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.

(more…)

The post Taco Turkey & Black Bean Rice Bowl appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

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…)

The post 5 Ingredient Stuffed Poblano Pepper Recipe with Turkey and Black Beans appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

At breakfast, I’m typically an egg and toast girl. Every now and then I go through an oatmeal phase but for the most part I stick to a quick fried egg and a slice of lightly buttered Ezekiel bread with my cup of coffee. Eggs are also my choice when it comes to breakfast for dinner…which is when I started making these easy Black Bean and Egg Tostadas.

If you have all the ingredients on hand, which is highly possible, you can put these little tostadas together in literally just a few minutes. The recipe is for one tostada, but I can usually make (and eat) 2 at a time.

(more…)

The post Black Bean and Egg Tostadas appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

Click here to pin these Vegetarian Enchilada Stuffed Peppers!

If you’ve been reading my blog a while, then you may remember when vegetarian meals were more of the norm here. There was a good couple of years that I cut a lot of meat out of my diet (sticking with mostly seafood and whole grains for protein). I have always enjoyed eating meatless meals but I’ve learned it’s not always easy to pull those off with the entire family. I still try, though not as often as I used to…and honestly, sometimes I end up eating most by myself (makes lunch during the week extra easy this way!).

(more…)

The post Vegetarian Enchilada Stuffed Peppers appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

Click here to Pin this Recipe!

One of the keys to keeping my weight under control is to have grab and go options ready for me in my fridge. Right now, my family’s schedule is jam packed and I’m finding myself constantly in need of something quick, filling and healthy to grab for lunch or a snack. Quinoa salads (or grain salads in general) have always been a great option for me and this Corn and Black Bean Quinoa Salad has particularly been one of my favorites for years. You can pretty much always feel good about eating a protein rich salad like this when you are hungry and don’t want to sabotage all of your efforts at the gym (if you know what I mean!).

(more…)

The post Corn and Black Bean Quinoa Salad appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

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).

(more…)

The post Turkey and Black Bean Burritos appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

Click here to Pin this Recipe!

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a little obsessed with these baby bell peppers I’ve been finding at the grocery store. They are the perfect size in my opinion, making these Mini Mexican Stuffed Peppers a great side dish for our dinner the other night. I’d like to think they would be a nice hearty option for an appetizer too, especially during football season. A plate of these, alongside some quesadillas and chips and guacamole and you’ve got yourself a nice fiesta spread. I’m always a big fan of fiesta food.

To stuff these little peppers, I used Bush’s Beans line of Latin inspired preseasoned beans, Cocina Latina. The Frijoles Negros Machacados variety is reminiscent of refried black beans and are absolutely delicious. They are great on their own, served with rice, or would make a nice filling for tacos, quesadillas or enchiladas too.

(more…)

The post Mini Mexican Stuffed Peppers appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

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).

(more…)

The post Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Pork Tostadas appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

I’m all about easy dinners right now. Ok, let’s be real, I’m always about easy dinners. Summer is so hit or miss with dinner, meaning…most days we are running around doing fun summer stuff or even just being lazy around the house. No matter what type of day it is, if I’m not semi-prepared with at least a plan by the time dinnertime rolls around my mom brain is pretty much fried and not able to pull anything more than a sandwich together (of course, there’s always the take out option too). To avoid sandwiches and take out I’m trying hard to get a few standby dinners in rotation based on ingredients I regularly have on hand in the summer. Let me introduce you to my latest easy go-to dinner…chicken and summer squash fajitas.

(more…)

The post Chicken and Summer Squash Fajitas with Black Beans appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

Click here to Pin this Recipe!

I always seem to be a week late and a dollar short when it comes to posting recipes for food holidays. In theory, Cinco de Mayo is probably my favorite holiday as far as food goes (though obviously it is not technically just a food holiday, you know what I mean), but let’s be real it doesn’t need to be Cinco de Mayo for me to make or share a Mexican inspired recipe with you. Mexican food is a staple in our house, whether we are picking it up from one of our favorite local places or I’m cooking it up at home. I know I professed my love of Greek food recently, but Mexican food ranks high up on the list as well. Especially when it’s made with freshest ingredients like in this Mango Avocado and Black Bean Salsa recipe.

This Black Bean, Mango and Avocado Salsa is filled with all the fresh flavors of Mexican that I love. I made it a couple of weeks ago while my parents were visiting and they loved it. I love introducing my parents to foods they are not used to eating. We were not big Mexican food eaters growing up – other than the occasional taco night I don’t recall salsa or guacamole a regular thing until I was out on my own and cooking for myself.

(more…)

The post Mango Avocado and Black Bean Salsa Recipe appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.