This past week was strange weather wise. The week started off feeling like winter with cool temps and rain (so not typical for California) and then by Wednesday the sun came out and the temps soared into the high 90’s. Hey, I’m not complaining at all, but I did have to switch a few things on my weekly menu as we craved some major comfort foods on Monday and Tuesday night. I couldn’t resist those heirlooms at the market anymore, so I made up a batch of my heirloom tomato soup on Monday and served that up with some grilled gruyere cheese sandwiches. Pure comfort food bliss, I tell ya! Here’s my Instagram of dinner.
Tuesday was super cool and it rained non-stop all day. Hey, I even put a fire in the fire place. I asked the kids what they were really craving for dinner and they both said cheesy baked tortellini pasta, so I served that up with some lacinato kale salad. Here’s another Instagram I took of dinner. Cheesy goodness!
I was also in the baking mode that day, (that’s what rainy days do to me) so I whipped us up a batch of our favorite brownies, Robert’s absolute best brownies. They are so darn good and so easy to whip up.
Ok, enough food talk, let’s talk about the kiddos!
Zoe babysat tons this past week, she’s really a hardworking girl and is doing a great job with these kids she’s watching! The best part is that she is enjoying herself as much as the kids are enjoying her. On one of her rare days off, (just kidding) she got together with her best friend Madeline and her two sisters, and opened a frozen banana stand. For those of you that watch Arrested Development, you’ll understand the whole frozen banana thing. Below is a picture of them with their stand. This was a last-minute throw together idea and they weren’t fully prepared, so the banana’s were not necessarily frozen, they were covered in Nutella, but next time they’re going all out and serving up some frozen bananas along with some frozen s’mores (my recommendation). I love the imagination these kids have!
Eli and I stopped by after his camp to purchase him a Nutella covered banana. As you can see he was a huge fan!
Eli had his first week of summer camp. He went with 6 of his best buds to this camp called, Outside Adventure Kids, which is partnered with Outside Magazine. This camp totally rocked! It was a true get outside and play camp. The camp took them out on different adventures everyday. On Monday they went Mountain biking, Tuesday they went hiking along the ocean and visited the Marine Mammal center, in the pouring rain folks. The weather cleared up for rock climbing on Wednesday. Here’s a photo the counselors took of Eli rock climbing. He loved that!
Thursday they went paddle boarding in Sausalito. Here’s a photo of Eli on his paddle board. He and his buddies did more tipping over and swimming than they did actual paddling, but it was 90 degrees that day, so the cool ocean felt nice.
To close out the week they went kayaking on Friday and the boys yet again did more tipping and falling into the ocean. That’s seriously their favorite thing to do.
All in all, I have to say that this camp was awesome and Eli and his buddies are definitely on board for next summer. Here’s a photo of some the gang Friday after camp. My friend Heather and I took them to Mag’s for some frozen yogurt. Zoe was baby-sitting so she came along with us as well, those little girls just adore her.
Ok, let’s get back to talking about food! Here’s what we have planned this week.
Sunday night dinner: Pesto-yogurt roasted chicken and kale salad with ricotta salata. I’m helping my best friend Yvonne organize her kitchen as she’s moving in to her new house today, so John’s in charge of dinner. I think he’s going to either grill or roast the chicken. It’s hot here, so I think grilling might be the better choice! I love that I get to come home to a home cooked meal!
Monday night dinner: Ina’s summer garden pasta, kale salad with ricotta salata, lacinato kale salad, and frozen s’mores. Ok, so my best friend just moved into her new house and the Grandy gang is bringing over dinner. I love this pasta, because you marinate the tomatoes, garlic and basil all day and then just heat up the capellini for 3 minutes and dinner is served. I’m making 2 kale salads because her boys love kale and one salad is just not enough. I thought I would make up some s’mores to round off the meal as it’s going to be a hot one. Thank goodness she has a pool!
Tuesday night dinner: The heat wave continues, so I’m making up some curried chicken salad in the morning and we’ll have that for dinner piled in some whole-grain tortillas or on some bread from rustic bakery. I’m going to serve the sandwiches with a nice green salad with carrot ginger dressing.
Wednesday night dinner: The heat wave is supposed to break a bit, so I’m making up our FAVORITE SOUP EVER, my heirloom tomato soup. Try this soup! It’s vegan, doesn’t require any stock or broth, just fresh ripe heirloom tomatoes, yellow onion, basil, thyme, oregano, olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar. We’ll pair this soup with some leftover curried chicken salad sandwiches or wraps. BTW, my heirloom tomato soup is being featured on NoshOnIt this Tuesday.
Thursday night dinner: Happy 4th of July! I have the night off as we’re heading to our friend’s in Tiburon for lunch and then over to another friend’s for dinner. I’m sure I will bring something, like maybe my skillet cookie, frozen s’more’s or a least a kale salad! I have to bring something, right?
Friday night dinner: You know the drill, Marin mama’s night off!
Just a side note for those of you that subscribe to my blog via google reader, it’s shutting down on Monday. The best way to get blog updates honestly is to sign up via the follow Marin mama by email button that I have on the sidebar. You’ll get an email within 5 minutes of when I publish a new post. Your e-mail address is never shared from there and it’s only used to send you blog posts. The feedburner email that some of you still get is lame. It sends out the emails later that day and sometimes even the next day, and the formatting is all weird. The formatting on the word press emails are much cleaner. Ok, enough said on that!
