Four Quick & Easy 30-Minute Meals

It's that time of the year where the days feel so long and so short at the same time. After working long days in the office, the last thing I want to do is go home and spend more than 30-minutes on dinner. Here are four go-to meals that I use during busy workweeks: 

Zucchini Taco Boats

If you're looking for something filling with a little spice, check out these Zucchini Taco Boats!

Foil Pack Fiesta Chicken Dinner

I'm a big fan of these Foil Pack Fiesta Chicken Dinners because they are great to make ahead of time and toss in the oven when you get home from work! 

Cauliflower Rice Taco Bowl

That's not regular rice, it's riced cauliflower on the bottom of a taco bowl! This meal takes little to no time to make and it's SO worth it. Low calorie, quick and delicious! 

Spicy Chicken Chili 

There's nothing better than it being cold outside, and warm chili cooing on the stovetop! This Spicy Chicken Chili is perfect for any day that you want a healthy dinner but also feels like comfort food. 

What are your go-to recipes?? 

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Cali'flour Foods Cauliflower Pizza Crust

When you love something, you have to share it with the world for everyone to know. This is absolutely not a sponsored post, this is just my love for something that's easy and delicious. During the day I work as a social media manager for a nonprofit. Nonprofit work is rewarding, and REALLY busy during the holiday season... especially for social media. 

After a long day at work, and usually going to the gym after, the last thing I really want to do is cook dinner. Then again, when I am so busy and stressed at work, I know that it's the MOST important time that I take care of myself with good, nutritious food. But don't get me twisted, I can't quit my favorite foods, I just like to make the 'skinny' version of them.

Insert cauliflower pizza crusts. If you have ever tried to make these then you know how LABOR intensive they can be. If you haven't made them yourselves, there's absolutely no point because it's so much easier to buy them frozen and have them SHIPPED TO YOUR door. This is really the holy grail of "cheat" meals. 

Thanks to some targeted Facebook ads and my friend Jill, we found these Cali'flour Foods Pizza Crusts to try out. For each package you receive two froze cauliflower crusts. 

The two crusts are separated by plastic, and it's best to let them thaw for a bit before trying to spread them apart. 

Now, what you will need to do is pre-cook the crusts. *Pro Tip* When you're baking them on parchment paper, flip them halfway through while they are pre-baking. This way both sides are even and toasted when you decide what toppings you want to use.  

I am a traditional pizza girl, where I liked a marinara sauce. 

Also added some turkey pepperoni with a few jalapeño slices. 

Of course, some low-calorie cheese. 

Because low-carb works best for my life, I don't mind to add cheese. 

You can see how thin the crust is, so you don't want to overload it down TOO much. This is why toasting both sides during the pre-bake is so important. 

It only takes about 10 minutes to bake until it's done. All in all, this pizza takes about 25 minutes to make, and most of that is pre-baking the crust and baking the pizza. Because there are two crust in each package, I like to pre-bake both crusts at once, then make a pizza and save the other crust for another meal. This makes it even quicker for the second pizza in the week! 

The crust is pretty filling, especially when you pair it with a salad. Or, if you're like me, you'll keep going back for 'just one more bite!' 

The crusts can seem pretty pricey, but Cali'flour Foods has a lot of good deals. I bought 5 boxes (two crusts per box) for $50 with free shipping. So, each crust ends up being around $5, which is WAY easier than making it yourself or having to buy a bunch of cauliflower. 

What healthy trick do you have to have skinny, cheat meals?

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Easy Zucchini Taco Boats

There is something that happens in your thirties that I was told so many times about but never really believed to be true... it really does matter what you eat! To keep my meals filling but light, I have been really enjoying zucchini taco boats. Who knew that tacos would actually be delicious in a vegetable boat made of zucchini. 

Here are a few of the main ingredients. These boats are perfect for summer because zucchini is always affordable either at a grocery store or farmers market. 

First thing is first ... halve the zucchini. 

Next, I take a spoon and scoop out the innards and toss them. 

