Poppy Seed Salad (my most requested dish!)

I remember eating this salad at a very young age at one of my mom's friend's houses. I was maybe 9 or 10, and only had a cursory serving so that it looked like I took a little bit of everything. But one bite into this salad and I was hooked. It's not your typical health-nut salad, so if that's what you're in the market for, so sorry! But if you're looking for a filling, delicious salad with big flavors, and awesome textures, then I think you will love it.

You will need:

• Mixed greens (I always get a big bag from my local farmer's market, or the bag simply titled "mixed greens" from Trader Joe's)
• One cup dried cranberries
• Half a cup slivered almonds, or candied almonds if you want a bit of extra sweetness
• One large can drained mandarin oranges (not pictured in this post, because I was completely out. UGH!)
• Half a cup crumbled feta cheese
• 7 - 10 pieces pork or turkey bacon (NOT bacon bits, trust me) cooked, and roughly broken apart (You want them to be in somewhat big pieces) You can always add more or less, it all depends on what you like.
• Poppy seed dressing. My all-time favorite is THIS one
• OPTIONAL: thinly sliced red onions. They were in the original recipe, but I strongly dislike them so I leave them out ;) Occasionally I'll have Tony slice some up and leave them on the side, for those who might want them.

Drain and then rinse your mixed greens, if they aren't already. Pour greens into a big bowl, and then add in remaining ingredients, except for dressing. With clean, dry hands mix all ingredients thoroughly. I've found that my hands are the best tool for mixing!

 Lightly dress the salad, and put remaining dressing out so that more can be added individually. Like I said, this salad has a lot of big flavors, and in my opinion doesn't need a ton of dressing, though some people do like quite a bit.

Serve along with my white wine berry sangria spritzer, enjoy!

Not only is this salad delicious, but it is pretty! Total win-win ;)

This is my most-requested dish for every party we go to - I hope you love it too!

Photos by Hi Plus Hello Photography

PIN for later:

White Wine Berry Sangria Spritzer

Looking for a refreshing, easy to make adult beverage??  Look no further than this delicious white wine berry sangria spritzer! I had all of the ingredients on-hand, and hoped for the best and it turned out really delicious!

You will need:

• One bottle Pinot Grigio (or your preferred white wine)
• Three cups Simply Lemonade with Blueberry
• One can Berry La Croix sparkling water
• One cup frozen, pitted cherries (I bought them from Target - they are also delicious in smoothies!)
• Any other fruit (fresh or frozen) that you have on hand - I had two meyer lemons, and about a half a cup of frozen pineapple 
• A handful of fresh berries (I used blackberries, but any berry would be great!)

Simply pour all of your ingredients (except fresh berries) into a large pitcher and refrigerate at least one hour. Mine was in the fridge just about three hours, and the flavors were great!

Just before serving pop three or so fresh berries into the bottom of your drinking glass, and lightly muddle them.

Pour your liquid over the muddled berries:

 And enjoy!

This white wine berry sangria spritzer goes SO perfectly with a big, green salad including my always requested poppy seed salad, which I'll share the recipe for soon ;)

Photos by Hi Plus Hello Photography.

PIN for later:

High Protein One Pan Enchiladas

As soon as the weather gets chilly I want warm, comfort food. If I had to choose a favorite type of comfort food it would be Mexican, specifically enchiladas. I love the flavors and the cheesy goodness. Most of my favorite enchilada recipes are super high in fat, but after experimenting with a handful of different "one pan" recipes - substituting this for that, adding this, taking out that, etc. I eventually came up with my own recipe that my whole family loves.

Ingredients:

• 1 package (20 oz) extra lean ground turkey
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 28 oz. your favorite enchilada sauce (my favorite is Trader Joe's brand, or the La Victoria brand red enchilada sauce)
• 6 corn tortillas, chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese (or monterey jack, cheddar, etc)
• 1 package reduced sodium taco seasoning

Directions:

Chop tortillas into bite sized pieces, and pop on an oven sheet. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, or until tortilla pieces have a nice crisp to them. Set aside.

In one large skillet start cooking your onions until they are almost clear. Add your ground turkey, and taco seasonings and cook until just about through. Add your corn and black beans, and once the ground turkey is fully cooked add your enchilada sauce. Let everything cook and simmer together on low for about five minutes. Add in your shredded cheese, your tortilla bits and stir. Serve immediately.

Optional garnishes: more shredded cheese, sliced avocados, sliced tomatoes, sour cream (or sub with plain Greek yogurt), crushed tortilla chips.

This recipes generously serves eight, and makes for great leftovers!

It is so delicious! My girls ask for seconds or thirds!

Cheesy goodness - a little bit of cheese goes a long way, and with this recipe you won't miss all the extra gobs of cheese that come with most traditional enchiladas:

I hope you love this as much as we do, and don't forget to PIN it for future reference!

