One of the biggest questions I get asked quite often…actually very often is HOW DO YOU DO ALL THAT YOU DO?
I don’t know…honestly.
All I know is there are a few things that “save the day” for me and the first two we aren’t “getting into” today, rather the third one!
1- My quiet time and devotion in the mornings.
2- I am an avid list maker
3- My meal planning – This will be a life saver to your day. If you are a WAHM or even a SAHM and you want to free up time and brain cells. You should give meal planning a go. It’s super easy. Sit down for about 10 minutes, look at your calendar and plan your meals based off of your activities for the coming 2 weeks. Find a new recipe, like these HERE. Incorporate it into your meal plan to try something new, because you just might be adding a favorite homestyle meal to your rotation! Then write out your grocery list based off of your meals!!
Ok so we made it to #3.
Simply put I meal plan. There are a couple of reasons I do this.
a- peace of mind we have food
b- I don’t have to make any decisions around food, it’s already been made
When I am going through my busy day of wife, mom and work…I know that supper (in the south we call it supper!) is taken care of. Generally most of my meals take about a half hour to prep. It’s all I have time for! I go to the grocery about every two weeks and I buy off of my list, because I have taken a few minutes and made a list of meals for the next two weeks. One of my traditions in planning my meals is to cook our favorite homestyle traditional favorites of the family as well as find new recipes to try and make. GO HERE for some new recipes I’ve found recently to be yummy!! Next on my list is the oven baked chicken parmesan you can get the recipe HERE.
One of my favorite things to do is make something that I can either double or makes a large portion so I can freeze half for a meal in a few weeks! SCORE! I don’t have to cook some nights yet we have a home cooked meal. I make sure to plan this meal on a busy day that I know I won’t have time to prep for. We don’t eat out of “boxes” or easy prep food. I like to make home cooked meals as it’s healthier for us and that’s how we (my husband and I) were both raised!
Today I want to share one of my gems of a recipe, that I hope you’ll give a try! Just a heads up this is a very large portion! You can either freeze or take a meal to a friend!
First look at these new favorites, I’ve found that we like the Homestyle Ragu Thick and Hearty Traditional but I’m anxious to try these as well. <—Click here. Do you know why I love them? Ragu doesn’t use artificial flavors, artificial colors or high fructose corn syrup! WIN WIN WIN!!!!!!!!
Cheesy Sausage Pasta Bake
12 oz uncooked pasta
2 lbs Turkey sausage
1 Tbsp Olive oil
2 med. chopped onions
2 med. chopped zucchini
2 med. carrots, grated
1 garlic clove, minced
1 jar Ragu Homestyle Sauce (choose which sauce by clicking the link HERE)
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 egg, beaten
1 carton ricotta cheese
2 c. Shredded mozzarella cheese
2 c. Shredded cheddar cheese
2 green onions, chopped
-Cook macaroni and set aside.
-Brown turkey sausage in olive oil. Add chopped onions, zucchini, carrots and garlic. Sauté until veggies are soft. Stir in Ragu homestyle sauce and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.
-Combine egg and ricotta cheese and set aside.
-Layer macaroni, meat sauce, spoon 1/4 of ricotta cheese/egg mixture, sprinkle cheeses and continue layering until ingredients are used. Final layer should be two cheeses sprinkled on top. Top it off with green onions.
-Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.
ENJOY! Would you share a link to your favorite meal so I can try it and add it into my meal planning?
Hi I’m Erin a Southern girl from South Mississippi, owner and chief editor of Sixth Bloom a blog helping mom-tographers as well as up and coming photographers become successful! You will find me living life to the fullest with my mister (aka husband) and our new little addition Miss Elle in our 500+ sq foot cottage as we build our dream house on our two acres! We are blessed beyond measure, love to travel, involved in ministry at our church and in between all of that I run three successful businesses!
Follow me at: WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST
Mary says
These are great tips for anyone! I try to write my meals out for the week in my planner, but I do not always make the time. When I do, it make my life less stressful, because I can make sure I have the ingredients I need and know whats for supper each night.