Veggie and Turkey Egg Casserole

This is a recipe that I like to make to make to have for lunches during my work week.  It makes 10 - 12 servings, so I cut it into servings and freeze it, and then thaw a serving for lunch when I need a quick lunch. 

Healthy Meatloaf

My meatloaf is actually my kids' favorite meal.  I try to make it healthier by using oats instead of bread crumbs, and I think it really adds to the flavor.  My secret ingredient though?  Buttermilk.  It makes the mealoaf extra rich and moist!

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins are currently my breakfast obsession.  I make a batch every other Sunday, freeze half (they freeze and reheat great!), and then keep the other half in the fridge to eat all week.  I usually do blueberries, but sometimes I use cherries or peaches instead.  I bet it would be great with pecans too!  Not only are these muffins delicious, but they keep you full all the way until lunchtime despite only being 229 calories a serving.  I love that it only takes 30 seconds to warm them up in the microwave in the morning, and then they are ready to eat.  My mornings are so chaotic now that I'm a mom of two kids.  One day  I'll have the chance to actually sit and eat breakfast again, but until then, I'm glad I have these oatmeal cups!

Creamy Sausage & Spinach Pasta

My sweet newborn baby is apparently not a newborn any more...he's a whopping 8 month old.  If you think the first baby grows up fast...well, the second is just a blur!  He's crawling, pulling up, cruising, eating grown-up food; and most importantly, he is sleeping through the night.  However, back 8 months ago, none of us were getting much sleep, and my husband and I were zombies.  When you have just one child, you can theoretically sleep when the baby sleeps.  But when you have two kids?  Well, that clearly just doesn't work. 

Chicken Pot Pie

I've been working on creating a healthy (and delicious) chicken pot pie for a while now.  I've looked over a ton of different recipes, and played around with various ideas, and I can say with absolute certainty that I have definitely come up with a winner.  The weather was chilly last night, and my husband built a roaring fire in the fireplace, so I figured it was the perfect night for a hearty chicken pot pie.  To make my pie as healthy as possible, I made it bursting with my favorite winter vegetables.  Feel free to adapt the vegetables to your own taste; just try to keep the amount of vegetables roughly the same to make sure that there is enough filling for the gravy (for example, if you'd rather not use parsnips, increase the carrots from 2 to 3, or substitute a potato instead).  When developing the recipe, I toyed with the idea of finding a substitute for the pie crust (like phyllo), but ultimately decided that real pie crust is the best part of pot pie, so it would be almost sacrilegious to remove it.  So I only used one pie crust as opposed to the traditional two, to keep the calorie and carbs low without sacrificing the integrity of the dish.  The result?  A healthy yet hearty chicken pot pie that is under 500 calories for a nice large serving.  Most importantly...it's comfort food at its best: warm, filling, and full of rich flavor.

Smothered Burritos

Every family has their own way of making burritos, and well, this is how it's made in my house!  By smothering the burritos in delicious red sauce and cheese and baking them, it makes the burritos so gooey and delicious.  It's definitely a fork-and-knife meal, but so worth it.  Make sure to top your burrito with your favorite toppings!  I never serve this meal without plenty of sour cream (or even better, crema), shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, and lots of ripe avocado.  

Blue Cheese Chicken & Broccoli Casserole

When I reached the end of my pregnancy, I made a ton of freezer meals, so that I would have easy dinner fixings after the baby arrived.  One of my favorites was a dish I created by thinking of a few of my favorite things:  Blue Cheese Chicken & Broccoli Casserole.  This is a rich and decadent casserole; it's definitely not low calorie, but it is for sure high comfort food!  I wanted something that would be soothing and delicious, and more importantly, something my picky toddler would eat without a fight. It did all those things!  

Chicken Enchilada Casserole with a Creamy Green Chile Sauce

The other day, I was halfway through a recipe when I discovered that I was missing a few key ingredients.  Rather than stop what I was doing and make a grocery store run, I decided to get creative and make my own recipe.  What I ended up creating was a Chicken Enchilada Casserole with a Creamy Green Chile Sauce.  It was super easy to put together, and turned out gooey, flavorful, and delicious.  It's also under 500 calories and low carb, though it seriously doesn't taste like it should be either!  I love it when a potential kitchen conflict turns into something beautiful.