July Dinner Menu and Family Night Lessons

Yesterday my family got back from our California trip to visit family and friends. It was so great to enjoy summer and have adventures. Now is the perfect time to do laundry, clean up our house,plan dinner menus for the month, and maybe listen to the rest of our audio book while we fold clothes. This month I am trying to keep dinners simple. I know having family dinner together is important and will bless our families.

1. Ceaser Chicken Salad
2. Breakfast Burritos
3. Pizza
4. Hamburgers
5. Ceasar Wraps
6. Lighter Chinese Chicken Salad
7. Ka-bobs
8. Omelettes
9. Taco Salad
10. Salmon
11. Herb Rubbed Pork chops
12. Flautas
13. Meaty Pasta
14. Waffles
15. Potato Skins
16. BBQ Chicken Salad
17. Buttermilk Chicken
18. Celebrate 13 years of marriage
19. Buttermilk Ranch Wraps
20. Pork Barbacoa
21. Pizza
22. Cafe Rio Salad
23. Fiesta Pork with Guacamole
24. Soup (Pioneer Day)
25. Quesadilla's
26 Tacos
27. Black Bean Burgers
28. Stir Fry
29. Burrito Bowls
30. Citrus Marinated Chicken Sandwich
31. French Onion Soup (Harry Potter's Birthday!)


You can also check out other dinner menus here, here, here, here, and here.

Our family life flows much easier when we plan out our Family Night Lessons.

July 6th Our Nations Independence

July 12th The Family Proclamation

July 20th Pioneer History

July 27th Heber J Grant

Can't wait to share our pictures and adventures from California. We had so much fun. Only three weeks left till we are back in school and we need to soak it up!!!

Happy Summer!!!

May Dinner Plans and Family Night Lessons

We love having family dinner together each night. One of our traditions is to ask each person what their favorite thing was that day. It's a great way to make sure everyone is talking...and listening. Sometimes they are really good and realize we haven't asked some in in our family. I hope this teaches them to include others. We love talking about great things that happen as a family. Sometimes I will even ask, "Who did you serve today?" I really need to be better at asking this one everyday. Eating and talking around the table makes our family stronger. We don't have phones at the table other to input Draco's carb information. I hope by sharing some meal plans we can encourage each other to make family dinner a priority.

1. Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
2. Breakfast Burritos and Smoothies
3. Salmon, rice, and veggies
4. Obi Wan Kabobs (Celebrating May the 4th be with you)
5. Kristin's Enchilada's and Homemade Chips and Guacamole.
6. Omelets
7. Taco Salad
8. Sweet and Sour Chicken
9. Meaty Pasta Sauce
10. Mother's Day...my honey can surprise me
11. Burrito's
12. Aloha Chicken Sandwiches
13. Chicken Caesar Salad
14. Kahlua Pork
15. Hamburgers
16. Chicken Wraps
17. Quesadilla's
18. Stir Fry
19. Pork Chops
20. Pot Roast
21. Pizza Last Day of School Celebration!!!
22. BBQ Chicken Salad
23. Waffles
24. BBQ

I am taking off the last week in May to spend time with one of my BFF's! So excited to see her and her family. Yay for little vacations!!!

Family Night Lessons

4th- Star Wars Lesson

11th- Family Night on Fasting. I really enjoyed Henry B. Eyring's  talk on fasting and taking care of the poor.

18th -Joseph F Smith Lesson on gifts of the spirit.

25th- Guess Who? Prophet Game. We love reading scriptures or quotes from our prophets and we have to guess which prophet said that quote. 

April Menu Plan and Family Night Lessons

I forgot to post last month my dinner schedule. I made it and left my calender upstairs in the office. Not having it in my kitchen really threw off my dinner prep time. Excited to get back in the swing of things. Also a friend of mine recently started a new food blog so I am excited to try out some of her recipes. You can check out her blog here. I love seeing her post on Instagram.

April is my busiest month. We have three birthdays in my immediate family, my mom's birthday, some of my best friends birthday's, Easter, EVMCO concerts and General Conference. It's going to be a crazy month which is why I love planning my menus a month at a time.

