What a week I had!  Thank you to Seattle and Portland for showing me a great time.  I loved visiting both cities, doing TV segments, meeting people at Book Larder and Bob’s Red Mill.  I will definitely be back!  In the meantime, I will be keeping it pretty mellow this week to get back on track before I get busy again next weekend.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and restful July 4th!  Here’s your dinner planner for the week:

Monday: Socca with Mediterannean toppings

Tuesday: 4th of July! Check out this post for tons of menu ideas from the blog, or have done several 4th of July menus with Jenni Kayne: 2013, 2014, 2016 .  If you have my new cookbook, I think the following recipes are great options for 4th of July (or all summer long!) entertaining:

Mains:

Wild Halibut Burgers

Balsamic-Herb Steak

Sweet and Smoky Chicken (use pounded breasts and grill them!)

 

Salads:

Saturday Chopped Salad

Quinoa Salad with Cherries (sub figs if you can’t find cherries)

Zucchini Carpacccio

 

Sides/Veg:

Grilled Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses

Herbed Mixed Grain Pilaf

Sauteed Zucchini with Shallots

Pasta with Kale, Walnuts, and Ricotta

 

Dessert:

Mason Jar Strawberry Shortcakes with Whipped Greek Yogurt

Bluberry Crumb Bars

Sweet Potato Chocolate Pudding

Roasted Peach Sundaes with Date-Caramel Sauce

 

My new book can be purchased on Amazon or you can order signed books from my local bookstore Pages!

Wednesday: Tomato and basil strata with leftover hamburger/hot dog buns (and if you didn’t host and have no buns, use bread or make a frittata), green salad (I like a simple arugula salad with lemon, olive oil, and sea salt)

Thursday: Grilled Summer Salad with Chicken and Spicy Cashew Dressing

Friday: Spaghetti with Squash Blossom Butter and Summer Beans from Food and Wine

Saturday lunch: Corn and edamame succotash

Sunday: Taco night! (shredded chicken tacos, ground turkey tacos, or fish tacos), salsa, guacamole, tortillas, cilantro-lime slaw

Do ahead (not including any 4th of July prep):

Sunday

Make socca batter and refrigerate

Make taco seasoning

Tuesday night or Wednesday morning

Make strata and refrigerate overnight before baking

Make spicy cashew dressing and refrigerate

Trim green beans for spaghetti

Friday

Cut corn off cobs for succotash

Prep veggies for slaw

Here’s a link to all my previous dinner planners.