This recipe is dead simple and so tasty! The best part is you can use any kind of Dinner sausage you want. We used Italian Sausages (made with pork), but you can use whatever you like (including veggie sausages if you are meatless).
You can use fresh or frozen peppers and onions (Yes, you can buy frozen peppers and onions at the store- They are often branded as “Fajita Mix”), it’s really up to you.
And you can load your yumminess onto a hoagie roll, top with cheese and chow down, or top a bed of pasta or Zoodles- It’s really up to you.
The best part is this recipe makes a lot, so there are always leftovers!
Sausage and Peppers Makes 6-8 servings
Ingredients
1 Package Dinner Sausages (Italian or your choice)
I’ve started doing weekly meal planning on Sundays. It’s easier to do it while I’m writing up the weekly calendar/schedule and prepping the snack box for the week.
Tomorrow the big kid goes back to physical (in person) school. The Special Education classes are going back first, and they get the entire campus to themselves for about a week. Big Kid is super excited to see his friends and show off his new masks. He has a new hand sanitizer for his backpack too.
I’ve been picking up school/lunch snacks over the past few weeks and hiding them in the back of the cupboard, so we are all set for tomorrow!
I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.
I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day.
Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2 for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids (they love the Kodiak Cakes Mix). I also keep sandwich Ziploc bags of other frozen fruit on hand to make the kids smoothies when they request them (a few times per week). Berries, peaches, and mangos are pretty popular. recently the Big Kid has been on a protein shake kick in the AM.
Lunches will be whatever the kids want for the time being (Peanut butter sandwiches and baguettes toasted with garlic butter are high on the list as of late). I may make up a cheese pizza and serve that for a few lunches during the week with apple slices (or apple sauce), cheez-its, and milk (as well as some sort of dessert- I picked up a box of Ghiradelli Brownie Mix at Costco a few weeks back, and I’ve been making a pan of brownies once or twice a week. My secret is to use milk and coconut oil instead of water and vegetable oil).
Usually, I do a crockpot meal on Mondays, but now that we are home all the time, we’ve been having an odd combination of fully home-cooked, scratch meals, and frozen entrees and veggies. I have been posting our meal plans on Instagram too- As well as pics of stuff we are doing to keep busy.
Sunday: Sausage & Peppers (in the crockpot)
Monday: Salad and Avocado toast (We have a bunch of avocados)
This recipe is dead simple. Make it as complicated as you want. Use jarred sauce, make your own from scratch, or take a jar of sauce and church it up yourself. Whatever.
Frozen pasta, fresh pasta, heck, you can even use the shell stable/dried tortellini. You could use ravioli if you wanted.
You can make this Vegetarian, Vegan, Chock Full o’ Meat, Gluten-Free, it’s up to you.
This is one of those recipes that’s a big hit at potlucks too. It’s pretty inexpensive, and we always have the ingredients in one form or another to make a batch.
Baked Tortellini
Ingredients:
6-8 cups of Red Pasta Sauce. I usually make a big batch of this sauce and portion some out just for this recipe. If you use jarred sauce, I recommend you add 3-4 cups of veggies (carrots, onions, celery, bell peppers, zucchini, chopped/diced tomatoes, etc.)
22-30 ounces of Tortellini/Ravioli, cooked per the package directions (this will probably take a couple packages)
2 Cups Italian Cheese blend
Directions:
Cook the pasta per the package directions. Drain.
Pour pasta sauce into a baking dish (I use a 9×13), toss cooked pasta in sauce.
Sprinkle cheese on top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-ish minutes until food is bubbly, and cheese is brown and delicious looking.
Serve with hot French Bread or Garlic Bread and a green salad.
This serves 8-10 people as a main.
If you are vegan, substitute in filled pasta and cheese that works for you.
Have you tried the new Beyond Burgers? We had them for dinner a few weeks ago and they are really good.
Denny’s is offering a FREE Beyond Burger with the purchase of any beverage at all participating locations on January 30 from 11am to 10pm, while supplies last. As the first restaurant group within the family dining category to offer a 100% plant-based protein option made with Beyond Meat to its menu, Denny’s is meeting guests’ desire to move toward a flexitarian diet.
