Southwest Stuffed Peppers

For me dinner should never be boring.  I love to constantly try new things and see what new creations I can come up with so that dinner is always exciting.  When you get stuck in a rut it can be more tempting to go for the easy pre-prepared items from the store as your source of exciting dinner choices.  But they are rarely economically priced for what you get and definitely not a healthy choice.  Challenging yourself to not get in a rut and try new things can be hard because we often think of new things as difficult.  But that is not always the way it is, there are hundreds of dishes out there that are new and exciting without being difficult to make. For my new inspiration for this dish I did a little research online, I was looking for a stuffed pepper recipe that already utilized many things that I had on hand.  I found the recipe at Midwestvegetarian.com, if you are a meat eater never be afraid of finding recipes from vegetarian sites. The dishes are often so full of flavor because they don't contain meat that they make even the pickiest carnivores happy.

Southwest Turkey Chili

One of the biggest budget killers is eating out. We try not to do it but there are days that you just don't feel like cooking. Maybe you had a bad day or you are just exhausted, what ever the reason on those days it is really easy to convince yourself to go out. I know I am guilty of that and so today I am trying to find ways to plan for those days. The biggest thing is making sure that you have items in the house that are easy to throw together so they don't take much effort. I might have a meal plan for the week already but I don't know ahead of time how the day is going to be. And sometimes what was planned for would take way more effort that I can put into. So this afternoon I created a backup plan, Southwest Turkey Chili. You see the great thing about chili is that it freezes really well. This recipe is so easy and once it is done I simply let it cool and put portions in freezer bags and wallah, dinner for those dreaded lazy days.