Marin Mama’s Weekly Dinner Menu for November 2nd

Weekly dinner menu

See the artsy photo of the above juices? That was me attempting to go on a mini one-day juice cleanse!  Maybe you didn’t catch the word attempting, because I attempted, but failed my one-day juice cleanse.  Yes, Marin mama failed a one-day juice cleanse. LAME!

Mini juice cleanse failed

Zoe and her friend Madelaine came home as I was taking a photo of the juices for a future blog post, and they didn’t think that my cleanse looked too appetizing.  Zoe’s like, “really mom, you’re going to drink all of these juices? Have fun and good luck!” She didn’t think I would make it through the morning because she knows how much I love and crave my morning oats and coffee!

Young girls holding juice bottles

I have to tell you that I was super excited to do this cleanse, as I had been wanting to try a juice cleanse for years, and a lot of my friends had successfully done cleanses, so I was very hopeful!  I was feeling the need to cleanse, because I was feeling a bit run down and depleted. I was slammed at work and with the chaos of life, and thus not eating the best. I was eating way too many sweets, drinking too much coffee and alcohol, and eating way to much not-so-healthy foods! I also had a huge catering event the next night, so I thought to myself why not cleanse the day of the event.  I figured that since I was going to be running around all day, why not just drink juices, as they were portable and easy!  I was also wanting to juice the day of the event so that I wouldn’t be tempted to chow down on all the appetizers, beef tenderloin and potatoes au gratin that we were serving at the dinner.  I have to say that I was feeling pretty good about myself the night before the cleanse! See, here I am pre-cleanse all amped up and ready to go.

Jackie holding juice bottles

Well, here’s what happened!  I got up at 5:00 and started out the day with 2 algae drinks, (blech) and then hit the gym. Oh my gosh, my workout was not fun!  I was clammy, dizzy  and sweating up a storm at the gym, and just didn’t feel powerful at all. I went home and drank my first green juice and I had to fight to get it down.  It just wasn’t what I was craving at all! I was craving and missing my coffee and my oats (Zoe totally predicted it). I was also freezing and couldn’t get warm, so I jumped into the shower hoping to warm up, but that didn’t happen!  Anyway, as the morning went on, I felt tired, dizzy and low on energy.  I was stressed because I felt yucky, but had way too much to do to get ready for the event that night. My friend Steve gave me the out that I was looking for. He told me that I was a bit crazy to attempt a cleanse on the day of a huge catering event (how right he was).  He advised me to brew a small cup of coffee and eat something light, and that I would feel much better after.  I was so grateful that I listened to him, because after that small cup of coffee and a bowl of oats, I felt like myself again and was charged and ready to take on the day.  Thanks Steve!

So, basically the lesson I learned is that juice cleansing isn’t for everyone, at least it wasn’t for me.  I love a green juice here and there as a snack or quick meal on-the-go, but a juice cleanses are not my thing, and that’s ok!  The bummer was that I wasted a pretty penny on the juices that I didn’t drink, but the good news was that I had an amazing dinner at the event, and savored every bite of the beef tenderloin and potatoes au gratin, and strangely I didn’t feel guilty at all.  The dinner was a smashing success and the room looked beautiful, I must say!  I was pretty proud of myself as this was one of the first events that I coordinated from start to finish. Yippee!

Elegantly set formal dining table

So let’s move away from juice cleanses and onto Halloween!  Halloween came and went this year. The kids are getting older, so they each have their own agendas and want to hang with their peeps!  Zoe had the perfect Halloween, as she spent the morning in the city at the Giants parade! GO GIANTS!

Young girls at Giants game

She then came home, got dressed for Halloween and let me grab a quick shot of her and her gals before they headed over a friend’s house for a night of fun! Madealine was the Mad Hatter, Zoe was Alice in Wonderland and Taylor was the Queen of Hearts. So cute!

