What I've been up to lately

Besides becoming crafty (well, a little bit crafty), I have been cooking a LOT.  I have a lot of free time on my hands, and a hungry husband every night, so what better than to cook a good meal each night.  These last 2 weeks I've been pretty good.  Tyler and I really want to STOP eating out during the week (we did this a lot while we were transitioning from UT to AZ), and only eat out (maybe) during the weekends.  Well, I'm off to a good start b/c we didn't eat out at last week or this week :)

A few of the the meals I have made:

• Chicken penne pasta with red bell peppers
• Mashed potatoes with chicken
• Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas
• Chicken, onion, rice, cream of chicken mixture in the crock pot
• Southwestern chopped chicken salad

I think that's it so far.  Fortunately when you only have 2 people eating, you have LOTS of leftovers so we usually eat them for the next days lunch, and sometimes dinner.
And, if you noticed chicken is in EVERY meal around our house.  We buy the humungous bag of chicken from Costco, which makes it SO much cheaper than ground beef.  If you have places where you buy your beef for a good price, I would love to know where they are!

I've also baked a few things in the last couple days:

• Chocolate chip cookies- FINALLY found a recipe that I LOVE!
• Snickerdoodle cookies
• Banana Chocolate Chip Bread
• Pound cake with whipped cream and strawberries

I've really started to enjoy cooking/baking lately, and have gotten better at making the most of my time.  A few tips I've learned:

• When I have time during the day, cut any veggies I may need, and refrigerate (this saves time at night).
•  Bake chicken (in the oven), rather than cook it on the stove- this is SO easy b/c you just stick the chicken in the oven and let it cook while you do other things
• Clean as I cook- put the dishes in the dishwasher while I am cooking.  This makes cooking so much more enjoyable b/c you're not doing a whole lot of dishes at the end of the meal.

Something I really hate is being rushed, and this goes for anything, not just cooking.  When I prep during the day, it really helps me to enjoy dinner time more, and my husband more :)

If you have any recipes that you love, please share!  I get most of mine from pinterest (who doesn't??), but would love any good recommendations.