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Old Fashioned Ham and Scalloped Potatoes

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Old Fashioned Ham and Scalloped Potatoes Recipe

Comfort food alert! The potatoes are fall-apart tender, and so is the ham. The sauce is creamy and full of flavor with just a hint of cheese. Old Fashioned Ham and Scalloped Potatoes has a wonderful way of making your kitchen smell amazing causing everyone to smile and ask, “Mmm, what’s for dinner?”

I was one of those truly blessed kids who got to walk home from school to the sounds and smells of Mom cooking dinner. We probably all made her crazy always asking, “What’s for dinner, Mom?” If she was feeling a little snarky, we’d get told,…

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Really Good Turkey Meatloaf

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Really Good Turkey Meatloaf Recipe

All kidding aside, this Really Good Turkey Meatloaf is delicious. It’s not just great tasting with a little zing from the crushed red peppers, but it’s also healthy for you – an added bonus. Is there such a thing as guilt-free comfort food?

Really Good Turkey Meatloaf

Easy to make, this  recipe for Really Good Turkey Meatloaf is loaded with flavor and a healthy alternative to a beef/sausage meatloaf. To add to the flavor, there’s a great calorie-free BBQ sauce made by …

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Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork Roast

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Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork Roast Recipe

Perfect for those busy days, this Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork Roast is a savory one-dish meal that makes a great dinner. Load it all into your slow cooker and hours later dinner is ready and waiting for you. The pork falls apart and the cranberry gravy is super flavorful over the potatoes…simply scrumptious.

Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork Roast

Using your slow cooker is almost like someone else made you dinner. You put it all together in the morning and forget about it, but at dinner time…wow! It smells great in the kitchen and all you have to do is thicken the gravy and dish it up. The savory flavors of the pork and potatoes pair oh-so nicely with the…

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Roasted Almond Pork Loin

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Roasted Almond Pork Loin Recipe

Turn a common pork loin into a beautiful and flavorful presentation. The crunchy coating of almonds on the outside perfectly compliments the moist pork loin on the inside. Then Bang! Top this roast with my Apple Salsa with Cilantro and you’re ready to serve your very own Roasted Almond Pork Loin .

Roasted Almond Pork Loin

Roasting a Pork Loin

The bigger the roast, the longer it has to cook. On that particular day, the smallest pork loin the store had was 2.5 pounds. That was perfect, because that’s still big enough to serve 6 people if you cut the…

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Turkey Spinach Stuffed Bell Peppers

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Turkey Spinach Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe

You’ll love this easy-to-make meal of healthy turkey with spinach, brown rice, and salsa. Serve with a side of fresh avocado and Greek yogurt for a delicious meal. The Turkey Spinach Stuffed Bell Peppers can be made mild or hot, depending on your preference, and it heats up nicely the next day for leftovers.

Turkey Spinach Stuffed Bell Peppers

We all need to eat healthy, but it shouldn’t taste like warmed up cardboard. The turkey in the Turkey Spinach Stuffed Bell Peppers is moist from the salsa and flavorful from the peppers spices. I prefer using green bell peppers because they have a stronger flavor than the sweeter red, orange, yellow, or purple…

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Italian Pasta and Lettuce Salad

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Italian Pasta and Lettuce Salad Recipe

That’s right, we’re putting pasta and lettuce together into one salad. This Italian Pasta and Lettuce Salad  is full of spicy bold flavors like salami, Gorgonzola cheese, and radicchio. The Italian dressing of olive oil and red wine vinegar perfectly compliment the intriguing flavors and blend of the tomatoes, cucumbers, and romaine lettuce. This recipe makes 7 cups, so it’s perfect for a potluck or picnic.

Italian Pasta and Lettuce Salad

Making your Italian Pasta and Lettuce Salad

An easy salad to assemble, start by cooking your pasta as directed on the box or bag. While that’s cooking, start chopping your fresh vegetables and drain your can of garbanzo beans. You can slice your…

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California Chicken Salad 4-ways

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California Chicken Salad 4-ways recipe

I love a good chicken salad sandwich on a hot day and my California Chicken Salad 4-ways fits the bill. It’s great on toast, as a lettuce wrap, on a croissant, and as a salad topper.

Why 4 ways? It was lunch time and I only had one piece of sour dough bread left, so I decided to toast it with a little butter and put my chicken salad on top. YUM!

Come dinner time I wanted some more, but now what? Well, I found out how good it was as a lettuce wrap. I would have preferred romaine or butter lettuce, because of their shape, but I had iceberg so I went with it.

