Who doesn’t love a great tasting, quick & easy weeknight meal?! I don’t think anyone loves them more than us parents that are preparing them! After a long day at work and school, the last thing you want to worry about is what’s for dinner. Wouldn’t it be nice to end your day relaxed with family instead of feeling like you have to rush around to get something on the table?  This delicious, make ahead chilled Tuna, Veggie & Wild Rice Salad is the perfect simple dinner any night of the week & the leftovers are great for lunch the next day too! Yum!

I’m a huge fan of Bumble Bee® Solid White Albacore Tuna, With it’s firm texture, light color and fresh taste, Bumble Bee® Solid White Albacore is the perfect ingredient to deliciously enhance almost any recipe, while adding a variety of nutrients (including lean protein, healthy fat and important vitamins and minerals. *See their website for full nutritional facts) to your family’s diet. Seeing is believing and Bumble Bee® Solid White Albacore Tuna is quality you can see from the moment you open the can.

Meaty pieces of albacore tuna are tossed with seasoned wild rice, green onions, shredded carrots, colorful red and yellow peppers, tiny broccoli florets and extra virgin olive oil in this tasty salad recipe. What makes this salad so great is the convenience of preparing it ahead of time!

If you have a few extra minutes on the weekend, you can easily have this ready to go for the upcoming week. Start by preparing your wild rice according to the package’s instructions. Cool the rice completely and store it in the refrigerator Drain the water out of your can of albacore and add the tuna to a large glass serving bowl (preferably with a lid for easy storage later) along with the other fresh ingredients.

Toss everything together well, cover, and place the salad into the refrigerator to chill and let the flavors mingle for at least 30 minutes. You can of course serve this salad room temperature but we love it chilled. Either way, it’s delicious! This salad is wonderful served in romaine lettuce leaves, by itself or along with some with steamed veggies on the side. Enjoy!

Try more mouth-watering recipes & discover for yourself why

 Only Bumble Bee Albacore Will Do!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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If the weather hasn’t been cooperating in your area this Spring, brighten up your meals with some juicy blueberries! Fresh fruit always seems to put me in a good mood and it’s good for you and your family too! Blueberries are full of antioxidants and fiber. Keep them on hand for a serving of fruit as a tasty snack!

Here’s 15 Easy & Delicious Blueberry Recipes your family might enjoy!

As a bonus…many of these recipes are conveniently freezer friendly too!

Blueberry & Granola Yogurt Parfaits

These yummy parfaits are perfect for breakfast, an after school snack or even dessert! Your children will have fun in the kitchen helping you make these too!

Blueberry Muffins

Who doesn’t love a good Blueberry Muffin? These muffins are moist, buttery and full of plump, sweet and juicy berries in every bite! Guess what? These are freezer friendly too. Make a few dozen and stock up!

Blueberry, Almond & Goat Cheese Spinach Salad

If you’ve never tried blueberries on your salad, you don’t know what you are missing! Those sweet berries paired with fresh greens and a salty cheese make for the most scrumptious and healthy meal. This simple salad is satisfying for both lunch and dinner!

Meyer Lemon & Blueberry Sour Cream Cake

Meyer Lemons are so delicious, but they are made even better combined with ripe blueberries in this delicious cake! This cake is easy to make and freezer friendly as well, making it perfect to have on hand for unexpected guests.

Blueberry Almond Baked Oatmeal

Breakfast never tasted so good! The combination of fresh blueberries, almonds and old fashioned oats are a great way to start the day!

Blueberry Almond Crumble

We love the combination of blueberries and almonds so much that I had to try it in this crumble! It’s so delicious! You can use fresh or frozen blueberries in this recipes so you can make it and enjoy it all year round.

Blueberry Buttermilk Waffles

Waffles make a fun and tasty family weekend breakfast, but they are even better with blueberries! Make a double batch and freeze some for later too!

Whole Wheat Banana Blueberry Bread

We always have bananas in our kitchen. Banana Bread is a family favorite baked good, but sometimes we like to switch things up! Adding juicy blueberries to your banana bread is a special treat that your whole family will love! Save a loaf in the freezer for later too!

Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Muffins

Muffins are great on a busy morning and can easily be taken on the go if your family is running around for after school activities. These muffins have a yummy cheesecake surprise in the middle and are perfect with a cup of coffee!

Warm Blueberry Crisp

Simple, Easy & Delicious! This crisp can be make in a large baking dish or in individual mason jars for a quick dessert, even if it’s last minute. It’s perfect warm from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Slow Cooker Very Berry Cobbler

Dessert can be made easy with this yummy berry cobbler. Filled with blueberries and raspberries, this slow cooker treat is nice on a busy evening!

Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes

I love these pancakes because they are made hearty with old fashioned oats and have sweetness in every bite from the blueberries. My children even like these without syrup and just taken quickly on the go as a fast breakfast or snack. We always freeze a batch of these to save time in the kitchen later!

Blueberry & Almond Coffee Cake

Want to make something special for a weekend breakfast or brunch? This recipe is so delicious and the recipe makes 2 coffee cakes! You’ll have one for your special morning and then be able to freeze one for later!

Mini Mixed Berry Pies

Blueberries are so delicious in pies! These mini pies are made even easier with a homemade pie filling you can make ahead of time featuring fresh blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. Try some today!

Blueberry Cobbler Oatmeal Cookies

These are one of my family’s favorite cookies! Crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside oatmeal cookies with blueberries in every bite! Yum! You can use dried blueberries or fresh! Enjoy!

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This year our family has has chosen to cut back on meat a little bit each week. This decision not only has inspired me to create new recipes in my kitchen, but it has provided us with some savings on our grocery bill as well. So far we are off to a great start and we’ve been enjoying the new flavors too! It’s so nice to have satisfying, simple, family-friendly recipes that are easy to make any night of the week on hand. After a long day of work, school and extracurricular activities, this delicious Shrimp Scampi with Asparagus & Pasta is a delicious dinner you won’t want to miss! The best part– it’s ready in only 15 minutes!

To make your weeknight dinner prep easier, be sure to have pasta in your pantry, fresh vegetables in your crisper and SeaPak Shrimp & Seafood Co. in your freezer after you grocery shop on the weekends. Sometimes when life gets hectic, we make ordering out, or going out to eat meals a habit. By planning ahead, you can save yourself time and money while making tasty meals for your family.

SeaPak’s Jumbo Butterfly Shrimp, Popcorn Shrimp and Shrimp Scampi are also great to have on hand for the upcoming season of Lent. SeaPak adheres to the utmost quality standards in their industry and is known for their strong commitment to resource management and sustainability while making it simple for us to bring the taste of the coast to our dinner table to share with family and friends!

We are covered in a blanket of snow here in Western New York, so eating more seafood this time of year always takes me back to our most wonderful warm vacations by the ocean. The smell of the salty air, the warm breeze blowing in your hair, the sound of the waves and of course the fresh seafood…Ahh… It’s nice to get lost in good memories like that don’t you think?

Before you start cooking your shrimp and veggies in a skillet for this recipe, get a pot of lightly salted water for your pasta boiling and prepare it according to the boxed directions, then set it aside. I love whole grain thin spaghetti for this recipe. It’s just the right amount of pasta twirled around your fork along with the juicy shrimp in each bite.

After heating a little extra virgin olive oil in your skillet over medium-high heat, add your finely chopped red pepper and bite sized fresh asparagus to saute a few minutes. Add in your package of SeaPak Shrimp Scampi, stir and cook until the vegetables are softened and the shrimp is cooked through according to the package directions.

Drain your pasta and with tongs, gently add it to the shrimp and asparagus mixture and toss well. That’s it! You can even sprinkle this with a few shavings of fresh Parmesan to make it extra delicious if you like! There you have it! A delicious shrimp scampi meal fresh from the coast is only minutes away! Enjoy!

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of SeaPak. The opinions and text are all mine.

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Once the warmer weather is here, more fresh fruits and vegetables are available in the grocery store and at local stands, and I just can’t get enough.  I love the bright colors and delicious taste!  Salads are such a quick and easy lunch or dinner that can fulfill your daily fruit and vegetable requirements too.  Have you ever spent all day in the garden, to come inside and find that it’s already late and you have nothing prepared for dinner?  I have!  For evenings like that, I make a simple salad.

My children have always eaten salads, even when they were very little.  It use to take me a little bit of time, but I would chop up their salads into the smallest bites possible and they just loved it.  As they have gotten older, their tastes have changed slightly and everyone has their own list of things they will or will not eat.  I deal with this problem by coming up with a basic type of salad and if they want to leave a few things off or put a few more things on, then they can.

This Spinach & Watermelon salad is really versatile and is actually one of my children’s favorite salads.  Baby Spinach is topped with sweet and juicy fresh watermelon, roughly chopped walnuts, feta or bleu cheese crumbles and a few ripe blueberries for a healthy and flavorful meal.  Two of my children don’t like dressings, so they eat this plain.  My son likes this with a little drizzle of olive oil and no blueberries.  Me, I like it with whatever I have got on hand!  Spinach and Watermelon go so well with a variety of different things, so use what your family loves the best.  If I am serving this for dinner, I will often top this salad with grilled chicken and a little blue cheese dressing.  The possibilities are endless!

