Dinner ideas

I wrote a list of dinner ideas on a thick piece of cardstock and I keep it in my kitchen near my recipes and cookbooks. It is helpful to just glance at it when I'm trying to figure out what to make for dinner. Our family kind of ate the same basic things over the course of a month, but I always liked to try new recipes. Here is the list in no particular order. I gave a copy of it to my girls when they got married and I recently asked Courtney if she would like a copy of the menu list. She said yes, so this one's for you Courtney! Happy cooking.
Sometimes the hardest part of making dinner is deciding what to make. I usually have all the of the ingredients for these menu items on hand:
Chicken or beef stir fry with rice, Hawaiian haystacks, tacos, spaghetti with hamburger or without meat, hamburger stroganoff, meat loaf and baked potatoes, pasta salad and fruit, sloppy joes and baked french fries, french fries make from fresh potatoes, hamburgers on the George Foreman grill, little pizzas using Rhodes frozen dough, Reuben sandwiches, shake and bake chicken, sweet and sour chicken, broccoli and chicken casserole, home made chicken noodle soup, broccoli & cauliflower soup, homemade chili, crock pot stew, lasagna, Spanish rice, enchiladas, taco soup, Shepherd's pie, homemade burritos, homemade fajitas, macaroni & cheese, vegetable soup, breakfast food for dinner, pot pies, egg rolls, ebbelskeivers, seven layer bean dip, turkey or ham sandwiches, nachos grande, quesidallas, McMuffins, breakfast casserole, tatertot casserole

My sister Lee shared a great idea. She does different types of cooking on different days. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing her ideas:
Sunday (oven dinner): Swiss cheese chicken, manicotti, zita primavera, enchiladas, chicken cordon bleu pasta, chicken enchiladas, teriyaki chicken, lasagna, Mexican casserole, yogurt Parmesan chicken, chicken enchiladas, chicken and rice casserole, chicken pot pit, chicken poppy seed casserole.
Monday (stove top): tostadas, beef stroganoff, pizza, BBQ, calzones, burritos, tacos, fish sticks, spaghetti, fajatas, Hawaiian haystacks, marinate chicken cookout
Tuesday (soup or sandwich): creamy potato soup, taco soup, chicken noodle soup, Italian soup, Broccoli soup, cheesburger soup, BLT's Reubens, Hoggies, French dip, chicken croissant, taco salad, hamburgers
Wednesday (crockpot): zesty Italian chicken, country pork ribs, stews, chicken and rice, etc.
Thursday (breakfast for dinner): German pancakes, Egg McMuffins & orange rolls, breakfast burrittos, Quiche and scones, omelets and blueberry muffins, mountain man breakfast
Friday & Saturday (frozen foods, easy stuff made quickly): Quesadillas, grilled cheese or cheese toast, chicken patties, chicken nuggets, corn dogs, chili dogs.

I'm getting very hungry right now. I wonder why....

As a wife and mother, I think it is very important to make dinner and eat as a family at least during the weeknights and on Sunday as much as possible. There is a lot of research to support this idea. Like this article for example and this really good article about saving the world by eating as a family. This article from the Washington Post also highlights a book written on the subject. Also, if you enter "family meal time" into the search engine on lds.org, it will bring up a lot of good information about the importance of family meal time and some ideas to make it happen.
My mother is a very good cook and she always served us a well balanced meal for breakfast (lunch during the summer time) and dinner. I tried very hard to serve our kids a good diet that included a main dish, salad of some sort and a vegetable for dinner. Three items were usually on the dinner plate, along with bread, a glass of milk and an occasional dessert. I will admit that as the kids left home I cooked less and less. I didn't make Andy very many home cooked breakfasts and now Rick and I eat very simply, watching our calories (we also eat out a lot more.) With all of the responsibilities that mothers have, I think that gathering to eat at family meal time and serving a good meal should be a priority, with dads and children taking turns and helping make it happen.