Marin Mama’s Weekly Dinner Menu for April 19th

Weekly dinner menu

First off, I LOVE this picture of Zoe. I took it this past fall when we were in the city for one of Eli’s soccer games. We had some down time before the game, so we decided to do a photo shoot (which was SO much fun).  Zoe is a total natural in front of the camera and she just blows me away at how naturally gorgeous she is, and her smile radiates life. I feel like this photo totally captured who she is, and who she is becoming! I love you Zoe!

Wow, I can’t believe that it’s been 2 weeks since I posted a recipe on the blog.  Sorry for being such a slacker guys, but I have a lot balls in the air, and there are tons of life changes going on right now. Changes that I’m almost ready to talk about and share with you all in the coming months, but for now, I wanted to get out a simple weekly menu post to you all.

I’ve gotten a lot of emails from readers and friends requesting me to bring back the weekly menu. I know a lot of you count on it for weeknight menu planning ideas, and it’s honestly a great way for me to share with you all some recipes that you may not find or see on the blog. So, basically it’s a win, win for all of us.

I’m aiming to bring back the weekly menu on a more consistent basis, (like weekly) but I’m also noodling on some ideas on how to make the weekly dinner menu better going forward. I was thinking of putting together a weekly grocery list, and organizing the menu so that you get it on Friday instead of Sunday, so you can better prepare for the week ahead. I may also assemble the menu so that I’m not just using one fresh ingredient like basil or cilantro once in the course of the week, but using it twice, for efficiency sake, and so that’s there’s no waste.

Aside from the weekly menu, I was thinking of doing a few “how-to” posts on preparing a complete dinner, like the two photo’s below (note, these below photos were taken at night with my iPhone, so the lighting not great). I would basically be showing you what I do in advance to make the below meals a simple weeknight dinner. I find that I do tons of prep work in advance naturally, so that when dinner time rolls around, I basically have a 30 minute meal to prepare. I want to share those tips with you all, so that cooking family friendly healthy dinners during the week can be easy instead of stressful or intimidating.

The below dinner is my lacninato kale salad, cheesy baked tortellini, 5-minute roasted Brussels sprouts. 

Weeknight dinner

The below dinner is my kid friendly caesar salad, crispy & easy garlic bread and green been and shallot ravioli ( I substituted broccoli rabe for the green beans). Both of these meals have components that can be made in advance and assembled come dinner time.

Kid friendly weeknight dinner

I’m open to your suggestions!  What do you all want to see going forward on the blog? What would be helpful for you?  Please email me, or comment below and let me know what you would like to see added or changed with the weekly menu. I want to make this blog a one-stop destination for you all, so please let me know what you want to see more of, (recipes, tips) and what works and doesn’t work for you. Thanks in advance!

Ok, so let’s move onto this week’s menu….

Sunday Night Dinner

Favorite turkey burgers with cilantro-lime mayonnaise, lacinato kale salad and Robert’s absolute best brownies. Spring break is over, so I’m celebrating by cooking up one of our favorite dinners. These turkey burgers rock and get devoured every time I make them up! If you haven’t tried them, then you must! I toast up some english muffins, add the turkey burger, top it off with the cilantro-lime mayonnaise (and for me a bit of kale salad) and you have yourself one killer burger.  The cilantro-lime mayonnaise is a must for these burgers!

Turkey burger

Cilantro lime mayonnaise

What can I say about my lacinato kale salad, it’s the bomb and is the one salad that gets made 2-3 times a week in our house.  It’s simple, easy, super tasty and lasts for 3 days in the fridge!  Perfection!

Lacinato kale salad

I baked these brownies up recently for a friend’s birthday and my kids have been begging for them! These are our favorite fudgey brownies, and we honestly haven’t found any that we like as much as these.

Roberts absolute best brownie

What’s great about this dinner is that it can all be prepped ahead of time.  I always wash, de-stem and store my kale when I get back from the grocery store, so it’s super easy to whip up the kale salad ahead of time, because my kale is washed and ready to go. I make up the turkey burgers in the morning, as well as the cilantro-lime mayonnaise, so all I have to do come dinner time is turn on the broiler for the english muffins, and grill up the burgers.  Super easy!  This is an easy dinner for those busy weeknights, as long as you have an hour earlier in the day to prep everything in advance.

Monday night dinner

Paul McCartney’s refried bean tacos and lacinato kale salad.  I try and make every Monday night a meatless night, especially when we stuff ourselves silly with some sort of meat dish the night before (like those turkey burgers last night). Monday’s are hectic, so I aim for a simple and easy to prepare dinner. These refried bean tacos get made a LOT in my house, and are another family favorite. They take under 20 minutes to whip up, making them the perfect weeknight meatless Monday meal.  Zoe loves taking the leftover refried beans to school for lunch the next day. I just heat up a thermos, warm up the beans, top them with some Monterey jack cheese and pack her some tortilla chips for dipping. It’s an easy and tasty lunch!  You can also make cheese quesadillas for the kiddos with the leftover refried beans inserted with the cheese between the tortilla. My kids love leftover cheesy refried bean quesadillas.

