My meal go-tos

I am by no means a great cook. I am by no means a chef. I am by no means original when it comes to meal planning, but there a few staples in my kitchen that make any dinner easy and ready to go.

I have gotten a lot better over the last year about planning ahead of time of what we are going to have for dinner, but there are just some days where either 1) I don't feel like cooking or 2) There weren't as many leftovers as I thought there would be.

So, I have learned to have a few things always on hand to make life just easier on myself.

Here are my easy go-tos that can make any meal easy:

1. Bell Peppers: I always make sure that I have peppers on hand. They are to me one of the easiest foods to make into a meal. They add an extra touch to any spaghetti sauce, or they easily make an easy stir fry in a pinch. Plus, it is one of the few vegetables that I don't have to argue with Calan to eat. 
2. Lemon Pepper & Rosemary: I swear any chicken or fish seasoned with a little lemon pepper and rosemary tastes amazing. I love throwing a whole chicken into our Crock-pot for 3 hours on low seasoned with lemon pepper and rosemary with a cup of chicken broth. Then put it in the oven at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to crisp-up the skin for the perfect tasting chicken. We eat it for dinner and then it makes great sandwiches for the week. 
3. Italian Sausage: I always try to keep bulk Italian sausage in my freezer to be used in spaghetti sauce. Adding browned Italian sausage instead of ground beef makes the spaghetti 100% better. I can not tell you how often I get asked for my spaghetti sauce and all I do is by whatever sauce is on sale and add Italian sausage to it. If I have them on hand, I also will throw in drained canned diced tomatoes to it as well. Instant amazing spaghetti sauce. 

4. 

   Homemade pizza has become an easy family favorite. 

   Yeast packets: Ever since learning how to make my own pizza dough, it has become a regular meal in our house. Calan loves helping me make the pizza from the dough to the toppings. I always make enough for 2 pizzas, so that we can cook one that night and freeze the extra dough for the next time I need a meal in a pinch. 
5. Tacos: I swear tacos is the meal that keeps giving. One night it could be tacos for dinner, then taco salad for lunch, and then maybe quesadillas another day that week. When I know that we are going to have a busy week, I include tacos so that I have an easy go-to leftover meal if I did not have time to make a new meal. 

So those are just a few things that I keep on hand that definitely help making meals for my family 100% easier. Having two toddlers running around does not give me a lot of time to prepare meals, so having some easy tricks makes dinner possible on a daily basis. 

What are your tricks?