Do you make salads for dinner a lot in the summer?  What are your favorite fresh fruit and veggie combinations?

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I hope everyone had a great weekend!  We spent most of our time outside working around the house.  I worked in my garden, my husband did some more gravel work with his tractor around our addition and our children jumped and jumped and jumped the day away on their trampoline and had a few water balloon fights.  We got a lot accomplished and everyone was tired out.  When I woke up this morning and the house was still, I knew everyone must have needed that little bit of extra sleep.  How did you spend the weekend?

With little to no time spent in the kitchen the past few days, I browsed through my refrigerator and pantry to see what kind of casserole I could put together for a quick dinner.  Casseroles are just wonderful because you can usually put together a few left over items to make a whole new meal and it’s almost always really simple.  To me, a warm casserole has always been comforting too.

This Creamy Chicken & Asparagus Casserole is a delicious meal that can even be made ahead of time.  The asparagus doesn’t have to be pre cooked, and you can use a rotisserie chicken or any left over chicken that you might have from a previous meal.

Fresh asparagus is baked with a creamy homemade cream of chicken soup (you can use a canned soup if you want to), freshly grated Parmesan cheese and generous amount of herb stuffing to give you a satisfying meal that is perfect for any busy evening.

We just loved the stuffing topping because it was crisp on the top and moist through out the rest of the casserole!

Even though this is a meal in itself, I always like to serve this with a salad and fresh bread.  If you are looking for a new dish to try with asparagus, give this recipe a try!

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It’s Spring and after feeling like I’ve been cooped up for the last 6 or 7 months inside with the bad winter we had, I am trying to get back on track with my diet.  When the weather is cold, I like to get into cozy mode.  I like to wear a lot of layers, cook all kinds of comforting meals, eat, snuggle with a warm blankets while sitting on the couch while gazing out of the window, and sipping on a hot cup of coffee.  Well, that was wonderful these past few months, but the weather is finally nice and I need to get with the program.  It’s very easy to get into a routine of not really keeping track of what you are eating or not really caring for that matter, especially if you are wearing comfortable sweaters and warm clothes to hide those extra few pounds.  Since I won’t be wearing my cozy sweaters through out the Spring and Summer months, I decided I better be little more conscious about what is going on my plate these days!

I love Chicken Parmesan!  Every time my husband and I eat out at an Italian Restaurant, it’s what I order.  Every. Single. Time.  It’s always a comforting meal, but it also comes with a whole bunch of unwanted calories.  I love the the taste of that perfect bite of tender, breaded chicken smothered in fresh tomato sauce, and topped with a generous amount of melted, freshly grated Parmesan cheese.  Of course most times, it’s sitting on top of a huge amount of pasta too.  This week for Sunday dinner, I decided to serve a lightened up, comforting Chicken Parmesan, without all of the calories.  This Baked Chicken Breast Parmesan is a simple meal that can be easily prepared, even on a busy week night.  I sauteed a few cloves of garlic in olive oil then added a can of whole can of San Marzano tomatoes (fresh tomatoes from the garden in the summer), basil and a pinch of salt to a saucepan and let the sauce simmer while I prepared the chicken breast.  I pounded four chicken breasts thin, seasoned them with salt and pepper, ladled half of the sauce on the bottom of a baking dish, added the chicken, the remaining sauce, topped the chicken with a generous amount of Parmesan cheese, and baked them in the oven for 30 minutes.  The result is a healthy, flavorful, satisfying chicken breast that can be served with a large fresh salad, vegetables or even some whole wheat pasta if you or your family are really hungry.  If you are watching what you eat and are looking for a “slimmed down” version of Chicken Parmesan, give this tasty recipe a try!

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Welcome to May!  The weather is slowly getting warmer and the first of my daffodils have blossomed and I am sure my tulips (my absolute favorite) aren’t far behind.  I have been busy working up the soil in my garden and planting a few Spring vegetables.  I like to bring as much fresh food to the dinner table as possible, and when my garden is in full swing, I love cooking with the fresh food that our family grew.  Have you been busy outdoors?  What are your favorite flowers or plants in bloom right now?

I haven’t planted my beans in the garden yet, but since this month is a busy one, I was on a mission to find a simple soup to make that had some pretty Spring color to it.  I was given The Soup Bible cookbook as a gift a few years ago and I kind of forgot it was on our bookshelf.  I was organizing books the other day and stumbled upon it again.  I can’t believe I forgot about it!

It’s a wonderful book, with a ton of soup recipes, complete with big, beautiful photos.  I found a green bean soup that looked simple, so I slightly adapted it into my own recipe.

