Marin mama’s weekly dinner menu for October 5th

First off, I need you to all know that this is totally not a Marin mama approved cereal.  I had to post this as my opening shot though because I thought it was hilarious that a somewhat healthy food blogger like me has a photo of their son giving the thumbs up to a box of Lucky Charms.  It just makes me chuckle.  Let me give you the background on why Eli is holding up a box of Lucky Charms.  Eli is turning 10 this week, (Happy Birthday Eli) and each year for his birthday he gets to pick out one sugar cereal to enjoy and consume over the next week or so, till it’s gone (it doesn’t last past 5 days). Last year he picked Krave!
The year before that he picked the classic Lucky Charms, and the year prior he picked frosted flakes.  You can see a trend here, and that trend seems to be leading to more sugar and more chocolate.  I don’t know how long this tradition will last, but it’s a tradition that Eli looks forward to each year, so I will keep it going for a long as he likes. Life is all about moderation and balance, and when the simple things make you happy, then you just have to go for it! You can see how this simple treat and tradition makes my boy light up, and when he lights up I light up. I mean look at that happy little guy, can’t get a bigger smile than that!

Before I move onto the weekly menu post, I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your sweet emails.  A lot of you have been checking in with me to make sure I’m ok, as I haven’t posted in a few weeks. Everything is good. I’m super slammed with work right now, which is great because I’m loving my job, and it’s wonderful to see our catering business grow.  I’m also dealing with some personal stuff, which is not fun, so I’m really trying to be present with the kids and myself right now.  At some point in the near future, I will share with all of you what’s happening in my life, but for now, I’m just keeping it on the lowdown. I really enjoy this blog, and I enjoy connecting with all of you, so I’m not going to stop blogging anytime soon, but my posts may be a bit more infrequent until I get back into a groove and rhythm again!  Thank you for all of your patience and support, I really do appreciate you all!

So, let’s move onto some healthier things that I’ve been enjoying lately!  I’m SO loving heirloom tomatoes right now.  I’ve been eating this below sandwich everyday for the past 2 weeks.  I’m topping one of my favorite breads, Dave’s Killer bread (for those of you that are local, you can get this bread at Paradise Foods or Whole Foods) with smashed avocado, heirloom tomatoes and some coarse sea salt. If I have leftover roasted chicken then I will add some of that to the sandwich. There’s seriously nothing quite like a ripe heirloom tomato! They honestly taste like candy, they’re so good!  Since they’re so amazing and ripe right now, I made a vow to use them this whole week in all of my recipes!  Luckily my kids like these tomatoes, because they’re going to be eating a lot of them this week.

The kids are not getting hot lunch at school this year, so I’ve been making their lunches and I’m trying to come up with some fun and creative ideas.  I picked up some lavosh bread from work and I’ve been making lavosh sandwiches for the kids.  These are so good!  I made Zoe a chicken, cheese, lettuce and chipotle mayo lavosh the other day that she devoured (see her lunch below).  Eli likes a simpler wrap of salami, cheese and mayonnaise.  I will keep experimenting with some new wrap ideas and possibly do a post!

The kids and I went to Mana Bowls in Fairfax yesterday after Eli’s soccer game!  We had to try this place because their acai bowls are all the rave with girl’s Zoe’s age.  We are all about trying new things, so this was a fun adventure.

I mean look at all the different acai bowls you can order.  I LOVE this menu board because it’s full of color and fun!

Eli went with the Dragon smoothie as he was not wanting to try an acai bowl.  Zoe got the seasonal acai bowl which was topped with fresh strawberries, kiwi, coconut and granola. So pretty and so good!

I knew these bowls would be a bit on the sweeter side, so I ordered their green bowl, which had sliced bananas, strawberries, kale, spinach, chia seeds, goji berries, coconut and granola. It was super tasty, but not as pretty and colorful as Zoe’s bowl.  We thought this place was great, but more of an afternoon treat than a lunch.  Eli was a bit surprised when I told him his smoothie was lunch! He was not satisfied with that, so I made him a peanut butter sandwich when we got home!  If you’re in the Fairfax area, give this place a try.  Your teen will love it!

Ok, let’s move onto this week’s menu! You will see that I will be incorporating heirloom tomatoes into each dinner!

Sunday night dinner:  Favorite turkey burgers, mixed green salad with carrot ginger dressing & onion rings dipped in homemade sriracha mayonnaise.  We LOVE these turkey burgers, and that’s the reason why they’re labeled “favorite turkey burgers”  on the blog.  We either top them with some cilantro-lime mayo or siracha mayo. Both taste amazing on this burger.  I am using the heirlooms in our salad as well as on our burgers!

Monday night dinner:  Paul McCartney’s refried bean tacos and lacinato kale salad.  We love this dinner combination!  I love that this is an under 20 minute meal, as long as I make the salad ahead of time.  I’m going to use heirlooms instead of regular tomatoes in the refried beans.  Zoe loves the refried beans for lunch the next day. I heat up a thermos, heat up the refried beans and top them with some cheese. I pack her some tortilla chips and she dips those into the refried beans.  It’s an easy leftover lunch that she never tires of.

Tuesday night dinner:  Pesto-yogurt roasted drumsticks, roasted broccoli and grilled bruschetta with heirloom tomatoes.  This is such an easy weeknight dinner.  I make the pesto marinade in the morning or the night before, add the drumsticks and thighs and let them marinate all day.  It’s such an easy marinade to whip together, and the drumsticks only take about 30 minutes to cook.  Eli also loves the cold drumsticks for lunch the next day!  We’ve been eating roasted broccoli tons!  It’s super tasty and only takes 8 minutes to cook, can’t beat that.  I love this heirloom tomato bruschetta!  It’s fabulous and is a meal within itself.  The bruschetta also makes a great lunch if you serve it up with a salad.

Wednesday night dinner:   Roasted red pepper panini with cilantro-lime mayo and sliced red pepper and carrots.  Wednesday nights are hectic.  Zoe has cheer from 3:30 till 5:30 and then dance at 6:30.  We therefore only have about 45 minutes to enjoy dinner together, so we have officially declared Wednesday’s as sandwich or take out night!  Tonight I’m making paninis, and they’re pretty easy to assemble once all of the ingredients are prepped.  I roast the red peppers in the morning and then make the cilantro-lime mayo sometime in the afternoon.  My kids and I LOVE these paninis and they’re a great meatless Monday dinner.

Thursday night dinner:  Heirloom tomato soup and popovers!  With heirlooms as ripe as they are, I just have to make up one of our favorite late summer and early fall soups.  This is our favorite soup ever, and we’re always sad when heirloom season is over because that means no more heirloom tomato soup for a whole year!  We love pairing this soup with popovers.  The kids and I love taking the bottom of the popover and using it a spoon to scoop out some of the soup. So good!

Friday night dinner:  TGIF!  It’s Marin mama’s night off!  Fridays are exhausting and by the end of the week I want someone else to do the cooking!  We will either order in some pizza, takeout, or just raid the fridge for leftovers!

Enjoy your week everyone!

xoxo, Jacquelyn