The next day I was thinking about how good the chicken salad would be on a buttery croissant and oh, yes it was!

Lastly, I had some baby spring mix lettuce, but I was out of my ranch dressing and thought it might be good using the chicken salad instead. Another success.

There are probably lots of interesting ways of serving this chicken salad, but I stopped when I realized I had eaten it all.

2 croissants filled with chicken salad.

Making Chicken Salad

Use fresh ingredients. It will look better, taste better, and stay down better. Ha! Ok, so I went the easy route and bought a cooked chicken from my local market. I started with the breast meat and added dark…

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Grilled Lemon Shrimp and Veggie Kabobs

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Grilled Lemon Shrimp and Veggie Kabobs Recipe

My Grilled Lemon Shrimp and Veggie Kabobs was just what I needed. Great any time of year, but so fantastic on a warm summer evening, especially when your BBQ is calling out to you. This recipe is easy since you put everything on your skewers and cook them the same time. It’s also versatile when choosing which veggies to use, just pick your favorites.  I love the colorful mini bell peppers because they’re sweet and don’t need to be seeded first (just don’t eat the top where the stem is, that’s where the few seeds are). I also love the fact that this meal is healthy for you; high protein and low carbs (Keto/Atkins diets). But mostly I love this recipe because it tastes amazing and it’s so pretty to serve to your family and guests.

Plate displaying shrimp dinner

Marinating Shrimp

You want your shrimp to marinate for about 30 minutes before cooking them. In a medium bowl stir together the shrimp, lemon juice and rind, garlic powder, salt and pepper, then cover with clear wrap and leave in the frig. While they’re marinating,…

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Chicken Chilaquiles Casserole

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Chicken Chilaquiles Casserole Recipe

This Chicken Chilaquiles Casserole takes “comfort food” to a new level. My friend, Lynne, made this when I was at her house for Bunco and I knew I had to share her family recipe with you.  There are chunks of chicken breast smothered in a green salsa/cream of chicken soup mixture in between layers of tortilla chips. Are you kidding me?!

Chicken Chilaquiles Casserole

Some Assembly Required

First of all, the chicken needs to be cooked. I boiled mine in a pot for about an hour, but you could also buy a precooked chicken and use that instead of skinless boneless breasts. You’d probably spend some …

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Mexican Bruschetta

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Mexican Bruschetta

Oh, how I love Mexican food! A take on an Italian classic, this Mexican Bruschetta is a perfect appetizer to any Mexican meal, or any meal really, it’s that good. It’s easy to make and the bold colors and flavors are a pleasure to present to your family and/or guests.

Mexican Bruschetta

Anytime I can use healthy fresh ingredients I do, so for that reason alone I love this recipe. I start with a fresh loaf of sourdough baguette bread from the bakery section in my local grocery store. I don’t eat a…

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Homemade Cheese Enchiladas

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Homemade Cheese Enchiladas

If you’re looking for an easy cheese enchilada to make from scratch that’s also healthy, you found it. I love serving these Homemade Cheese Enchiladas to my friends because they’re fool proof; hence they’re one of my “go to” recipes. I served these beauties up with some margaritas to my Bunco ladies last month when I hosted at my house. A fun night with amazing friends and great food. More on my menu later.

Homemade Cheese Enchiladas

These Homemade Cheese Enchiladas are made primarily with fat-free cottage cheese, so YAY! I’ll have seconds! If you’re working on cutting out fat, you can leave out the cheddar/jack cheese. In addition, you

…

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Turkey Chili

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Turkey Chili

I’m at the gym with some of my girlfriends working out (and talking a lot!) and it’s finally winter. The day was cold and windy and all I wanted for dinner was comfort food that would smell good into tomorrow. Hmmm…this sounds like I’ll be having Turkey Chili for dinner. I like this meal because I don’t always need the recipe to remind me of what I need from the store to make it, plus I keep some canned foods on hand for occasions like this. So, I stopped at the store on the way home for some fresh cilantro, avocado and the ground turkey, plus whatever else I thought I might need. I lucked out and ended up with extra cans of kidney beans. Yay! Time to start cooking.

Turkey Chili

In the recipe I mention you can substitute ground chicken for the ground turkey. I haven’t tried it yet with this recipe for NO reason at all except does ground chicken EVER go on sale? If any of you try it with the ground chicken (or see it on sale) please let me know how you like it. When it comes to food like Turkey Chili I like it to look pretty and colorful, so you can use one color bell pepper or three like I did. The red and yellow peppers are bit sweeter than the green, but that’s a win/win in my book….

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