This recipe and post were created in partnership with Shuman Farms’ Real Sweet Vidalia Onions.

This Three Bean and Vidalia Onion Salad has to be one of my favorite salads to make when we are barbecuing over the summer.  It’s a classic salad that you probably have seen more than once on a salad bar – but homemade is so much better! Wow, can you taste the freshness. I love to add sweet Vidalia onions for extra flavor, especially when they are in season mid-April to early August.

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Pin this Mexican Chicken Soup recipe here.

MEXICAN CHICKEN SOUP

We had a cold snap this weekend (nothing compared to everywhere outside of Florida) and with the colder weather I knew I was making soup on Sunday. Let’s be real though, I like to make soup almost every week no matter the weather or season. I also love making soup in my Instant Pot – it has been a game changer as far as hands-off cooking goes. I put the ingredients in, set the cook time and walk away to do the things I need to do. Next thing you know, dinner is ready.

I’m really starting to believe in the Instant Pot Magic I’ve been hearing so much about.

I love a good chicken and vegetable soup and this time around I was craving Mexican spices so I made this quick and easy Mexican Chicken Soup recipe in the Instant Pot based on mostly pantry ingredients with a few staple veggies I always have in the fridge. The best part is I’ll be having leftovers all week for lunch.

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I was introduced to delicata squash by my mom 7 years ago when she brought some to my house after receiving it in her weekly CSA basket from one of her local farms. At the time, both of us didn’t eat a lot of meat and she was excited to share this vegetarian stuffed delicata squash recipe she pulled together with me. My mom has always been good at pulling together meals with whatever she has on hand – I like to think I got those skills from her.

This Stuffed Delicata Squash recipe was originally posted in January of 2011 (see below). Ironically, my mom was here “saving the day” again a couple of weeks ago, just as I picked up a few delicata squash at Trader Joe’s. I love how Trader Joe’s can make an ingredient so popular, especially when it’s a fruit or vegetable. If you don’t have a Trader Joe’s near you, no worries, you can find delicata squash mixed in with the selection of hard squashes (spaghetti squash, acorn squash, butternut squash) at most grocery stores.

The filling in this recipe is made with garlic, onion, spinach and white beans. If you prefer to include meat, swap out the beans for cooked crumbled Italian sausage.

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Can also be made in the slow cooker – see recipe instructions!

This Summer White Chicken Chili Verde recipe was originally shared with you in June 2014. I’ve updated it with new photos, nutrition information and slow cooker instructions. It’s one I love making – leftovers make for quick healthy lunches. Enjoy!

Soup in the summer? Why yes, of course. I’m all in for soup for any time of the year, especially when it’s full of seasonal veggies like this white chicken chili verde recipe I made last week.

I have always found it best to have soup made and ready to eat in the fridge. It is truly one of my weekly go to meals especially when the late afternoons and evenings are busy with sports and activities or you’re just feeling lazy at dinnertime. It’s fairly easy to put together, though not necessarily quick – and it’s as healthy and chock full of nutrition and goodness as you want it to be. I like to think of soup as a good friend who is always there for you. 🙂

How do you make white chicken chili?

1. In a large soup pot, heat your olive oil over medium heat. Add your onion and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Add your peppers and zucchini and cook for an additional 5 minutes until all the vegetables start to soften and are fragrant. Add cumin, oregano, salt and pepper to vegetable mixture and stir.
2. At this time add your beans, broth, salsa and whole chicken breasts. Cover pot and bring to a slow boil. Let simmer for 30-45 minutes until chicken is cooked through (take a fork and pull apart to check).
3. Once chicken is cooked through, pull out onto a plate or cutting board and carefully shred into small pieces using two forks. Add shredded chicken back into the soup pot and cook uncovered for another 10-15 minutes. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust.
4. Serve with lime, fresh cilantro, cheese or Greek yogurt as toppings.

There is a great local produce market that I absolutely love to visit. I always leave there with way more fruits and veggies than I need, or can possibly cook in a week. I guess you can say this soup was inspired by a desperate attempt to clear out the produce drawer before anything went to waste. In the picture above you see some beautiful cubanelle peppers (that I can never ever resist) and a variation of zucchini I can only find at this produce market in the spring and summer.

If you don’t have either of these types of peppers or zucchini just substitute another kind of green pepper (poblano or bell would be great) or zucchini. Cubanelles typically have no heat and they have a light mild flavor so they are fun to cook with when you can find them (my grocery store tends to have them year round, I’m not sure if that’s a regional thing or not).

