4 QUICK & HEALTHY Recipes Your Family Will ACTUALLY EAT! Delicious Easy Healthy Meals In Minutes
Hey friends, I love this time of year where it’s a little more laid back and we’re spending more time outside in nature. Whether we’re planting tomatoes, on vacation, or watching t ball games, something about it always kinda triggers me to stop and think about what I’m eating and how I’m treating this old body. And it’s not a shocking revelation that I could do alot better. And I’ve been slowly incorporating some small changes in my daily life in a way that they’ll become natural choices for me, better choices for me. So today I’m sharing some easy, healthy, and flavorful recipes. They’re fairly low carb and low calorie, full of veggies, healthy fats, high in fiber and protein to keep you full! Best of all they’re inexpensive, quick and easy to make and your family will actually eat these! And I’m sharing some of our trip to the National Cornbread Festival and why I will never buy anything but @lodgecastiron Blacklock collection pieces from here on out!
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Tonight’s Recipes:
Printable versions (or Pinterest links, if you prefer)
Chicken Club Lettuce Wraps: https://inthekitchenwithmommamel.com/recipes/chicken-club-lettuce-wraps/
Frittata Florentine: https://inthekitchenwithmommamel.com/recipes/frittata-florentine/
Balsamic Chicken Tortellini Salad: https://inthekitchenwithmommamel.com/recipes/balsamic-chicken-tortellini-salad/
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hey friends I love this laid-back and
relaxing time of year where we’re all
getting to spend a little bit more time
outside enjoying nature it always stir a
little something up in me that makes me
think about what I’m putting into and
how I’m treating this old body of mine
and it’s no shocking Revelation that I
could do a whole lot better for me so
recently I’ve been incorporating some
small changes into my daily lifestyle
that will hopefully become natural
choices better choices for for me so
today I’m sharing some healthy easy and
flavorful recipes they’re fairly low
carb and low calorie they’re packed full
of veggies and healthy fats and they’ve
got lots of high fiber and protein to
keep you full and best of all they’re
quick and easy inexpensive to make and
your family will actually eat these look
at those beautiful ingredients today
we’re going to make a really light lunch
or dinner these are chicken club lettuce
wraps the first thing I’m going to do is
get all of my veggies washed up before I
cut them and I’m going to wash my little
lettuce boats the way I’m going to do my
lettuce is just to cut the very end of a
head of Roma off then I’m going to find
me some really sturdy pieces from end to
end and I’m going to rinse them out and
dry them very carefully hoping not to
break
them now we’re going to mix up our
little dressing or sauce I’m going to
use about a four of a cup of Dijon
mustard and a four of a cup of sour
cream and I’m going to crack in a little
bit of black pepper and give this all
just a little
stir this pre-pulled rotisserie chicken
has become one of my favorite Splurge
items at the grocery store I find it at
Aldi it’s also available at Walmart back
at their Deli counter and I’m just going
to pull out some of the bigger pieces
here and I’m probably just going to use
maybe right at a cup of that chicken it
might be a little bit less I’m just
going to rough chop it up into a little
bit smaller pieces but I did want it to
stay kind of chunky you can use shredded
chicken if you like bake it up cook it
in the crock pot your instant pot
however you like to do your chicken this
is just something that I’ve really
enjoyed having on hand I do lots of
things with this throughout the week
chicken salad I just put it on top of
salads for lunch in case it is I’m just
using it for all kinds of stuff I’m
going to take my clean cherry tomatoes
and I’m just going to dice them up into
smaller bite-sized pieces since I’m just
making about three of these here that is
probably going to be enough let’s do one
more I’ll fill it full I’ve got an
avocado that is very very right
may be a little too ripe to dice up but
we’ll see and of course if you don’t
like avocado you don’t have to have this
in
yours these little things are totally
customizable to whatever you
like that’s the thing with
avocados they’re
usually too rip or not rip
enough it’s hard to get them right at
the point that you want to eat them now
I’m just going to build my little
lettuce wraps here going to start with
my rotisserie chicken and I chose the
biggest leaves that I could because
y’all know I like to cramp stuff
full and it looks like I did good with
my chicken I’ve got just the right
amount for three of
these now I’m going to put a little
avocado on each one of them and these
are so good for you and if you’re trying
to not eat meat you don’t have to put
chicken in here you could fill this full
of any kind of veggies that you wanted
there I say even tofu my son-in-law he
tried to trick me with some macaroni
cheese bites that were actually tofu he
didn’t fool me let’s put these pretty
little Tomatoes right on the
top I’m going to sprinkle in just a
little bit of these real bacon pieces
you could definitely fry you up some