1. Chinese Chicken Salad
2. Quesdilla with Guacamole
3. Eating Out
4. Chicken Wraps
5. Easter Dinner at our cousin's house
6. Baked Pasta with Spinach and Ricotta
7. Garlic Vegetable Pasta
8. Chicken Enchiladas (Family Favorite)
9. Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup
10. Baked Potatoes
11. Eating out or leftovers
12. Waffles
13. Cafe Rio Salad
14. Out
15. Herb Crusted Salmon
16. Lentil Soup
17. Out
18. Family Dinner
19. Sandwiches
20. Hawaiian Haystacks
21. Fiesta Lime Pork Chops
22. Buttermilk Fried Chicken
23. Wraps (using left over fried chicken)
24. Choir Concert Sack Dinner
25. Choir Concert Sack Dinner
26. Grilled French Bread Pesto Sandwich
27. Chicken Parmesan (Family Favorite)
28. Burrito Bowls
29. Pizza
30. Black Bean Burgers

Also last month I found this post about prepping chicken and it was a life saver. I love having Chicken I could pull out of the freezer to use in salads, soups, stir fry, wraps, or anything else. It was really yummy. Is there anything you like to do to help with dinner prep?

And I have been making these energy bites. Perfect for crazy mornings when I need to grab something to eat or an afternoon snack.

Check out more dinner plans by clicking on the Dinner Plans label on the right...

Our Family Night Lesson Plan

April 6th Recap on General Conference. We love to share and discuss our favorite conference talks

April 13th Joseph F Smith Lesson My boys are having so much fun learning about our modern prophets. Especially since our Primary singing leader is teaching them the song with cute actions. They sing it all the time.

April 20th Conference Talk. Excited to choose from a new group of talks for our family.

April 27th Preach my Gospel

Hope you have a great month filled with yummy family meals and fun family nights!

February Meal Plan

So many fun things planned this month!!! I {love} February!!!


1. Shake 'n Bake Pork Chops, roasted potatoes, & a veggie
2. Noodles
3. Chicken Enchilada's ( Recipe to follow)
4. Sweet & Sour Chicken
5. Slow Cooker Philly sandwiches
6. Spinach Rolls Concert Night!
7. French Bread with Pesto Broiled
8. leftovers
9.BBQ Chicken Salad
10. Flautas (But I don't add beer) and Crock Pot re-fried beans
11. Pasta with olive oil, raw tomatoes, garlic, and basil
12. Black Bean Soup
13. Lemon Rosemary Chicken
14. Pasta with Meat Sauce Valentines Day
15. Leftovers
16. Fish 'n Chips
17. Blue & Gold Dinner for cub scouts
18. Salmon
19. Chinese New Year Sweet 'n Sour Chicken, Egg rolls, & Rice.
20. Out
21. Out
22. Out
23. Quesadilla
24. Potato Soup
25. BLT's with Avocado
26. BBQ Chicken Pizza Soup
27. Baked Parmesan Chicken
28. Taco Salad


Hope you get some ideas  for your dinner menu. I know I love eating yummy food with my family every night. I love it when the conversations keep going and my kids crack up about some inside joke they have. And we love it when dad can make it home for dinner. Some nights we have to start without him. Family dinner time is important.

Also we love having our Family Night or FHE (Family Home Evening).

2nd Lesson on Prayer and popcorn balls (recipe to follow!)

9th Lesson on Wilford Woodruff Still thinking of a fun treat idea! Let me know if you get any ideas...

16th Conference Talk The Law of The Fast. We had a really good experience with fasting this month. This talk also talks about caring for the poor which will be great timing as we think about our love for others.

23rd Preach My Gospel

For more Dinner Ideas check out
January
December
November
October

January Meal Plan

Running behind on the New Year. I only just planned the month a couple of days ago which resulted in dinnertime craziness.

1. Pizza (I called it in ;))
2. Pesto Pasta
3. Turkey and mashed Potatoes
4. Fend for yourself. Took a late nap. So pretty much leftovers
5. French Toast
6. Bean Burritos
7. Breakfast Burritos
8. Chicken Pesto Sandwiches (I buy a large jar of Pesto and freeze leftovers in ice cube trays)
9. Homemade Pizza
10. Turkey Pot Pie
11. Turkey Tacos (keeping it simple on Sunday)
12. Au Jus Sandwiches
13. Taco Salad Tuesday
14. Sweet and Sour Chicken
15. Lentil Soup
16. Chicken Avocado Wraps
17. Pasta with  Meat sauce
18. Chinese Chicken Salad
19. Omelettes
20. Baked Potatoes
21. Beef & Broccoli
22. Slow Cooker Sesame Chicken
23. Lasagna Soup
24. leftovers
25. Crepes
26. Chicken Parmesean (My family LOVED it last month)
27. Chicken Taco Tuesday
28. Enchilada's
29.  Grilled Caprese Sandwhich
30. Tostadas (Gandalf's request)
31. Noodles (New recipe)

Plus I have been having a hard time eating in the morning. I made these yummy Energy Bites from Gimmie Some Oven and I love them. I have made them before. I love it when I remember recipes I love. Give them a try! I love having a tasty yummy snack in my fridge for when I am on the go.