High Protein Fiesta Ranch Dip (only two ingredients!)

This is so simple that it can hardly be called a recipe, but it is so good that I have to share. I've been making this a bunch lately, and my entire family loves it. It is high protein, low calorie, and filled with flavor. Best part? It only takes two ingredients - plain Greek yogurt and a packet of Hidden Valley Farms Fiesta Ranch dressing mix. That's it. (I've found the dressing mix at our local Nob Hill.)

Just open the packet, and mix it into the Greek yogurt. It tastes good right away, but we've found that it tastes better if it's sat in the fridge for at least a few hours. (If you can't find the fiesta ranch mix, go with regular ranch mix, but leave a pinch out and replace it with a pinch of taco seasoning.)

My girls love it as an after school snack, served with baby carrots, tortilla chips or sliced red bell peppers. It is also really good when we have taco night.

Make sure to label the top of your Greek yogurt tub, if you're not going to transfer the dip into something else (no need to be fancy!)

Fiesta Ranch dip is kid-approve, and much requested in this house!

Don't forget to pin for later!

Tortilla(less) Soup

Today I'm excited to share this recipe with you guys! In the past month or so I have completely overhauled my eating habits - I've cut out all dairy and sugar to really kick start my new healthy eating, getting fit lifestyle. I am so thankful to say my taste buds have changed a bit too. No longer do I hate all veggies, and my body hasn't craved anything sweet (like my once daily sugary coffee drinks!) in quite a while. I know it's only been about five weeks since I've taken on these habits, so I know I'm in the honeymoon phase, and that it will get more difficult to resist some of my old favorites, but I will do my best. I plan to still indulge every once in a while (because I can't imagine giving up cheese forever!) but only in moderation.

Onto the recipe - it is one of my new favorites! It came about as I was going through my pantry and freezer one morning, and thinking about what kind of meal I could come up with on the cheap! It's a slow cooker meal, so you stick all the ingredients in there and forget about it. Better yet, it's clean eating and only 6 Weight Watchers Points Plus!

Ingredients:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used frozen)
• Mrs. Dash salt-free fiesta lime seasoning (a few dashes, a little more than a teaspoon)
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/4 chopped onion (frozen or fresh - I used frozen)
• 1 bag multicolor bell peppers (you can buy these at Trader Joe's and most grocery stores)
• 1 can low sodium black beans, rinsed
• 1 can rotel (diced tomatoes with green chiles)
• 1 carton low sodium chicken broth
• 1 bag frozen corn
• 2 cups frozen brown rice (again, I bought mine at Trader Joe's, but you can find frozen brown rice at most grocery stores!)

Directions: Place chicken in your slow cooker first. Add a few dashes of Mrs. Dash salt-free fiesta lime seasoning to each chicken breast . Then pour your minced garlic over your chicken, then the onions. I think it's important to do those ingredients in that order with this, so that the flavors will soak into the chicken. Then pour in the full bag of bell pepper strips, black beans, rotel (hot, medium or mild, whichever you prefer!) and then chicken broth. Let those ingredients cook on high for four hours, or low for six. Take out your chicken breasts, and shred (this should be very easy to do with two forks.) Then add your bag of frozen corn and frozen brown rice and continue cooking for a half hour on high, one hour on low.

You could garnish this with avocado, sour cream, plain greek yogurt, chips or cheese (just remember those will all add calories/WW points.) I thought this had plenty of flavor on it's own, and didn't garnish it with anything, but my girl at it with a bit of shredded monterey jack cheese on top.

It's filled with veggies, heart-healthy beans, whole grain brown rice and lean chicken. It's delicious, and filling, and perfect for a winter night!

Here's the Weight Watchers Points Plus breakdown:

5 x 7 printable recipe card:

I hope you guys enjoy it, and let me know if you decide to try it for yourselves!

If you're on Instagram, you can follow my fitness journey with the hashtag #glitterandglossgettingfit

The most flavorful crock pot mashed potatoes ever (just in time for Thanksgiving!)

Disclaimer: I am by no means an amazing chef, or really for that matter a very good cook. However, when I make something that takes just about minimal effort, but tastes incredible, I feel inclined to share ;)

So, this year for Thanksgiving I was given the assignment of the mashed potatoes. This is a daunting task for me, because:

• I've never cooked anything for Thanksgiving, with possibly the exception of an appetizer. Nothing for the main course, though.
• To me the mashed potatoes (and gravy) are the best part of the meal. I don't want to screw them up.
• This year we'll be with my in-laws. 'Nuff said.

Anyways, for the last month I've been pinning all sorts of recipes for mashed potatoes. Crock pot and otherwise. None were really jumping out to me, so I decided to go ahead and combine elements from some of the best sounding recipes I'd pinned. The result was awesome!!

