Loaded with flavor and just a hint of heat, these Italian stuffed bell peppers are filled with ground beef and rice, seasoned with plenty of Italian spices, and topped with cheese.

Served with a salad or warm rosemary garlic bread, this is a hearty meal that comes together without any fuss.

Just brown the meat, fill the peppers, and let them roast away while you kick back on the couch with a book. Sprinkle the warm peppers with cheese just before serving and you’ll have an easy dinner on the table with minimal effort.

Spicy Italian Peppers

These Spicy Italian Peppers are one of my husband’s favorite meals. I’ve been making them for at least 8-10 years now and I double this recipe almost every time I make them.

They’re loaded with flavor and just a hint of heat, but if spicy dishes aren’t your thing, skip the crushed red pepper and you’ll have Italian-style stuffed peppers that will make everyone happy.

The meat mixture freezes perfectly on its own and the stuffed peppers freeze well too. I often freeze the cooked peppers individually for quick and easy lunches.

Italian Style Stuffed Peppers

To make the recipe even easier, you can also use cooked rice leftover from a previous meal. Make rice as a side dish for your lunch and use the leftovers in stuffed peppers for dinner!

My kids and I typically eat one pepper each and my husband will eat a couple of them. They’re filling, delicious, and enthusiastically enjoyed by everyone.

Stuffed Bell Peppers are easy to customize based on your family’s tastes. You can play with different pre-made spaghetti sauces, adjust the spices and try different kinds of cheese on top of the cooked peppers.

Feel free to use this recipe as a jumping off point for making the Stuffed Peppers of your dreams. I love the ground beef in the original version but sausage and ground turkey work well too.

These Italian style stuffed peppers have the advantage of being convenient, easy, customizable and kid-friendly to boot. As far as weeknight meals go, can we ask for anything more?

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Naturally sweet and bursting with blueberry freshness, banana blueberry pancakes are a weekday breakfast must in our home.

(Are you wondering how to pull off pancakes on a busy weekday morning?? Check out all the tips below!)

Banana Blueberry Pancakes

I’ve been making these pancakes for years. Blueberry waffles and pancakes have been a long-time favorite, (check out these blueberry waffles for proof of that – they’re just so good!) but when I started adding blueberries to the banana nut pancakes in my first cookbook? That combination became an immediate favorite.

Even with a house full of voracious eaters, I am baffled at how any food can possibly go bad in my household but bananas are my nemesis.

A few years ago a friend told me that when her my bananas get close to spoiling, she just tosses them into the freezer without peeling them or anything else and when they accumulate, she makes banana bread.

FYI that tip did NOT work for me, but peeling the bananas and dropping them into a freezer bag DOES work for me. You can grab however many bananas you need out of the bag and thaw them on a plate. It’s much simpler and less messy than dealing with a frozen and then thawed slimy banana peel.

Fluffy Banana Pancakes

While this is a super handy thing to keep in mind for dealing with over-ripe bananas, I am not even going to admit how many bananas often accumulate in my freezer. These easy banana pancakes are one way to avoid the banana backlog.

Fresh blueberries are my favorite to use in pancakes and waffles, but frozen will get the job done as well. One thing to note with frozen blueberries and pancakes is that the batter will sometimes be uncooked around those frozen blueberries.

To avoid these little pockets of batter I will set out frozen blueberries in a single layer on a plate before mixing up my batter. Then, by the time the batter is made and has had a few minutes to rest while the griddle gets hot, the blueberries are just slightly soft and everything cooks nicely.

Need more fluffy banana pancake ideas? Try these Read more

Protein Waffles – Easy Healthy Breakfast

Two ingredient protein waffles…2 INGREDIENTS…that’s all you need to make this high protein breakfast! We are eating protein waffles for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

We practically live off of these things. A few times a month I seem to have one of those days where no matter how badly I want to make dinner (or sometimes don’t even want to think about it), it just isn’t going to happen. Or maybe we just got home from vacation or ate super heavy all week, the list goes on and on. Either way, having something in your pocket that isn’t cereal or nachos comes in quite handy. Introducing what we call, “protein waffles”. 

