i used to cook meals like a machine. i loved watching food network and duplicating what i saw or learning new skills - it was almost like an addiction. i was gaining this great knowledge that was going to better the lives of my family.. but then i stopped. life happened and i stopped. i no longer found joy in the process. i found myself completely dreading dinner time every single night because i had no energy left to think of a meal let alone make it. needless to say we had a solid year of not so good for you food. a lot of mac and cheese & frozen pizzas. i'm not proud of it but it's the truth.
this summer i put my foot down and knew we needed that to stop. i wanted to bring back real meals & a love for cooking. i needed to love my kitchen again. what i came up with was a weekly menu schedule with themes for each night. it has helped so much. obviously we alter it depending what might look good at the grocery store or what's on sale - but having somewhere to begin has made all. the. difference. it's a super simple schedule with a theme for each night of the week and it's incredibly flexible. the kids have even picked up on it and like having an idea of what to expect for dinner. sometimes they even throw out ideas or remind me of meals they really liked from previous weeks.