Skillet Harissa Turkey Meatloaf

Making meatloaf in the skillet is perfect for busy weeknights – it's ready in less than 30 minutes!

I took my basic turkey meatloaf recipe, swapped the ketchup for jarred Mina Harrisa (or you can use homemade), added shredded zucchini and made them in the skillet. The results were juicy, quick, delicious round meatloaves with a little kick! I served it with a simple chopped cucumber and tomato salad which I tossed with a little olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper.

You can purchase Mina Harissa on Amazon and I think Whole Foods carries it, it's a bright red Moroccan condiment that can be used with couscous, vegetables, meats or whatever you want. You can also make it from scratch which I often do, but for this recipe, Mina was perfect.

If you prefer to make this in the oven as a large loaf, you can! Bake it at 350°F for 1 hour.

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Picadillo Quesadillas

One word... YUM!

I make Crock Pot Picadillo all the time in my house (Madison's number one request), and because it makes so much I like to get creative with my leftovers. I came up with this for lunch one day and my husband said I should put it on the blog, so I thought with Cinco De Mayo coming, it would be fun to do some Cuban-Mexi fusion.

I made a really quick & easy Pico de Gallo to add along with the cheddar jack cheese, the results – delicious!

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Canned Tuna Ceviche

Transform ordinary canned tuna into a zesty, flavorful lunch with a Latin flair by adding fresh lime juice, cilantro, jalapeño, tomato and avocado – so good!

A high school friend (hi Cynthia!) actually gave me this idea. She had it while vacationing in Guatemala and shared the idea with me when she returned. When I read the email, I thought it was brilliant! It's basically a poor man's ceviche.

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE a good fresh ceviche made raw fish or seafood. It's actually one of my favorite things to eat. I actually shared a recipe here of Ceviche in Cucumber Cups or this ceviche-like Zesty Lime Shrimp and Avocado Salad. But when you need a quick lunch using pantry ingredients, this is great and it's inexpensive, low-carb, paleo-friendly, dairy-free and gluten-free!

For presentation, I put the ceviche tuna into the can to use as a ring mold, then inverted it onto my plate; completely optional of course! Topped with fresh avocado, this was filling and delicious.

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The Skinnytaste Cookbook: Cover Reveal and an Announcement

A few weeks ago, I asked you guys to help me choose the cover design for the Skinnytaste Cookbook. I was having a really hard time deciding which design I liked best, that's when I decided to turn it over to you guys, and boy did you all come through! Over 12,000+ comments and now I see why I was having such a hard time deciding – the results were pretty close! But once I started tallying the votes, there was a clear winner which also happens to be my favorite. So here it is ((drumroll please))…

 And as of today I'm sooo excited to announce, the book is officially available for preorder from these online sellers:

Target | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound 

I know, some of you guys already pre-ordered, thank you for that! I wanted to wait to make it official until the cover design was chosen. The Skinnytaste Cookbook will ship October 21, 2014. September 30th 2014.

The cookbook is packed with 150 recipes: 125 all-new dishes and 25 fan favorites.  Everything from breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert with 100 full color photos. All recipes are presented with nutritional facts as well as snippets of helpful nutrition info from registered dietitian Heather K Jones, RD. It's been a true labor of love, and I hope you will all enjoy it!

Quinoa Chickpea and Avocado Salad

Garbanzos, avocado, quinoa, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, lime juice and cilantro – this flavorful vegetarian salad is loaded with protein, fiber and healthy fats. Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) are my new favorite legume. I only recently started liking them in my salads, but now I can't get enough. Using dried garbanzos taste better than canned, but for speed and convenience, canned is perfectly fine here. This is also vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free and under 250 calories.

I don't know about you, but I'm counting the days until summer (54 days to go!!) Living near the ocean, nothing makes me happier than having my feet in the sand with a good book or magazine. But that also means bathing suit shopping (ugh!) and exposing a lot more skin than I did all winter. My solution – eat more salads (and of course exercise)!

This salad is perfect for lunch, you can make it ahead, leaving the cucumbers and avocado out, and add the just before your ready to serve.

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Greek Nachos

A lighter, healthier Greek twist on traditional nachos – made with whole wheat pita chips, hummus, cucumbers, tomatoes and feta.

I was asked to do a book review for the paperback book Snack Girl To The Rescue: Easy, Delicious Food for Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner. This book is a weight loss book as well as a cookbook, and although there are no photos, Lisa gives practical advice on getting healthy along with a bit of humor. The book has 100 recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but I thought I would try one of her snacks, because after all, she's Snack Girl, right?

This was super easy to make would even work as a light vegetarian lunch. Next time I make this, I might even add some Kalamata olives and bell peppers. Enjoy!

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Sea Scallops Arugula and Beet Salad

Sweet yellow beets, arugula, goat cheese and sauteed scallops tossed with a honey vinaigrette – this salad is delicious!

A day trip out East inspired this wonderful salad. We spent the day out in Riverhead, Long Island and stopped to eat at a quaint little restaurant overlooking the river called Farm Country Kitchen.  I ordered the scallop and beet salad that was sooo good, I knew I had to recreate it. Sea scallops are really easy to make and take only minutes to prepare. You can use precooked beets to make this quicker, but I just boiled them ahead until they softened. If you prefer roasting the beets, that of coarse would work out fine as well. Once the beets are cooked and cooled, the rest of the salad comes together in less than 15 minutes. You can easily halve the recipe if you are cooking for two!

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