We eat protein waffles for dinner, but we also have them regularly for breakfast. A healthy breakfast sets the tone for my day, and I love getting a lot of protein in at breakfast. With this waffles recipe, you get 16 grams of protein in just one waffle.

Ingredients for Protein Waffles

Okay, don’t blink because you might miss it! For these protein waffles all you need is protein powder and eggs. You can use whole eggs or go with just egg whites for an even healthier waffle recipe.

What is the Best Protein Powder?

We use lots of different protein powders and have tried just about everything out. Our favorite brand of protein powder for these waffles is Just Ingredients Vanilla Bean. When you’re picking a protein powder, keep a close eye on the sugar. A lot of protein powders have loads of sugar in them and we don’t want that! Just Ingredients brand has only 2 grams of sugar per scoop.

Happy New Year, my friends! Do you remember that song, “this is the song that never ends?” It just goes on and on, my friends. I’ve had it playing in my mind on repeat all afternoon, with the word “flu” swapped in for “song.” Someone in my family has been sick with one thing or another ever since Thanksgiving and we are all sooooo over it. 

I thought we were in the clear at last and go figure, one of the boys spiked a fever yesterday. Super super fun times. However, when I think back to where we were a year ago, with Sean in the hospital and so many unknowns in our future, I’m grateful beyond words for a simple stubborn flu bug. Here’s hoping for a happy and healthy start to the new year for all of us!

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.” Psalm 46:1‭-‬3 ESV

ON THE BLOG this week: Roasted sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts are pure awesomeness from start to finish. Adding salty bacon and a splash of vinegar makes this one heck of a fantastic side dish.

This simple baked spinach artichoke dip is creamy, rich, and full of great flavors. My family reminds me quite regularly that there is nothing under the sun that is not enhanced through the inclusion of bacon.

Savory ham and cheddar cheese are layered into these fluffy biscuits. Served on their own or with a plate of scrambled eggs for breakfast or alongside a bowl of soup for dinner, these biscuits disappear almost as quickly as I can make them.

This creamy, rich slow cooker potato soup with a sprinkling of rosemary and thyme simmers in the crock-pot throughout the day, until you are ready to eat. I’ve been calling this my “Busy Day Potato Soup” for years.

Spiced pear oatmeal is full of rolled oats, cooked pears, cinnamon, brown sugar, and butter. It is a weekday breakfast delight that you can make in just a few minutes. When you have a few more minutes to spare, these Banana Coconut Pancakes topped with butter and syrup are a sweet and tasty way to change up your weekend pancake routine.

Want to know how to make gooey, soft, and chewy Rice Krispie Treats? Whether you’re serving them after dinner, taking them to a potluck, or simply making them for a fun snack with your kids after school, find out how t

Savory ham and cheddar cheese are layered into these fluffy biscuits. Served on their own or with a plate of scrambled eggs or alongside a bowl of soup, these biscuits disappear almost as quickly as I can make them.

Ham and Cheese Biscuits

I’ve been making these Ham and Cheese biscuits for about four years now and they are frequently found tucked into our freezer. While they’re delicious on their own, they also make a terrific egg sandwich and pretty amazing biscuits with gravy too.

We are huge fans of “leftover” recipes. Anytime I can cook a meal and then use the leftovers in another meal, that makes my day.

Ham is one of my favorites for making multiple meals. This Balsamic and Dijon Glazed Ham is frequently the main player in my ham recipes.

I often make Old Fashioned Ham Balls and this amazing Stir Fry with our leftover ham. Next on my list is this Cheesy Potato, Ham, and Egg Breakfast Casserole.

These Ham and Cheese Biscuits were originally made with leftover ham and they turned out so well, I made them again the very next day because my boys begged for more of them.

Since then, the biscuits have been more frequently made with chopped-up deli ham than anything else, because I crave these biscuits far more frequently than we happen to have leftover ham available.

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