{slow cooker salsa chicken // and back to school hacks}

The end of summer is almost here. Can you believe it? Me either. We’ve created so many great memories over the last couple of months. Everything from camping trips. Long weekends + weeks at the cabin in Tahoe. Catching crabs on the coast. Weekend getaways to the city. All the fun must come to an end.

With school about to start, it’s time to get back into the swing of things. I thought it would be fun to do a little back to school series? What do you think? Highlighting everything from back to school shopping. Organization. Morning routines. All the things to ease back into school mode.

This morning, Bay + I had planned to do a little practice run. #fail Ha! We were going to pretended it was the first day of school. Get up early. Do all the things. But, I said F it and went to the gym, the grocery store and drank 2 cups of coffee. I decided I deserved one last chaotic-free morning.

So, tomorrow will probably be an absolute shit-show. You know what I mean?

But, one thing I got planned out is easy dinners for the week. That also create lunch leftovers. Can I get a hell yeah?

This one you’re gonna want to “pin” to your Pinterest page. Screen shot. Print it out. Whatever you do. I promise you and your family will love it. It’s my go-to, no-fail, easy 2 ingredient dinner. It’s crazy versatile too! I’ll even show you 3 meals I made out of one slow cooker recipe.

Here’s what you need:

boneless skinless chicken breasts (4-6 pieces)
salsa

That’s it!

I place my frozen chicken in the slow cooker. Dump the entire jar of salsa over the top.

Set the slow cooker for 6 hours!

Go to work.

Come home.

Dinner is done!

Oh, and I have a slow cooker hack…….

I keep my slow cooker in the garage. If you’re weird about smells and your whole damn house smelling like dinner for the next 24-48 hours, this is the trick.

Shred chicken breasts with two forks.

Drain! This is key!

Bay + I, without a doubt, will eat the chicken straight from the slow cooker with tortilla chips immediately! It’s just our thing.

Dinner #1

Chicken Tacos

With a side of pinto beans + green salad

Bay’s love for tacos + pinto beans is real! And I love her for it!

Dinner #2 (and my lunch)

Taco Salad. Use my recipe for {taco salad bowls} if that’s your thang! Or line up all the toppings for a {taco tuesday….salad}.

Taco salads are my jam. So many ways to jazz them up. I actually crave taco salad. So weird, huh?

Dinner #3

Enchiladas! Traditional for Bay. Zucchini for me.

Slice zucchini. Broil for about 5 minutes. Place chicken + cheese in the center and roll it up. Add the same toppings as a traditional enchilada and at the same time.

These also double as a great lunch leftover option!

Dinner/lunch #4

(un-pictured)

Chicken quesadillas. Great for packing kids for lunch. Toss in a individual guac packet or ranch up and they are set! Someones I make one for myself too 🙂

Now that we’ve got dinner covered….

Another mom hack that I’m down with: Lunch + snack station.

I keep one in the fridge + one in the pantry. It’s always full of Bay’s fave snacks that she can grab and go.

Yogurt + celery sticks + carrot sticks + ranch + guac + cheese sticks + grapes (or whatever fruit we have for the week). I started buying these lunchables and I totally dig them.

Perfect for mornings where you drank a little too much wine the night before and said fuck it to making lunches.

I store this one in our garage fridge with all the drinks. Do you spy my enchiladas on the bottom shelf? They are for tomorrow nights dinner!

Pantry snacks also ready to grab and go. So I have a 7th grader now. Well, as of tomorrow, I will have a 7th grader. Other than making her sandwich or main for lunch, she is responsible for packing all the sides/snacks to go with it. We always have granola bars + Cheez-its + fruit roll-ups + veggie straws + and I’m currently in love with Udi’s salted caramel cashew cookies.