Menu Monday

I am really excited that we have been doing this and are still going! Sometimes those ideas we have that are just going to make things so much better don't stick. Thankfully this one has and it has made our life so much easier! I don't plan on doing this forever, but right now it has been exactly what we needed!

I've tried really hard at not repeating meals so far, but we are doing one again- two if you want to be technical. It is hard to keep coming up with new things (and to both agree on them). Derek has just as much say in the menu as I do. We sit down on Friday nights and plan out what we are going to make and write the grocery list. This week's menu was a little tricky, but we finally settled on one. I think it's going to be a good week!

You can just click on the picture or the item for a link to the recipe I used as a guideline!

Spinach and Ricotta Cheese Stuffed Shells (I didn't follow a recipe)

The Pioneer Woman's recipe is so good!  

Chicken Spaghetti

Hamburgers

Taco Soup  (I add a packet of ranch seasoning to mine!)

Shepherd's Pie 

Poppy Seed Chicken

Smothered Pork Chops

For the spinach and ricotta shells, we just made a tomato sauce similar to the one I made a few weeks ago. I just let tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, meat, garlic and herbs simmer in my crock pot. Then I made a ricotta mixture, similar to what you would make for lasagna but I added spinach and I filled cooked shells with the ricotta mixture. Then I poured the tomato sauce over it! Yum!

I included the link to the Kraft recipe for Shepherd's Pie that Derek and I used the first few times we made it. Now that I've made it so much, I really didn't use a recipe! Oh and my mashed potatoes were nowhere near that "fancy!" ha! I just mashed them with butter and milk! Oh and a few weeks ago when we made it, we used a recipe from Derek's favorite Irish place back home. That one had tomato sauce, so I am not counting it as a repeat! :)

Since this is working so well for us, I thought it would be fun to give it a catchy title (I stole this from my awesome friend Amanda) and then create a button that you can grab for your blog. You can see my button in the left hand column! Coming up with menu's for each week is hard! I thought it would be fun to see what others are cooking each week and maybe it will help give us ideas. I know that not everyone likes to freeze meals either, so don't worry if you don't do that!

What are you cooking this week? Link up and play along!