Once the zucchinis are halved and scooped, lay them on a sprayed oiled baking sheet lined with foil. I like to pre-bake the zucchini for about 15-20 minutes on 350 degrees F. 

While the zucchini is pre-baking, now is the time to cook the ground beef. I'm sure it's much better to make your own taco seasoning, but for the sake of time after a long day of work, I don't mind using a pre-made seasoning. 

Once the ground beef has been cooked and seasoned, I like to let it cool a bit and add it to the pre-baked zucchini boats. 

Next, add some cheese to the top of the taco ground beef and let it bake again for about 10-15 min at 350 degrees F. 

Once everything is cooked together, I like to top the taco zucchini boats with a reduced-fat sour cream, salsa, more cheese, sliced avocado, jalapenos ... whatever you like on a taco!   

Enjoy!

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30 Minute Meal: Cauliflower Taco Bowl

After a long day of work the last thing I want to do is spend all night in the kitchen cooking dinner. But, I also don't want to (& can't afford to) eat out every night. So, I found the best of both worlds with this SUPER quick and easy cauliflower taco bowl. 

The best part is? I didn't spend any time having to MAKE the cauliflower rice except throw the freezer bag into the microwave.  

A friend of mine had been raving about how good this riced cauliflower was that she bought in the freezer section. Because I've tried to make cauliflower rice once and it was a complete disaster, I thought this might be a better alternative. 

And it was! 

It takes about five minutes in the microwave and it makes a really good size portion. There's about 45 calories per serving and a total about three servings. It's low in fat, sugar, and carbs so it's also diet friendly. 

I topped the microwaved riced cauliflower with some cooked ground beef that I had added taco seasoning too. I like to cook ground beef or ground turkey in bulk in the beginning of the week that way I can season it and use it any way that I want throughout the week. Great for meal planning when it comes to dieting and budgeting! 

Next, I sauteed some onion and peppers. I love getting the veggies from Chipotle on my salads so I thought why not make my own for my cauliflower bowl.

Now here's the part that makes this QUICK. 

I added a bit of shredded cheese on top. 

Then added some jarred salsa. 

Because, I didn't have time to make some, and, honestly, I didn't want to. A little pace salsa on top was DELISH.

The last step was to add a bit of guacamole on top to TOP it off! 

This meal took me about 30 minutes to make because I was cooking the ground beef and sauteing the peppers, and honestly, I took my time by watching videos on YouTube. If you already had the meat cooked, this would take less than 20 minutes, EASILY! 

Share your quick meal ideas with me in the comments!

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Weekend in Dallas

Happy Monday! This past weekend Rich and I went to Dallas for a quick weekend trip before he starts back to law school and before I have to get back to working full-time in the office. (The holidays spoil me...)

Dallas is only 4-5 hours from Little Rock so it's a pretty quick weekend trip. It's also a really, really easy drive. So we had planned on leaving Friday at lunch, and we did. However, you make plans and God laughs? We woke up Friday morning to a backyard full of snow. Since it didn't stick to the roads we were safe to drive, and by we I mean Rich because it started snowing on us while driving and I have ZERO idea on how to drive in any condition besides sunny, happy weather.

Once we got to Dallas and went to the hotel, we relaxed a bit. Over five hours in the car under stressful conditions with snow, re-routes, traffic and tiredness we just took a little time to relax. As soon as I realized how close we were to a Trader Joe's I got a BOLT of energy and couldn't get out of the hotel quickly enough. After buying two cases of wine, a ton of marinara sauce and some cookie butter I felt I had done enough damage. $200 worth of damage to be exact but who is counting... 

After my Trader Joe's personal spending challenge event, we found this restaurant called, "Kenny's Italian Kitchen." It had great reviews, was close by, but I was skeptical because it was in a strip mall.  

It. was. delicious. 

And I'm sorry for judging a book by its strip mall cover because the inside of this restaurant was cozy, charming and I would go back in a heartbeat. 

After dinner we went back to the hotel to relax so we could do a lot of things on Saturday and boy, did we... 

We got up and headed downtown to eat brunch at a restaurant called, 'The Rustic.' 

It was also ... delicious. 

