my dinner hacks

In my journey of becoming a mama, I have transformed my cooking abilities and become quite the fan of home cooked meals. A couple of years ago, I went out almost every night with my friends for dinner, spent a ton of money for no reason, and hadn't really acquired skills to make much of anything besides eggs, smoothies, and the OCCASIONAL dinner.
Now, I love cooking. Unless we have a special date planned at a nice restaurant with good food, eating while we're out and about is kind of a disappointment. I often feel kind of gross after eating takeout, and it just doesn't taste as satisfying to me as when we have a meal at home.
Over the past year or so, I've developed some "meal planning" (I'm using that term very loosely here because I don't exactly plan - my system is a complex and VERY (sarcasm) thought out tossing of items into a cart and making it up as I go) hacks that I use every week. I'm no expert - I will be the very first to tell you that - but I definitely have some quick dinner fixes up my sleeve for a busy day or a day where I don't really feel like going all out with dinner.
1. Stock up on some essentials.
I keep extra whole wheat pasta in the pantry, frozen veggies, and frozen meat if we need a meal and don't have things on hand. If you're in a pinch and don't get the chance to go grocery shopping, it's a relief to peek in your pantry or freezer and realize you have the ingredients for a staple meal on hand. You'll be thinking, "Go me! I'm such a freaking good planner. I deserve ten pats on the back." as you frizzle up a little pasta or chicken breasts.
2. Smoked sausage.
Smoked sausage is a beautiful creation. I know it's not the healthiest protein source (sodium y'all what whaaaat!) but it is delicious, inexpensive, and makes a meal quickly. My favorites? I'll sauté some cut smoked sausage with pierogis in olive oil for our main course, or bake it in a dish with red potatoes and peppers. It can go in any pasta to add protein or with any veggies. So good! Also, they have turkey versions and lower sodium alternatives.
3. Do a LITTLE planning.
I'm not a solid meal planner. I'm sort of a flexible "here's what we will most likely be having this week at some point" planner. I often don't even make a list, I'll just go to the grocery store and pick up things that sound good and brainstorm while I'm there. (I kinda like grocery shopping so this is kind of fun for me.) Have some staple meals in your head, and go from there. Pinterest is my friend when it comes to thinking outside the box for meals. Last week, I made a super simple dinner using turkey lunchmeat, a little cream cheese, and crescent rolls. We had a veggie on the side and WHAM BAM BALAM! A simple, super-easy, Superbowl-party-esque meal was born.
4. Olive oil forever.
Take ANY fresh vegetable. Dice it, slice it. Throw it in a pan with a little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper, and sauté it. A delicious serving of veggies with a gourmet spin! You can do the same with chicken or sausage.
5. Don't overthink it!
You don't need to make some sort of state of the art, gourmet meal to feed your family a really delicious and healthy meal. Just go with some basics and you got this!
PEACE!
Megan