This flavorful Garlicky Green Bean & Parmesan Soup was even better than I had hoped.  I didn’t have fresh green beans on hand, so I used a bag of extra fine green beans that I had in the freezer.  Super convenient!

The beans and fresh garlic were then sauteed in butter and a little olive oil, simmered in vegetable broth, pureed in the blender and then warmed with cream, Parmesan and Romano cheeses.  I topped my soup with a little extra cheese because I think more cheese always makes everything better!

My whole family loved this soup- even the children, and I served it with a hearty loaf of whole wheat french bread for a satisfying week night dinner.  This has become one of my favorite soups and I will be making again very soon!  If you are looking for a pretty and simple meal this Spring, give this one a try!

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Did you know that April is National Grilled Cheese Month?  I always loved grilled cheese sandwiches when I was a child.  I remember real butter spread on regular white bread, stuffed with American cheese slices and grilled in a skillet until it had a perfect, beautiful golden color along with a delicious crunch when I took the first bite.  When I was a child, we never, ever served grilled cheese sandwiches without applesauce!  We still don’t!  That crisp sandwich with melted cheese was always cut in half and dipped in sweet applesauce for the perfect lunch.  Yum!  If you haven’t tried it- trust me, you won’t ever eat your grilled cheese sandwich without the applesauce again!  What are your childhood grilled cheese sandwich memories?

So the month of April is almost over (can you believe it?!) and I am going to share one of my favorite, more “grown up” grilled cheese sandwiches with you.  These creamy Broccoli, Provolone & Ricotta Grilled Cheese Sandwiches are great for lunch or dinner and even go well with a glass of wine!  The melted provolone cheese and warm ricotta blend perfectly with the fresh and tender broccoli inside two perfectly grilled buttery Italian bread slices.  If you would like to add more vegetables to your sandwich, fresh spinach and red peppers are great additions to this sandwich.  Celebrate National Grilled Cheese Month with this delicious sandwich this weekend!

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I just love breakfast foods and I don’t limit them strictly to the morning either.  As a matter of fact, my family always enjoys breakfast for dinner!  There are so many different meals you an make with a few eggs, some meat and fresh vegetables that can become a satisfying meal anytime of day.

Yesterday when I was at the grocery store, I picked up a few large loaves of french bread to make pepperoni pizzas.  I was about to put the extra loaves in the freezer for a different day when I had an idea for breakfast!  With a little left over ham in the refrigerator from Easter, I could make a yummy breakfast pizza!  This French Bread Breakfast Pizza is easy to make, inexpensive and feeds a crowd!  The chewy, french bread is layered with sharp cheddar cheese, diced ham, scrambled eggs, onion and pepper, then baked in the oven to melt everything and get it nice and toasted.  I ended up serving this pizza for lunch and it went well with the fresh fruit I had on hand!  If you are looking for a simple meal, grab a loaf of french bread from your local bakery and surprise your family with this delicious pizza!

Here’s what I did:

Gather the ingredients.

Saute the onion and pepper in a little butter.

After a few minutes, the onion and pepper should be softened and you can pour in the beaten eggs and scramble.

Preheat your oven, slice your french bread in half and start layering on the toppings.

All ready to go into the oven!

After the pizzas come out of the oven, place carefully on a cutting board and slice.

 Serve with fresh fruit and orange juice and enjoy!

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Good Morning!  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  I am so excited to finally have some warmer temperatures outside.  It’s been between 40 and 50 degrees here during the day, and with the snow melted, this weekend I was finally able to put on my mud boots and take a look around our yard and garden.  It’s an absolute mess and I have a lot of work ahead of me, but being able to just get outside and have a plan of attack makes me happy.  I also love seeing my daffodils and tulips starting to pop up through the ground.  Have you seen any signs of Spring in your yard yet?  If you are looking for some Spring lawn & garden ideas, head over to my Gardening board on Pinterest!  If you have your own gardening board on Pinterest, I would love to take a peak at what your are busy doing outdoors as well.  I am always looking for great new ideas to apply in and around my home.  With hours of yard and garden work ahead of me, a lot of simple, quick dinners are going to be on my family’s menu this month.

Today I am sharing this tasty Lemon & Spinach Pasta with you.  This meal takes only minutes to prepare and is perfect for Spring!  The light and fresh flavor from the lemon is mixed with cream, Parmesan cheese, garlic and scallions, then tossed with your favorite pasta, fresh spinach and of course topped with even more freshly grated Parmesan cheese for a great, satisfying week night dinner.  If your family prefers a heartier meal, you can always add some juicy grilled chicken to this dish.  Served with a fresh salad and bread, this meal is sure to please on a busy evening when you have limited time to spend in the kitchen!

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