I’m excited to be starting a new weekly series about “What we ate for dinner last week!”.
So often I get stuck in the dinner time rut and either don’t feel in the mood to cook or I don’t know what to make for my family. Usually when I don’t feel in the mood to cook, it’s because I don’t know what to make. I don’t have a plan.
I’ve found that meal planning goes a very long way to helping me be organized in the meal department, to helping me budget better, to saving me money by not eating out, to being more strategic and intentional about grocery shopping, to helping me keep my calorie count in check. There are sooo many benefits that come with meal planning! I’m not left thinking at 4 pm “Hmmm….what am I going to make for dinner?” Or searching my cupboards for randoms that I can put together and call dinner, haha!
And the amazing end result is that my family gets to sit around the table together to enjoy a warm meal each evening! I’ve said before that I’m a firm believer in gathering the family around the dinner table to each night. Food has an incredible way of strengthening and building family bonds!
Every Sunday, I sit down and quickly plan out what we’ll be eating for the week ahead. I typically cook 4-5 times per week. We have leftovers once or twice and my husband and I go out on a date once a week and eat out for dinner.
I’m going to be sharing a weekly blog post of “what we ate last week” to help give you some ideas of what’s good to make for your family for dinner! I hope this will be a helpful resource!
Here’s what we ate for dinner last week, in no specific order:
TACOS. I use the recipe linked for the meat. It’s our favorite! Then I served them in hard taco shells with our favorite toppings (lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, nacho cheese sauce)
INSTANT POT MAC AND CHEESE. This is SO easy and SO yummy, if you have a pressure cooker! My family gobbles it right up every time! I use THIS Instant Pot and it saves the evening every time!
CROCKPOT WHITE CHICKEN AND RICE. I need to post this recipe here on the blog, because I make it so often! But, for now, here it is:
2 large chicken breasts
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 can (10.5 oz) cream of chicken soup
1 pouch dry Italian salad dressing mix (dry from the packet) ( .7 oz)
1 cup milk
With an electric mixer, mix together softened cream cheese, cream of chicken soup, Italian dressing mix and milk. Add chicken breasts to the crockpot, then pour the cream cheese mixture over. Set crockpot to low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. When the chicken is completely cooked, remove it from the crockpot, shred it, then return it to the crockpot and stir it into the mixture. Serve over cooked white rice.
Since it was a snowy, cold day and I was in the mood for al things comfort food, I served the chicken and rice with My Favorite Homemade White Bread. This dinner was a huge hit!
PIZZA ROLLS I use the recipe linked, but make it simpler by using Rhodes’ frozen rolls. I simply let them thaw, smash them flat, then follow the recipe as directed. They are so yummy and my kids request them every week! 🙂
I hope this new series will be a motivation and inspiration for you to make dinner more often! Once the habit is set, it becomes much easier to accomplish!