Young girls dressed for halloween

Eli and I headed over to my friend Carrie’s house for a night of trick-or-treating. It’s funny because Eli and I went to the same party, but didn’t see too much of each other as Eli was out and about the neighborhood running around trick-or-treating with his peeps. The boys are beyond having us parents chaperone them around, which is nice because we adults then get hang and gab all night!  Eli and his friends really didn’t look like they had costumes on, as they were all dressed as sports figures, and pretty much wear this sort of garb everyday!  Eli was feeling the love for the Giants winning the world series, so he decided at the last-minute to be a Giant’s player for Halloween, which led to him getting an official Giant’s World Series jersey, SCORE!  He’s one happy and lucky kid!

Young boys dressed in sports gear

Let’s move onto this week’s menu!  It’s all about easy, fall comfort cooking this week at Marin mama’s casa!

Sunday night dinner

Buffalo apple burgers with sage-jalapeno pesto5-minute roasted cauliflower and pumpkin sheet cake with cream cheese frosting.  We love these burgers and they’re chock-full of flavor!  I’ve been cooking them on my cast-iron skillet lately and they taste amazing.  The burgers get all charred and crispy on the outside.  These burgers and the roasted cauliflower are rated a 10 in my house, so this is a happy meal for the kids. I’m also treating my kids to one of their favorite fall pumpkin cakes.  It’s going to be dark at 5:30 tonight, so I’m going to put a fire in the fireplace and we’re going to snuggle up after dinner in front of the fire with some pumpkin cake!  Doesn’t sound too bad to me!

Buffalo apple burger with jalapeno pesto

Roasted cauliflower

Pumpkin sheet cake with cream cheese frosting

Monday night dinner

Spaghetti squash tacos and lacinato kale salad.  I’m so happy that spaghetti squash is in season again, because I LOVE these tacos, and the kids do as well!  They make a tasty meatless Monday dinner, and the leftovers are great to pack up for school lunches!

Spaghetti squash tacos

Lacinato kale salad

Tuesday night dinner

Cheesy baked tortellini and roasted broccoli.  This is one of my kid’s favorite pastas ever!  They request this weekly, and sometimes I even make it weekly!  It’s actually really good if you can get past all of the cheese that’s in the recipe.  So parents, if you’re looking for a super easy, two-nighter, kid approved weeknight dinner to whip up, then give this a try.  I’m even making it easier for you by adding the 8-minute, kid approved roasted broccoli!  My kids told me that if I made this dinner weekly, they would never tire of it, and that’s a good thing!

Cheesy baked tortellini

Eli and Zoe with roasted broccoli

Wednesday night dinner

Leftover night!  Like I said before, Wednesdays are our crazy night as I literally have 40 minutes to get dinner on the table and the kids fed between Zoe’s cheer practice and her dance class!  So, leftovers or sandwiches are what our Wednesday night dinners consist of!

Thursday night dinner

Rosemary skillet chicken, rosemary sea salt popovers and 5-minute roasted Brussels sprouts.  This is another easy weeknight dinner. The chicken takes 30 minutes to cook, as well as the popovers.  I have 2 ovens, so I tend to put the chicken and the popovers in at the same time, but if you only have one oven, you can cook the popovers ahead of time and then cook the chicken.  The popovers don’t need to be super hot to enjoy them!  I put the Brussels under the broiler for 5-minutes while the chicken is resting.  I also have 2 cast-iron skillets, a 12-inch which I will cook the chicken in, and a 10-inch which I will cook the Brussels in. You can get a cast-iron skillet for under $22 dollars at Target! Super cheap and one of the best pans you will ever own!  My kids love and devour this dinner!  When I tell them that rosemary skillet chicken and rosemary sea salt popovers are on the menu, they jump for joy!  When I chime in that they’re also getting 5-minute roasted Brussels, they stop jumping, LoL!

Rosemary skillet chicken

Rosemary and sea salt popoer

Quick and easy roasted brussels sprouts

Friday night dinner

TGIF!  It’s Marin mama’s night off!

Have a wonderful week everyone and enjoy that extra hour today!

With love Jackie
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