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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Click here to pin this Italian Stuffing recipe!

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Click Here to Pin this Spinach and Egg Breakfast Toast recipe.

Well, say hello to my current favorite breakfast. If you read my last newsletter, you know that one of my goals lately is to get more veggies into my day (if you don’t receive my monthly newsletter and want to, sign up here!). It’s not that I love veggies any less than I did before, I’ve just been a little lazy about eating them.

Salads are always my go-to way to up the veggie intake but lately I’ve been challenging myself to get some veggies in at breakfast time. Since I eat eggs most mornings, scrambles are usually how I add veggies in at breakfast but I wanted to change things up.  I’ve been eating this Spinach and Egg Breakfast Toast all week and feeling pretty proud of myself for getting in a serving of spinach bright and early in the day. The spinach cooks up in the tiniest amount of time and once it starts to wilt I just push it to the side in the skillet and add my eggs. While my eggs are cooking I take my spinach out and top my toast with it.

Literally so quick and so easy.

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This is about as timely of a holiday/post-holiday recipe I think I’ve ever been. Egg salad the day after Easter – you got it!

I know if you are like me, right now you probably have a handful of hard boiled eggs in the fridge. I actually have been getting back into the habit of making hard boiled eggs the last couple of weeks to have for snacks, add into salads and make egg salad, which I love. I usually have eggs for breakfast but I’ve been trying to switch things up lately so that I can eat them at other times of they day.

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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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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.

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Click here to pin this recipe!

We have been lucky to know a few people with hens over the years, one being a friend who once came over with an incredible box. This box full of eggs. Apparently his hens were happy hens.

More recently, we got these from a neighbor…they have been supplying us with a good amount of fresh eggs for the last few years and I am ever so grateful!

How gorgeous are those eggs??

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Friends, I’m excited to share with you today a recipe from my dear friend Liz‘s new cookbook and passion project, Food From Our Ancestors: The Ultimate Italian Sunday Dinner. Reading through her book and her husband’s family’s recipes gave me such nostalgic feelings of my own Italian family and our traditions (that revolve around food). The food I grew up with is a big part of who I am, and I treasure it. What Liz has done for her family by pulling it together in a beautiful cookbook like this is truly a gift.

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Another day another frittata muffin. These little baked egg muffins have become a little obsession of mine the last few months, especially since my kids like them (not to mention, they are a good protein packed healthy alternative to the same old after school snack). These Broccoli Cheese Frittata Muffins with Quinoa are light and just right – adding quinoa to the egg mixture adds some density and a little extra filling which I love.

I have made them a few different ways now, Maria’s Frittata Muffins with peas, parmesan and quinoa and Baked Italian Sausage and Mushroom Frittata Muffins – both so good! The combinations are endless and fun to come up with, especially since my daughter is constantly asking for them and giving me ideas!

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Disclosure: This Smoked Salmon Frittata recipe post was inspired by and created in partnership with Princess Cruises.

Working out with a friend makes exercising so much more enjoyable, at least for me it does. I don’t normally have the opportunity to work out with friends (although, the trainers at my gym are my friends so I guess I do work out with friends every day). Recently when I was cruising with my dear friend Heidi, we made a promise to each other that we would get up every morning and get some exercise in. I was so happy to have someone on the same page as me, as well as someone who would make sure I got out of bed and got moving, even when I didn’t really want to.

The running deck was the perfect place to start our mornings. It wasn’t overly crowded, but there were a few walkers, runners and coffee drinkers enjoying the fresh morning air and peaceful ocean view.

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