**As promised, the free printable PDF of my famous ‘Homemade Beef Summer Sausage’ recipe is linked to the Sunday post in the attachment section! Just click on it and you can print it! Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday’s Patreon posts will be fully open to free and paid members. As a special thank you to paid members, you may message me in Patreon and select 3 additional HBWL printable PDF recipes of your choosing. Here’s the link for those recipes. Just send me a message and I’ll email them to you for free!
What Came Into the Kitchen
Nothing new came in today — working off yesterday’s Costco haul.
(Also…Easter bins came into the kitchen/living room and chaos followed) – this is one of my favorite pieces of ‘decor’. My kids have made these for several years. Just a big piece of contact paper, layer with strips of black construction paper, pieces of colored tissue paper, and then seal it all in with another piece of contact paper.
What I Cooked Today/What We Ate Today
7-Minute Protein Prep
I had a busy day, so I gave myself 7 minutes to prep as much protein as possible.
- Cut and bagged chicken breasts (for grilling)
- Divided flank steak into two bags
Marinade (Base for Everything):
- Olive oil
- Salt, pepper
- Garlic powder
- Italian seasoning
- Smoked paprika
- Splash of apple cider vinegar
Used that for:
- Chicken (which I cut into smaller even-sized pieces to make it easy to grill quickly)
- One flank steak (kept more neutral)
For the second flank steak (larger one), I added:
- Cumin (lots of this!)
- Oregano
- Chili powder
→ This gives me one mild option + one more flavorful option for tomorrow.
It took me just 7 minutes to do ALL of this….when I’m really busy I like to time myself to see how fast I can get something done and it’s like a little motivator to work fast and efficiently!
Lunch (Grilled Chicken + Multiple Uses)
Since we were low on protein, I went ahead and grilled the chicken right away….which I don’t normally do. On a typical week, I just do leftover protein at lunch, but it was time to restock
- Cooked quickly (about 15 minutes since it was cut thin)
- Made a peanut sauce/dressing (see pic below for the ingredients….I don’t have specific measurements because I just dump until things taste right! lol!)
Everyone ate it differently:
- I had a salad with grilled chicken + peanut sauce
- My teenager made lettuce wraps with:
- chicken
- cabbage, carrots, peppers
- peanut sauce + vinaigrette
- Other kids had:
- chicken + pretzels + fruit + veggies
Now I have a large batch of grilled chicken in the fridge for the next few days.
Dinner Prep (Before I Left)
I wasn’t home for dinner tonight, so I prepped everything ahead. Since I had that big package of ground beef from my Costco trip yesterday, I went ahead and did 2 things:
- Made homemade beef summer sausage (to cure overnight..I’ll cook this tomorrow)
- Cooked a full batch of taco meat
- Added taco seasoning
- Let it simmer
Left instructions for my husband (just setting them up for success!), and he built (and even took some photos!):
→ Nacho / taco platters for dinner using:
- taco meat
- rice
- black beans
- cheese
- salsa
- avocado
And I had some when I got home.
Kitchen Flow (How It’s All Working)
- Chicken → cooked once, will carry multiple meals this week
- Flank steak → marinating overnight for tomorrow
- Taco meat → fresh batch + leftovers (huge win) – this is my number 1 protein prep at my house. The way I can just pull it out for a quick snack/lunch any time and I LOVE a taco salad at lunchtime too!
- Summer sausage → prepped and curing overnight
- Rice + beans → reused from earlier in the week
- Avocados → used fresh (always a win)
This is exactly why I front-load a little effort —
it makes the next few days really easy.
What’s Next
Tomorrow’s dinner is basically already done:
- Grill the flank steak (both versions)
- Reheat potatoes from my parents’ house
- Probably add a veggie or onion to the sheet pan
Quick, easy, and already prepped.