I love having a rotating selection of dinner options, I've never been a "Monday meatloaf, Tuesday tacos" kind of gal. And while as a family we love variety, we also depend on consistency. I've slowly built up an arsenal of meals that are crowd pleasers for myself, husband, and kids. However, even then, I do find myself getting bored of our usual go-tos, especially as the seasons change, and shepherd's pie just isn't going to cut it in the heat of summer. I'm always prowling popular new cookbooks (borrowed from the library), blogs, pinterest, and the like for fresh finds to rotate into the mix. Our criteria for a complete meal usually involves a protein, vegetable or two, and occasionally a bread/starch component.
First tip I have to help keep myself grounded and not too repetitive is to keep a dinner diary. Bear with me, I realize this sounds ridiculously type-A and difficult, but basically it's a journal where I jot down what we eat for dinner every night. One sentence. Quick. Easy. Simple. It's also helpful to remind myself "ooh, I forgot about that...we should try that again!" Or a reminder, "yuck, that was disgusting and way too much work. Never again."
I typically meal plan on the weekend, looking ahead to the week, and planning meals based around various evening activities that might through a wrench in the actual making of dinner (e.g. one parent working late, one parent out, dinner at my parents' house, etc). I write it all out and post on the refrigerator. In a perfect world there is some recipe overlap (i.e. dill for salmon one night and dill for a salad another) in an effort to maximize ingredient use and simplify our grocery list, however that's definitely not always the case.
A few of our go-to Spring/early summer favorites include
+ Greek sheetpan chicken and spanakopita with Greek salad
+ ground pork bahn mi sandwiches (or lettuce wraps) with tamari roasted broccoli
+ BBQ pineapple hard shell tacos (we use fresh pineapple) with caprese salad
+ roasted Sriracha salmon with coconut rice and crispy kale
+ slow cooker Korean beef tacos and roasted veggies
+ homemade pizza on the grill with fruit salad and grilled corn
+ favorite turkey burgers with corn on the cob and carrot salad
+ slow cooker chicken tikka masala with Indian creamed spinach over coconut rice
+ p.f. changs style chicken lettuce wraps with roasted carrots and broccoli
What are your go-to weeknight meals?
This sounds familiar. I approach meal planning in a very similar way, but it has become a little trickier as the kids have gotten older. Or perhaps it's just the spring season, when baseball is in full swing. I have to plan a big meal on Sunday, with leftovers that can be used on game days during the week. (i.e., a roast chicken, w/ leftover meat that can be used in quesadillas). I am also officially pescatarian (veggie + seafood), but my husband and oldest son are still definite carnivores, so I have to find that balance. It mostly means I can't rely on chicken as a staple protein too often (neither I nor my youngest son eat it), which can pose a challenge. Our go-tos are pasta (pasta primavera is my favorite in the spring - the boys' favorite is spaghetti and meatballs), quesadillas/burritos, teriyaki salmon/grilled shrimp/homemade fish sticks. And Friday night pizza night. It's the only night I've started to plan for - not cooking at the end of the week is a very welcome break.
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