Marin Mama’s Weekly Dinner Menu for July 21st

I took this picture of the kids the other night at my friend Yvonne’s house. I made them all gather up with their desserts to pose for a photo. You can tell that  they we’re really excited about having their pictures taken, I mean look their faces, they’re each in their own world. The only ones looking at the camera are Tucker and cute little Hadley. Hadley is looking at me saying,”take the photo already so I can get down and eat my rice crispy treat.”  I love how Andrew is cracking up and has that big happy smile on his face.  I seriously love all these kids. They’re my California adopted nieces and nephews and I’ve known them all since they were born.  They call me Auntie Jackie and my kids call their moms Auntie Hillary and Auntie Yvonne. We’re just one big happy family!

So we had a girls and kids night at Yvonne’s new house this past Tuesday. I brought over dinner for us moms, Hilary brought dessert and Yvonne ordered up pizza for the kids. Sometimes you have to make it easy  on yourselves, and the kids didn’t care about eating dinner, they just wanted to inhale a quick piece of pizza so they could play. I made up the Israeli couscous salad, kid friendly caesar dressing and the croutons ahead of time, and just assembled the heirloom grilled bruschetta and tossed the salad right before dinner. It was a super easy dinner and just what us gals were craving.

I found a new favorite topping for my steel cut oats, peanut butter!  A reader, Abby, made the suggestion. I’m so glad I listened to her because it just gives me a bit more protein in the morning, and when I add the peanut butter, I don’t need to add any brown sugar! So if you love steel cut oats, then give this a try. Thanks Abby!

My new favorite peanut butter is this one from MaraNatha.  It’s a no stir one that doesn’t need to be refrigerated, and I have to tell you it tastes great.  It’s the first natural peanut butter that I actually like.

I made up a great dip by accident on Sunday and I’m loving it. It’s made up of avocado, tahini, cilantro and lemon. It’s so good and stays green even on day 5! Here’s the Instagram I took of my pre dinner snack the other night, HAVE’A corn chips, minty limeade, water with lemon and the avocado dip.

I also have a new favorite afternoon snack!  One that is full of antioxidants and gives me a little afternoon pick me up.  I take a little jar and add in some roasted almonds, goji berries and a few little pieces of dark chocolate. I love the dark chocolate bars from Green & Blacks. I usually get either the 70% or the 85%. It’s a great snack to take on the road or to work. I put this snack in the jars for portion control. If I had the chocolate, goji berries and almonds in front of me, then I would eat way more than I wanted! I mean a snack is just supposed to be a snack, right?

Speaking of chocolate, John and I made up this amazing chocolate ice cream this week. It took me back to my childhood. It’s a classic chocolate ice cream and it’s so easy to make. Recipe next week!

So, I made the heirloom pizza again and it didn’t stick this time (yaay) thanks to parchment paper! I love parchment paper. The pizza was good, but not great enough for me to want to blog about.  I’m not sure what it was, but I think it just needed something a bit more. I will work on it and see if I can come up with something better.

Whew, I made and ate a lot of food this week I must say, so let’s move onto this week’s dinner menu.

Sunday night dinner

We’re going up north for the day to go kayaking and paddle boarding, so were going to eat out tonight.

Monday night dinner

Miso kale salad with miso roasted tofu and grilled bruschetta with heirloom tomatoes.  This is an easy summertime meatless Monday dinner.

Tuesday night dinner

Curried chicken salad on whole grain tortillas, Israeli couscous salad and corn on the cob.  This is another easy summer dinner!

Wednesday night dinner

Leftover night!  Take a look at last night and that’s what’s on tonights menu!

Thursday night dinner

Buffalo apple burgers with sage-jalapeno pesto, onion rings with sriracha mayo (soo good and so addicting) and cherry tomato, garbanzo and green bean salad.

Friday night dinner

We’re eating dinner at home tonight and I’m trying up a new taco recipe, BLT tacos with Thai chili mayonnaise, inspired by the tacos I tried and loved at The Taco Guy’s truck last Sunday. I will let you know how they turn out!

Have a great Sunday everyone!