bacon but we didn’t have bacon this
morning and I wasn’t going to make some
just for this recipe today’s actually
mine and Patrick’s anniversary 31 years
together that’s over half my life
friends and he wanted sausage so he got
sausage this morning he got some
anniversary
sausage my little dressing here is still
pretty thick which is good I like that
because these are probably going to be
pretty messy to eat so it’s probably a
good thing this dressing is a little bit
thicker how pretty is that okay let’s
see how I can eat this what sort of like
a little taco let’s give her a try this
is so yummy all the good stuff that you
love and that little dressing that’s
delicious it’s got a real little zip to
it it just kind of wakes everything up
these would be so cute for like a little
brunch or something to like an appetizer
but this makes me a really good dinner
right here guys they’re crunchy and
light and so fun to eat low carb low in
calories and I didn’t do any cooking and
you could use any kind of toppings that
you want Maddie would love it if I
changed it up and made some little
chicken caesar wraps for her definitely
give this one a try I’m really excited
today I’m making something that I love
but I’ve never made one I’m going to
make us a little frittata today I’m
going to start by mixing up my egg
mixture this recipe said to use six egg
white whites and then three whole eggs
yolk and everything or if you wanted to
use all egg whites you would use the
whites of 12 eggs so since I bought this
a liquid egg white let’s just give it a
try I’m going to use what would be the
equivalent of 12 egg whites in this this
is my first time ever using these and it
gives you the measurements on the side
and the whites of 12 eggs equals out to
two two and 1/4 cups of these liquid egg
whites we’re going to season these egg
whites up with half a teaspoon of
Italian seasoning about 1/4 of a
teaspoon of garlic powder give it about
1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of
black pepper going to get all of this
Twisted together and then we’re just
going to set it aside so we’ll have it
ready to go when we need to pour it in
our Skillet going to go ahead and get
just maybe a tablespoon of oil heated up
on top of the stove you you want to make
sure that you’re using an oven safe
Skillet because we are going to put this
under the broiler and I can’t wait to
tell you about this new Skillet here in
a minute while I’m waiting for that to
come up to heat I’m going to half these
little grape tomatoes just going to put
this on part of it Patrick’s not a fan
of those but I’d really like some you
need about a/4 of a cup of diced bell
pepper Red Pepper would be beautiful in
here but I’ve eaten all of my red bell
pepper I just had these few little
pieces of this uh orange bell pepper
that I haven’t snacked on this week so
that’s what we’re using and I have a
small Vidalia onion and I’m just dicing
it up into really small pieces I’ve got
about three pieces of bacon that I’ve
already chopped up and I’m using regular
bacon this recipe called for turkey
bacon but I’m just not into that yet if
I don’t have to cook turkey bacon I can
eat it but I just can’t see it and cook
it and then eat it it tastes great but
it just don’t look like real bacon to me
I’ve got this on about medium heat and
I’m just going to let my bacon get all
cooked through and while this is cooking
up let me tell you about the skillet I
got this at the lodge factory store down
in South Pittsburgh Tennessee me and
Patrick went down there for the
cornbread Festival I’ll throw in a
little footage of that for you here at
the end of this video if you want to
stay to um to the end and watch it but I
got this in what they call their seconds
area it looks perfectly fine to me
they’re very particular at lodge about
their cast iron they have really high
standards that all their products have
to meet so they sell their seconds in
their little Factory Store there what
immediately drew me to this Skillet was
this handle I thought it was pretty it’s
kind of you know like curved and it’s
got some cutouts in it but then it’s
going to be hot here in a minute then I
went to pick it up and I was like wow
that seems light well they’re so helpful
down there at the lodge store the fell
heard me tell Patrick you know how much
lighter this cast iron skillet was and
this is a 10 and 1/4 in Skillet and just
for this recipe may be a little bit
large you probably just need about an 8
in Skillet but I couldn’t wait to use
this one anyhow back to the story he
heard me tell him Patrick about how much
lighter this was and he said yes this is
our black lock
collection and if you look at the sides
here this Edge right here it’s thinner
than most of their other cast iron and
this black lock selection is about
25% lighter it’s not as thick on the
edges but so it’s like 25% lighter than
the regular cast iron but it’s triple
seasoned all of Lodge products are
already pre-seasoned for you you still
need to keep up with seasoning them you
know like after you use them and stuff
like you do any cast iron but this one
is triple seasoned so this is my first
time using it I thought it was beautiful
and for everyday use I’m not out on a
campfire a thinner not so heavy Skillet
is perfect for
me and it’s doing a fine job on this
