Easy Dinner

How do you menu plan at your house?  Do you plan meals for a week, then shop for those ingredients?  Are you one of those people who spend an entire Saturday cooking massive quantities of food to freeze and use throughout the month?  Or do you just show up at the store and walk the aisles hoping to find inspiration? 

I have always been a list person.  I like a plan, and I like to check things off.  So for me, on Sunday I make a list of meals to fix for the week ahead.  I look at our calendar and decide which nights are busy and need a quick fix meal and which nights I can do a little more labor intensive cooking.  If Mike and I have a date night planned, I make sure I have something kid friendly on hand so my dad can feed them easily.  Then I make a list of all the ingredients I need plus any staple items we are low on, and head to the store with my list in hand.  

Most week nights I attempt to make something easy and quick and crowd pleasing.  And pleasing this crowd is not easy.  There are a handful of meals that I know I can go to for an easy dinner that everyone will like.  For us, taco salad is one of them.  When I announce that taco salad is for dinner I am met with cheers and shouts of joy.  Sometimes dancing occurs.  That's how much my kids love taco salad.  I think it has something to do with them being able to assemble their own bowl of food.  That and their intense love of guacamole.  They could eat a bowl of that alone.

Here's what we put out for our taco salad assembly:

1. Tortilla chips (what kid doesn't like crushing up their own chips?)

2. Seasoned meat 

3. Beans (pintos or black beans are great)

4. Lettuce

5. Tomato

6. Onions

7. Sour Cream

8. Cheddar Cheese

9. Homemade guacamole (pre-packaged store bought doesn't cut it in our opinion)

10. Taco sauce or salsa

Leah puts everything on her salad.  Hannah just omits the onions.  Lucas likes whatever we give him as long as guacamole is involved.  Our kids ask for seconds and lick their bowls clean.  Everyone leaves the table full and happy with no complaints.  And that makes me pretty darn happy!

Image from here