Trying a weekly menu thing

As I sit here getting woken  up enough to start my work day, I was wondering what I should blog about today. I have Abba playing in the background and thought that I might give you a glimpse into trying new recipes. I'll post a few of the recipes throughout the week, but since the girls and Ryan are a bit pickier about what they eat, I find that incorporating new recipes is the only way to make sure everyone has something they will like.

Since we are on bi-weekly pay cycles, I meal prep and make menus for 2 weeks at a time. Since we are already a few days into it, I'll just start with today (Monday).

1. Bacon Cheeseburger Biscuit Bombs
2. Chicken Pot Pie Turnovers
3. Salisbury Steak
4. Slow Cooker Tortilla Casserole
5. Beef Stroganoff
6. Chicken Fajita Bubble Up Bake
7. Cowboy Casserole
8. Tortellini Soup
9. Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Quesadillas
10. 8 Can Taco Soup
11. Philly Cheese Steak Pizza

A few of these are recipes we have had before and they are amazing. Some of them are new to us and yet others are new spins on things we already eat. We are big on tex-mex inspired foods, so we have that up there several times. 

Decision process for us is always a challenge. If it was up to me, I could eat chicken every day of my life and be fine with that, but the rest of my family needs variety. I try to accommodate them as much as I can. Here's how it went down: 

• Kenzie loves cheeseburgers, so I needed to have something that would give us a spin on a cheeseburger. I've never made biscuit bombs of any type, so I am hopeful these will be okay. 
• Maddie has been asking for a chicken pot pie (she loves it when I make them from scratchish), so Kenzie found this turnover recipe and we thought it might satisfy that craving. 
• We all love Salisbury Steak, but I have never made it, so we thought it might be fun to learn. We normally just buy them premade. Nope, not this time. 
• I love using my crock pot, so I needed a few things that I could use that for. 
• Tortilla casserole because we wanted to try something enchilada inspired. 
• Tortellini Soup because it 's on that my mother-in-love makes and we love it! 
• 8 can taco soup because I've made it before and it's one of my faves! 
• I've been wanting to learn  how to make beef stroganoff, so that was a no brainer. 
• We needed a few more casseroles to round out the menu, so we added: 
• Chicken Fajita bubble up bake to try as a possible new addition to our list of faves. 
• Cowboy casserole because we've had it many times and love it! 
• Maddie and Kenzie love when we have brinner (breakfast for dinner). I am tired of pancakes, so I wanted to do something different. Using our tex mex love, I was able to find a recipe for the quesadillas. I'm hopeful that this becomes something they really love going forward. 
• Last, we love having pizza night, but the girls especially love when we make our own. This time around, we are doing 1 large pizza since it's one of our favorites. The Philly has been one that we have made before and we absolutely love it! 

Shopping process: Last night, with our list in hand, we went to the store and got everything.  Before leaving, Ryan asked if we were going in for a big shop or just for what I needed for a day or two. I said the whole 2 weeks. He rolled his eyes like a teenager afraid of what was to come. As we went through the store, he realized that it wasn't as bad as he thought. For the 11 meals, lunches, and picking up a few things we needed and wanted, but forgot to put on the list, we still had plenty of room in  the cart and I hadn't even spent $110. 

I'll share photos at the end of the week of all of the yummies!