I’m responsible for making dinner appear on my family’s table most nights, which is a task I generally love! I truly enjoy planning a menu for the week, grocery shopping, and prepping meals. But, like any other busy parent, I get in a rut from time to time when it comes to deciding what to serve.

One good idea to help you get out of rut is to come up with themes for each night of the week. That way you at least have parameters each night, which narrows down your choices.

Here’s an example:

Monday- Meatless (maybe a veggie quiche or caprese pasta)
Tuesday- Mexican! (tacos, burritos, etc.)
Wednesday- Slow Cooker (any of your favorite soups or meals in the slow cooker)
Thursday- Pasta (lasagna roll ups, stuffed shells, etc)
Friday- Pizza (delivery or make your own!)

You could obviously come up with any sort of theme to meet your family’s needs. For instance, Julia has art lessons until 5:00 on Thursdays, so that’s my go-to slow cooker night. If your family loves breakfast food (and mine sure does), reserve one night of the week for Brinner (breakfast for dinner).

To help you add some recipes to your arsenal, here’s a quick round up and break down of our go-to meals.

PASTA:

Image from Sugar Apron

Pioneer Woman’s Lasagna (one recipe makes 2 9×9 lasagnas, so eat one now, freeze one for later).

Pioneer Woman’s Three Cheese Stuffed Shells with Meaty Tomato Sauce

Spicy Sausage Pasta from Kevin & Amanda (a social media staple!)

Chili Cheese Mac from Cooking Light

Million Dollar Spaghetti from Sugar Apron

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs from Picky Palate (YUM!)

MEXICAN:

Image from Kevin & Amanda

Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole from Iowa Girl Eats

Paula Deen’s Taco Soup

Mexican Pizza from Life in the Lofthouse (fun and customizable for kids!)

Pioneer Woman’s Beef Fajitas (this marinade is AWESOME)

Crunchy Taco Cups from Kevin and Amanda

Pioneer Woman’s Restaurant Style Salsa (make it and pour it on everything!)

SLOW COOKER:

Image from Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart’s Beef Stroganoff

Poor Man’s Stew from The Magical Slow Cooker

Salisbury Steak Meatballs from Skinny Taste

Crockpot Italian Turkey Meatballs from Skinny Taste

Santa Fe Chicken from Skinny Taste (can you tell Skinny Taste is a favorite??)

SOUP/CHILI:

Image from The Country Cook

Pioneer Woman’s Hamburger Soup

White Chicken Chili from Design.Wine.Dine (this is a football STAPLE at my house)

Green Chili Chicken and Lime Soup from Picky Palate (probably not the kids’ favorite but I love it)

Slow Cooker Ham and White Beans from Plain Chicken (I add extra broth to make it more soupy)

Copy Cat Olive Graden Pasta e Fagioli from Iowa Girl Eats

Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana from The Country Cook

EVERYTHING ELSE:

Image from Pioneer Woman

Momma’s Best Meatloaf from The Country Cook (it really is the BEST!)

Roasted Chicken Noodle Soup from Cooking Light

Easy Broccoli Cheddar Quiche from Food, Folks and Fun

Pioneer Woman’s Perfect Pot Roast (best thing ever, don’t forget the fresh herbs, omg)

Poppyseed Chicken from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Hobo Dinners from Food For A Year (you can customize these any way you like)

Hopefully you’ve found some new recipes to add to your menu. What are your favorites that I missed? I’m always looking for more ideas!

It’s no secret that the kids and I love to bake together. We’re always looking for new snacks to whip up in the kitchen. Of course we love our cookies, but I do try to keep it healthy when I can…promise!

So a few months ago I found this recipe for banana oatmeal muffins and they hit the spot. We’ve made them many times since and after a few tweaks to the original recipe- they are perfect! We even throw in chocolate chips or pecans from time to time. 😉

The recipe is super simple for tiny hands AND it freezes well. After we taste test a few for quality control, I throw the rest in a freezer ziplock. They make the perfect breakfast or afternoon snack on busy school days. Simply microwave them for about 30 seconds and you’re good to go (careful- they might have hot spots).

Does anything smell better than freshly baked muffins? I mean, other than cookies? 😉

Banana Oatmeal Muffins
Recipe adapted from HERE

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups flour
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 mashed bananas
2 eggs
1 stick butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

3. In a separate bowl, stir bananas with eggs, melted and cooled butter, and vanilla. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined. Stir in a cup of chocolate chips or pecans if you feel like it! 😉

4. Scoop batter into prepared muffin tin and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until cooked through in the center.

5. Cool for 5 minutes in muffin tin before moving muffins to wire rack to cool completely. If you plan to freeze, cool completely before storing in freezer ziplock.

Happy Monday! Gosh, how is the first quarter of this year already gone? I checked and my last Menu Monday post was in January. Oops.

I thought I’d hop on here and share what we’re eating this week. It’s nothing special or fancy, but, if your family is like ours, it’s getting crazy busy as we near the end of school. The easier the prep and the quicker I can get supper on the table, the better!

Monday: Crockpot pulled pork, quick slaw, corn on the cobb

This is hardly a recipe. I season a 4-5 pound pork shoulder generously with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, place in the crock pot, and pour root beer or Dr. Pepper about halfway up the roast. Cook it on low all day or high about 6 hours. Shred the meat, drain any extra juices, top with BBQ sauce, and serve on buns (Julia and I like our pork topped with the slaw). Easy peasy.

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Tuesday: Easiest ever chicken stir fry, brown rice, edamame

I like to make stir fry when we have veggies that need to be used up. This recipe looks super simple and can be made with a bag of frozen stir fry veggies, which is even easier. I’m all about the easy. And my kids LOVE edamame. I buy the frozen steamer bags, microwave them, cover in kosher salt, and the kids go to town.

Wednesday: Spaghetti and meatballs, salad

I’m totally cheating here. My mom makes the best meatballs (by the hundreds) and loads our freezer with them. So I basically heat up sauce, drop in the partially cooked meatballs, and simmer away while the pasta boils. Thanks, Mom!

Thursday: Pizza, salad

I’m cheating again! We had so much pizza leftover from Mac’s birthday party that I froze a bunch. I’m going to pull out of the freezer, stick in the oven, and pat myself on the back while I have a glass of wine.

Friday: Boiled shrimp, corn on the cobb, roasted potatoes

This is like a deconstructed low country boil. We always have fresh, local shrimp in our freezer. Shrimp cook in no time at all so they are the perfect weeknight meal. I’ll boil a batch with some Zatarain’s seasoning, boil some corn, and roast some potatoes (I cut into 1 inch chunks, toss in olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and roast at 425 for about 25 minutes). Again…crazy easy.