bacon so now that it’s on its way let’s
go ahead and put in our onions and our
bell
pepper we’re just going to get all this
sauteed down here till our peppers and
our onions are soft and our bacon is
nice and done all the way through and
crispy and the recipe that I’m using is
for servings and if you use turkey bacon
and lowfat mozzarella cheese it should
be about 177 calories per serving I know
mine’s going to be a little bit more
because I’m using the you know the real
bacon not the turkey bacon of course you
could use ham or sausage or anything in
here if you ain’t worried about how many
calories or anything that’s in here just
uh do whatever you’d like to
there now that I’ve insured that my
bacon is all done all the way through
I’m just going to take about a cup of
spinach and I’m just going to press this
right
in to my bacon and let it start welting
at this point I did cut my heat down
from like medium to like a medium
low and now we’re going to pour our eggs
right over the top of
this this is my first time ever doing
this so I’m going exactly like the
instruction said it says to move the
cooked eggs as they start cooking up to
move them towards the center so that the
uncooked eggs can kind of like run up
underneath of that and you just want to
cook this until everything’s kind of
thick oh mine looks like it’s getting
done I’m going cut it down a little bit
more you just want it to be you know
like kind of thickened not necessarily
cooked all the way through I think that
I’m about there I’m going to make sure
all my spinach is
distributed back through here evenly my
bacon and everything okay I’m just kind
of going to smooth this little thing out
looks pretty thick to me so I’m going to
pull that off of the heat I’m going to
pop my little Tomatoes all down one side
of this then I’m going to put that about
half a cup of mozzarella cheese All Over
the Top If you had some fresh herbs like
some basil or something like that it’d
be really good to put in here now we’re
going to put this under the broiler for
Just 2 to 3 minutes until you know the
cheese looks nice and melted and brown
then we’re going to pull it out let it
stand for 5 minutes before we cut into
it friends you can teach an old dog new
tricks a brand new recipe brand new
ingredients those liquid egg whites I
had never used that before cooking in a
brand new Skillet and of course I wanted
to tell you all about it I loved the egg
whites I loved the SK Skillet I love
this recipe I’ll definitely be making
this again for breakfast lunch or dinner
I think you’ll like it too came out
really nice it came out of my Skillet
really nicely looks really pretty it is
pretty isn’t it get me a bite here
without dropping it full of bell peppers
onions I didn’t put any garlic I used
garlic powder M that’s really really
good really really good I think the egg
whites are the way to go that was so
easy so yummy this is a really big
serving too there’s some bacon this is
great I’m really proud of myself for
trying this wasn’t that hard I always
get these when I’m out somewhere cuz I
thought it was really hard to make but
it’s not it’s just a fancy name we’re
going to make something brand new that
I’ve never made before this is a
Balsamic tortillini chicken salad going
to start out by cooking my tortillini up
and I’m just using a cheese tortillini
just boiling it for about 8 minutes then
I’m just going to drain it off off and
put it in a big bowl and set it aside
now we’re going to mix up our dressing
I’m going to start with an eighth of a
cup of a really good Italian salad
dressing an e of a cup of balsamic
vinegar about 2 tpoon of honey and just
a tiniest little bit of crushed red
pepper going to get all this mixed up
and set it aside and these sound like
odd measurements but I’m actually
halfing this recipe I’ll leave you a
link to the full recipe below the full
recipe would feed six people and each
serving is under 500 calories I’ve got
one chicken breast and I’m just going to
very thinly slice it before I cook it
that way it will all cook up a little
bit quicker like I said I’m half in this
recipe so I’m just using one boneless
skinless chicken breast I’m going to go
back through the middle of this chicken
breast where it was really wide and go
ahead and cut that into about half size
pieces got a little bit of oil in my
Skillet here and I’m just going to put
that chicken breast right down in here
and I haven’t seasoned it yet so I’m
going to give it a pretty generous
liberal little seasoning with some anti
no no this seasoning has salt pepper I
believe pepper onion powder garlic
powder it’s just a really good
allpurpose seasoning I use it a lot and
I’m just about out and we’re just going
to cook this chicken about 2 or 3
minutes here on each side till we get it
pretty well done the recipe called for
shredded carrots but I’ve just got some
little baby carrots and I’m just going
to cut them in half and then I’m just
going to cut them in little bitty thin
pieces to the best of my aties I’ve also
got just a little handful of graped
tomatoes and I’m just going to slice
them right down the center in halves I
don’t think I’m going to cook these down
with the other vegetables I’m just going
to leave leave my tomatoes fresh like
they are and put them in on the top of
