Chicken Taco Salad

Craving Mexican food but want something light?  This salad is perfect!

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.  

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.   

Low Carb Taco Pie

This recipe for Taco Pie is probably the lowest carb dinner I have on the blog.  I promise you won't miss a single carb though, as this as filling and comforting as a carb-filled casserole.  It whips up quickly and easily, and is easy to amend to your own personal tastes.  I keep mine on the mild side, so that my toddler will eat it, but feel free to adjust the seasonings if you prefer more heat.  Once baked, top with your favorite taco garnishes, and you will be in food heaven!

Southwestern Sloppy Joes

Southwestern Sloppy Joes is one of those recipes that I've been making for almost a decade now, and yet still it love as much as I did the first time I made it.  It's zesty and messy and downright delicious.  It's the type of meal where you should probably use paper towels instead of napkins, but opt for neither, so that you have an excuse to lick your fingers.  I wish I could take credit for coming up with this recipe,  but I actually found it in a Cuisine Tonight magazine, the "Sandwiches & Salads" edition.  Whatever you do, do NOT skip the coleslaw.  It's the best part!

Slow Cooker Carnitas

For Father's Day this year, I decided to make my husband one of his absolute favorite dishes:  carnitas!  However, I also wanted to spend the day celebrating how awesome of a dad my husband is, and not just be stuck in the kitchen all day, so I decided to use a slow cooker recipe.  The beauty of a slow cooker is that it can turn the toughest and cheapest of meats into the juiciest, tenderest of meats. The blog Gimme Some Oven has a fantastic recipe that I used as a base, only altering some of the seasonings to fit my own needs.  The result?  Perfect carnitas that only tasted like I spent the day in the kitchen making them!

Garlicky Pinto Beans

If you don't love, and I mean love garlic, go ahead and ignore this recipe.  This recipe is for my fellow garlic lovers.  I stumbled upon this recipe in 2009, in the May issue of Real Simple magazine. It embodied what I loved most about Real Simple recipes: the recipe was, well, real simple!  Garlicky Pinto Beans became my go-to side when I needed to whip up something quick and easy.  I almost always have all the ingredients in my pantry, so no running to the grocery store.  Coming up with a fast side dish is one of the hardest parts for me on my healthy eating journey, so I'm always happy to have recipes like Garlicky Pinto Beans in my arsenal.  Without dishes like this, I would resort to eating double the appropriate portion size of my entree (i.e. two burritos instead of one).  What is your go-to healthy and simple side dish? If you have a good one, I'd love for you to share in the comments! 

Shrimp Tacos with Sriracha Crema

The seafood used in a recipe can make or break a meal.  My husband actually thought he hated shrimp until I was finally able to get him to try some fresh shrimp while in Savannah.  Now he loves it...as long as we get it from a reputable source. This is a particular problem in a town like Athens, where the ocean is is a good 5 hours away, with no interstates leading from the coast.  Needless to say, most of our grocery stores don't sell the freshest seafood.  So we rely on our local Earth Fare, where they always have a great selection of fresh seafood.  

Chicken Taco Soup

Our local weather guys, Athens GA Weather, are forecasting a nasty winter storm for this week.  Which is crazy, because we just had a winter storm two weeks ago, and normally we don't get to see snowflakes but once a year.  Since it's slated to be cold and icy, I've decided that a hot and zesty soup should be on the menu.  At first I considered making a ramen soup that I've been eyeballing, but ultimately went with old faithful: Chicken Taco Soup.  It's easy to make and always a crowd pleaser.  Before I became a parent, I would make it pretty spicy, but this time I aimed to keep it kid friendly.  So if you like heat, be sure to amend the recipe to add cayenne pepper and/or garnish with hot sauce.  Also, this is a great soup to double, since it freezes beautifully.  Finally, this recipe can easily be made in the crockpot, if you happen to be too busy sledding outside to be standing over a stove.   

Enchilada Sauce

Some stuff isn't worth making from scratch (in my humble opinion) because it just takes too long or is too complicated.  Fortunately, enchilada sauce isn't one of those things.  It is surprisingly easy and quick to make, and seriously tastes so much better than the store-bought kind.  I used Tide and Thyme's recipe, because it looked both quick and tasty, and I was right.  It took about 20 minutes to make 4 cups of deliciously rich enchilada sauce.  

Enchilada Casserole

Aren't casseroles are just the best?  You throw various ingredients into a dish, and BAM, you have your entree & sides all in one place.  Plus, for some reason when you serve food together in a casserole dish, the meal becomes comfort food.  Eating healthy shouldn't have to mean denying yourself comfort foods, so I decided to try my hand at creating a healthy Enchilada Casserole that doesn't taste healthy.  That meant that I couldn't decrease the amount of cheese too much (because honestly, that's the best part), so I saved fat and calories by using lean ground turkey.  I made my own enchilada sauce from scratch (surprisingly easy!), but feel free to use store-bought if you're in a hurry.  Just remember that the casserole will only be as good as the enchilada sauce you use (it's a large part of the dish, after all), so buy the good stuff.

Green Chile Egg Casserole

I recently attended a party at my friend Randi's house, where she served a Southwestern Egg Casserole as the main dish.  It was crazy delicious, so of course I had to ask for the recipe.  It was such a hit at her party, that I decided to make it for my daughter's birthday party the following month.   It really is the perfect casserole to make for a crowd; it's the kind of dish where everyone asks for the recipe.  I'm pretty sure it's the inclusion of cottage cheese that makes this casserole stand out amongst all the other egg casseroles; its texture is just incredibly pleasant. It's cheesy, silky, and zesty. Yum!

