• Dinner,  Family,  Lunch,  Motherhood,  Nutrition,  Nutrition Tips,  Recipes

    Easy Loaded Potato Veggie Soup (Kid Approved)

    One of the best compliments I think I’ve ever received came from my ten year old after she took a bite… “Mom! This is delicious! You should open a restaurant and call it ‘Mommy’s Soup Kitchen’ and serve soups just like this!” She doesn’t know I secretly would love to open a little cafe with hearty and healthy soups, gourmet sandwiches, and all kinds of coffee and desserts. But that dream exhausts me to the core thinking about it. And I’m much more content whipping up delicious little family friendly recipes with a healthy twist in the comfort of my own kitchen, and sharing them with friends on my blog.…

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  • Dinner,  Nutrition,  Nutrition Tips,  Recipes

    Spaghetti Squash Taco Lasagna Bake

    This is one of those dinners… that satisfies every #TacoTuesday need. There’s something about Taco Tuesday. Every Monday night I get a little excited. Like it’s Christmas. Like the Taco Fairy is going to pay a visit to my house and sprinkle my taste buds with heavenly deliciousness of savory and cheesy and spicy goodness! This recipe is one that I may have dreamed of and woke up on Taco Tuesday eager to create. Yes, I dream about Taco Tuesday. Doesn’t everyone? Healthy. Clean. Lower carb. Super filling. Loaded with protein and veggies. My only regret when I made this was that I ran out of avocados the day prior.…

  • Dinner,  Lunch,  Nutrition,  Nutrition Tips,  Recipes

    Chunky Chicken Tortilla Stew (Crockpot & Instant Pot)

    You can’t spell Taco Tuesday without “YES” or “EAT”… And when my picky kids EAT chicken chili that’s loaded with veggies, it makes this momma say, “YES!” This can be done in the crockpot or in the Instant Pot- depending on what you have time for. Personally I fixed this in the slow cooker on a lazy Sunday and the house smelled amazing. I’ve included the Instant Pot directions below too. Ingredients: 3 medium/large chicken breasts, thawed 2 cans fire roasted tomatoes 1 can black beans, drained 1 can kidney beans, drained 1 c carrots, diced 1 c celery, diced 1 c frozen corn 1 c diced mini sweet peppers…

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  • Dinner,  Family,  Lunch,  Nutrition,  Recipes

    Summer Sweet Corn Chowder

    Harvest is near. Driving home every day we’re surrounded by cornfields and bean fields.  I can see them starting to change.  Corn stalks turning brown.  Bean leaves yellowing after a summer of repeated rain and midwestern sun beating down.  And my heart leaps a little bit because it means my favorite season is approaching. One of my favorite things about fall is food.  Okay, I lied.  I like food in every season.  But I LOVE fall food.  Crockpots. Instapots. Chili simmering on the stove.  Football season food.  The smells of cinnamon and nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice.  I’m drooling just typing this.   With summer is drawing to a close,…

  • Dinner,  Lunch,  Recipes

    5 Minute Taco Soup

    ❤️🌮🥘 EASY DINNER RECIPE!!! 🥘🌮❤️ What do you do when you’re not feeling so hot and it’s  Taco Tuesday ? You turn your weekly taco night into soup! This took all of 5 minutes to throw together.  The combination of black beans, roasted chicken, and juicy tomato, ohhh it was good! I used leftover roasted chicken from our Sunday Meal Prep and tossed in a few things from the fridge and pantry.  Super easy!  Here’s the recipe! 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼❤️ Ingredients: 1 c organic vegetable broth 1 can organic black beans, drained 1/2 can green chilis 1/4 yellow onion, chopped 1 c diced cherry tomatoes 1/2 c finely chopped carrots 2 small…

  • Dinner,  Lunch,  Recipes

    Broccoli Cheddar Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

    I think we all know what’s important in life. Food that you can melt cheese on top of. Tonight, I wanted a dinner that was simple, flavorful, and didn’t require a lot of effort on my part.  Granted this took almost an hour to cook, prep was about 10 minutes tops.  And the melty cheese part, well that’s a bonus. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!  Please leave me a comment below of what you thought! Ingredients:  4 small- medium sweet potatoes 2 lbs chicken breasts, thawed Herbed chicken seasoning  1 bag frozen riced broccoli (or separately mince/pulse broccoli in food processor) 4 tbsp shredded cheddar…

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  • Dinner,  Lunch,  Recipes

    Perfect Autumn Secret Ingredient Chili

    As soon as those leaves start falling, I’m busting out the crockpot and whipping up chili.  But the same chili recipe sometimes gets old and even this chili lovin’ momma needs to switch it up.  My kiddos are decent with eating veggies but I try to pack them in wherever I can.  I added two cups finely minced spinach to this crockpot as well as 1/2 cup of pumpkin too.  Everyone loved it.  I was pleasantly surprised with the reaction- not that I thought they wouldn’t like it, but with the sneaky nutrients I packed in there, there were no complaints!  Here’s the recipe!  Ingredients:  1 lb lean ground turkey…

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  • Dinner,  Lunch,  Recipes

    Italian Chicken Stuffed Spaghetti Squash- Low Carb

    Oh sweet baby lord in heaven… I wish  the internet had smell-o-vision… this might just be at the top of things I’ve whipped up that I could eat every day and never get tired of it. Autumn has set in and that means all things squash.  I’m like Bubba Gump.  Squash salad, squash pancakes, squash cheesecake, squash chili, stuffed squash. And as I was running out the door today to pick up a spaghetti squash for tonight’s dinner, I realized I needed to do something with it- so I tossed a few chicken breasts in the crockpot, added some marinara and tomatoes, seasonings, and finished it off looking like this…

  • Dinner,  Recipes

    Creamy Chicken Enchiladas (Healthier version)

      Some nights you just need a comfort food, soul feeding, delicious pan of creamy enchiladas.  It’s been years since I made a pan of enchiladas and to say we were due was an understatement.  As we embark on a 3 week- super healthy fitness & nutrition regimen in prep for our Punta Cana vacation on April 23rd, this was a healthier “last hoorah” as a pre-gift to ourselves for committing to hard work for 3 weeks. Keep in mind, when you lead a healthy lifestyle- you should indulge.  You should have treat meals.  And you shouldn’t restrict yourself- that’s no fun.  Neither is dieting.  Eat to live.  Not the…

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    Whole 30 Nachos- The Game Changer

      Halfway through Whole 30 and all I can think about is nachos.  And husband made a pizza for the girls.  And Bon Jovi is playing in my head…  “Woahhhh! We’re halfway there. Woahhh livin’ on a prayer…” Halfway.  Day 15.  But who’s counting.   Admittedly I do feel pretty great.  I’ve moved past the tired and sluggish stage into “Hell yeah I can do this!” It’s only 30 days, right?  We can do anything for 30 days.   But some days we just need nachos.  So I whipped these up and they totally did it for me.  The crunch.  The guac.  The ground “taco” turkey.  It was heaven.  …