Happy Monday! Not only is it…

It is also…

And we have an early dismissal day tomorrow! I had the best weekend at the beach with my parents and at home watching Jack play baseball. I’ll share that later this week. Here’s a sneak peek – I got to see Elin again and my mom and I made her instagram! I am @SUNNYSCP if you want to follow along.

I’m linking up with Jennifer and the girls for Not Just A Mom today. This month’s Not Just A Mom topic is quick family dinner. I got really good at making quick family dinners this spring when the kids’ practices started picking up. I don’t have any pictures because I was too busy trying to get dinner on the table and didn’t stop to take a picture. 😉

My number one tip for a quick dinner is preparation! This spring I did a lot of meat preparation on Sunday afternoons or Mondays while I was at school (Hello crockpot!). We had quite a few weeks where I threw a bunch of chicken breasts in the crockpot on Monday before school and that made a few dinners that week. I’d use that shredded chicken to quickly make tacos, taquitos, bbq chicken, or chicken salad for my lunches and our family dinners.

I’ve done the same thing with a few pounds of ground beef. I divide the ground beef to make spaghetti sauce/baked ziti, tacos, sloppy Joe’s, and ranch beef. Ranch beef is ground beef with a little bit of ranch powder and a little bit of brown gravy packet served over rice with a bunch of steamed broccoli.

Scrambled eggs with peppers is another quick and easy dinner that fills everyone up before practice.

I also keep a few quick prepared meals in the freezer for a quick and easy dinner. I keep Seapack butterfly or popcorn shrimp in the freezer to throw on a salad for a something a little different.

Trader Joe’s also comes to the rescue sometimes. My kids love the turkey corn dogs and will eat the mahi-mahi burgers without complaining. Both are quick heat ups.

I always have a bunch of fruit and vegetables in my refrigerator to add to the protein. On the nights that I need to get dinner on the table quickly, I tend to put a bowl of fruit and a plate of raw veggies on the table for everyone to eat. If we are cutting it close on time, I’ve been known to put the fruits/veggies in a Tupperware container and take it in the car with us to finish or offer as an after practice snack.

Thankfully we are just about finished with the rush to get dinner on the table. Even though we aren’t rushing, I like to keep some quick dinners in my repertoire. There are quite a few days that we stay at the pool for a while and the kids come home starving. So I need to get dinner on the table quickly! I can’t wait to hear what everyone else adds for the linkup today!

I have a fun week planned on Sunshine & Books this week, so be sure to check back. Have a great day full of sunshine and books!