A one-skillet dinner that’s healthy, easy AND flavorful?! That’s right, this cheesy chicken, sweet potato and kale skillet meal is nutritious and delicious, just the way a busy weeknight meal should be!

Easily one of my go-to meals lately, my savory chicken and sweet potato recipe is packed with kale, veggies and protein.

There’s a lot of talk about perimenopause lately, so I wanted to create a dish that is not only perfect for busy families, but also something to help support those feeling like they might be entering perimenopause in their 30s and 40s. Heck, it’s a great recipe for menopause too! I love how healthy and balanced this meal is!

Ingredients for Healthy Chicken and Sweet Potato Skillet

• Chicken Breasts: Main protein; provides heartiness, structure, and a mild flavor that carries the spices.
• Salt and Pepper: Core seasonings; salt enhances natural flavors, while pepper adds gentle heat and balance.
• Smoked Paprika: Adds smoky depth and warmth without spiciness, complementing the bacon and sweet potatoes.
• Red Pepper Flakes: Brings a touch of heat to brighten the dish and balance the sweetness of the potato.
• Bacon: Adds savory richness, smokiness, and a crisp texture that contrasts with tender chicken and vegetables.
• Olive Oil: Used for sautéing; carries flavors, prevents sticking, and adds a subtle fruitiness.
• Garlic: Infuses the skillet with aromatic depth, boosting the savory base of the dish.
• Sweet Potato: Adds natural sweetness, creaminess, and substance, balancing the spice and savory flavors.
• Chicken Broth: Keeps the skillet moist, helps cook the sweet potatoes, and builds a flavorful base.
• Kale: Provides a slightly bitter, earthy contrast, plus color, texture, and nutrients.
• Lemon: Adds brightness and acidity at the end, cutting through richness and making flavors pop.
• Parmesan: Adds a salty, nutty finish that melts into the skillet for extra umami and richness.

How to Make Chicken Kale Skillet

1. Prep the Chicken: Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and season with all the seasonings.
2. Cook the Bacon: Cook the chopped bacon in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Remove to a plate.

7 Minute High Protein Savory Oatmeal with Cottage Cheese

Kickstart your day with this 7 minute High-Protein Savory Oatmeal with Cottage Cheese! This is the breakfast taking the internet by storm! A warm, satisfying bowl packed with crispy oats, cottage cheese, and leafy greens. Loaded with protein, healthy fats, and fiber, our savory oats recipe is the perfect post-workout refuel or a filling and healthy breakfast that keeps you energized for hours.

I’ve always been about getting good protein for breakfast especially now that I’ve hit my 40s (gasp!). I love a good breakfast smoothie or a bowl of oatmeal with protein powder added to start my day. Having a savory option now with this high protein oatmeal is totally changing my mornings!

If you’ve never tried savory oats before, then you are missing out! Oats are just like any other grain…farro, barley, brown rice…and they are so healthy! Jump on the viral savory oatmeal train with us! You’ll LOVE it!

Ingredients for High Protein Savory Oatmeal

If you haven’t ever tried a savory high protein oat recipe, then let this be your first! Here is everything you will need for this tasty oatmeal recipe:

• Butter: Adds richness and flavor and helps toast the oats.
• Old Fashioned Rolled Oats: Do not use quick oats for this recipe! They will get mushy and almost pasty. Stick with the rolled oats!
• Kosher Salt: Adds flavor.
• Water: Helps cook the oats.
• Baby Kale: If you aren’t a kale fan, go with baby spinach instead.
• Olive Oil: Helps sauté the kale.
• Low Fat Cottage Cheese: Adds creaminess and great protein.
• Cherry Tomatoes: Grape tomatoes also work great.
• Flaked Sea Salt: Adds flavor and a little texture.
• Aleppo Pepper: Adds flavor and tiny bit of heat.
• Lemon Juice: This is totally optional but I love the bright freshness it adds.

The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.

How to Make High Protein Savory Oatmeal

The key to making this breakfast grain bowl totally spectacular is to toast the oats before cooking them. It adds a depth of flavor you don’t want to miss! So let’s start there and then rest is just making oatmeal and adding a few healthy toppings! Here are the steps:

1. Toast the Oats: Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, add the oats and let them toast for a few minutes. Stir often. Add a dash of s

Brown Butter Spaghetti Squash Recipe

Tonight was “see-what-you-can-make-for-dinner-with-whatever-is-in-the-fridge” and this brown butter spaghetti squash recipe was the result. It is seriously one of my absolute must-haves for fall! Buttery squash with a hint of nuttiness from the pine nuts and savory goodness from the squash, gosh it’s good!

You could easily substitute any veggies or meat that you like-or leave the meat out for a vegetarian meal.

When I was younger one of my friends decided to be a vegetarian. I was shocked! I grew up in a meat and potatoes home. My mother was from Idaho and my father from Oregon so we ate meat with every single dinner. That was the farm way. It was not however her way. I didn’t understand what a vegetarian was really other then you didn’t eat meat. That was enough to stop my inquiries as who could possibly eat dinner without meat? I don’t think it was a nutritious decision at all either.

As soon as she went vegetarian she also went overboard on the candy. No joke. She wouldn’t eat meat so she ate quite the plethora of candy instead. Whaaaaa? I think she missed the boat there a bit, but I’m quite certain she is back to meat eating. And even if she wasn’t, I’ve personally discovered that eating vegetarian for a few meals a week is actually quite awesome. Our bodies actually love the whole “meat sparingly” concept. Fancy that. 😉 We have several plant based and vegetarian recipes on the blog now, and they are some of my favorites!

Read more

The Sweet Kale Vegetable Salad is my newest favorite salad. I don’t do a whole lot of copycat recipes, but this one, I can’t even tell you how much this one needed to be made.

This is a copycat recipe for Costco’s Sweet Kale Salad and I’m telling you now that you’re going to love it.

Sweet Kale Salad

The crunchy greens, sweet-tart cranberries, and crunchy-salty pumpkin seeds are tossed in a creamy poppyseed dressing to make this salad.

All of the flavors work together to make this salad worthy of our Thanksgiving table, and likely at least a dozen more tables as well before the end of the year.

I would have never guessed that this combination of flavors would work so well, but it does! My kids don’t typically love the “green stuff” in this salad, they watched me make it and were skeptical. However, one taste and they were sold; my middle son even asked for seconds.

Costco Kale Salad

A couple of weeks ago, while I was grocery shopping, there were two women standing in the icy cold produce room at Costco chatting about how amazing this salad is.

I don’t even remember the last time I bought a pre-made salad, (I have a thing for making salads, and rarely am I impressed with the store-bought varieties.) However, these ladies were so enthusiastic, I picked up a bag to try for myself.

Holy smokes. I loved it. Absolutely, positively, loved the Costco salad.

But I knew right away that we could improve on it. I’ve been making this poppyseed dressing for a few years now and every single person that tries it raves about it.

I knew that the homemade poppyseed dressing would take this salad combination right over the top and I wasn’t wrong. Plus, making the salad at home lets me add more of my favorite ingredients.

I went back to the grocery store the next day and picked up the ingredients to make this salad for myself. I made it that night and ate it for dinner, I ate it again the next day for lunch, for a snack, and with dinner again.

Even after tossing the salad with the dressing, it kept nicely for as long as it lasted in my house, about 36 hours.

All of my ramblings are simply to say that you really want to try this salad. If you’re not a b