Creamy Chicken Stuffed Peppers:

I always crave stuffed peppers 
when the weather starts getting warmer!

These are a tad different than your 
traditional ground beef and rice stuffed peppers.

I LOVE those too, but these are a fun way to change it up.

They do not have rice in the filling, 
so I love to serve 
THIS 
super yummy Mexican Rice on the side.

I hope you enjoy!

4 bell peppers

2 cups shredded cooked chicken

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 cup salsa

dash of salt and pepper

dried cilantro

Additional shredded cheese for topping

Cut peppers in half lengthwise, and remove stems and seeds.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add peppers. Boil for 5 minutes. Drain. 
Place cut side up in a greased 9x13 pan.
Cream together cream cheese, shredded cheese, cumin, salsa, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Add chicken, and mix just until combined.
Using a fork, divide filling between all the pepper halves.
Sprinkle with cilantro.
Cover pan with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
Remove foil. Sprinkle with additional cheese. 
Bake 5 minutes longer, or until cheese is melted.
Serve!!!

Note:
-If you want to add a little extra zing, add chopped jalapenos to the filling as well!!
-Also, any shredded cheese works great. I usually use a mix of mozzarella and cheddar. But pepper jack or a Mexican blend would probably be really good.

Mexican Rice:

I love most things about a Mexican restaurant, but I love, love the fact that almost every single meal that you order, comes with a Mexican rice. 

I feel like it totally goes with everything, and just makes your meal even more yummy!

I love this super easy version of a restaurant Mexican rice. 

It's really fast to throw together, and it seriously goes with anything!

This is not the best picture representation of this recipe, but it's all I have right now. Will definitely be updating, but also stay tuned for the recipe for these amazing chicken stuffed peppers!

2 cups long grain rice

1/4 cup canola oil

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon minced garlic

dash of cumin

dash of pepper

4 cups chicken broth

Heat oil in a large skillet or saucepan over medium-high heat. Add rice, and cook and stir until light golden brown. Add remaining ingredients, and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low, and cover pan. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender and all the liquid is absorbed. 

Serve with tacos, enchiladas, etc.!!

Meal Prep:

So, if you're on Pinterest or any social media, you've probably seen all the pictures and posts about meal prep. Not always, but generally its for a much healthier lifestyle or diet for someone who is pretty consumed with working out, their career, etc. 

Occasionally, you might see something for busy moms, school lunches, etc.

Growing up, my mom always had some type of casserole, or cooked meat or something in the freezer that you could pull out for a super fast dinner. Never one time do I EVER remember eating out, or having cereal for dinner or anything like that, because my mom "just didn't have time" to make dinner. If she didn't have time that day, it was okay, because she had time days or weeks or months before, so there was always something ready. 

My sister meal preps her lunches for the week, every single Sunday, to avoid eating gross Hospital cafeteria food. 

It really is a good idea, and can potentially save you a lot of time, and money. 

I'm not where I want to be on the "meal prep train" yet, but I thought I would share with you, a few things that work for me, and my family. 

 This might not interest anyone at all, but hopefully it'll maybe give someone a thought or idea that might help make their days a little less hectic! Different things work for different people, so this may not work at all for others. And that's fine! This is what works for me right now.

~~~

First of all, I know I only have one child. And I know I'm a stay-at-home. And supposedly, they should have all the time in the world, to make gormet meals, and do whatever else they want to do.

I haven't learned that trick yet.

I used to babysit 3, 4, 5, even 6 kids at a time, and honestly, I feel like 1 child is just as much work as 6! 

I still have all the cleaning to keep up on, meals to have ready every day, laundry to sort and wash and fold and put away. There's always something random that comes up that wasn't on my to-do list. Oh, yeah, and taking care of the child! 

I'm not a super organized person, but I do try my very best. I like to have things done as far in advance as possible. But sometimes, my "kind" of prepping, doesn't really help out too much. 

Take dinner, for example:

I would prep for dinner all day, every day. Constantly doing anything I could to make it easier to get dinner on the table when the time came. But when it came right down to it, I was spending all day getting ready for dinner, washing dishes multiple times a day, and when we actually ate dinner, there was still just as much mess to clean up...AGAIN! 

So that "kind" of meal prep was only ensuring we WOULD have dinner, not that it was going to be faster to clean up or allow me more time to do other things. 

We don't have a lot of freezer space, so I'm limited in the things I can make ahead and freeze. I love doing it, but I just don't have the space to do it right now. So for most things, that's not an option for me. 

I do, however, have the worlds best husband! He seriously will eat almost anything. And he loves leftovers! Like, he'll eat them even more than once! I know so many people that hate eating leftovers.

How on earth I ended up with such a great guy, I'll never understand! 

So this is how I came about my current meal prep system. And I should clarify here, that I'm not meal prepping for a week at a time...I'm doing great if I've meal-planned that far ahead, lol! 

I'm simply "prepping" for dinner, to ensure that I have a decent meal for my family, and I don't spend all of my time in the kitchen making, and/or cleaning everything up.

Because of Bradley's work schedule, he has barely enough time to make it from work, to the house to pick up Karley and I, and get to church on Wednesday nights. Therefore, he doesn't get to eat dinner until we get home from church. And that's anywhere between 8:30 and 9pm. He's hungry, and I don't want to have to start cooking something at that time. 

I started just simply making dinner on Wednesday mornings. I would decide what we would have, and make it in the morning or afternoon just like we were going to eat it right then. Except we didn't. I cleaned up the dishes and the kitchen while it cooked and cooled. Then I portioned out some of whatever it was for Bradley's lunch the next day. And placed it all in the fridge. Karley and I usually ate some before we went to church. And after we got back, I could fix Bradley a plate real quick. There was next to no mess to clean up, and it was ready whenever we needed it. It worked great! 

And gradually, I have worked myself into that routine for roughly 4 out of 7 days, now! 

Sometimes less, sometimes more. 

I frequently completely make dinner from start to finish, right after breakfast. 

Then clean it all up and I don't have to think about it the rest of the day. 

I generally still portion out Bradley's lunch as well, that way I don't end up forgetting to do that! 

There is no dinner rush in the evening, and there's really not that much to clean up. We all fix a plate, heat it up in the microwave, and enjoy dinner just like it was made  5 minutes prior! 

I love my life, and what I do. 

But when I get to the evening portion of my day, I'm so tired, simply cleaning up dinner seems like a huge chore, and it feels like I hardly have any time to spend with my family. 

Now, I can actually sit in the livingroom with my family, watch a movie and play with Karley,  because it's not 9:30 by the time I finally have dinner cleaned up! 

Now, before you think I'm completely crazy, let me tell you that I do not do this with every, single, meal. And there are a few tips and tricks I'm leaning along the way.

For instances, when we are having baked tacos in hard taco shells, I do not make this in advance. Those shells would be soggy and gross. And I'm not willing to never again have a nice, hot, crunchy taco, in the name of meal prep, lol! I will get the meat ready, chop up all the toppings, and have as much prep work done as I can. But I don't bake them until dinner time. 

I do the same thing with foods like french fries, and anything that needs to have a more toasted texture. Those are not things that reheat, and have the same taste and texture as when they are fresh. So that's how I decide what meals or even meal items get made ahead and what is just going to have to wait until closer to dinner time. 

If I wouldn't love reheating it to have for lunch the next day, 

I'm not going to make it in advance for dinner today. 

Also, we eat a lot of steamed, fresh veggies, and we don't like them mushy. So when I'm cooking broccoli, for example, I will cook it just until it is barely done. Still very crunchy. That way, by the time it cools, and then we reheat it in the microwave, it still has a little crunch. 

I also still use my crock-pot all the time, which is a huge help in saving time prepping, cooking and cleaning up any meal!

