This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Manwich for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
As a mom of three young children, I’ve learned that anything I can do to make my life easier is the way to go. Recently, I was turned onto the concept of planning your weekly meals using theme nights.
The basic premise is simple – you just choose a type of meal or cuisine and pair it with a night of the week that makes the most sense (or that rhymes!). We started with Taco Tuesdays and added Pizza Fridays, and this week we added a third theme night – Manwich Mondays.
At first I thought it would be boring to have the same meal every Monday, Tuesday, or Friday, but I learned that this style of menu planning is not boring at all as long as we change it up a bit each week (like a veggie pizza one week and pizza roll ups the next).
Knowing what style of meal we will be having three days of the week makes my menu planning easier and shopping trips more streamlined. Best of all, I can count on more buy in from my family because they know what to expect and can even make special requests because they know it’s coming.
Manwich Mondays – A Simple Weeknight Solution
The key to making the theme nights a success is to pick not only a type of food my family likes, but to also keep the meal simple.
If I had said every Monday I will make a four-course Italian dinner, I would dread Monday evening and completely stress out about the entire process from choosing side dishes to cleaning up afterward.
By choosing something as simple as Manwich, I know meal will take about 15 minutes to prepare and everyone will like it because Manwich is so tasty! Seriously, what’s not to love?
Manwich sent me a selection of three flavors to sample. While I taste tested and really liked all three varieties – Thick & Chunky, Bold, and Original – I made the original for our meal because I knew the kids would devour it. They love sweet and tangy sauces, and that’s exactly what Manwich is.
I was pleasantly surprised that my pickiest eater, my 7-year-old, LOVED her sloppy joe sandwich. First of all, she’s not huge fan of buns, and second, she rarely eats something new on the first go around. But she ate every last bit of her sloppy joe sandwich and asked if we could have it again! I about fell out of my chair! LOL
Because the sloppy joes are kinda messy, she also had to really pay attention to eat it. It was nice – instead of trying to fit in glances at the tv, she ate dinner and had a nice conversation with us. Manwich claims to have “kid-stopping” power, and I’ll have to say I 100% agree!
Traditional Sloppy Joes
I remember always loving the traditional sloppy joes – meat & sauce on a bun – from my childhood. So that’s what I made for our family for our first Manwich Monday.
I found a resource page with tons of other sloppy joe recipes to put in rotation: Manwich Mondays Recipes
Making these sloppy joes couldn’t be simpler. All you need is buns, meat, and a can of Manwich sauce.
Here are a few pictures of our cooking process. From start to finish, it literally took about 15 minutes, including time to set the table!
Step 1 – Brown the Ground Beef (you could also use turkey)
Step 2 – Pour in the Manwich sauce
Step 3 – Stir & cook another minute or so to heat up the sauce
And that’s it! Just put a big heaping spoonful of the sloppy joe mixture on a hamburger bun, and you’re in business.
National Sloppy Joe Day & a Way to Hide Veggies
I just found out that National Sloppy Joe Day is March 18th. Armed with all these Manwich recipes, I’m ready! 🙂
That week I’m planning on making these Slider Pull Aparts because I know they’ll be a hit with the kids. And as you know, I’m always on the hunt for ways to get more veggies in my kids’ diets.
Because Manwich is so tangy, I think it would be the perfect disguise for a veggie or two. I’m not above a little veggie sneakery!
My plan is to boil some carrots, puree them in the blender, then add them along with Manwich for our next round of sloppy joes. I’ve done this with chili before, and the kids didn’t suspect a thing! Wish me luck!
Do you use themed weeknight meals to save you time and effort? If so, I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below. If you try out Manwich Mondays, make sure to stop by and let me know how it goes!
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