My younger daughter graduated high school this weekend and it was surreal, exciting and bittersweet.  When I had little ones, the days sometimes felt long because I was just exhausted from it all.  And I never believed anyone who said, “Enjoy it.  It goes fast.”  Before you know it, your kids have been promoted from one school to another and earned drivers licenses and then they’re off to college and you look back on the last 18 years dazed and confused.

If it wasn’t enough that my daughter graduated this weekend, Mr. Picky is being promoted from 6th grade to middle school and that does not come without a bit of fanfare.  My parents are visiting for all the events and it is great to have them here, especially my mom who has become my sous chef in the kitchen as I prepare for celebration dinners and recipe testing alike.  Yes, it’s a busy time, but we still have to eat!  Here’s a great dinner planner for this week:

 

Meatless Monday:  Marinated tempeh and tomato kebabs with minty cilantro lime sauce, basmati rice (from bottomofthepot.com) These kebabs are so good and a perfect intro to tempeh.  Use chicken if you’re afraid of tempeh.

Tuesday:  Stuffed zucchini/zucchini pizza boats, (I might add some browned turkey meat to the boats), herbed barley (make barley and then stir chopped fresh herbs in at end and a little oil or butter)

Wednesday:  Chicken Fajitas, tortillas, guacamole

Thursday:  Spiced wild halibut and lime skewers, green beans with sautéed shallots, green salad with avocado and Everyday Salad Dressing #2

Friday:  Baked Parmesan chicken caprese, lemony kale salad

Saturday lunch:  Tuna salad

Sunday:  Farro with feta, cucumber, and golden beets with mint vinaigrette, grilled vegetables such as zucchini, eggplant and carrots

 

What you can do ahead if you need to:

Sunday

Marinate tempeh and make cilantro lime sauce

Wash herbs for the week

Make marinara sauce (or buy it)

Monday

Prep zucchini boats and make filling

Prep vegetables for fajitas

Tuesday

Marinate chicken or steak for fajiats

Prep green beans

Make all salad dressings (green salad, kale salad, farro)

Wash and trim kale and salad greens

Friday

Make tuna salad

Cook beets

Prep vegetables to be grilled

 

Here’s where you can find all previous dinner planners.

Happy Sunday!  I am preparing this week for one graduation — can you believe my second daughter is graduating from high school?  The big news is that she has decided to go to the same college as her sister, which was sort of a surprise but certainly makes my life easier!  My parents are coming into town for the big event, which is why pasta is on the menu for Thursday and why I am stocking up on espresso and bread from Gjusta.  And my daughter picked out the menu for her graduation dinner.  Next week is my son’s 6th grade promotion, so there will be a lot of celebrating the next couple of weeks!

 

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Happy Memorial Day weekend!  I hope you are having a relaxing few days and that you can take some time off.  We’re heading into barbecue season, which is good and bad.  It’s good because it’s so nice to cook outside and entertain in a relaxed fashion.  It also means the weather is more pleasant.  But what’s not great about grilling can be found in this post here.  Read up on how to reduce your carcinogens when you grill.

Memorial Day:  We’re going to a friend’s house for a BBQ and they always make several kinds of burgers.  Here are a few good ones.

Tuesday:  Slow-roasted Copper River Salmon (if you see this salmon, splurge!  It’s only in season for a very short time and it’s amazing!,) zesty potato skewers, sautéed spinach with garlic and a squeeze of lemon at the end

Wednesday:  Lemon-herb grilled chicken, grilled broccolini with parmesan breadcrumbs, cauli rice

Thursday:  Wheat berry and roasted veggie salad with lemon-basil dressing, feta, pine nuts (I’m taking this recipe and subbing wheat berries for orzo – although you could use brown rice, barley, farro or quinoa- and using my lemon-basil dressing from the bottom of this recipe)

Friday:  Ottolenghi clementine chicken(you can sub oranges if you can’t find clementines), turmeric rice, honey-lemon green beans

Saturday lunch:  Veggie sandwiches with hummus

Sunday:  Chickpea soccas (they’re like flatbreads made out of chickpeas flour)with mixed greens, vinaigrette and a fried egg

 

Here’s what you can do ahead, if you need to.

Sunday

Make all dressings and vinaigrettes

Wash all herbs and

Wednesday

Prep green beans

Make hummus

Do you think of Memorial Day Weekend as the unofficial start of summer?  If so, dust off the grill and get out those beach towels because summer is right in front of you!  In this week’s dinner planner, I’ve included some of my favorite early summer recipes.  I am also thinking about switching the Saturday dinner for a lunch idea since I actually don’t cook on Saturday nights unless we have people over.  It’s my one meal off!  But I do make lunch on Saturday and Sunday so I thought I could make a suggestion every week for a lunch idea.  Let me know what you think!

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I am posting this week’s dinner planner a little early since I think most of you will not be shopping and organizing tomorrow, Mother’s Day!  At least I hope you get the day off.  My daughter is coming home from college this week and I could not be more excited!  She will be getting her hands dirty with me in the kitchen this summer since next year she will be off meal plan and will need to cook for herself.  You would think that all of my kids would be very competent in the kitchen, but think again!  😉

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I have a busy week ahead since it’s the start of a new month, which means I am introducing a new menu in my cooking classes.  Last month’s Mexican menu was a huge success and I hope to post some or most of those recipes eventually.  This Thursday is Cinco de Mayo and there are lots of great recipes you can make in honor of the holiday.  Take a peek at my enchiladas post where I give lots of links to some great Mexican-inspired recipes.

I posted this video two years in a row and I still love it:

ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos

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My dinner planner this week needs to be Passover-friendly, at least until Saturday night at sundown when Passover ends.  Thats when my husband likes to carb-out like he’s been on “Survivor” and hasn’t seen a piece of bread or a grain in months.  It’s only 8 days without these, but psychologically he feels super deprived and all he can think about is pizza, pasta and bread on that last night.  It’s a cheat meal like no other!  Hope you all have a great week. xo

Here’s the dinner planner for this week:

Meatless Monday:  Caldo Tlapeno soup and green salad with Everyday Salad Dressing #2

Tuesday:  Swiss chard and potato gratin, simple roast chicken breasts (take bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts and rub with olive oil or melted butter, season generously with salt and pepper, although I prefer to salt the chicken when I bring it home from the market, roast at 375 for 35-40 minutes and broil for 30 seconds. Take temp of chicken with a meat thermometer and make sure it’s at 165 degrees.

Wednesday: Matzoh lasagne (feel free to add browned ground meat in between layers,) roasted asparagus

Thursday:  Ina’s Asian salmon, sesame spinach salad, roasted radishes

Friday:  Turkey meatloaf from It’s All Easy Cookbook (i’m going to try this with matzoh meal instead of oats), cauli-mashed potatoes, garlic broccoli

Saturday:  Pizza night to end Passover!

Sunday:  Chickpea burgers with pita and avocado and kale salad with creamy lemon dressing

 

Here’s what you can do ahead if you want:

Sunday

Make stock for soup (veggie recipe, chicken recipe)

Make all salad dressings and refrigerate

Make marinara sauce for lasagne and pizzas

Salt chicken for Tuesday

Make marinade for salmon and refrigerate

Wash Swiss chard and salad greens

Monday

Assemble Swiss chard gratin and refrigerate

Prep (wash, dry and trim) asparagus and radishes

Tuesday

Wash, dry and de-stem kale

Prep cauliflower for cauli-mash

Prep broccoli

 

Here’s where you can find all previous dinner planners.