The Rustic in Dallas, TX, has a brunch menu called, "Jam and Toast" because you get all of this food and then there is a band playing. 

Bloody Mary ... Bloody Mary ... BLOODY MARY. 

Also, delicious bloody mary. 

After brunch, we headed to Dealey Plaza where Kennedy was shot. Rich had never been there before so we parked and walked around the area. We didn't take the 6th Floor Tour, but I did make a Penny out of Kennedy's head with one of those machines you turn until it flattens and imprints it. 

Next on the list was the Perrot Science Museum! 

I had always wanted to go and Rich didn't complain even though I could tell it was not his thing. That's part of relationships, though ... give and take. 

They had around 9-11 exhibits and my favorite was the one about gems and crystals because I like pretty things. 

And the one about dinosaurs because I think they are strange. 

After we did those two things it was on to the next ... Top Golf. 

Here's what I will say about Top Golf: 

1. I did not suck... surprisingly. 
2. Rich did very well... not surprisingly because he's an actual golfer. 
3. It was a lot of fun. 
4. I would do it again. 
5. I am not going to become a golfer. 

After a full day of fun, it was back to the hotel to change for dinner. Because we liked Kenny's Italian Kitchen we decided to try Kenny's Steakhouse. I'll give it to Kenny that he really knows what he is doing. 

We slept in a bit on Sunday and ate at In-and-Out Burger before heading back to Little Rock. 

How about I use my favorite word again to describe the weekend ... delicious! 

What did you do this weekend? 

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Everything Turning Blonde, Blue and Gray

Hiiiiiiiiiii friends! December is the busiest time with work which means a lot less time for sharing and blogging. This week everything is turning gray... in terms of my walls. 

Do you know what the hardest decision in the world is? Picking a paint color! Currently, I have four Sherwin Williams paint colors and if I keep this up the walls are going to turn into a Dolly Parton song. 

The current color of the walls is so ugly it's hard to visualize it right now. I'm leaning towards Repose Gray because I think once it's not so close to Essential Gray it won't look so green and will lighten the space a bit. 

Here's an example of Sherwin Williams Repose Gray from Pinterest: 

How pretty is that? SO MUCH prettier than whatever ugly color you call the walls now. Blech. 

NOW FOR THE OFFICE! 

Before I turned the office into an office, the previous owners used it as a baby room. Well, since that's not where I am in life, I am painting the office room Sherwin Williams Georgian Bay. I might lighten it just a bit, but I LOVE this color on the wall. I can't wait to share some before & afters! 

Also, since it's about to get REALLY cold in Arkansas (and, yes, I understand our cold is not as cold as you Northerners, but I do not do well when it's too cold to move. I become a bear and hibernate). My boyfriend asked me what the plans were for the weekend and I said, "Well, it's going to be cold so I'll be inside." 

See everyone on the outside in about March. 

Oh, back to the photo, since it's about to become so cold this weekend I frantically planted about 50 bulbs in the front garden bed of the house. I do not think I planted them the ideal six inches, because ladies, size does matter. Six inches is a lot, and when you're outside digging holes to plant a bulb when it's 40 degrees outside and getting colder, you just kind of stick them in the ground and hope for a spring miracle.

Now, here are two things I am obsessed with lately: 

1. Philosophy When Hope is Not Enough Serum

I have been using this serum every other night for the past few weeks and my skin is so smooth and soft. The cold air and dry heat from the gas heater in the house made my skin so dry it was hurting. This stuff is AMAZING. 

2. Sweet Kale Salad

I found this kale salad kit at Sam's and LOVE it. Just throw it in a bowl, add the dressing, stick in the fridge for 30 minutes and then you have a delicious salad! If you can find it at your grocery store you must try it. 

Also, last weekend I became my winter blonde which is the same as my summer blonde, fall blonde and spring blonde. Because I love to be blonde. If you missed my blonde excitement it's because you're' not following me on Snapchat! Snapchat: MaeganClark 

This weekend I am going to *try* my best to start painting at least the office room. Then again I am behind on watching Fuller House on Netflix so we will see which one wins out! 

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