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I love the week that falls between Christmas and New Year’s Day. I am a reflective person so it brings me a lot of joy to look back at my year of personal experiences, my family, and my blog. I have to admit, having a blog makes it much easier to remember since it’s all documented and stamped with a date…makes me appreciate what this blog means to me even more, although due to the evolution of the (sometimes big, bad, scary) internet I find myself sharing more about food and less about personal & family over the years. It’s all good.

2016 was interesting. I turned 40. I went back to college. I embraced fitness and got strong (surprised myself). My oldest started middle school. We survived a scary hurricane. My daughter was a guest judge for a recipe contest at a produce conference. My baby turned 3 and became a little person, not really a baby anymore. I went out of my comfort zone and was a speaker at a dietician/healthy blogger conference (and loved it). I traveled to Vermont, Savannah and the Florida Panhandle. My friend Kristen came to visit me and we went to see Justin Bieber and Mickey Mouse. My family & I went to Disney – a lot. I withdrew from college. My husband & I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. I watched family members go through some health problems. We attended the most epic Indian wedding celebration. My daughter and I volunteered for the 2016 presidential campaign. I grew personally and professionally.

2016 was interesting, and good. As always, I’m ready and looking forward to a fresh start from starting a new year.

As for food…I shared a lot of recipes! I’m so grateful for all of you who visit me here, I wish you a very healthy and happy New Year.

Here are your favorites:

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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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This Slow Cooker White Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe was originally created in partnership with Bush’s Beans.

My slow cooker has been working on overtime lately. Actually, my goal lately has been to use it as much as possible since let’s face it, it makes getting dinner ready (when you’re not home to get it ready) 3 million times easier. With basketball practice and gymnastics and after school activities that kids need to be picked up from, those precious dinner making hours are basically non-existent when you have school aged kids. Right now I am in search of all types of slow cooker recipes that my family will love – would you share some of your favorites with me?

This White Chicken Tortilla Soup is a slight twist off of one of my favorite soup recipes – chicken tortilla soup. I decided to change up a few key ingredients such as using white beans instead of black and switching to poblano peppers (love!) from bell peppers. I used Bush’s Great Northern Chili Beans for added flavor, I absolutely love adding these beans to soups and chilis. This soup was devoured for dinner (then lunch) for a few days. So filling, yet so good for you!

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This recipe was created in partnership with Bush’s Beans.

If you like pork chops and barbecue then I am pretty certain you are going to love these Smothered Grilled Pork Chops today. I don’t cook pork chops often, but recently I picked up a couple of packages on sale since I know that my mother in law loves them and I want to treat her to dinner.

This meal made enough for them and my husband and I (I decided I wasn’t going to make the kids eat all those dreaded peppers 😉 ) and it was absolutely delicious.

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I don’t know about you, but lately, it has been way too hot to cook by the time dinnertime rolls around. I’m craving cold food – food that is light, crunchy and COLD (aka SALAD). Ironically, I’ve been in a bit of a salad rut so when that happens I usually seek out a boost of inspiration from whatever fruit and veggies are looking good at the markets as well as recipes I find online or in cookbooks…and of course salads I’ve made and loved in my own kitchen.

Today I’m sharing with you a few of my favorite healthy dinner salads from the archives. I dug back to find a couple I haven’t made in a while but I’ve eaten plenty of (I’m looking at you Blackened Fish Taco Salad). For the most part, these salad are no fuss and have minimal cooking involved. Beans, rotisserie chicken, leftover grilled steak or chicken are ideal to making any dinner salad complete in an instant, but if you have to quickly sear a piece of fish or some shrimp in a skillet it’s worth the effort and won’t heat up your kitchen too much.

I hope you find a little healthy dinner salad inspiration here to day! Have a great weekend!

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Click here to Pin these Oven Baked Black Bean and Cheese Quesadillas!

This sheet pan quesadilla recipe was created in partnership with Bush’s Beans.

For the last few weeks I’ve been really making an effort to write out, shop for, and follow a meal plan during the week. It’s worked wonders for us. The question of what to make for dinner is no longer an issue, and I feel more prepared each day. It’s definitely a habit I’m trying to stick with.

At least one night a week we squeeze in a Mexican themed meal. If it’s a particularly busy night I’ll even turn that Mexican meal into a meatless one to save the extra steps involved to cook up the meat. I always have cans of beans on hand, and if it was up to me, it would be my protein of choice on most nights. Mexican nights are the perfect nights for a good, easy meatless recipe if you ask me!

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