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Hi Ladies! Now that I have been actively coaching, I am seeing a common theme, a source of frustration, an area that ladies are wanting some inspiration and encouragement!

Help me, I have to cook too much!! My ladies are wanting shortcuts in the kitchen – less cooking, more meals!

Have you experienced this? Do you sometimes feel you are spending just too much time cooking – and subsequently cleaning.

I want to start sharing my tips and tricks that I use to help make the most of my time in the kitchen. I do a lot of prep work, usually on Sundays, I try to get desserts and some grab and go breakfasts done as well as some snacks.

But for today’s post I am going to share what I did for dinner tonight and for dinner TOMORROW night! It took hardly any extra effort, hardly anymore dirty dishes and I am PREPARED!! Feels awesome knowing I just need to pop my crockpot in the base in the morning and dinner will be ready when I get home!

On the menu:
*Spaghetti squash pie (tonight’s dinner)
*Meatloaf (for tomorrow)

Ingredients used:
*3 pounds of ground beef
*1 onion chopped
*salt and pepper to taste
*1 jar spaghetti sauce
*1 spaghetti squash
*Shredded mozzarella (omit if dairy free)
*Ketchup
*1/4 cup rolled oat
*whatever you like for your meatloaf – I used about 2T mustard, a splash of Worcestershire sauce, a sprinkle of sweetener, ketchup

Here is how I made this a super quick and simple night preparing two meals in the time it took to make one!

To begin I place my pierced spaghetti squash in the instant pot and set that to go for 15 minutes with about 1/2 a cup of water. Next, I cut a third of the three pounds of ground beef and tossed it into my deep frying pan like this one here:

While it’s frying I chop up my onion. I toss about a third of it in the pan with salt and pepper, the other third I toss in my stand mixer (not a blender) with the 2/3 of ground beef, salt pepper and whatever other seasonings you like…and the ground oats.

Keeping an eye on the ground beef as it cooks and stirring as needed, I also get the stand mixer going mixing up the ground beef to make meatloaf for tomorrow night.

As soon as the ground beef in the pan is done, I stir in the spaghetti sauce and combine well, making sure it is heated throughout.

I then took the ground beef from the mixer, molded into a loaf and put it into the crock of my crockpot. Topped with ketchup, the lid and into the fridge until tomorrow morning when I will pull it out, put it in the base and set it to low! Dinner for tomorrow is DONE! Just needs a salad!

For tonight – to finish things off – first you’ll need to clean and shred your squash. Now you have a couple of options here, bowl the squash, top with sauce add a side salad..or don’t…and you are good to go! I wanted something a little fancier because I randomly get inspired like that. So I placed the squash in a pie plate, topped with the meat sauce and generously topped with shredded mozzarella. Placed under the broiler for about 5 minutes…which I almost burned it as you can see above lol, but it was still delicious!

While the pie baked, I washed dishes, but just keep a close eye – don’t let yours burn!

I had only one onion to chop, I had to clean the cutting board and knife just once, I am now totally prepared for a super easy meal tomorrow night and *hopefully* I will have some leftovers of that meatloaf for some yummy Sammie’s on my just like grandma’s rolls later this week! I really think that I saved so much time by doing a few extra steps tonight!

I find I am doing this quite often and will try to remember to come back and share more tips!

I truly hope you find this helpful and encouraging. <3 I know it can feel overwhelming. I used to joke that ladies were losing weight because they were working so hard in the kitchen lol. Which I am sure it does burn a *few* more calories, but I prefer to burn those with my family and not cooking more!

With joy ~ Coach Tina

PS – My friends, if you are looking for one on one accountability, encouragement, teaching of the plan or even group sessions both in person, video or phone calls I am available for coaching! It is truly my heart and joy to share the plan with other ladies and help you on your journey! <3 Message me for more information about coaching: Oilofjoy2014@gmail.com