Have a great week!
xoxo, Jackie
oh my gosh…i know i always say your kids are so adorable. what fun that camp looks that Eli went too. I want to go! ok the pesto yogurt chicken…i swear i saw a recipe like that somewhere and was going to make this weekend…but opted for your turkey burgers instead 🙂
Thanks Jackie, you just inspired me to make Ina’s summer garden pasta. Just this year I finally got my garden going and am growing heirloom and cherry tomatoes…with your love of heirlooms, seems like you’d be a perfect candidate for a garden too or just a few plants…It’s fun and the kids would love it!
Sally – speaking of tomatoes and Ina Garten – have you tried her scalloped tomato dish? I make it with a lemon chicken and the two go so well together: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/scalloped-tomatoes-recipe/index.html
Looks great Ingrid! I’m going to have to check out Ina’s recipe. I just love all of her dishes! Thanks for the tip! xoxo, Jackie
Thanks Jackie, you just inspired me to make Ina’s summer garden pasta. Just this year I finally got my garden going and am growing heirloom and cherry tomatoes…with your love of heirlooms, seems like you’d be a perfect candidate for a garden too or just a few plants…It’s fun!
Hi Sally! Yaay! I hope the pasta turned out well for you! I made a batch today to bring over to my best friend for dinner, as it was moving day for her and it was so tasty. I let the tomatoes marinate for 8 hours and they were divine. Funny that you mention gardening. I’m actually going to pick up an heirloom plant this weekend and give gardening a shot! I’ve never been much of a green thumb, but I feel like it’s time to give it a try. So glad that you took to it and love it! xoxo, Jackie
Thank you so much for the review on our camp! We are so happy to be in Marin and running camp there this year – we absolutely love it and have loved meeting the awesome community of mamas. I just emailed you to say thank you, as well, we really appreciate it – all of us on the team!
Hi Ingrid! Anytime girl! I only review things or products that I absolutely love and this camp is one of those. You guys have a great concept and we’re so happy that you are in Marin! Can’t wait for next summer! 🙂 xoxo, Jackie
love the pics of your kids, of that BLUE sky, of your beautiful food, those smores/graham crackers, the brownies…such a fab post! 🙂
Oh my what a wonderful line up – GREAT photos!! your brownies look to die for ! the kids certainly seem to be having a wonderful summer :))
Mary x
Those food photos are mouth watering! What I wouldn’t give for a gruyere grilled cheese right now 🙂 Thanks for the food inspiration 🙂
You’re welcome girl 🙂
Happy Sunday! Love seeing all these summer fresh recipes here on your weekly menu! And that cheesy baked tortellini, omg yes!
If I was walking by that frozen banana stand I would stop by! And if it had frozen smores, I would cry from happiness!
Have a great week!
Happy Sunday to you Pamela 🙂 I thought you would like that cheesy baked tortellini! I will let Zoe know that she would have one happy customer if you lived near by! 🙂
Hi pretty mama! Our weather was pretty similar to yours, earlier this past week was raining and thunder and lightning, then the last few days it has been gorgeous and in the 80s. We are supposed to have nice weather for the next week! I’m so glad about that. I love all your pics of Eli and Zoe enjoying their summer. It looks like a blast. Jake is gone for a week and I’ve gotta say, I am missing him! Just another preview of things to come for the fall! 🙂
That tomato soup and grilled cheese combo is such a comfort classic, it looks so good. Even though its hot out, I’d eat that today! Is that pesto yogurt chicken a new recipe? Sounds delish.
You sound like you have a busy but fun week ahead of you. I’m back at home and getting into the routine, seem to have a little of the post-vacation blues. I am easily spoiled having someone make my bed and dinners out every night and someone bringing me drinks by the pool when on vacation, LOL! Good thing it only lasts for a few days and this beautiful weather is definitely helping with the adjustment.
I agree with you about the easiest way to follow a blog is by email. I follow quite a few blogs on a RSS reader (just switched to Bloglovin) but my favorite blogs I always have emailed to me because it is the easiest and draws my attention the quickest since I only go into the RSS feed 2-3 times/week. I always look forward to my Marin Mama emails! 🙂 Hope you have a wonderful week, Jackie. xoxo, Sharon
Hi girlfriend! I so understand the post vacation blues! It is nice to get that break from cooking and cleaning and just be free, free to read, chill and be present! I’m sure it’s very quiet in the house with Jake gone! It’s a good preview for this fall, I guess 🙁 You’re going to have to busy yourself with lots of DIY projects and maybe baking some treats to send to Jake at school! I have to tell you that I think I found a new calling, kitchen organization and unpacking. I had the best day ever helping my bestie get her kitchen organized and we went to Whole Foods and stocked her pantry and next we’re going to get her some new gadgets and cooking supplies. It was FUN, but maybe it was so much fun because we just had a fun afternoon hanging with each other as well. I do think that kitchen organization would be a helpful idea I could look into.
I agree with you on the email thing. I subscribe to all my favorite blogs via email or bloglovin. I don’t even know what an RSS feed thing is. Have a great night girl! xoxo, Jackie