I haven't really been interested in 'make ahead meals' until recently. I have found myself scouring Pinterest for ideas lately, because like many busy moms, I'm just looking for a few simple shortcuts I can take at home, to make life a little easier. There never seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done, so I'll take whatever sort of help I can get!

Make ahead meals are interesting. They range from fully pre-cooked meals that have been frozen, or they have been partially cooked, or sometimes only put together and frozen, so that they can still be 'cooked fresh.' I told myself that I would start trying a few different 'prep ahead' things for some of our meals, and one of the first things I tried, was for a simple Chicken & Broccoli Roll-Up meal.

Chicken & Broccoli Roll-Ups

You Will Need

2 boneless, skinless chicked breasts (cooked and chopped)

2 cups broccoli florets (cooked)

1/2 Cups shredded Cheddar Cheese

1 Can crescent rolls (8 to a can)

Make ahead: I baked the chicken breasts ahead of time in a 350 degree oven, for 25 minutes. These were seasoned with salt and pepper.

I sliced the chicken breast, and then cut the slices into bit sized pieces.

I stored the chicken in a plastic container, and put it into the fridge until I was ready to use it.

Make ahead: Broccoli.

We hardly ever buy frozen broccoli. We use fresh, and it doesn't take long to steam it. Just add the broccoli to a small pot of salted water (1/2 cup of water will do), place the lid over the pot and steam it on high for about 3-4 minutes on the stove top. Immediately remove the lid to the pot, or the broccoli will keep cooking.

Do ahead- chop the broccoli. Store the broccoli in a container- in the fridge until you're ready to use it later on.

At dinner time...

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees, and lay the crescent rolls out on a baking sheet.

Add your chopped chicken and broccoli to the crescent roll dough...

...and then add the cheddar cheese. Roll them up, and fold the points under.

Bake the roll ups for about 15 minutes, or until the crescent rolls are baked through and turn golden brown.

Finished roll-ups... don't they look yummy?

We usually serve these with a salad or with white rice. You could add whatever kind of side you might like.

The meal serves 4, if each person has two roll-ups. These make great left overs, and can easily be re-heated.

Making the chicken and broccoli ahead of time saved me about thirty five minutes off the prep time before dinner. All I had to do, was to add the pre-cooked fillers and the cheese, roll up, and let them go! Total pre-dinner prep was less than ten minutes.

Hope you'll try this little make ahead meal trick and enjoy!