What's For Dinner?

One of the simple tasks that I've really struggled with is deciding what to make for dinner each night, some days it's overwhelming. I have tried lots of systems but the one that I've stuck with the longest and still use is to assign a theme to each night of the week. I've tried planning three days at a time, one week, two weeks, three weeks, one month and even two months (I really don't like planning meals so at one point two months sounded like an awesome idea.) I've found that planning once a week works best for me because that's how often I grocery shop. I still don't enjoy making a menu so I've set aside a specific day and time each week to get it out of the way. We've had lots of different themes throughout the years, you can view them here. Our current them nights are listed below along with a few of our go to meals.

Mexican Monday
Mexican night is one of our favorites and allows us to enjoy some type of Mexican food every week! Often times Monday's are full of decision making and catching up from the weekend so I really enjoy having a theme that feels automatic and we all enjoy.
Fajitas
Taco Salad 
Unstuffed Peppers
Enchiladas
Quinoa Chili
Tortilla Soup

Take Out Tuesday
I know this sounds like we order take out on Tuesdays but that is rarely the case. Take out refers to taking a meal out of the fridge or freezer to bake or reheat. Tuesday is our busy night and full of extracurricular activities so I either prep earlier in the day so when we get home I can quickly cook dinner (think sheet pan dishes and casseroles) OR I put it in the oven to bake before we leave so when we get back it's done (think frozen foods like lasagna or breaded chicken).
Wingers Sticky Fingers
Quinoa Chili
Tortilla Soup

What's New Wednesday
Wednesday's are a day for trying new things, this is the day I try a new recipe or help the kids make something new. I'll share a few of our favorite "finds" here.
Quinoa Chili

Think Through Thursday
By Thursday their is usually something in the fridge that needs to be used before it goes bad. This is the day I reuse a food that would otherwise go to waste. It's been so good for me to actually plan on this and it's helped our food budget as well. If I don't have something I need to use in the fridge I work on pantry items that are getting close to their expiration day or freezer items. I call it "Think Through Thursday" because it's the day I take inventory of what needs to be used then think through how to use it. We almost always reuse a leftover ingredient in a dish or make a soup.
Unstuffed Peppers
Enchiladas
Shepherd's Pie

Family Fun Friday
We love to cook together as a family and have some recipes the kids really enjoy making. Some Fridays my husband and I go on a date and we order pizza for the kids. Other Fridays we all go out to eat.

Sunrise Saturday 
We keep Saturdays pretty chill, I don't like to spend a lot of time cooking on the weekend so we often have sandwiches or leftovers but most of the time we have breakfast for dinner.
Pancakes
German/Puff Oven Pancakes

Slowly Cooked Sunday
Most Sundays we have some sort of meat that is slowly cooked. I love to put something in the crockpot before I leave for church then come home to a house that smells amazing and an almost complete meal. Some rare Sundays we bake, grill or roast.
Crockpot Italian Chicken
Crockpot Ground Beef Casserole

Beef
Unstuffed Peppers
Quinoa Chili

Chicken
Crockpot Italian Chicken
Wingers Sticky Fingers
Fajitas
Enchiladas
Tortilla Soup

Crockpot
Crockpot Italian Chicken

Salad
Taco Salad

Smoothies & Drinks