The Beyond Burger at Denny’s features a 100% plant-based “meat” patty topped with sliced tomatoes and onions, lettuce, pickles, American cheese, and All-American sauce on a multigrain bun. If you want it vegan, skip the cheese, sauce, and bun and have it lettuce wrapped!
Not all locations are participating, so I suggest calling the location you plan on visiting in advance to double-check. For more information about this deal, click here.
I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.
I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day: You may notice a lot of plant-based meals- We are not vegetarian (well, the big kid is, but the rest of us aren’t), but I am trying to get more veggies into our diet. I do a lot of cooking from scratch- I find it easier to get veggies and fruit into recipes that I can have 100% control over.
Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2 for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids (they love the Kodiak Cakes Mix). I also keep sandwich Ziploc bags of other frozen fruit on hand to make the kids smoothies when they request them (a few times per week). Berries, peaches, and mangos are pretty popular.
Lunches are leftovers, salads, or soups for me and Bitty. The big kid takes his lunch to school, but once in a while, I can convince him to buy his lunch.
Our Meal Plan/ Shopping list area in the Kitchen Command Center
For dinner, when we’ve got busy days (like Mondays), I’ll try and put something in the crockpot in the morning, or pull something I’ve already prepped out that can be quickly cooked. We’ve got a bunch of stuff in the freezer, as I’ve been portioning out 2-3 adult-sized entree portions from several meals a week and freezing them for later meals.
Monday: Waffles, eggs, sausage
Tuesday: Meat Pies, Green Salad
Wednesday: Frozen Entrees
Thursday: Chicken Chili
Friday: Veggie Stir Fry & Brown Rice
Saturday: Pizza & fruit salad
Sunday: Leftover fiesta!
Talk Back: What are you cooking for dinner this week?
Last week’s veggie prep really has us all set for a week full of yummy dinners! I’m hitting the store this afternoon to buy some stuff for kid’s lunches, and a few things that will round out meals for the week. My shopping list includes:
AP Flour (Probably a 10 or 25 lb bag- it will last for a while)
Avocados
Cheddar Cheese (block to be cut into pieces for kiddo snacks)
Milk
Coffee
Juice boxes
White Sugar/Raw Sugar (for baking)
Everything else on the menu for this week is made of stuff that we have on hand. Thanks to Brooke from Crying Out Loud for sharing some of her yummy goodies from her Porch Light box this week too.
I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.
I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day: You may notice a lot of plant-based meals- We are not vegetarian (well, the big kid is, but the rest of us aren’t), but I am trying to get more veggies into our diet. I do a lot of cooking from scratch- I find it easier to get veggies and fruit into recipes that I can have 100% control over.
Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2 for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids (they love the Kodiak Cakes Mix). I also keep sandwich Ziploc bags of other frozen fruit on hand to make the kids smoothies when they request them (a few times per week). Berries, peaches, and mangos are pretty popular.
Lunches are leftovers, salads, or soups for me and Bitty. The big kid takes his lunch to school, but once in a while, I can convince him to buy his lunch.
For dinner, when we’ve got busy days (like Mondays), I’ll try and put something in the crockpot in the morning, or pull something I’ve already prepped out that can be quickly cooked. We’ve got a bunch of stuff in the freezer, as I’ve been portioning out 2-3 adult-sized entree portions from several meals a week and freezing them for later meals.
Monday: Chicken Chili topped with cheese, cornbread, and strawberries
I realized the other day when searching for my chili recipe on my blog so I could share it with someone on Facebook, that I have not posted my chili recipe, ever! Which is weird, because I make it at least once a month.
What I love about making chili in the crockpot is that you can use either fresh, frozen, or canned veggies, it really depends on what you have in your house, and what your budget is.
Because I get vegetables and fruit twice a month at our local co-op, frequently I will have fresh vegetables that I have diced or prepared and put into Ziploc bags to store in the freezer. It ensures that we have nutritious vegetables with no additives at our fingertips throughout the month.