Paul McCartney's refried bean tacos

Lacinato kale salad

Tuesday night dinner

Kid friendly caesar salad topped with roasted chicken and popovers. I love a good salad topped with chicken!  I usually roast up and shred the chicken during or after dinner the night before, so all I have to do is add it to the salad come dinner time.  This salad is truly a kid approved salad, because the dressing doesn’t have any mayonnaise, eggs or anchovies. It’s super easy to whip up, and makes enough dressing for a few nights. As you all know, we love popovers and they only take 30 minutes to make up, so I make these up as often as my lacinato kale salad.  You can always substitute a hearty bread in lieu of the popovers, and make an even easier dinner.

Kid Friendly caesar salad

Roast chicken breasts

Popover

Wednesday night dinner

Leftover night!  Kid friendly caesar salad and chicken sandwiches. I baked up a few extra chicken breasts the other night, so I’m going to use the leftover shredded chicken and make up some cold chicken sandwiches and serve up some kid friendly caesar salad on the side. Easy peasy weeknight dinner!

Thursday night dinner

Broccoli lemon pasta! This is another family favorite pasta, and it gets made at least twice a month. It’s my go-to weeknight pasta, because it’s a one-pot meal and can be made in under 30 minutes. If you have picky eaters who won’t touch broccoli, this pasta will get them to like broccoli. I tend to use broccoli rabe/baby broccoli in lieu of regular broccoli. I just add the broccoli rabe to the last minute of the pasta’s cooking time, and then drain it all together. Easy peasy!  I also love topping the pasta with my lacinato kale salad if I happen to have some of that hanging around, which I always do!

Broccoli lemon pasta

Friday night dinner

TGIF! It’s Marin mama’s night off!

Like I said above, I’m open to your suggestions! What do you all want to see? What type of posts or recipes would be helpful for you? Please email me, or comment below and let me know what you would like to see added or changed with the weekly menu. I want to make this blog a one-stop destination for you all, so please let me know what you want to see more of, (recipes, tips) and what works and doesn’t work for you. Thanks in advance!

Have an amazing week everyone!

With love Jackie
Share it up!

Nourish your inbox!

More to explore

17 thoughts on “Marin Mama’s Weekly Dinner Menu for April 19th”

  1. I’m so happy you’re planning to bring back the weekly menu…it’s always so helpful and a great guide. I’d also like a few more new recipes- maybe a tad more frequently than you do now, but not so often that their overwhelming. Sorry- I know that sounds like goldilocks (not too often, but more often than now). 🙂 love your blog!

    1. Hi Katherine! Thanks so much for responding! I’m so happy that you like the weekly menu. It honestly helps me, it just sometimes a pain to coordinate it all, but when I do, I feel better about going into my week. I will be sure to post new recipes more often. I feel kind of like a slacker that I haven’t been posting as much as I want to, but I’m trying to be easy on myself as I have a lot going on right now 🙂
      I have tried a bunch of new recipes, and some have been successes, and some have been ok, but not blog worthy to me. I know my readers want more easy dinner ideas, so I’ve got a few recipes that I’m trying on the kiddo’s this week that will hopefully be blog worthy. The trouble for me is that when I do a recipe post, I have to first try it out, then make it 2-3 more times so I get it photographed, as well as to make sure that I understand all of the nuances as far as measurements and cooking time. I have never felt comfortable posting a recipe that I didn’t know inside and out!
      I think my goal is to post 2-3 times a week. Maybe a new recipe or two and weekly menu post and/or a kitchen or shopping tip. I have tons of ideas, but I need to sit down and get them out on a post!
      Again, thanks for your input, it’s much appreciated girl! Have a blissful week 🙂 xoxo, Jacquelyn

  2. Hi Jacquelyn-
    I so enjoy your trying your healthy and tasty recipes and seeing your sweet kids included in your posts. Your pictures are beautiful and you have a wonderful aesthetic sense.

    I have a food blog as well and have just recently started posting weekly dinner menus- what I love most about food blogs is the inspiration I get from them- I so appreciate seeing new ideas and sharing ideas I find with others. Hence, I post ideas of meals that I have tried or would like to try, as well as those of my own, which increases the repertoire immensely.I even included your delicious grilled cheese sandwiches with broccoli as a dinner entree idea. You can see how yummy it looks on Wednesday’s dinner menu here (and I always include a link to the original creators of the menus):

    http://keepingitrealwithjoy.blogspot.com/2015/03/joys-dinner-menu-week-1.html

    You may just want to continue including only your own personal content on your blog, but I bet your audience may appreciate seeing other recipe ideas that you find inspirational which may not be your own and what new recipes you might like to try with your family. You have great taste!
    Just a thought~
    Thanks for your lovely blog~ I love it!
    Best,
    Joy

    PS my kids and I enjoy your overnight steel cuts oats for breakfast often- brilliant recipe!

