Food. Yum.

Holy Cow- Day 2, Post 2. I am proud of myself already.

So Today is Monday. Which often means Burger Monday! (drool) There is a place just down the street from us-  Old Oak Tap -that has $5 burgers with fries on Monday as long as you buy a drink.  This is from a girl who did not really eat burgers ever growing up. I have eaten more burgers in the last two years that I have been married than I did my entire life. All thanks to a 2am burger! When you add bacon and an egg (sometimes hashbrowns) to your burger. If you have not tried it, do so now. It's life altering.
Anyway, back to the $5 burger deal.  More times than I care to admit, we don't tend to plan dinners on Monday because this is our back up plan. It is easily one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants. If coming to Chicago...maybe make your way over to the Ukrainian Village. I will fill you in on some of our favorites!!

But when we are planning dinners, these tend to be our "Top Go-To Dinners" at the moment:
1) Spaghetti Aglio, Olio e Pepperoncino-- this is actually a decently healthy option. We definitely saute the garlic, olive oil, and pepper flakes together before mixing with the pasta- and even though we like hot foods... definitely cut back on the red pepper flakes a bit! We also tend to add chicken and a have tried aspargus in it too. Can't go wrong!
2) Crockpot Chicken Tacos-- three ingredients + 1 crockpot =amazing! Plus leftovers! Make chicken salad or nachos, etc. We love when we make the Chicken Tacos on a Friday in the fall and then have nachos for football on Saturday- it is a crowd pleaser! Plus allows for a little variation based on what salsa you use or if you do add in ingredients like jalapenos!
3) Spicy Crunchy Chicken Wraps-- Obviously you can vary your chicken choice or even what dressing you use. Maybe make them into a buffalo chicken wrap.
4)  Turkey & Colby Panini-- We tend to go very basic with our panini with meat and cheese from the deli, and occasional add ons to our preferences. But these panini recipes jazz it up a bit! Bonus: a pasta salad that I am loving as a side (or main) right now is from my sister.  Farfalle noodles (cooked according to box), with peas (room temperature), bacon (cooked and crumbled), and mixed with buttermilk ranch. Chill in the fridge and serve. BEYOND GOOD!
5) Chicken & Asparagus Penne-- and one that will soon make it into our regular line-up. It seems to be just what we are enjoying these days! Made easy and relatively healthy!

These are definitely the easy recipes we just tend to have the ingredients for in stock at home.
I have put the links to the recipes, because at this point I would be kidding myself taking pictures of food.

Happy Monday!!!