This post was originally published August 15, 2014. Since then, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made these Turkey and Spinach Baked Tostadas for dinner. This method of baking tostadas has inspired other baked tostadas recipes as well, like these Salsa Chicken and Bean Tostadas and these Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Pork Tostadas.

From August, 2014:

My goal these days is to make one dinner that everyone in my family will eat. It is not easy! As my kids have gotten older, there are foods that they used to like that they no longer like and of course there are foods that one likes and the other does not like. It’s hard to keep track of at times that’s for sure.

For the most part, I don’t tend to make any “special” meals, meaning I won’t make myself crazy by making individual meals driven by pickiness. I do expect my kids to try everything once (or twice, or more…I never give up), but there are some food battles that are just not worth fighting at times. I will, however, try to make our meals where I can leave out certain ingredients or parts of the meal off the plate (more for others). For example…this bean salad I recently made – my son wanted no part of it (that’s fine, he’ll get carrot sticks) and my daughter loves beans but not so much the onions and peppers (no problem, more veggies for me and my husband). I can work with that. Especially when the other part of the meal is something like this recipe for Turkey and Spinach Baked Tostadas that EVERYONE loved (phew!).

This is the kind of recipe I normally don’t think of posting here on the blog. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that most of us are probably in the same situation – busy and trying to feed a family healthy and nutritious meals most of the time. I always feel extra good on the days I accomplish that task so when I make something that works for my family and fits that criteria I will share it here – even if it seems a bit basic. (After 6 years of blogging I have learned that the most basic recipes I’ve shared here on the blog have been the most popular!)

These baked tostadas come together very quickly. I actually cooked up the turkey and spinach mixture earlier in the day which made it even easier to pull together at dinnertime. If you cook your turkey and spinach mixture at dinnertime, make sure it cools down a bit before topping the tortillas to prevent the tortillas from getting soggy.

Make sure you drain your defrosted frozen spinach well before adding it to your pan, if you don’t things might get a little watery but it will eventually cook off. I used my favorite homemade taco seasoning blend from my friend Julie.

Hope your family enjoys these as much as mine did! 🙂

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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.

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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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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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Something a little different for today…I want to introduce you all to a blogger that I enjoy reading for so many reasons – Olena of iFOODreal – Delicious Clean Eating recipes blog. If you are unfamiliar with Olena’s blog then you are in for a treat. Her blog is FILLED with delicious recipes that are healthy, clean and family friendly (and if you can’t already tell – gorgeous). I relate to Olena in many ways…we are both moms striving to be healthier versions of ourselves (with nutrition and exercise) and are focused on feeding our families the best we can. She is very down to earth and real, which I love and admire. You can read more about Olena, her interesting background (she’s Ukrainian and lives in Vancouver), food philosophy and passion for healthy living here.

Also, after the recipe below you’ll find a giveaway for her Clean Quick Dinner Recipes eBook – we are giving away 3 copies so be sure to enter. Thank you so much for being here today sharing your Clean Eating Half Meatless Marinara Sauce recipe Olena! (my kind of eating!!)

Hey guys. My name is Olena and I am an author of iFOODreal – Delicious Clean Eating recipes blog. Besides eating real and “clean” food, our family believes in eating local, organic and sustainable food as much as possible. Also recently we cut back consumption of animal products significantly, started to focus more on plants and meat became more of a side (as much as it makes sense). Healthier for us and for the planet.

Today’s recipe is a great representation of that – hearty, saucy and full of flavour. Ground meat of choice makes only 1/3 of the traditional Italian marinara sauce and the rest are lentils. Black lentils to be exact, which begin to be widely available. Lentils are high in fibre and rich in protein. Besides health benefits, substituting meat for lentils saves you quite a few dollars. I paid $2.50 for 2 cups of organic dry lentils at my local farm market. So, keep your eyes open next time you are grocery shopping.

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Click here to pin this Roasted Acorn Squash Bolognese recipe!

Leftovers…love ’em or hate ’em? I have mixed feelings about leftovers. They aren’t something that I normally get excited about, but I’m usually grateful for, especially at lunchtime the next day. I especially love when I can take leftovers and create something “new” with with them. This Roasted Acorn Squash Bolognese is a leftover mash-up (of these two recipes) that I enjoyed for lunch a couple of weeks ago. I’ve never eaten acorn squash this way and it was absolutely delicious!

I had just enough left over for a great low-carb meal for one…but this could easily be prepared for dinner. I love roasting acorn squash this way, it is simple and once it’s cooked up you just grab yourself a fork and knife and dig in. The squash cuts right off the skin, and when it’s topped with a hearty turkey and kale bolognese sauce it becomes such a filling, healthy meal that is truly perfect for this time of year.

With the time change and the evenings creeping up earlier I’m always craving warm, comfort food for dinner. Having lower carb options that down weigh me down is always a good thing.

The shorter days definitely make the evenings more cozy, wouldn’t you agree? I feel like it forces us to slow down a bit more, and just relax. I’ll take it.

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Click here to pin this Mexican Pasta Bake recipe.

This Mexican Baked Pasta is a recipe is I started making a few years ago while I was following the South Beach Diet.  I was inspired by a recipe that was shared on a South Beach Diet forum on the website iVillage and originally posted it here on the blog back in 2008. Since then, I’ve updated the recipe a bit by using ground turkey this time around and of course by taking new photos. 🙂

It’s such a great recipe and I felt like it deserved a little attention in 2014.

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Growing up, in New York, my family would always have a big Sunday lunch. Antipasto, pasta, bread, meats, salads, espresso, Italian pastries and cookies…this was all the norm on Sunday afternoons. Sometimes it would be just my immediate family that consisted of my grandparents, parents and siblings (we all lived together) but sometimes my aunt, uncles and some cousins would be with us. The lunch prep started early with sauce on the stove. We went to church, the kids played out in the backyard, my mom and grandma cooked, my dad went to the pastry shop (I would accompany him most of the time), my grandpa was out in the garden or in garage working on something. By 1pm, the table was set and it was time to eat.

(love these memories…my mom and sister are missing at the table – little me, Zia (my aunt who lives in Sicily now), my cousin, my grandparents, Zio (my uncle who is no longer with us), my cousin (in Sicily as well) and my father)

Oh what I would give to sit at that big table with my entire family all over again.

We moved from New York to Florida when I was 10 years old (a bit of culture shock, honestly) and continued the Sunday lunch tradition (just the immediate family), but once my parents opened up their restaurant it seemed like someone was always missing at the table, usually my father – sometimes my mother, because of work. That’s just the way it was. They were open on Sundays, closed on Mondays, a little different than how it was in New York where the pizza shop was always closed on Sundays.

As time passed and things changed, our family have grown, spread out and gotten busy. We get together as often as we can. When we do, our lunches may not be as big, but always a treat – and they almost always consist of a nice big plate of pasta and sauce with some meatballs, sausage and sometimes some vegetables from the garden or farmer’s market. I’ll never forget my husband’s first Sunday lunch with my family…his expression was truly priceless. He was a happy man.

A bowl of pasta and sauce will always remind me of home no matter where I am.

I tend to make my sauce a little different than how I remember my family’s Sunday sauce, especially on a weeknight. For the sake of time, feeding my family and getting as much nutrition in each bite as possible, I like to make pasta dishes like this Spaghetti with Turkey Bolognese. It’s simple, but hearty and hits all the food groups in one bowl.

My husband and kids always love pasta night and so do I. Total comfort – and feel good – food!

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