the salad when I get it all combined the
recipe also called for fresh asparagus
but the asparagus at my store didn’t
look so good so I’m going to use some
frozen asparagus and I am going to steam
it in this bag in the microwave for just
about 2 minutes to get it unfrozen get
my steamed broccoli out here and this
broccoli does look a whole lot better
than what I saw at the store 100% And
I’m just going to run my knife through
this and chop it into thirds it’s been
brought to my attention that I called
that asparagus broccoli I do know the
difference it’s asparagus now that our
chicken is got a little bit of color on
it it’s cooked through I’m going to take
about an e/ of a cup of that little
marinade and I’m going to pour it right
in here
and we want to get this chicken good and
coated in
it m that smells
good just about a minute just to get it
nice and
coated then we’re going to take that
chicken and toss it right in this bow
with our
talining back over here at the frying
pan I’m just going to drizzle in a very
little smidgen of oil add in this
asparagus and I did try to Pat the water
out of it just a little bit where it was
steamed
just going to let this cook up just a
couple minutes it’s not really going to
take much it’s already cooked it’s been
stained this is another one of those
recipes where you still want your
veggies to have a little bit of
crispiness to them going to go ahead and
put my carrots in here and let them
start sautéing up as
well now we’re going to take our veggies
and put them right here with our chicken
and our tortillini
now we’re going to take our remaining
sauce and we’re just going to thicken it
up just a minute but we want to make
sure that it’s going to get just a
little bit sticky enough to stick to
everything like the tortillini and stuff
now we’re just going to take that and
put it right in here with everything in
our Bowl give it a really nice gentle
tossing and if this is half of that
recipe this is three servings these are
really generous servings I took the
liberty of sprinkling in some shredded
parmesan cheese and kind of mixed it
into this this was so delicious warm and
the leftovers were great cold too so
definitely think about meal prepping
this and put this in containers and just
grab and go with this for lunch all week
long and don’t feel like you have to
stick exactly to the recipe put in any
veggies that you like I was thinking
about maybe some artichoke carts down in
here would be really good or maybe even
Wilt a little cabbage down in here this
one’s great
friends it’s my favorite night of the
week which is that night of the week
where we just grab all the little bits
and Bobs of stuff that’s left over in
the fridge and freezer we’re going to
make dinner out of it I have some oil
heating in the skillet right over here
but I’m going to start here with some
reff fried beans
I plan on putting these inside of some
wraps but people can also just eat them
as a side dish as they want if they want
to too I think that refried beans are
great just like they are but I do like
to doctor them up a little bit I’m just
putting in some sour cream also like to
throw in just a little handful of
cheese I’m just using some cheddar a lot
of times I’ll just use some taco sauce
like you would put on a Taco but tonight
I don’t have any open so just going to
use a little bit of ground cumin and
just a little bit of chili powder just
give them an extra little something
something we will get all this stirred
in together and just let this come up to
you know a little warmth here and get
everything all Incorporated over here I
heated up just a little bit of olive oil
I’m putting in some frozen chopped green
peppers and I’m also going to put in
some frozen diced onions these are handy
little help ERS that I just love to have
on hand both of them in my freezer for
nights like tonight and we’re just kind
of eating off leftovers and eating off
what we have we’ve always got plenty I
mean the way that I keep my pantry and
my freezer we’ve always got something
that we can pull out and do something
with we’re just going to let this just
kind of soften up here and while that’s
going on I’m going to take this 90c
microwave Rice this is my microwavable
brown rice I actually bought this a
while back to go with a chicken dish for
Patrick and I didn’t end up making it so
I’m going to put it in these tonight for
him now that we got these pretty
softened I’m going to put in a little
probably a tablespoon full of minced
garlic just let it sauté about a minute
or so I’m going to put just a little bit
more olive oil in there and then I have
this rotisserie pulled chicken this is
probably
about half a pound half of this package
left and I’m just going to dump it in
there if we got any big pieces I’m going
to break them up a little bit it smells
delicious going to take the same things
I did to our refried beans which is some
ground
cumin I’m not measuring tonight we’re
just sprinkling a little bit of chili
powder these are the kind of meals that
I love to make just get in here and you
you know see what you can come up with
you can use any kind of seasonings that
you want you can use any veggies you
want any chicken pork beef just no ve no
meat use whatever you want I’m also
going to put some smoked paprika in
