Meal Planning for the Busy Family

I had hoped we would have an easy weekend. But, other plans occurred. :) I was supposed to get a massage on Saturday morning. I had been looking forward to that massage for a while, but Friday night one child came to me crying because her ear hurt. SO I had to cancel my massage and take her to the doctor.  Its good I did because one ear was just swimmers ear but the other was also infected. Since school started today, I am very glad that I went ahead and took her to the doctor because now she is feeling so much better!! When I made the meal plan, I did not realize just how easy meal prep would be this week. I started as always with putting my rice in the instant pot and letting it go. :) Seriously, if you are on  the fence about an instant pot, DON'T BE! Go get one now! I decided to make the Pizza Casserole first.  I started with browning my ground turkey with spices.  As this was browning I chopped up my veggies. These were the onions, peppers, and mushrooms. ...

We have a big week coming up.  Not only do our kids start a new school  year, but my husband and I are celebrating our anniversary! So, with that in mind, we will have a special meal this week of grilled steak!  Going to still keep it simple, because we have vegetables coming out of the garden and I have been busy canning up Tomatoes, Spaghetti sauce, and Salsa.  Also, since I am making all this, I'm going to use them this week! I have been craving pizza. Like really bad.  Pizza is my spirit animal, so I have found a low carb "Pizza casserole" that I hope will curb this craving. :)  Meal 1 – Pizza Casserole with Salad Pizza! (No crust) Garden Salad Probably side of pasta for the kids. Recipes needed: http://www.food.com/recipe/low-carb-supreme-pizza-casserole-485518 Going to use my homemade spaghetti sauce for this.  Also, going to use Ground Turkey because its a leaner meat.   I will also leave off the Black olives, b...

This was a busy weekend. We had not one but 2 showers for my sister! So I was VERY happy I had my plan in place and some easy recipes to follow.  Here is what all I did! I started out early with putting my brown rice in my instant pot and letting it go.  Seriously, this thing makes the best rice!  While the rice was cooking I placed all my chicken in baking dishes.  Yes plural, I cook at least 6 lbs of chicken a week.  We are already almost out of chicken as I type this, so I think I will have to up that to 9 or 10 lbs.  I liberally added salt, pepper, and garlic powder to the chicken and placed in a 450 degree oven. I then baked the chicken thighs for 45 minutes. Once done I removed them from the oven and then placed them on cookie sheets.  I do cover my cookie sheets with either aluminum foil or parchment paper.  This way it allows for easy cleanup!  You can now cover the chicken with a sauce if you like. My family likes Terriyaki ...