Our Family Night Schedule

5th Repentance and Goal Setting. (They go together right?)

12th Lesson on John Taylor, the 3rd prophet of this dispensation. He was from England so I am thinking scones for dessert.

19th Conference Talk "Make the Exercise of Faith Your 1st Priority"
 

26th Preach My Gospel.

I know as we take time to eat together as a family we are blessed. I love our conversations we have around the table. (Most of the time) I love asking their favorite part of their day. Or who they served that day? And as we strive to have the spirit in our home during family night we are blessed with protection.

What is your family doing this month?

December Menu Plan

1. Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken
2. Loaded Potato Soup
3. Baked Chicken Parmesan 
4. Pick up something on the way home from rehearsal
5. Concert Night! Sack lunch
6. Concert Night! Sack lunch
7. Baked Potatoes
8. Cafe Rio Soup
9. Black Bean Tostada
10. Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta
11. Slow Cooker Southwest Chicken Soup
12. Orange Chicken Stir Fry 
13. Leftovers
14. Kalua Pork with Mashed Potatoes
15. Lasagna
16. Omelettes
17. Turkey Dinner with Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, and Rolls
18. Turkey Soup
19. Turkey Pot Pie
20. Tacos
21. Pizza
22. Kristin's Enchiladas
23. Chicken Salad Sandwiches from Sister Kinney
24. Soup and Bread
25. Christmas Dinner
26. eating out
27. eating out
28. eating out
29. eating out
30. Pasta with Meatballs
31. Shrimp

December is a fun time for our Family Home evenings (every Monday night we gather as a family to sing, learn, and share treats!). We have a tradition of doing fun family activities.

1st  We decorate our tree the first Monday. The kids love to put on ornaments and drink hot coco.

8th Temple Lights! We always loved visiting the LA temple and visitor's center and we are going to  miss it. But we are thrilled that the Mesa Temple does lights too. If you are near either of those temples check out the beautiful lights. It's a great Family Night to bundle up and feel close to our Savior.

15th Decorate Gingerbread Houses. This is great activity! Sometimes we cheat make it easier and use Graham Crackers. (Note Sam's Club crackers don't break nicely) Then each child could make his own. Grady impressed all the boys by making a creeper from mine craft for his house. We love inviting friends over for this one.

22nd Christmas Caroling. "The best way to spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for all to hear!" We have been caroling since our oldest was a baby. Sometimes our group is big, sometimes small. In the last couple of years we have enjoyed walking instead of driving. And it's okay to not be amazing singers (I know I am not) because we can still spread Cheer. If you still aren't sure, watch the movie Elf.

29th Game night with family. It will be my birthday and I am thinking a family game night might need to happen.

November Menu Plan

Our menu plan for November

1 Leftovers
2 Steak Tacos
3 Dinner at a friends house
4 BBQ Pulled Pork
5 Cafe Rio Chicken
6 Chicken Pesto
7 Philly Sandwiches
8 Pesto Sandwiches
9 Baked Flautas ( I don't use beer in my though)
10 Hamburgers
11 Oven Fried Chicken
12 Taco Tuesday with Crock Pot Re-fried Beans
13 Baked Potato Soup
14 Poor Boy's Steak
15 Taco Pizza
16 Thanksgiving Dinner
17 Leftovers
18 Fajitas
19 Baked Rosemary Chicken
20 BBQ Chopped Salad
21 Turkey Soup
22 Lemon Chicken
23 Cafe Rio Soup
24 Leftovers
25 Baked Chicken Parmesan
26 Au Jus Sandwiches
27 Leftovers
28 Thanksgiving
29 Eating Out
30 Salad and Bread

When planning the menu for the month I like to plan our family nights as well. Every Monday night we gather to learn, sing, feel the spirit, and eat some treats together. It's a wonderful tradition that helps our family have more love and peace. It also strengthens family relationships. I invite you to try to have Monday night your family night. Even if you just play a game together or just share dessert.

