I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time containing myself from buying too much every time I’m at my farmer’s market or favorite local produce shop.

How could you resist not going home with one of everything here??

Greens of every kind (I came home with swiss chard, fresh spinach and dandelion greens on this trip), local tomatoes (ours typically come from Ruskin, FL and you can literally smell the freshness as you walk up to the boxes of tomatoes), and a variety of beautiful eggplants, peppers and squashes you don’t typically see on your regular trip to the grocery store. Produce heaven!! I love it. Absolutely love it.

I pretty much always come home with a big bag of tomatoes. That’s a given.

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I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to get back in the salad again. Although soup really is one of my g0-to favorite ways to fill up (any time of the year), salads are high up on the list as well (if you’ve been reading my blog for a while then you probably know how much I love salad by now!).

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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!).

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We are a brown rice family. I make it pretty much every week because it is one side dish I know everyone loves and will eat. I try to make a big batch of it ahead of time for meal prep to make it easier to make recipes like this 5 Ingredient Vegetable Fried Brown Rice or to include in these Turkey and Black Bean Burritos. It is my go-to base for when I make stir fry so having it made ahead and ready to go definitely helps on nights when all I have time for is to stir fry. 🙂

I found this recipe for Cilantro Lime Brown Rice on the side of the bag of brown rice I purchased from my grocery store, Publix. (I {heart} Publix so much.) Since I was making rice for burritos, I decided to give it a try because, well, cilantro and lime. Doesn’t cilantro and lime pretty much make everything better?

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The recipe for Asian Almond Slaw Salad was developed in partnership with Fisher Nuts.

Anyone have Spring Fever yet? I think it’s safe to say always have spring fever, for the most part. Our weather situation in Florida is nothing to complain about but I cherish the small pocket of time it feels like spring here, which is right about now. I spent most of this last weekend in the yard trimming landscaping and planning for flowers. Cleaning up my herb pots is next on the list. Nothing feels as good to me as a few hours of work in the sunshine (when it’s not sweltering hot).

This is the time of year that I am also ready to get back in the salad. I say that all the time but January is just not a big salad month for me, and I have to be honest, I’m missing raw, crunchy veggies in my life right now. I pulled together this Asian Almond Slaw Salad in honor of getting back in the salad and sharing a heart healthy recipe with you since February is American Heart Month. I think it’s safe to say you already know that fresh fruits and veggies are considered heart healthy foods, but did you know that nuts are too?

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It’s hard to believe that I was actually sailing along the California Coast just a little over a month ago. Oh what I would give to be back on the Ruby Princess enjoying food, friends and adult beverages like one of these Pomegranate Rum Cocktails inspired by the Love Boat’s famous bartender, Isaac. With Florida weather still creeping into the 90s (um…yea, it’s November), my husband and I were able to enjoy these cocktails on our back patio over the weekend – not exactly the same as cruising but definitely helped us feel like we were escaping for about 10 minutes.

A fun fact I learned while cruising with Princess Cruises is that one of my favorite childhood shows, Love Boat, was actually filmed on their cruise line. Any other Love Boat fans out there? (I realized quickly while on our cruise that age played a big part in even knowing what the Love Boat was!)

One of the many things that made our Princess Cruise extra special was that Jill Whelan, who played the Captain’s daughter Vicki, was on board as their Celebrations Ambassador. She mingled with cruise guests, hosted special events and joined our group on excursions – talk about fun! Jill was so personable and it was a treat to get to know her as well as hear about her personal Love Boat experience (she was just a young girl when she was on the show).

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Remember how I mentioned I got a second dinner out of the pork I cooked for Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Pork Tostadas that included brown rice and vegetables? Well, these Sautéed Cilantro Lime Vegetables are the veggies that landed onto that dinner plate.

This vegetable medley of zucchini, yellow squash and red onion is the perfect side dish for so many meals from simple oven baked black bean and cheese quesadillas to Mexican baked pasta (both go-to dinners in my house). One of my favorite ways to cook veggies is by sautéing them over medium high heat with a tiny bit of oil and finishing them off with a squeeze of lemon or lime and fresh herbs.

Super quick and easy – not to mention, healthy and delicious. This is how to get your family to eat their vegetables!

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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.

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Click here to pin this Mexican Slaw Salad with Black Beans recipe.

(This post is sponsored by Bush’s Beans.)

Did I miss Taco Tuesday? Yea, I think I did this week. Well, save this recipe for next week then. Or don’t….there’s always Taco Thursday right? In my house there usually is.

My family and I eat Mexican inspired food at least once a week. Nothing fancy – tacos or tostadas are a favorite, so are quesadillas. Right now I’m totally obsessed with corn tortillas so that’s what I’ve been using a lot of but I am starting to miss my old stand by whole wheat tortilla quesadillas too. Corn tortillas have the best flavor in my opinion, but the larger flour tortillas hold a lot more filling and you can really get creative with those fillings at dinnertime – especially on the “clean out the fridge” type days.

What’s great about Mexican food is how simple and fresh it can be. I know a lot of restaurant Mexican dishes are smothered in cheese and sauce and that’s okay, but my favorite dishes are always the ones that boast fresh and colorful ingredients like veggies and beans. Cheese is of course a necessity when it comes to Mexican, but you can really pile on the veggies with all the cheese and it all balances out.

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Whenever I see avocados on sale at my grocery store (10 for $10 – best deal ever!), I can’t help but buy a million of them. My daughter, my youngest son and I can eat avocados every day so they really don’t go to waste when I bring home a bagful, especially since I’ve learned that keeping them in my fridge helps them last longer. Normally I just serve our avocados sliced up in a salad, smashed on toast or straight up for the little ones, but every now and then I get adventurous and throw them into a smoothie or make a dressing like this Creamy Avocado Lime Dressing.

I love including avocados in quesadillas like these Bean and Avocado Quesadillas (SO good!) or as a topping for Black Bean and Egg Tostadas (these are not just for breakfast – I love them for lunch and dinner too).

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