monday meals

i've seen monday meals on other blogs, and with our love for cooking it only makes sense to share the recipes we find. our first year of marriage we tried new recipes every week. now we still try to make new things, but allow ourselves to rely on old favorites. here are two of our recent favorites:

the pioneer woman's pasta salad with tomatoes, zucchini, and feta

this was a perfect friday dinner meal. easy to fix, and light and fresh. we used whole wheat shells because that is what we had and added some chicken sausage for good measure. it also makes a lot of leftovers, if you only have two to feed, and tastes even better the second time!

real simple's chipotle pork loin with black beans

i've been on a spicy/lime/carribean kick and this recipe covered all those! the pork was super easy to make, and the black bean salad completed the meal. we've already made the black bean salad again, and actually the second time ate it more like a salsa, great both times! we added extra avocado (because we eat more avocados per week than most people) and more lime juice just because.

i'm hoping most of the recipes i choose have good pictures online because i strongly dislike the food pictures i take, and wouldn't want to subject you to them. maybe erin can help me learn how to take better ones :)