The Dinners.

After the first Love. Life. Tips. post a number of people are really excited to try the idea.  I thought I would help you along by posting the list of dinners that we came up with that are the kids favorites.  There might be a couple I've sneakily put on there hoping that they'll pick it and find they love it.  Overall, these are the typical faves of the kids. (And yes, some of them are very fattening but I'm thinking fattening at home is better than fattening at Burger King.)

Dinner.

Chicken Noodle Soup & Biscuits (Mike makes the best soups!)

Chicken Tacos & Mexican Rice

Homemade Mac & Cheese, fish sticks/chicken nuggets, & green beans

Shredded Beef Tacos and chips and salsa

Chicken Caesar Salad and French Bread

Fettuccine Alfredo and Raspberry/Walnut Salad

Hamburgers, hotdogs, corn on the cob, pasta salad, and chips

Chili Dogs and corn on the cob

Frito Boats and salad

Milanesa, potatoes, and salad

French Bread pizzas and chips

Spaghetti & meatballs, corn on the cob, salad, and French bread

Spaghetti, salad, and French bread

Chicken Dumplings and green beans

Stroganoff and salad

Sloppy Joe, salad, and chips

London Broil, salad, and mashed potatoes

Potato Soup and bread

Carrot Soup and bread

Pumpkin Soup in bread bowls

Lasagne, salad, and French bread

Chicken Caesar Pitas

Shredded Beef Nachos

Pot Roast, carrots, and potatoes (we use the left over pot roast for shredded beef tacos during the week)

Breakfast.

Vanilla yogurt and strawberries (my fave!)

Cereal, milk, o.j., and toast

Go-gurt

Pumpkin Bread

Banana muffins

Coffee Cake

Eggs with cheese

Grapefruit with toast

Fresh fruit salad with toast (our faves: strawberries, blueberries, bananas, raspberries, and blackberries)

Blueberry muffins

Fruit and bacon with toast

Bagels with cream cheese and fresh strawberries on top

Jamba juice type of smoothie and toast

Lunch. (we don't have a lot of ideas for lunch...)

Grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup

Turkey, tomato, mayo, and pepper sandwich (my fave!!!) and carrots with baked lays chips

Corn Dogs

PB&J

Cabbage Salad

Veggie Sandwich with avocado, tomato, alfalfa sprouts, and cucumbers

Chicken salad lettuce wrap

Snacks.

Fruit

Go-gurts

Chips and salsa

Strawberries

Breadsticks

Chips and Bean Dip

Rice Crispy Treat

Pudding Pops

Cheese crisp

Carmel popcorn

Popcorn

Toast

Cinnamon Toast

Cheese and crackers

Peanut Butter and Crackers

Peanuts and Almonds

Yogurt pretzels

Jello

Pudding

String Cheese

Veggie Tray

Yogurt Parfait (vanilla yogurt, strawberries, and a tablespoon of granola)

Pickles

Apples and peanut butter

Pineapple chunks

Mandarin Oranges

Cupcakes

Fruit juice popsicle

Fruit smoothie

So...as you can see our lists and calendar are nothing special. In fact, they're a total mess.  We usually make a plan for dinners about 10 days in advance.  We'll sit down one day right after school and I'll just ask everyone what they want for dinner next week on their day.  I put it on the calendar.  Then the kids pull it out when they are eating snack and smear peanut butter across it.  Doesn't matter...we have a plan!

Hope this helps you get your own list started and get your dinner time back in a meaningful way!