    1. Hi Joy! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and let me know your thoughts! I really appreciate it! You know whats funny? I was actually going to link to a few new recipes I want to try, but they’re in old magazines and I couldn’t find them. I may start doing that going forward!
      I can’t wait to check out your blog and see your weekly menu. I love getting inspiration from other bloggers, as well as friends! My friends are always emailing me recipes that they want me to try.
      I’m super happy to hear that you and your kiddos love the steel cut oats! Yippee!
      Thanks again for your kind words and feedback!
      xoxo, Jacquelyn

  3. I have tried a lot of the recipes on this post already and they were a great success thank you. The weekly menu ones would take a lot of time. It seems a lot of peeps want the weekly menu one back, but I would prefer a new recipe – even if it is once a week or two. Love your blog and check daily but I see nothing new to try so that is my 2 cents worth 🙂 Zoe looks great and what a super smile !

    1. Hi Tarn! Thanks so much for your feedback! I’m definitely going to be adding more recipes to the blog now that my work schedule is up in the air and I have the time to cook and create again. I’m also happy to hear that you have tried and liked most of the recipes in the above post. I aim to please, so I really appreciate your honesty and I will work my hardest to get some new and yummy recipes posted on a weekly basis! Have a super week sweetie! xoxo, Jacquelyn

  4. Hello!! I love, love, love your blog and use it ALL THE TIME!!! Would love to see some new recipes posted. : ) Thank you Marin Mama!!!

    Laura

    1. Hi Laura! Yay! I’m so happy to hear that you love the blog! That make my heart sing! Ok, I’m totally going to make and post more recipes! Yippee! Now you are all motivating me to cook! Thanks for taking the time to comment sweetie! I really appreciate it 🙂 xoxo, Jacquelyn

  5. I really enjoy your site–I appreciate the healthful bent and also that it has yummy treats mixed in–just the way I eat as well. The recipes are also easy and accessible, not too time consuming. I haven’t minded that you often have the same meals in your weekly menu–that’s how most people eat I feel–and it reminds me of the great recipes I haven’t tried yet (I’ve tried the quinoa breakfast porridge, roasted broccoli, and kale salad and enjoyed them all). I’m sure you’ll add more recipes as you have more time and energy to devote to the blog. But I wouldn’t stress about it–there are plenty of blogs out there that post recipes constantly but you just have to be true to yourself and the recipes you and your family are really enjoying that inspire you to share.

  6. Hi Jacquelyn So excited you are coming back. love that you have a meat – free night and appreciate having the vegetarians included. I also love that I an make so many of your other recipes meat free. I think the grocery list and highlighting an through out the week is great! Hope all is well in your world, you are the best!

    1. Hey there sweetie! Wow, great to hear from you! It’s been a while! I hope all is well with you and the boys! I will be sure to find and post more meatless meals for you! You should send me one of your favorite meatless meal that the boys love as well. I’m always on the lookout for easy meatless family approved meals! Also, thanks for your feedback! I’m happy to hear that you love the weekly menu! I will try and stay on top of it and not slack off like I’ve been doing 😉 Take care sweetie! xoxo, Jacquelyn

  7. Hi Jackie– popping by to say hello and happy spring! You know I’m a big fan of the weekly menus so I am all in favor of their return 🙂

  8. I love the weekly menus! I have 4 young children so I cook alot of repeats of things they like so I don’t mind if the menu does not have different recipes every week. I just appreciate it because you cook exactly how we like to eat – healthy with some sweets thrown in – so the weekly menu is a great organizational tool for me. Would love the addition of a grocery list and to have it posted by Friday or Saturday morning. Thank you for taking the time to blog! You are my favorite foodie. 🙂

    1. Hi Emma! Wow, 4 kids, you have your hands full for sure! Yay! I’m so happy to hear that you love the weekly menu and the recipes! My kids are the same, they love repeat dinners and always get excited when I’m cooking up one of their favorites! I unfortunately did not get the weekly menu posted today! I think I will shoot to post it on Friday’s after May 1st. I’m finishing up my role at Paradise Foods, and I’ve been so busy trying to wind down operations, that I didn’t get to blog as much as I wanted to this week. Oh well, I know you get it being a mom and all! I really appreciate your feedback, so thanks for taking the time to comment! It helps me a lot!
      Have a great weekend Emma! 🙂 xoxo, Jacquelyn

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top