preschool a couple mornings a week too. 🙂 )

One thing that I slack on big time over the summer is meal planning. I find myself winging it most days and nights and our dinners are a bit spontaneous and pieced together. Once school starts though, things change and I am a little more on the ball (ha!) with having a dinner plan, especially when after school and evening activities start up. I’ve learned I really have to be or we would be eating sandwiches or scrambled eggs every night for dinner (which isn’t a such terrible thing really, just a bit boring). Needless to say, I do look forward to the more structured idea of “dinner time” during the school year. These Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Pork Tostadas made it to the first week of dinner menu!

This is my first month posting along with The Recipe Redux group and our theme for August was “Back to the Dinner Table”. A perfectly appropriate challenge for all of us, especially this time of year, don’t you think? Getting us back into the groove of eating dinner together is always a good thing. If you are unfamiliar with The Recipe Redux, they are the first recipe challenge group created by Registered Dietitians with a focus on taking delicious recipes and making them better for you. When I first started blogging (over 7 years ago) I was a part of a couple of recipe challenge groups (a Barefoot Contessa group and Ellie Krieger group) and I had a lot of fun with them. It always kept me inspired to try something new so joining up with these awesome bloggers in The Recipe Redux group was a no brainer for me.  

One of my family’s favorite and most requested dinners is these Turkey and Spinach Tostadas. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made them in the last year. I wanted to change them up and do something a little different this week, so I got some help from my crock pot and made these super simple Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Pork Tostadas. You can use any green salsa you like, I took a shortcut and used this store bought salsa but if you are up for it make your own salsa from scratch (like my Roasted Tomatillo Salsa). The technique of baking up the tostadas is the same as the turkey and spinach ones, but this time I used the shredded salsa verde pork and added black beans (corn would be a great substitute for any family members that don’t care for beans).

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