What's for Dinner {February 2017 edition}

Dinner.  It's becoming one of my favorite parts of the day.  The kids pallets are broadening.  Ethan eats almost anything.  Almost.  There are a few exceptions, but we deal.  Weston is slowly adding foods to his like list and we can now celebrate the addition of hamburgers.  Guys, this is a big one.  We don't have to plan our meals around hot dogs or chicken nuggets.  Dinners now have less whine to them and more talking and conversation and I absolutely love it. 

Last month, we added soccer to our schedules twice a week . . . at dinner time.  I have a love hate relationship with it because it's at dinner and that just throws menu planning for a loop, but I LOVE having weekends free.  The Soccer program is more skills based, so Ethan likes to call it off season training (he's obsessed!).  Because of this we don't have to deal with games, or leagues, or snacks.  It's really quite wonderful.  It just adds a bit of complication to the menu planning week. 

When I menu plan for weeks like this, the goal is to not eat out.  So, instead of going easy on Monday nights, I plan a meal that will guarantee leftovers for the next night, a soccer night.  Some weeks, this works out, and others, we hit some kinks like yesterday, where there were no leftovers, because dinner ended up lasting 3 nights and we were so busy, there just wasn't time to make the next thing on the menu plan.  So, we grabbed fast food on the way home.  It just made things so much easier!

So, despite the craziness of our schedules, we were able to fit in some really delicious stuff! 

1.  Korean Beef Bowls

 I know I probably posted this awhile back, because it's super delicious and crazy easy.  I had completely forgotten about it and a friend posted that she made it a few weeks ago and I quickly added it to our menu.  I was so sad to realize I had forgotten all about this one.  We ate this one on a busy night where the kids probably ate chicken nuggets or something because Weston can't have soy. . . and one of the main ingredients is soy sauce (insert sad face here).  The ingredients are super basic and are ones that we keep all the time, so this really is the easiest, quickest recipe! 

2.  Caramelized Pork Tacos with Pineapple Salsa

This recipe was so simple and I absolutely could eat this every night!  The pork came out perfect and the extra touch of caramelizing the pork was great!  The combo of the pork and salsa just makes my mouth salivate as I type this.  I think tacos are my love language.  Is that a thing.  Can food be a love language.  hmmmm. 

3.  Beijing Beef

This is recipe I have probably pinned several times with the intent to make it.  I'm not sure why it didn't, but probably because there are just a lot of yummy recipes out there.  This one turned out really good.  Not as good as the Panda kind, but pretty close!  Close enough, we will perhaps make it again!  The hubs liked it, so it's a win in my book! 

I thought I had more ideas, but I cannot remember.  I am trying to post my weekly menu plans each week on instagram, so feel free to come follow me and stock me for recipe ideas.  My instagram feed tends to be more real time than the blog, so feel free to come join me!

Other things worth noting:  

The Lemon Oregano Chicken Kabobs in the Against all Grain cookbook are amazing.  I can't find the recipe online, so check the book out of the library and make it.  It's wonderful!

One pan Sausage and Veggies have been on repeat!

Pioneer Woman's Chicken Tortilla Soup made an appearance because it was in the freezer and all I had to do was heat it up.  I'm pretty sure I posted that one previously.

Have you made anything yummy lately that I should add to my menu plan?  Leave a comment and let me know!  Thanks!

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