Dinner Planner: Week of March 21

This week is the last week of the Cuban-inspired classes I am teaching this month. I hope to get some good photos so I can post the recipes for you soon. Everything has been getting rave reviews! I am finishing up the final touches on my Mexican menu for April classes. This is one of my most popular classes of the year. I’ll try to remember to share some images on Instagram during the month.

But first, there’s a holiday coming up. Easter is next Sunday, March 27th and I know many of you are planning your menus. We are going out for Easter this year, so I don’t have a personal menu to share, but I love coming up with ideas for you. Check out the bottom of the menu for those. Also, if you are boiling eggs for dying and you eventually want to eat them, it’s best to pick those up as soon as possible. In my experience, the fresher the eggs, the harder they are to peel. So you actually want older eggs. Check out my video here for how to make the perfect boiled egg. It never fails!

Here’s your dinner planner for this week:

Meatless Monday: Pasta (try something different like a brown rice and quinoa pasta or spelt pasta) with peas and asparagus, green salad with Everyday Salad Dressing #1

Tuesday: Miso-glazed cod, steamed brown rice or cauli-rice, sautéed kale with garlic and crushed red pepper

Wednesday: Roasted chicken with herbs de provence and roasted potatoes and carrots (I am taking my roasted chicken recipe and rubbing a few teaspoons of dried Herbs de Provence on the skin before roasting) and green spring salad (here’s a slow cooker version of the chicken) Save the chicken carcass for making stock! Either refrigerate it for two days or wrap it up and freeze it.

Thursday: Italian wedding soup, spinach pizza quesadillas or salad. If you have a lot of chicken leftover from Wednesday’s roast chicken, you can add that to the soup instead of making the turkey meatballs in wedding soup recipe.

Friday: Shrimp with tomatoes, white beans and spinach (this is nice served over a cooked grain or pasta) I’ll probably serve this with rice since pasta is on the menu earlier in the week.

Saturday: Spaghetti squash and lentils with pesto Check out this recipe for how to cook spaghetti squash. Then I’m going to cook simple lentils until tender and toss the spaghetti squash with the lentils and pesto. Image above is just spaghetti squash with pesto.

EASTER SUNDAY

For breakfast or brunch, I always love a good frittata. Here are recipes for Swiss Chard and another for Artichoke and Spinach.

This Oatmeal Soufflé is a winner. Or these Strawberry Scones (best made the day of.)

Muffins are always a good idea. Here are recipes for Savory Spinach and Feta, Blueberry-Spelt, Grain-free Chocolate Chia Banana, Grain-free Cranberry-Orange which I would convert to something more spring-like, or Banana Carrot

These are my favorite salads for spring: Perfect Spring Salad, Asparagus Salad with Mint Vinaigrette (my favorite dressing ever!), Spinach and Quinoa Salad with Feta and Dill, my Kale Salad would be great with radishes and strawberries.

Creamy Asparagus Soup and Spring Minestrone are light and perfect for the holiday.

I’m sure you have your own Easter ham or lamb recipe, but this is a lovely chicken and artichoke recipe I often make for spring dinners.

Desserts are always the fun part: Lemon Ice Torte with Strawberry-Rhubarb Sauce, Coconut Macaroons, Grain-free Balsamic Roasted Strawberry Tart, Whole Grain Carrot Cake, Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies

Here’s what you can prep ahead for the week, not including Easter dinner:

Sunday

Prep (wash, dry, chop) asparagus for pasta

Make salad dressings for all salads