Another great thing about this chili recipe is you can make it vegetarian, you can put meat in it, or you can make a vegan! This recipe is naturally gluten-free.
1 pound of meat (optional) I usually use ground pork, but other good choices include ground beef, ground chicken, ground turkey, or bite-sized pieces of stew meat. If you want a meat substitute, I like these crumbles from Beyond Meat.
One can black beans, drained and rinsed
One can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
3T chili powder
1t cumin
Salt and pepper as needed
Optional, but delicious:
1 cup corn niblets. If you use canned corn, drain and rinse it prior to adding.
If you do not care for black or kidney beans, you can swap in Northern beans, or navy beans.
Directions
Personally, I like to brown the meat on the stove prior to adding it to the slow cooker. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch Oven, heat avocado oil and brown meat until thoroughly cooked/browned.
Add onions and peppers, cook until onions are clear and fragrant, about 10 minutes.
Add garlic, and cook, stirring often until garlic is fragrant about 5 to 10 minutes.
If your pan has a lot of brown food remnants on the bottom, I recommend taking 2 to 4 tablespoons of liquid (you can use water) and pour it in the pan stirring and scraping all the yummy brown stuff off the bottom. This is where all the flavor lives.
Pour all of the ingredients from the pot into your slow cooker.
Add remaining ingredients, place lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
I love serving chili with cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips.
This recipe is incredibly versatile.
If you don’t have fresh onions and peppers, you can grab a bag of fajita mix out of the freezer (which is pre-chopped onions and bell peppers).
If you don’t have fresh tomatoes (which let’s face it a lot of us don’t) you can use canned tomatoes. You can use whole canned tomatoes you can use diced, you can use chopped, whatever kind of tomatoes you have in your cupboard.
Use whatever kind of canned beans you have on hand. One time I made chili and I used chickpeas! And it turned out delicious!
If you don’t have cumin and chili powder in your cupboard but you have chili seasoning, use that instead.
I find the chili is a great go-to meal for when you are at the end of the month, and you are low on funds but you have lots of canned goods and frozen veggies.
If you were strapped for time, you don’t have to brown your meat, you can just put it in the crockpot and pour all the other ingredients over top, cook it, and let it cook. Just make sure to break up the meat (if you’re using ground meat) with a spoon prior to serving.
This week is going to be another week with time spent doing fruit and veggie prep, in addition to our weekly meal planning sesh, which I did yesterday.
Friday I picked up some fresh fruit and veg, which should get us through until next week.
I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.
This is our family “Command Center”- Family Calendar and Weekly meal Plan/Shopping list
You may notice a lot of plant-based meals- We are not vegetarian (well, the big kid is, but the rest of us aren’t), but I am trying to get more veggies into our diet. I do a lot of cooking from scratch- I find it easier to get veggies and fruit into recipes that I can have 100% control over.
I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day:
Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2 for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids (they love the Kodiak Cakes Mix). I also keep sandwich Ziploc bags of other frozen fruit on hand to make the kids smoothies when they request them (a few times per week). Berries, peaches, and mangos are pretty popular.
Lunches are leftovers, salads, or soups for me and Bitty. The big kid takes his lunch to school, but once in a while, I can convince him to buy his lunch.
For dinner, when we’ve got busy days (like Mondays), I’ll try and put something in the crockpot in the morning, or pull something I’ve already prepped out that can be quickly cooked. We’ve got a bunch of stuff in the freezer, as I’ve been portioning out 2-3 adult-sized entree portions from several meals a week and freezing them for later meals.
Time for the first full week of meal planning in 2020! We’ve been doing some de-cluttering and cleaning around the house, and I found a whiteboard in the closet that I’ve decided to use in the kitchen for meal planning and other stuff. Since we moved our living room furniture around and took down the desk/main work station, I’ve had to re-arrange a lot of processes I use to keep family productivity. I’ll post a picture of the Meal Planning Board on Instagram this afternoon.
Over the weekend I cleaned out the fridge, re-organized the freezer, and looked through the pantry. I meal planned for this week based on what we had on-hand. The fridge is looking a little bare today, but I’m going to pick up fruit and veggies this week.
