Menu Monday

     Our anniversary is this week so we plan on having a nice dinner this Wednesday night, but otherwise we don't have many other plans. I am taking advantage of the last few weeks of summer to make some summery recipes and grill out a lot. We will also be making an easy crockpot recipe to eat Saturday when college football season begins 
(technically it begins Thursday night, but all the fun games are on Saturday). Here's what we'll be eating. What are you going to cook this week?

• Monday: Spicy black bean burgers with chipotle mayonnaise. We will be eating the remainder of these burgers that have been in our freezer from the time I made them in bulk. They are one of mine and Tim's favorite recipes currently and we could eat them on a weekly basis. I can't even begin to tell you how flavorful and wonderful they are topped with the creamy, spicy chipotle mayonnaise and avocado. I love them with sweet potato fries on the side. (If you mix some leftover chopped chipotle peppers with some ketchup and dip them in that, they are divine!) Gina from Skinny Taste says, "One bite of this spicy black bean burger with spicy chipotle mayo and creamy avocado and you won't miss the meat! Yes, these were good enough to please even the adult carnivores in my home."

• Tuesday: Cuban pork chops. This is another recipe from the Bush's Grilling Beans competition on Pioneer Woman's cooking blog. FYI, the recipe I tried last week of grilled chicken with chipotle cream sauce was really good. This recipe looks really tasty because the pork is marinated in orange and lime juices with cumin and cayenne pepper. Then you top it with a chimichurri sauce. Pioneer Woman says, "Spicy, slightly sweet, and huge on flavor, these pork chops are out of this world."

• Wednesday: Tilapia with lemon butter sauce and angel hair fresca. This is a recipe that I've made for years now. It is a Publix Apron's recipe that I first made I think for Valentine's Day or one of our anniversaries, I'm not sure which. But it is a really delicious semi-fancy meal that we both really love. I think it will be a perfect anniversary meal. I also plan on making some type of dessert for our anniversary, but I haven't decided what yet. 

• Thursday: Steakhouse pizza.  I have been wanting to make my own pizza dough again for a while now and when I ran across this recipe while looking for recipes on Pioneer Woman's cooking blog, I knew this would be a perfect recipe to try out. Here is Pioneer Woman's description, "I love this pizza. I cooked up some balsamic red onions and added a little more balsamic to the pizza sauce for a little more depth of flavor. Then I topped the pizza with thin slices of medium rare steak after I pulled the baked pizza out of the oven. The hot pizza warmed the steak without ruining the beautiful medium-rare redness, and angels sang in the heavens. At the end, I drizzled the whole thing with some good steak sauce…and, well, it was too good for words."

• Friday: Shrimp tacos. I knew I wanted tacos this week (like every week), but I wanted to try a new recipe or a different type of meat than I normally use. When I ran across this recipe for shrimp tacos on Pioneer Woman's blog and saw that she topped it with cilantro-jalapeno slaw, I knew I had to try it. Add some avocado and a squeeze of lime and I think it's going to be heaven in a tortilla. 

• Saturday and Sunday: Dr. Pepper pork sandwiches with cilantro-jalapeno slaw. This is one of the best recipes on Pioneer Woman's blog and a great meal for watching the big game on Saturday night. Go Dawgs! (P.S. Owen has learned to "Call the Dawgs" and it is so awesome!) It's super easy to make this recipe because all you do is brown the pork shoulder and then throw it in the crock pot with a chopped onion, a can of Dr. Pepper, and part of a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. (You can use the whole can like Pioneer Woman does, but then you would die.) I will also be able to use more of the cilantro-jalapeno slaw from the night before since I'm the only one who eats it in our household. And this recipe will make plenty so that we can eat leftovers the next night as sandwiches or shredded pork tacos. 

     It's going to be a delicious week!