Veggie Packed Taco Salad

When my husband and I first got married, it also happened to be the time that Taco Bell released their new green “Salsa Verde” sauce. I have always had a strange love/hate relationship with the food chain, but after that green sauce came out, it was definitely leaning towards more of a love thing.

We only went to the food chain about once every quarter, but we would always get massive amounts of the little green packages. Some to take home, and others to pour all over our iceberg lettuce topped taco-bell meals (like tostadas, hard tacos, and seven-layer burritos). Mmmmmm. Those were the days.

I has been about about two years since I’ve been to Taco Bell and the other day I was thinking about it and I got this strange craving for a ground beef taco covered in crisp iceberg lettuce and a drizzle of sour cream. There is just a distinct smell and taste that comes with that combo, and I was craving it something fierce.

The following day my sister Natalie texted me about an amazing ground beef taco filling she had created; about 10 minutes later I stumbled upon Taco Salad Skillet dinner from Budget Bytes. It was like the world of Mexican food was speaking to me, and so this dish was created.

Chipotle Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie

For a few weeks this summer my husband went to Rhode Island for his Navy Officer school. While he was gone I ventured out on some trips and ended up in Las Vegas with my parents for the last few weeks. My mom is gluten free and has a wonderful America’s Test Kitchen Gluten Free cookbook, which I frequently used. One night I was flipping through the book and saw a shepherd’s pie that looked absolutely delicious. It was a success, but as I was eating it I instantly came up with ideas to lighten and spruce it up a bit!

Simple Lime & Paprika Salmon

My husband is away for a time doing some Navy training, so that left me some time with my almost-one-year-old sidekick to do some traveling. A few weeks back I went up to Idaho to visit my sister Natalie. My mom was there visiting, and Natalie's mother-in-law was coming over for dinner. My mom was making pineapple shrimp salad (delicious!) and then we remembered last minute that there was a salmon filet that needed to be used up that night.

All three of us use the famous family marinade for salmon about 98% of the time, which requires actual time to marinade. Nat and I just looked at each other, and both said something along the lines of "don't people usually slather a bunch of mayo on their salmon and call it good?". As we ran around the kitchen trying to find a way to make a delicious, simple, quick salmon, this recipe was born. Boy, the outcome was DELICIOUS. My little goober gobbled it up, and we were all wishing there was more salmon by the end of the dinner.

Let me just tell you again. This is SUPER easy and quick. No real preparation ahead, and it's perfect if you have some fish in the freezer if you need to use it up (I usually keep at least one fillet of fish in the freezer at all times for things like this).

Baked Chimichangas- Two Ways

At Everyday Veggies we are big fans of adapting favorite dishes into healthier versions. These chimichangas are made without the deep fryer and will rock your world. My old roommate and good friend Katie used to make baked chimichangas for us in college. I'm not sure if it was the starving student without a home cooked meal in weeks that created the love for these crunchy burritos, but I love these. In memory of those great college days here are not just one but two adapted versions that are a major hit at our house. I have a chicken version and veggie version that are equally as good (our favorite is a mix of both the chicken and the veggie together).

Honey Mustard Chicken

My mom would make honey mustard chicken all the time growing up and now I see why. It is tasty, easy, and everyone loves it! It is a great recipe to use everything in your pantry without lots of ingredients or steps. This is my "go to" meal when I didn't have anything planned because I always have the ingredients. I know people that don't like mustard or curry but don't let this turn you away! Trust me when I say it is very sweet, not mustardy and the curry is not heavy or overpowering.