What's For Dinner?

Easy weeknight meals can quickly become boring and too routine. Most people don't think about dinner until around 4PM (when dinner is being made, or about to be made).  So how do you keep weeknights hectic free and bring some goodies to the table that don't get repeated too often?

The easiest way is to write out a bunch of things you and your family enjoy eating. For example:

Meatloaf
Spaghetti
Chicken Parmesan
Chicken Marsala
Roast Beef
Whole Turkey (or chicken)
Lasagna
Pizza
Leftovers

That's all you need to start a list. Get the family together and have them give you tips as well. My girls LOVE tacos and my husband loves french onion soup, but these are things that the whole family doesn't necessarily enjoy.

When making out menus I know that every four days I need to plan a night for leftovers (or at least come up with a plan on how to use the leftovers I have). But I do try to make the very next night's meal use up all the leftovers from the night before. So if I am planning on making a pot roast on Tuesday, I know that Wednesday should have something like fajitas, beef stew or beef potpies to help use up the leftover meat. We aren't big on waste around here, we just don't have the funds to "not like leftovers" and while I can't stand eating the same thing three days in a row, I do enjoy making new dishes that no one realizes are in fact LEFTOVERS disguised! And the number one rule here is "I am not a restaurant!" If you don't like something I've made, that's fine, but don't expect me to make a completely different dish for you. My husband will make spaghetti for himself if he doesn't like whatever dinner is, and my kids are welcome to make sandwiches (PB&J or Bologna - nothing special). It helps keep down the pickiness and saves me a whole lot of extra effort.

Keep track of your leftover creations so that next week when you're making a new menu you can incorporate some of your new creations into it. Once a week we have an easy dinner night (ordering pizza, tossing a frozen lasagna into the oven, everyone for themselves) whatever it takes to give me a night off in the kitchen. We also have a strict "The Chef doesn't clean up!" rule. My cousin Goran (who lives with us) cleans the kitchen after every dinner, unless he cooks. He puts away the food for me and the girls help him load the dishwasher. Everyone is responsible for their own plate, but it's nice to know that I don't have to clean up after making dinner. This might be something you want to do in your house too, especially if you have older children.

Yesterday I made a pot roast with a portabella mushroom gravy (sauteed portabella mushrooms topped with one or two cans of cream of mushroom soup and one or two cans of water) and tonight I'm making beef stew. I froze the leftover gravy and plan to use it later this week on top of baked chicken breasts (and I'll call it Chicken Marsala even though it doesn't have any marsala wine in it).

Another great idea is to remember that baked potatoes easily become mashed potatoes, mashed potatoes thicken soups and stews very well. Cheesy mashed potatoes are even simpler to make. Take leftover regular mashed potatoes, add an egg, half a cup of ranch and mix well, bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, top with cheddar cheese bake another 5 minutes (or until cheese is melted).

Leftover rice freezes really well and is an excellent additive to soups or can be used to help calm down foods your kids claim are too spicy. Reheating rice is pretty simple but it does dry out fairly easily so you might want to add 1/4 cup of water for every 2 cups of rice you're reheating. You can always drain off the excess liquid.

If you work a full schedule, coming up with a list of meals can seem pretty daunting, but trust me it actually saves you time in the long run. Your saving grace will be knowing exactly what's for dinner each night. I keep my calendar near my computer so that as I surf the web or read other people's facebook stats about what they're making for dinner I can jot down ideas and recipes I want to try the next week.

Don't feel compelled to stick to the exact menu plan, it's a PLAN it will change as needed, but having it helps you figure out exactly what groceries you need and keep the "Mommy, what's for dinner" questions at bay.

I write mine in pencil because it does change pretty often. Anyway, I hope this helps keep your hectic week nights a little less hectic!


Lots of Love,