here seasonings go a long way with
leftovers or when you’re just kind of
cooking out of what you have they make a
big difference got another small Skillet
here got some oil heating up in it
cuz I like to fry these you could put
them all on a baking sheet and bake them
but I like to fry them got some flour
tortillas here these are the soft taco
size just knocked the chill off of them
in the microwave going to start right
here with just a a little bit of refried
beans down you guys know I’m not going
to touch this
rice but I’m going to put a heap in
handful on here for Patrick he loves
these little ricey what are they called
Patrick those things you get at Taco
Bell chicken rice and bean Taco Burrito
burrito I don’t know what it’s called
and I’m going to put him a little bit of
the chicken mixture whoops I dropped it
off to the side that’s all right put it
right back up here on top I have a
feeling I’m getting too much going to
put a little cheddar cheese dad you want
a little pepper jack in yours now I’m
just going to try my very best to fold
this up I am the
worst the worst first at this just stuff
them way too full see what I can get
going here it’s going to be coming out
the sides now I’m going to take it and
put it right in this hot hot
oil going to let it get nice and brown
on one side then we’ll flip it over and
do the other side this is a weird shot
but I got to show you this thing right
here to open jars but you just slide it
right back in here and then it catches
the lid and you turn it to the right
that is opposite I always want to go
left but it pops the lids right off let
me show you up underneath here this is
what it looks like it has little saw
teeth over here that are super sharp you
can fit a large jar way down to a little
jar you just slide it in and it’ll grab
it I bought all the ladies in my life
one of these at Christmas and I didn’t
get myself one so here recently I got
myself one and I’m loving it
these might not look that impressive
they might be down right scary looking
to you but they were absolutely
delicious they were flavorful full of
all of the TexMex flavors which I love
just a little bit of spicy not a whole
lot but a lot of just warm deep flavors
I loved this just the way it was I would
have liked some black beans in here
maybe but the refried beans were
absolutely delicious in it as well I
made a little taco salad on the side of
mine I just took some tortilla chips put
some lettuce up there reff fried beans
salsa a little sour cream and cheese and
this meal just couldn’t be beat I swear
taking little bits of nothing and making
something is my favorite thing in the
world to do these are the best meals of
the week in my opinion here is the
entrance to the National cornbread
Festival it’s held every spring in
little downtown historic South
Pittsburgh Tennessee it’s also the home
of the Lodge cast iron Factory and store
which we did get to tour the factory
they shut it down it was clean as a
whistle it was so interesting to see the
process and how all of our favorite cast
iron is made all the employees there
were on hand for the festival answering
any kind of questions ran in to my
favorite YouTuber miss Karen Jones from
Karen Jones food and family if you’re
not following her you are missing out on
a lot of good eating friends check her
Channel out cornbread alley is where
nine different charities have created
their own very unique cornbread recipes
you pay one price and you get a whole
plate full of really unique cornbread
and then you vote for your favorite and
I got all of the recipes so guys we’ve
got some really unique corn
peaceful little stay it was not crowded
we just really enjoyed our time here the
next day we went up to Lookout Mountain
we had never ridden the incline railway
we’ve been a bunch of times to Lookout
Mountain and we’ve always done Rock City
and Ruby Falls so this was a lot of fun
here we are going up the side of the
mountain in the incline railway car it’s
about a mile trip and they have two
different cars that run up and down
here’s a beautiful view from the top of
Lookout Mountain we walked a couple of
blocks over to Point Park it’s a
Memorial Park it overlooks the Lookout
Mountain Battlefield in Chattanooga and
the vistor center has a lot of exhibits
telling about the Civil War battles
around Chattanooga and the area once
you’ve been up the side of the mountain
you have to come back down the incline
railway pulls these trains up this steep
mountain with a cable that way the
wheels don’t have to worry about keeping
traction they just kind of guide the
train along the track you see us here
where the train tracks split into a
passing Loop so the car can pass each
other and the two train cars
counterbalance each other and it kind of
uses the weight of one to help pull the
other one up no road trip is complete
without some sweet treats before you hit
the road to come home we had a great
time it was just peaceful and relaxing
and it was nice just for the two of us
to get away together if you’re
interested in some recipes and tips on
using your air fryer you need to check
out this video right here or if you’re
looking for an easy classic weekly meal
plan I got you covered right here thanks
so much for watching and until next time
I send you love from my kitchen