White Chicken Chili

I've always been intrigued by the idea of a White Chicken Chili, but somehow have made it my entire life without making it or even trying a bite of it.  The other day I decided to remedy that situation and make a huge pot of it.  As I have a habit of doing, I looked at many different recipes for White Chicken Chili, and then came up with my own.  Not to toot my own horn, but the chili turned out to be wonderful!  Not only did it taste great, but it is under 200 calories for a huge bowl of it, and chock full of healthy ingredients.  While it does take around an hour to cook, it makes a massive amount; about ten servings.  I recommend freezing half of it, so you have a dinner (or three) for another day.  Don't forget the garnishes for the chili; I really enjoyed mine topped with diced avocado and shredded cheese.

Rhinestone Cowboy Caviar

On of my favorite recipes in the world was created by my amazingly talented friend Jessica.  It's so delicious, inexpensive, quick, and easy to make that it has become a weekly staple in our house for over five years.  No other recipe has managed that kind of longevity in my kitchen.  The recipe is a take on the famous Cowboy Caviar dip, which Jessica jazzed up into an entree, and declared it Rhinestone Cowboy Caviar.

Chorizo & Egg Tacos

Like my Tofu & Avocado Tacos, Chorizo & Egg Tacos were created by combining a few foods I had been craving and throwing it together on a corn tortilla.  I had recently read a review about how Trader Joe's Soy Chorizo was amazingly delicious, and I had been hankering for Sweet Potato Hash, while also jonesing for avocado...so I came up with Chorizo & Egg Tacos with Sweet Potatoes and Avocado.  And it was crazy good!  While I used Soy Chorizo to make it vegetarian (and lighter in calories and fat), feel free to use regular chorizo, but know that it makes the dish not as healthy (obviously).  I can't vouch for other brands of Soy Chorizo, but even my meat-loving husband went nuts over how good Trader Joe's Soy Chorizo was ("it tastes just like meat!"), so I highly recommend using that if you can.

Fish Tacos

Fish Tacos are my ultimate summer comfort food.  Seriously, is there anything better after a day of playing in the water and baking in the sun? My fish tacos are made with tilapia (our region's standard white fish), but any white fish will work.  I also like use a ton of avocado, and limit the corn tortillas, so I eat mine open faced with a knife and fork.  However, the recipe is easily adaptable to your personal tastes, so increase or decrease the jalapenos if you need to, load up on corn tortillas if that's what you like, and use your favorite taco toppings. Definitely don't skip the jalapeno tartar sauce though--it's the best part!

Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps

This recipe is derived from my former tried-and-true recipe for tacos.  The difference is, my old recipe called for higher fat ground beef, copious amounts of cheese, and absurd amounts of guacamole and sour cream.  And of course I served it all on overly-processed flour tortillas.  Man, were they good.  I'm not going to promise that this healthier version tastes better than the original, but I can promise that it's pretty darn close.  Plus, it's nice to not feel uncomfortably full after a hearty Mexican dinner.

Santa Fe Chicken Salad

I love Mexican and Tex-Mex food.  Unfortunately, in the hot summer months, the cuisine's heavy and spicy character can be a turn-off.  So when the temperature soars, and I'm craving some Mexican food, I like to make Santa Fe Chicken Salad.  It's packed with protein, and is a great way to sneak some veggies into your diet.  If you serve it on a lettuce wrap, it is a very diet-friendly yet filling meal. It's especially good when it's topped with cool, creamy avocado. Yum!  

Mexican Tofu Wrap with Black Beans & Spinach

This year I have striven to eat at least fifty percent vegetarian.  Breakfast and dinner have been a breeze, but lunch has proven more difficult.  I have a feisty toddler for a boss who only allows very short lunch breaks. I had been eating Applegate Farm's hot dogs for lunch, because they only take a few minutes to cook and eat, working with my tight schedule. I had a lot of trouble finding a comparable vegetarian substitute; either it was low in calories but took too long to prepare (i.e. decent salads), or it was quick to make but high in calories. Or it was too expensive, or plain and tasteless. So many issues! So I decided to create my own vegetarian lunch: Mexican Tofu Wraps! I sauteed up some tofu and black beans, spiced it up with some seasonings, and put it in a low carb wrap with cream cheese, salsa, and spinach leaves.  It took less than ten minutes to make the bean-tofu mixture, and it made enough for the whole week.  So that means I only have to spend ten minutes (tops!) cooking the tofu-bean mixture on Sunday, and then I only need 2 minutes to prepare a Mexican Tofu Wraps on subsequent days of the week.  So now when her Royal Toddlerness allows me my short lunch break, I can get my lunch prepared swiftly.  But more importantly?  It's delicious!

Tamale Casserole

I have always been a huge fan of casseroles.  Not only are casseroles  inherently comforting, they provide the beauty of a one-dish meal.  I love being able to avoid having to make a side dish along with my entree.  Yup, I'm actually a pretty lazy cook!  A few weeks ago, while perusing Pinterest, I stumbled upon a  recipe from a blog called Nutmeg Notebook for Tamale Pie.  Unlike actual tamales, this recipe looked both easy to make and diet friendly.  I altered the recipe to my own tastes, and in effort to make it a more well-rounded meal, I added Swiss chard to the dish.  The result was a delicious, healthy, incredibly simple casserole that your whole family will enjoy.