Meal mix up recipes coming in hot! Sometimes it’s good to switch things up a little, but the boys don’t always love that too much! I’ve put together a post of our favorite go to meals that everyone in our family loves! We have some meals that we cook every week to keep things simple and in routine. We want to try to cook what the boys will eat so we don’t have to have the fight of eating a few more bites every night! But occasionally we switch it up! These meals are easy and quick because we don’t spend much time cooking on week nights! Sometimes just mixing up your basic meals or sides with the simplest things can make a meal feel so new!

Meal Mix up- Oven Baked Lemon Salmon

First up is Liam’s favorite! He may only be 6 and a half (ha!) but he as always loved salmon ever since he was a little baby! When I first started cooking salmon, I wanted to keep it simple, because I knew I wanted to start incorporating it into our meals more often. So, I don’t really measure anything, but you can probably guesstimate what you should use for your own taste. I will try to explain the best I can about how much to use of each ingredient!

Usually, I cook the salmon in the oven, because it’s easier for me than using the grill. So let the oven preheat to 375 degrees while you prep the salmon.

Prepping Salmon

In a 13X9 glass pan, place the salmon filet in the middle. First, add a little olive oil on top (about a spoon full for large pieces of salmon), and spread it around with the back of a spoon. Then, squeeze fresh lemon juice on top. Depending on the size of your filet, use either a half of a lemon, or the whole lemon. Next, sprinkle on a generous layer of sea salt, and Italian Seasoning. And BOOM, that’s it!!

For the photo above, we cooked the salmon on the grill, that’s why it’s on some foil instead of a glass pan. Using a glass pan for the oven will make sure the salmon cooks evenly and it doesn’t stick to the bottom. This image above was also screened shot off my Instagram when I uploaded this to my stories. So sorry for the extra text over top! 😀

I’m not trying to make sushi, so I try to make sure my salmon is cooked to at least 145 degrees. This is what the FDA recommends it be cooked to, and I kinda just trust them! HA! You can tell it is done if it turns a light whitish pink in the middle, and it kinda flakes apart easily! Enjoy!

Meal mix up- Not your Basic Green Beans

Another way to add a little meal mix up are these Lemon Pepper Green Beans. I promise not all my recipes have lemon in them (…I think…)! These green beans are literally so easy, and my boys gobble them up! It’s honestly not much more that what you would do for cooking some green beans out of the can! All you need is a can of green beans, a fresh lemon, and lemon pepper seasoning!

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Cook beans and drain liquid. For a regular sized can of green beans, add in half of a fresh squeezed lemon, and season with lemon pepper seasoning (to taste). The lemon pepper seasoning can be strong, so it doesn’t take much! We use this instead of adding salt and pepper! That’s it!

Meal Mix up- Mix it Yourself Pizza

This is one of my favorite ways to mix meals up for the week. Usually it’s on a Thursday, or Friday when the weekend vibes are starting to set in. I don’t really want to cook, and no body can decide on what to eat. I usually keep the make your own pizza ingredients in stock in the pantry, that way I can whip this up and make everyone happy.

This is definitely cheaper than ordering pizza from somewhere! It’s healthier than ordering pizza and even the frozen pizzas because their isn’t as much preservatives! The boys also enjoy making their own pizza!

Now, these make your own pizza’s could definitely be more homemade, but I like to keep things simple and buy the pre-made stuff! We like to use the ultra thin crust, that way we can really taste the ingredients on the pizza. The Classico Traditional Pizza Sauce is my favorite, and the HEB brand roasted garlic pizza sauce is delicious too!

Ingredients for this can be really simple, like what I have above, or it can be really complicated! Here is list of the must have ingredients and optional ingredients in order to make a simple delicious pizza!

• Pre-made pizza crust
• Olive Oil
• Pizza sauce
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Optional ingredients:

• Pepperoni
• Black olives
• Fresh Mozzarella
• Basil
• Garlic
• Red onion
• Jalapeno
• Bacon
• Red or green peppers
• or really anything you like to add on your pizza!

Making the Pizza

There are two ways you can cook your pizza, in the oven, or on the grill. To make the pizza in the oven, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and it will cook for about 10 minutes. It would probably longer if you have thicker crust. The pizza will need to go on a metal pizza pan, or you can put it straight on the rack ( but this can make a mess sometimes). If you are cooking on the grill, make sure you use a pizza stone, and cover it in flower so the pizza doesn’t stick. Cook for about 8-10 minutes (longer if you have a thicker crust).

Making your pizza is easy! I cover the pizza pan with foil because this makes the clean up is easy. Put the pizza crust on the pan, and coat it with a light layer of olive oil. Then, I spread the pizza sauce out evenly to our liking. Sprinkle on a generous layer of shredded mozzarella cheese and finally we add the toppings of your choice!

Meal Mix Ups

I’m definitely not a home cooking blog, but I thought I would share some of the ways we like to mix up our meals! Spaghetti and tacos are always our go to, but we like to change things up every once in a while! Hope something sounded yummy and you try one of these out! If you do, please come back and let me know how you liked it! Also, if you have a meal that you want to share, I would love to try it out! Leave the recipe in the comments below!

Have a great week y’all!