3rd. Helping out around the House.
Our family always seems to need this one. ;)

10th Brigham Young We are working on studying about our Prophets in these latter days.

17th The 3rd week we review a General Conference Talk. I really enjoyed this one, Are We Not All Beggars? I think it's especially a good listen with Thanksgiving this month.
I would encourage you, no matter what faith you are, to listen to this powerful message. I know it is filled with true and good things. We all can extend kindness and compassion.

24th Preach My Gospel. As we have 3 sons who will someday serve missions we are trying to teach correct principals and truths that will better prepare them to serve others.

Last night I had the opportunity to hear a local church leader give advice on how I can be better as a parent. One of the things I felt I needed to do was invite my children to act. I will try this month to give assignments and encourage my sons to organize a game, share an experience, or teach a scripture. I know this will help them more fully live their faith.

Our Dinners and Family Nights....

So I find I am so much better at making dinners when there is a menu planned. (Big surprise, I know!) Earlier this year I found with busy life that after the week where I planned our dinners it quickly became the next week. So I started planning two weeks in a row so if I was going to the grocery store at the end of one week and I could pick up something I might need for the beginning of next week. Then I thought, Why don't I just plan the whole month. And so I did.

And I love it! I try to add leftovers, knowing what dinners make more. And I try to make extra rice one night, when I can add fried rice the next day or so. Of course these plans aren't  written in stone. I will switch some nights or make adjustments, especially if something yummy is on sale or life happens. And I try to plan around holidays and I make sure to do something in the crock pot on Thursday because we don't get home from choir till 6 and my sweet diabetic boy needs to eat on a schedule. And I love keeping things simple on Sundays and Date Night. My dear friend Pam always has a special Sunday dinner. I love the idea, but I love my Sunday nap even more.

So I thought I'd share in case it might give you some ideas.

October
1. Kalua Pork with Mashed Potatoes
2. Leftovers. (I'm thinking leftover pork in a salad)
3. Grilled Cheese on Sourdough
4. Steak Tacos (General Conference weekend) Haven't made them yet, but I pinned them awhile ago. Love looking at my pinboard to get ideas...
5. Leftovers (I love not cooking dinner conference Sunday due to our special breakfast)
6. Breakfast Burritos (Family Favorite!)
7. Steak Quesedilla (with leftover meat, nice and east before cub scouts)
8. Homemade Pizza (some one's birthday request)
9-13 Vacation
14. Chicken Tacos (Taco Tuesday)
15. Pork Chops with Shake and Bake (hubby's favorite)
16. Taco Soup (recipe from my mentor)
17. Pizza (same as listed above, my kids favorite)
18. Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken with Rice (recipe from my mom)
19. Taco Salad (cooking extra meat to freeze)
20. Omelette's 
21. Fried Rice
22. Pesto Pasta
23. Southwest Chicken Soup
24. Baked Potatoes
25. Spinach Wraps 
26. Leftovers
27. Enchiladas (My co worker Kristin's recipe)
28. Black Bean Soup (Even my picky one will eat this)
29. Au Jus Sandwiches Just Roast Beef on toasted hoagies with this sauce. Yum!
30. Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken
31. Pizza (A Halloween Tradition)

Of course I throw in vegetables and salad. I try to get what is on sale. And while I have been planning my dinners and writing them down on my large calender I went ahead and planned Family Home Evenings (FHE) as well. This month I decided to have more of a routine.

1st Monday night- A fun family night from my Church Pin Board that my kids will enjoy!

2nd Monday night- A Latter Day Prophet. I thought it might to do a lesson on each of our latter day prophets of this dispensation so my children can become better antiquated with them. (You can check out the link that already has lessons for you)

3rd Monday night- a talk from the most recent General Conference (so excited for this weekend!)

4th Monday night- Preach My Gospel. We usually have a small lesson out of this book to prepare my 3 boys for their missions. We keep it simple and kid friendly.

5th Monday night- Family History. We can read stories or play games to get to know our family that has gone before us. Especially namesakes. 


I love having family night. Monday nights are our night to learn and grow as a family. We usually keep our lesson short and sweet. We sing hymns and pray as a family. And, of course, we have treats. It's a great way to strengthen our family and help us grow closer to each other. It also helps my children to learn more about our Heaven Father. Even if you don't go to my church, I know holding a weekly family meeting will bless your family. Take time to play games, eat and visit while eating, and teach good values. I am so thankful for this sacred time. It has blessed my family tremendously.