Summer is so much fun.  The days just fly by and after a day by the pool or beach, the last thing I want to worry about is what’s for dinner.  When I spend the day away from home it’s hard to come home and make dinner but it’s much easier to grab a $5 pizza as we leave the pool.  We all know this isn’t good for any of us and although I do treat my family to pizza every once in a while if I don’t plan I do it a LOT more often.

Planning isn’t always fun and sometimes it’s just hard but I swear that it is a key to successful healthy eating. If you do not know about my freezer meal theory I highly recommend you take a minute to read it.  You won’t regret it when you learn to spend one day a week in the kitchen and yet have great healthy meals each night!

This week I’m going to share a great instant pot recipe with you again.  I know some of you may not have an instant pot so you should probably grab one up from this link below right now.  Alas I know that isn’t an option for everyone so if you do not have one and would still like to enjoy this wonderful recipe there is a similar one listed on this website that doesn’t use the instant pot.

Creamy Broccoli Chicken Alfredo

Here is a great and SUPER easy recipe that your whole family and your guests for the evening will enjoy.  Pair it with a wonderful jar salad that you prepped earlier in the week and no one will know you have been gone all day at the pool.  Although that sunburn MIGHT give you away!

To make this recipe I started my cooking my chicken.  I do not always cook my chicken before loading it into my instant pot so you could probably do raw chicken and set your pot for a longer cooking time.  I actually over prepared myself (how is that possible) so I had my chicken cooked before I remembered what I was making.  Either way, I’m sure it will turn out creamy and delicious.

I like to cook my chicken in the crock pot.  I just throw it in without anything else and let it go for 4-5 hours.  When it’s done I drain the broth and let it cool a little before shredding it.

After the chicken is cooked and shredded just pile everything else on top and set the instant pot for 15 minutes.  Today I put all my goodies in there before I left and set the delay timer.  I got home to a wonderful meal at dinnertime.  It was a major blessing!

Printable Recipe

If you love this recipe and want to make more freezer meals definitely check back here every Tuesday for my latest post but you can also see a whole list of old post on the menu above under freezer meals.  Another great side to go with this meal is one of my jar salads. I sometimes share these with my family at dinner time and one jar is enough for our family of 8 to each have a side portion.  Now, remember we have little kids so if you have older kids you may want more than one jar but either way it’s a great healthy side.  Would you like to know what types of jar salad options you have? Here is a whole list of wonderful ones to try!  Hope you have a great and healthy week!

Sometimes our family gets sick of chicken and broccoli.  Those seem like the famous healthy foods and make it to our table often.  Not this week!  We are happy to be enjoying a wonderful meal that we used to love on our carb loaded french bread.  Not anymore!  Tonight we are enjoying this Philly Cheesesteak Pepper Casserole and we hope you enjoy it also!

Philly Cheesesteak Pepper Casserole

This recipe is a great one to make this week and load it up in your freezer.  In fact, don’t just make ONE but stock up and use my freezer meal theory to save your dinner time!  This meal is again easy and fast.  You can definitely make four of these in less than an hour.  Use one for dinner and freeze the other three for another night!

To make this wonderful deliciousness (is that a word.. it is now) just clean up and cut your peppers into bite size pieces.  As you cut them cover the bottom of your greased 9×13 pan with the peppers.  After the peppers are in the pans, heat your butter, garlic, onions, and mushrooms until the onions are transparent.  This takes about 20-30 minutes.  While the onions are cooking, cover your peppers with 8 slices of cheese.  After the onions are ready, load this warm treat over the cheese.  Layer the roast beef over the onions and cover with the last 8 pieces of cheese.

You can stop here and freeze this recipe if you are stocking your freezer.  When you are ready to cook these from the freezer just thaw and bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes.

Printable Recipe

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Print

Philly Cheesesteak Pepper Casserole

Ingredients

• 4 Peppers I like to use a variety of colors
• 16 Slices of Provolone Cheese
• 1 lb Thinly sliced Roast Beef
• 2 Sweet Yellow Onions
• 6 oz Canned Mushrooms Drained
• 1 t Minced Garlic
• 2 T Butter

Instructions

1. Wash, chop, and seed your peppers into bite sized pieces.

2. As you cut these into bite-size pieces, cover the bottom of your greased 9x13 pan with them.

3. Saute your onions and mushroom with the garlic and butter until onions are transparent.

4. While the onions are cooking cover the peppers with 8 pieces of the provolone cheese.

5. When the onion and mushrooms are done layer them over the cheese.

6. Next cover with the roast beef and the last 8 pieces of cheese.

7. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes.  Enjoy!!

Freezer meals

For more great meals that you can stock your freezer with check out my freezer meal menu. If you are wondering more about the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle you can find my tips and tricks here!

What’s for dinner tonight?  Are you scrambling each day around 5 PM to put something on the table?  For me, this scramble would ruin my whole day. I would find myself so anxious because I knew every day that 5 PM time would strike.  I had to find a better solution!  This is when I started using freezer meal cooking.  I started with once a month meals but this didn’t work well for me so I came up with my own freezer meal theory. I found a way to make the panic stop and each week I’m sharing meals with you to make your evening more enjoyable.  You too can have warm healthy meals on the table each night!

Chicken Bacon Cesar

First up I must say this is NOT my recipe but rather just one I found online and fell in love with.  I found this over at joyfilledeats and you should definitely head over there to get the details.  I’m just going to tell you a few tips for how I made it super easy for myself.  Please support the joyfilledeats blog and enjoy all of their great advice and recipes! Us bloggers just love when you follow us around!

Make it Fast and make four pans!

Once you get the recipe you can come back here to learn how I make it fast! I started by putting my chicken breasts into my crock pot.  I cook them for about 4 hours and then drain the juice. When I use my crockpot to cook my chicken I do not add anything to my crock pot.  Just put the chicken in and let it go.

Once the chicken is cooked I add the cream cheese, thawed and squeezed spinach, mayo and seasonings (basically everything else) to the top.  I let this sit a little so that the cream cheese softens.  Once it’s soft I use my pampered chef chopper to shred up the chicken and combine everything.  After it’s all mixed up I put it into my freezer pans.  I top it with bacon (sometimes I even use real bacon bits instead of cooking the bacon), mozzarella, and parmesan cheese.

When they are all set to go I freeze them and when I’m ready to use them for dinner I thaw them and cook according to the joyfilledeats directions.  When I’m making my four meals for the week I do a large load of chicken in my crock pot and then transfer it into a larger bowl to warm the cream cheese and what not.  I feel like I need a little more room to mix it up than what my crock pot offers.

Freezer Meals to the Rescue

5 PM will never feel the same again once you start your freezer meal cooking.  You will feel so great about the amazing meals you are putting on the table.  Looking for some more great recipes to try to join me each Tuesday for a new post or check out my freezer meal menu!