Breakfast for dinner serves a wonderful dual purpose. It's cheaper than normal dinners and kids love the change. The scrambled egg pockets have a unique twist to traditional eggs and the ingredients are healthy, so I feel good giving it to my family for dinner. I did learn the hard way to really look at which ingredients I buy. This calls for plain greek yogurt, and the first … [Read more...]
Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Mango-Black Bean Salsa
Years ago when we had our oldest on a gluten free diet, I quickly learned that the best way to do that diet on a budget is to avoid gluten all together. And bake sparingly, and from scratch. I learned to base our meals around sweet potatoes, potatoes and brown rice. Adding in brown rice pasta, as our budget allowed. At the moment, we have 1 kid off dairy and soy, another kid … [Read more...]
Spicy Mandarin Orange Chicken
Emily emailed me this recipe...I've been wanting to try it, but didn't want to have to buy a jar of orange marmalade only to use a little for this recipe and then let the jar sit in the fridge. Neither my husband and I are huge orange marmalade fans, another reason I knew it would go to waste after just using a few spoonfuls. I spotted the sweet chili sauce in the fridge and … [Read more...]
Bacon, Avocado, and Red Pepper Quesadilla
BLTs. There's just something about the flavor combination of the famous BLT: the salty bacon, the juicy tomato and the slight crunch from the lettuce. Combined with some delicious mayo (or Parmesan Mayo) on toasted bread and you've got a real winner of a sandwich. But what about a BLT Quesadilla? I decided to get a little creative with some ingredients that I had on … [Read more...]
Ultimate Loaded Quesadilla
It is a universally known fact that children love quesadillas. Almost as well known is how very easy they are. Frugal and simply adaptable for a wide range of palettes. Take the photograph above. Pictured is a homemade, pimento cheese, spinach and avocado quesadilla. The pimento cheese my children would definitely go for. The spinach and avocado the older ones would eat. A … [Read more...]
Peppered Salmon with Brown Rice
I get asked frequently about seafood and how to use it to make a $5 Dinner. And to be quite honest, it's tough. The key is getting the seafood for a rock bottom price...or combining it with another protein to keep overall meal costs down (like doing a mix of chicken pieces and shrimp in a jambalaya type dish.) I often find that seafood deals are unadvertised or can be found … [Read more...]
Chicken and Brown Rice Casserole
This casserole is a nice way to add more fresh vegetables, and some whole grain rice, to the dinner menu. I used celery and broccoli since this was what we had available. You can substitute this for your favorite fresh vegetables, or whatever you have on hand. I also used a can of cream corn, to bring an added fun flavor, and a little creaminess. My teenage … [Read more...]
Healthy Breakfast Burritos
As a registered dietitian, I am always trying to get as many servings of vegetables into my family as possible. One easy way to sneak in an extra serving of veggies is with these vegetable filled breakfast burritos. These burritos are freezer friendly and make for a quick breakfast on the go. Healthy Breakfast Burrito Yield -Â 8 servings Preparation Time … [Read more...]
Corn Soup Recipe
My dad is retired Air Force and when I was young our family spent four years living on base in Taiwan while my dad was stationed there. Â Many of my memories from that time center around food because we were served all sorts of sometimes wonderful, often strange and occasionally scary foods. Â Fish eyes anyone? Â I'm really happy that my mom brought back recipes for our favorite … [Read more...]
Spinach and Chicken Layered Enchiladas
I. Can't. Get. Enough. Enchiladas. I'm not sure what is happening around here, but I can't seem to keep myself away from enchiladas. I feel like I'm making them 3-4 times a month...which is a high frequency for me! I generally keep our dinner menu varied with all the recipe testing and experimenting I do for the blog and for cookbooks. So this is a highly unusual … [Read more...]