So what do YOU feel like for dinner?

It seems like I'm always asking someone this question and it seems like I'm always making one of the same dozen or so family favorites.  Since Brooke Lynne and Amelia eat pretty much anything, it seems like I should be taking advantage of the situation and introducing them to new meals much more frequently than I currently do.  My new goal: to expand our culinary horizons! How will I do it? By trying out new recipes every week.  I pledge to make at least one new item from each of the following categories each week:

1. Something I can make in a slow cooker: Like everyone else, I'm busy.  I have two kids, a full-time job, and I go to school full-time too. 
2. Beverage/Dessert: We very rarely eat dessert since I am on a perpetual diet and the majority of the time I'm drinking Diet Pepsi and the girls are drinking milk or water.
3. Something from one of my umpteen "healthier eating" cookbooks or magazines: "America's Most Wanted Recipes without the Guilt," taste of home's healthy cooking magazine, and everything authored by Lisa Lillien (aka Hungry Girl - I've followed her since way before she was famous) line my shelves, yet I rarely reach for them.  It's easier to make something I already know how to make. 
4. Something from one of my "kid" cookbooks or magazines: See #3.  In addition, I hope that by cooking with Brooke Lynne I will pass along my love of cooking.  Plus it's fun and a damn good way to practice her math skills as we measure and calculate ingredients and such. 

The Rules

1. They have to be new recipes, not just old recipes that I've tweaked. 
2. Everyone eats the same thing: This isn't a restaurant and I'm not making more than one meal each night.  This means that whatever is made has to be both kid-friendly and diet-friendly.
3. The goal is to make four separate items that are new each week.  No combining the categories just because I'm feeling tired.

Ready?  Set.  Go!  Time to start planning next week's menu items (based on what's on sale at the grocery store of course!)