This time of the year is increasingly difficult for me to stay motivated to cook and plan meals.. I'm trying to force myself out of my comfort zone and try some new recipes and hopefully ignite some encouragement!
Also, I'm pretty terrible about crockpot meals... In theory, they sound great! They should be quick and easy, right? Well, for some reason.. finding the inspiration to get up in the morning and throw it all together is like convincing a toddler to keep their shoes on.... I truly don't know why I struggle with it so much! Anyone else??
Having said that, I included a couple this time around in hopes to keep me accountable!
Lighter Chicken Pot Pie
I'm going to par-bake some biscuits and then place them on top to serve as the crust instead of buying phyllo dough. Mostly because I'm cheap haha. I bake them a little on their own because they can get really underdone if you place them on top for the whole pot pie baking time. Sure, the biscuits take away from the whole "lighter" idea, but 'tis the season!
Biscuits and Gravy
I have never added butter to my gravy, but maybe that makes it that much better! I think it's totally up to you if you want to add it or not. Also, I cheat and buy the frozen Pillsbury biscuits. 1. They're cheap 2. They're easy 3. You get a lot. I also plan on using the extra biscuits as a top for my pot pie because phyllo dough is pricey!
Lo Mein (crockpot)
*This is a new crockpot recipe for me, so we can try it together!
Or you can pick up a frozen bag of stir fry vegetables and have dinner made in 20 minutes.
Fried Rice
Feel free to add whatever meat you prefer, or omit the meat!
Roasted Vegetable Mac
This is one of my favorite mac and cheese recipes! It's kind of spicy so feel free to skip or adjust the amount of red pepper flakes! You can switch up the veggies too if you'd like!
Roasted Winter Vegetables with Chicken
I have never had a parsnip before. While I was at the store, I picked up a variety of new to me vegetables! I got some Japanese sweet potatoes (instead of yams), parsnips, purple potatoes and carrots (obviously not new to me...). This should be a colorful dinner and could easily swap out your meats!
Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin
This recipe goes in the oven, but I'm going to throw ours on the grill!
French Dip Sliders
New to me! But I think you can make anything small and suddenly it's even better, so I'm pretty confident this should be good!
Cheesesteaks
I've used a lot of different cuts of meat for this recipe! No need to pick anything expensive! -Most recently I picked out some cheap round steak tip (I think that's what it was called... is that a thing?) it had some good marbling and was super cheap! I sliced it very thinly against the grain, gave the slices a quick sear and it was great!
Potato Soup
Copy Cat Chik-fil-a Sandwiches
Honestly, I've been wanting to try these for so long! Fingers crossed! I bought vegetable oil instead of peanut oil... Have I mentioned how cheap I am?
Spaghetti
Lighter Chicken Pot Pie
I'm going to par-bake some biscuits and then place them on top to serve as the crust instead of buying phyllo dough. Mostly because I'm cheap haha. I bake them a little on their own because they can get really underdone if you place them on top for the whole pot pie baking time. Sure, the biscuits take away from the whole "lighter" idea, but 'tis the season!
I have never added butter to my gravy, but maybe that makes it that much better! I think it's totally up to you if you want to add it or not. Also, I cheat and buy the frozen Pillsbury biscuits. 1. They're cheap 2. They're easy 3. You get a lot. I also plan on using the extra biscuits as a top for my pot pie because phyllo dough is pricey!
Lo Mein (crockpot)
Or you can pick up a frozen bag of stir fry vegetables and have dinner made in 20 minutes.
Fried Rice
Feel free to add whatever meat you prefer, or omit the meat!
Roasted Vegetable Mac
This is one of my favorite mac and cheese recipes! It's kind of spicy so feel free to skip or adjust the amount of red pepper flakes! You can switch up the veggies too if you'd like!
Roasted Winter Vegetables with Chicken
I have never had a parsnip before. While I was at the store, I picked up a variety of new to me vegetables! I got some Japanese sweet potatoes (instead of yams), parsnips, purple potatoes and carrots (obviously not new to me...). This should be a colorful dinner and could easily swap out your meats!
Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin
This recipe goes in the oven, but I'm going to throw ours on the grill!
French Dip Sliders
New to me! But I think you can make anything small and suddenly it's even better, so I'm pretty confident this should be good!
Cheesesteaks
These just looked good and easy and like my toddler would even eat them!
Potato Soup
Copy Cat Chik-fil-a Sandwiches
Honestly, I've been wanting to try these for so long! Fingers crossed! I bought vegetable oil instead of peanut oil... Have I mentioned how cheap I am?
Spaghetti
Because it’s quick, cheap and easy! Especially if you just
do sauce, noodles and a vegetable/salad. You can easily add ground turkey, sausage or beef if you'd like as well!
Grocery List-
coming soon!!
