If I had to pick a favorite way to prepare potatoes, it would have to be oven roasting them. I love how they get perfectly crisp on the outside, but still soft on the inside when baked at high heat in the oven. I love seasoning them up real well too; potatoes can be like a blank canvas with endless possibilities with help from your spice cabinet.

This potato side dish is one of my favorite recipes to make – and one of my family’s favorite to eat, it’s one of my main go-to recipes. I can’t tell you how many times I have made them for my family. (Another family favorite are these Cheddar-Dill Roasted Red Potatoes – you’ll have to give them a try too).

Like this Side Dish Recipe? Pin It Here!

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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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Click here to pin this delicious one-pot meal!

We are into the second of week of school in these parts and are finally starting to settle in our new routine that entails 3 kids in 3 different schools. That is, until next week when I start my fall classes at our local community college (for those that don’t know, I’m back in school working towards my second Bachelors degree, this one is in Nutrition and Dietetics). I’m so excited about getting back to class, but next week will be the true test of my sanity!

Like every year during the back to school season, I’m feeling refreshed, excited and determined to send my kids off to start a successful and fun new school year.

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Today’s recipe is one of those that I wasn’t sure about sharing because it’s so easy, but from experience I know you all love those the best. 🙂 It’s my go-to way to make shredded barbecue chicken in the slow cooker – I use this chicken in so many different recipes (not just barbecue chicken sandwiches!). I love making shredded chicken like this because 1) it makes a lot so we get a couple of meals out of it and 2) it is very versatile (it’s seasoned well, but without sauce). You can always freeze what you don’t use as well. With a family a 5 I usually don’t have a problem using it all up, over a couple of meals.

Ideas for this all-purpose Slow Cooker Shredded Barbecue Chicken:

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I have a great Chipotle Chicken Chili recipe for you today. I love making chili and as often as I make it I tend to stick with my usual turkey chili recipe for most weeknight meals. This week I wanted to change things up and honestly, I wanted to specifically kick things up and make it spicier than usual. If you didn’t already know, I love spicy food and I really enjoy experimenting with different chili powders when I make chili. This Chipotle Chicken Chili is pretty simple to put together, but the flavor from the chipotle chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, Bush’s Chili Kidney Beans and my little secret ingredient is out of this world.

If you like a warm spicy flavor, then I think you will really dig this Chipotle Chicken Chili.

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It’s a happy day for my husband when he finds out I came home with a steak from the grocery store. For whatever reason, we (I) don’t eat a lot of red meat, I think it may stem from my family not eating a lot of it in general when I was growing up. I have nothing against it, I just don’t have a natural desire to cook or eat it regularly…but the other day I did get a craving for a nicely grilled flank steak.

Flank steak is probably my favorite cut of steak, it’s lean and absolutely delicious grilled, like this Grilled Flank Steak with Brown Sugar rub I’m sharing today. Any other flank steak fans out there?

Summer has officially kicked off in our household (yay!!) – school ended earlier this week and I have to say, I am so happy to breathe easy again. This last month of school has been ridiculously busy with projects, book reports and school functions…as it is every year. I forget what May is like until I’m a week in and then I’m like…Ohhhhh myyyyy, where is summer????

Well, summer is here for us, and we are all smiles in these parts. I’m a little extra smiley this week because not only did school end, but a big house project I had been planning ended too. When we moved into our new house a year and a half ago I had a list of a million things I wanted to do, reality is you need a lot of money and time to get all those things done so I’m pacing myself. 🙂

My big spring/summer project was to get my outdoor space cleaned up and functional. We had pavers added to a couple of areas off our driveway and pool area and turned the space into a beautiful outdoor seating area and place to grill. I have always loved using my grill and considered it an extension of my kitchen. With my new outdoor space, my grill is back in business and I’m about to turn into a grilling machine – this is my favorite time of year to use the grill, not only because of the weather (it’s actually NOT ideal grilling weather in Florida ha ha), but because of all the amazing produce in season. Grilled veggies are the best!