~~~

I don't know whether that makes sense to anyone or not! But that's what works for me, and I hope maybe it will help someone else out as well! 

If you have an tips that are super helpful, please share! 

Energy Bites:

I've seen recipes for these all over the place, but for some reason, it took me a while to jump on the band wagon. My sister made them, and loved them, so I decided to try them out. I was still nursing full time, and therefore STARVING full time, and needed some half-decent snacks.

I love these for so many reasons:

-it only takes normal, easy to find ingredients 

-they are crazy fast and easy to make

-they really are relatively good for you

-and holy cow, they definitely do their job in curbing hunger and filling you up! 

I love them, Bradley loves them, and even Karley will gobble them right up! 

I feel like they work the absolute best with old fashioned oats, not quick oats. We also love this with crunchy peanut butter, instead of smooth. So good!!! And mini chocolate chips are my favorite way to go, because you get a little more chocolate in every bite, rather two or three large chunks. One batch makes aproximately 27 balls, depending on the size of the cookie scoop you use. 

I hope you try them out!

2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1 & 1/3 cups peanut butter

4 tablespoons honey

1/2 cup ground flaxseed, optional

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl with a paddle attachment. Mix until well combined. Form into 1-inch balls with a cookie scoop. Roll gently in your hands to form a nice, firm ball. Place in a single layer on a plate or cookie sheet. Chill for at least 4 hours, or until firm. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Enjoy!!

Grandma Helmick's Pizza Mac'n Cheese Bake:

So, clearly by the title, you can gather that this is NOT a health-food recipe, lol!!! Our adopted grandmother brought it to church one Sunday, and Bradley and Karley LOVED it! He talked about it for days and decided that's what he wanted for our Christmas dinner! As with all of the greatest dishes and good cooks, there was no recipe. But thankfully, she was able to give me pretty clear directions. She didn't make hers gluten-free, so I don't know what hers tastes like, but I was pretty happy with how ours turned out, and Bradley said it was great! I really couldn't wrap my mind around it at first, but I was pleasantly surprised how good it was! A super pumped up, creamy pizza casserole! Definitely not something we would eat all the time, but for every once in a while, it's super fun and very yummy! And absolutely a crowd pleaser with all ages!

1 recipe for Mac'n Cheese (Click Here for the recipe I use)
1 jar of pizza sauce
1 & 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Pepperoni slices

Make a full batch of macaroni and cheese, just like if you were going to serve it. Once your mac'n cheese is completely done, add the pizza sauce and mix well. Pour into a greased 9x13 baking pan. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Top with desired amount of pepperoni slices. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until hot through, and cheese is melted. Serve!

Note:
-Of course, if you are not making this gluten-free, you can use a box of macaroni and cheese. I believe they do make some different boxed gluten-free mac'n cheese, but I have never personally tried them, so I don't know what they're like. 
-I haven't tried it yet, but I think it was be so good to add favorite pizza toppings - mushrooms, black olives, etc. I think you could also add some crumbled cooked sausage or ground beef to the pasta mixture. Let me know if you try out any variations!