Without further adieu - the most flavorful crock pot mashed potatoes ever!

You will need:

• 4.5 pounds of red potatoes - cleaned, peeled and chopped
• 1 stick of butter, cubed
• 2 tablespoons of crushed garlic (Yep, I know it's a bunch, but that is part of what makes these potatoes so flavorful! Feel free to cut down the garlic if your family isn't as garlic-loving as mine.)
• 2 five oz. Boursin garlic and fine herbs soft cheese rounds
• 1 cup milk (2% fat or higher) - feel free to use more if you like super creamy mashed potatoes
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon pepper

Step one. Clean, peel and chop your potatoes. This is for sure the most time-consuming part of this dish. (I will outsource this to Tony on Thanksgiving!) As you can see my potatoes are chopped roughly. You'll blend them up later, so no worries.

Step two. Spray your crockpot really well with butter flavored non-stick spray, and then dump potatoes, cubed butter, water, garlic,salt and pepper in your crockpot. Cook on high for three hours. About halfway through, give everything a good stir.

This is what everything will look like after three hours of cooking.

Step three. Blend everything up with a hand mixer, right there in the crock pot. I didn't go overboard, because I don't love my mashed potatoes super duper creamy. I left some good texture in there, but feel free to blend as much or as little as you want.

(Here's what boursin cheese looks like, if you're not familiar. (I recently got this three-pack at Costco) You could also use herb goat cheese (yum!), or rondele soft cheese in place of it. Just make sure you have about ten ounces of whatever soft cheese you're choosing to work with.


Step four. Place your rounds of cheese in one at a time, and give them a good stir.

Step five. Pour your milk in, and give it a good stir. Make sure all ingredients are well-incorporated at this point, if you prefer very creamy potatoes, you might even want to go back in with your hand mixer. Continue to cook on high an additional 30 minutes.

Voila! Your potatoes are done, and perfect. Feel free to add more pepper, salt or whatever you'd like.


These potatoes are perfect for Thanksgiving because they make enough to feed a crowd, and with the addition of all that cheese and butter, they're a bit more decadent than the kind of mashed potatoes you might serve as a side dish with a random meal. It's also great making them in the crock pot, because you can keep them warm for hours, just by changing the setting to "warm" and putting what you want out immediately in a serving bowl. Crock pots are also super portable, and easy to take with you.

Please go ahead and PIN this recipe, and let me know what you think!

And because I'm so proud of how this recipe turned out, and I'm hoping that you guys will love them too, I've even created a printable (5 x 7) recipe card:

Creamy Tortellini Soup Recipe

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with 

Pollinate Media Group™ and Barilla, but all my opinions are my own. 

#pmedia #joytothetable  http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.

This time of year is so filled with various meetings, outings, and holiday parties that we haven't been having family meals as much as usual. (Though, it seems like there is never really a dull or non-busy time of the year, am I right?) I figured it was time for us to sit down to a good family dinner, but I knew it had to be quick and something I didn't have to think too much about (Leila's Daisy troop had an outing to sing carols at a local Senior Center) so I headed to Safeway with the perfect recipe in mind - creamy tortellini soup, made in a slow cooker! With the help of Barilla Tortellini and Barilla Pasta Sauce this was the best batch yet! (And thanks to the additional $.75 off when you buy 1 package of Barilla®  tortellini at Safeway stores it was inexpensive as well!)

You will need:

-1 jar Barilla Tomato Basil pasta sauce

-1 package family sized Barilla Three Cheese tortellini
-3 cups water

-2 large handfuls of fresh spinach or kale, washed

-2 large carrots, washed and diced

-1/4 of a yellow onion 

-1 box (12 oz.) sliced white mushrooms
-1 32 oz box broth of choice (I usually use vegetable broth, but beef or chicken broth work just fine!)

-6 garlic cloves, minced

-2 tablespoons Italian seasoning

-1/2 brick of cream cheese, cubed 

-1 pound Italian sausage, browned and crumbled

(Make sure to use Barilla tortellini - they have the best taste by far, and they're the only ones that will not get soggy in this soup!)

Combine all ingredients except for tortellini and cook on high for two hours, or low for four. Add in the tortellini and cook on high another 45 minutes to an hour, or on low another hour and a half to two hours.

This is one of the few meals that's filled with veggies (carrots, mushrooms, onions and kale!) that my girls don't complain about.

Every bowl is practically licked clean!

Right now you get an additional $.75 off when you buy one package of Barilla tortellini at Safeway stores, so I hope you make this soup as well. It's hearty, and perfect for these chilly winter nights. It warms your tummy and your heart and is guaranteed to bring Joy to the Table!