Here’s a peek at one of my new happy spaces…our new grilling area and my herb container garden (right off our kitchen and family room):

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It’s been just a month since I made a big change to my workout routine and joined a new gym that offered a great personal training program. Friends, I have never squatted so much in my entire life as I have in this last month. Squats, lunges, mountain climbers, burpees, ropes, kettle bells, sled pushing…these were all slightly foreign to me before this month. I definitely feel stronger, and I’m hooked on getting 4 workouts in each week. The early mornings (4:20 wake up call) are getting a lot easier too (the key for me is to have my clothes laid out the night before, like laid out right next to my bed, things run more smoothly once I get my workout clothes on).

(nothing beats how good it feels to be done with your workout before 6am, truly)

One thing that I’m a little discouraged about is that I literally have not lost any weight. I know my body is changing, and yes I am gaining muscle. My biggest problem lately is that I am not truly focused on what (and how much) I’m eating. I’ve been totally slack with meal planning and our busy family schedule this past month has really thrown me off my game. I’m trying to lighten up my meals a bit and experiment with more meatless options like these Smoky Sauteed Lentils I’m sharing today.

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I have been really enjoying reading all of your entries to my Favorite Things / Amazon Gift Card Giveaway! It sounds like a lot of you want to use the gift card to purchase Christmas gifts, but books (yay!), stand up mixers, fitbits and even a few sewing machines are making the list too. You have all week to enter the giveaway if you haven’t already, and don’t forget to check out the other 14 blogger hosted Favorite Things giveaways too (prizes range from more gift cards, a fit bit and lots of kitchen items!).

One of my favorite “Feel Good” meals is broiled salmon and veggies. It really doesn’t get much healthier than that does it? I haven’t been cooking as much fish as I used because my son can’t eat it. We haven’t had him officially tested yet, but we think he has an allergy. I usually end up cooking fish on nights that I have leftovers of something else that I can give him for dinner so that I don’t have to prepare two separate main courses. The rest of us love fish so I am making an effort to plan better so that we can have it regularly again.

The best thing about fish dinners like this almond crusted honey mandarin salmon are how quickly they cook up, usually in just about 10-15 minutes!

Turn on the broiler and prepare a salad or saute some vegetables while your fish cooks and you have yourself the perfect “Feel Good” healthy dinner.

I don’t know about you, but this time of year, I need more of these types of healthy meals to balance out the other types of meals. You know, those indulgent ones that tend to creep up every other day or so during the holidays. 😉

For this easy broiled salmon recipe, I used the juice of a couple of mandarin oranges (or are they clementines, I have always called them clementines – what is the difference?) that are starting to pop up in crates in the grocery store. We eat them like crazy at our house and I am so happy to see that they are back in season! I combined the juice with some honey, smoked paprika and crunchy almonds for a flavorful, light coating and sauce.

I served this Honey Mandarin Salmon with Almond Crust with a simple spinach salad with red onion, feta and vinaigrette – it was delicious!

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Click here to Pin this healthy Roasted Acorn Squash recipe.

‘Tis the season for pretty squash, right? I did not grow up eating fall squashes (or are they called winter squashes, I’m still not sure on that one) like acorn, butternut, delicata and spaghetti squashes but I’ve been really into finding ways to cook them and incorporate them into recipes over the last few years.

I’ve always been a little intimidated with preparing them, which is why they tend to sit pretty in a bowl on my counter for weeks sometimes…but they do really add to the fall decor in my kitchen so it’s all good.

I finally broke into this beautiful acorn squash last week. I’ve cooked with acorn squash a couple times, roasting it and then stuffing it. I’ve also served roasted acorn squash with bolognese sauce for a lower carb dinner option.

This time I wanted to keep it simple, to be served as a nutritious side dish to something like this balsamic pork roast or a roast chicken (both cooked in the crock pot to continue to keep things on the simple side).

The smoked paprika added such a nice layer of smoky flavor to the slightly sweet roasted acorn squash. I couldn’t help but sprinkle a bit of Parmesan on it too after seeing how Sandy serves her spaghetti squash.

Recipes Using Smoked Paprika

Roasted Red Potatoes with Smoked Paprika

Greek Yogurt Egg Salad with Smoked Paprika

Grilled Flank Steak with Brown Sugar Rub

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I try to listen to my body when it comes to cravings. I have heard often enough that when your body is craving certain foods, it could mean that maybe it needs or is lacking a certain nutrient that is found in the food you are craving.

Or that could all be baloney and you’re really just hungry, obsessed with food, stubborn or all of the above. I choose all of the above (most of the time).

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