I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.
You may notice a lot of plant-based meals- We are not vegetarian (well, the big kid is, but the rest of us aren’t), but I am trying to get more veggies into our diet. I do a lot of cooking from scratch- I find it easier to get veggies and fruit into recipes that I can have 100% control over.
I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day:
Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2 for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids (they love the Kodiak Cakes Mix). I also keep sandwich Ziploc bags of other frozen fruit on hand to make the kids smoothies when they request them (a few times per week). Berries, peaches, and mangos are pretty popular.
Lunches are leftovers, salads, or soups for me and Bitty. The big kid takes his lunch to school, but once in a while, I can convince him to buy his lunch.
For dinner, when we’ve got busy days (like Mondays), I’ll try and put something in the crockpot in the morning, or pull something I’ve already prepped out that can be quickly cooked. We’ve got a bunch of stuff in the freezer, as I’ve been portioning out 2-3 adult-sized entree portions from several meals a week and freezing them for later meals.
Monday: Frozen Entrees for the grown-ups, leftover pizza for the kids (We got HUGE pizzas for NYE and I stashed some pieces in the freezer for a later date), Siggi Whole milk yogurt and strawberries
Tuesday: Chicken Corn Chowder (From Scratch- Recipe will be posted this week)
Wednesday: Bean, Rice, and Cheese Bowls (I’ll also sneak in some veggies)
Thursday: Soup and Sammiches (I’m making a big batch of veggie soup)
Friday: Probably homemade pizzas- I plan on making a couple batches of dough and a loaf of bread Friday.
It’s the last meal plan for 2019! I’ve got lots of good stuff planned recipe-wise this week. I’m doing my best to use up a lot of the stuff we’ve got in the freezer and pantry.
I’ve got a bunch of bananas that are REEEEALLLY ripe, they will be turned into banana bread today.
I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.
You may notice a lot of plant-based meals- We are not vegetarian (well, the big kid is, but the rest of us aren’t), but I am trying to get more veggies into our diet. I do a lot of cooking from scratch- I find it easier to get veggies and fruit into recipes that I can have 100% control over.
I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day:
Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2 for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids (they love the Kodiak Cakes Mix). I also keep sandwich Ziploc bags of other frozen fruit on hand to make the kids smoothies when they request them (a few times per week). Berries, peaches, and mangos are pretty popular.
Lunches are leftovers, salads, or soups for me and Bitty. The big kid takes his lunch to school, but once in a while, I can convince him to buy his lunch.
For dinner, when we’ve got busy days (like Mondays), I’ll try and put something in the crockpot in the morning, or pull something I’ve already prepped out that can be quickly cooked. We’ve got a bunch of stuff in the freezer, as I’ve been portioning out 2-3 adult-sized entree portions from several meals a week and freezing them for later meals.
Monday: Pork Chili, and cornbread
Tuesday: NYE and I’m not sure what we’re doing, but I’ll have fresh veggies, fruit, hummus, and other snackies.
Sunday: Breakfast for dinner (savory waffles with poached eggs)
One of the kid’s recent favorite lunches is “Plate of Snacks”. I use the sectioned plastic plates (like old school cafeteria trays), and fill each section with a snack from the corresponding food group. This tray has goldfish crackers in the protein section (the 4-year-old insisted because there was fish on the section).
Talk Back: What are you planning to cook this week?
This recipe is dead simple and so tasty! The best part is you can use any kind of Dinner sausage you want. We used Italian Sausages (made with pork), but you can use whatever you like (including veggie sausages if you are meatless).
Ingredients
Directions:
I’ve started doing weekly meal planning on Sundays. It’s easier to do it while I’m writing up the weekly calendar/schedule and prepping the snack box for the week.
This recipe is dead simple. Make it as complicated as you want. Use jarred sauce, make your own from scratch, or take a jar of sauce and church it up yourself. Whatever.
One of the kid’s recent favorite lunches is “Plate of Snacks”. I use the 
Hewes Family Fun 