Meg's Meal Planning

easy dinner

Week of July 12th

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I’m back! The past two weeks were much needed! I caught up with old friends, celebrated my one year wedding anniversary in Portland, ME, (click here to read about Portland), and went on a family vacation!  Over the past two weeks I finished my CSA, made LOTS of PESTO, tried some new recipes, and ate way too much seafood! (Not always a bad thing!).  

  
I made two variations of pesto.  The first one was with just basil and the second one was with basil and sorrel, both from the CSA.  

Basil Pesto

  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

  • 3 cups fresh basil
  • 1/4 cup unsalted almonds
  • 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic 
  • 1/3 cup olive oil

Directions

  1. Add all ingredients, except olive oil, to a food processor and blend well.
  2. Slowly drizzle olive oil and continue to blend.
  3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
 

***For the 2nd batch I followed the same recipe, but added fresh sorrel with the basil.  I froze more than half of the pesto and stored the rest in a tightly sealed mason jar. 

Monday– Panini- homemade basil pesto (see above), tomato, fresh sliced mozzarella. Another easy dinner!  Spread the pesto on the panini, layer with tomato and sliced mozzarella. Toasted on panini maker! 

Tuesday– Grilled salmon and grilled snap peas. Finished off the last snap peas from the CSA.  I love this grilled snap pea recipe, I’ve used it almost every time. It’s simple and tasty! I didn’t use a wood plank for the salmon because last time, we didn’t like how it came out. Any tips?? Instead, the salmon was seasoned with salt and pepper and placed directly on the grill for 10 minutes. 

Wednesday– Pasta with cherry tomatoes and fresh basil.  Another easy dinner for a summer night.

Thursday– Left over pulled pork, baked beans, and kohlrabi coleslaw. The pulled pork was from my parents and the kohlrabi was from the CSA.  I had never heard of kohlrabi before; it tastes like a cabbage, but has a little more crunch!

Friday– Pesto chicken. Finished off the rest of the basil. This was a great recipe, something I can’t wait to eat again once I start getting tomatoes from my garden! 

  

Simple and Quick Dinner Recipes

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Who doesn’t love a fast meal idea? From busy parents, to the workaholic and everyone in between, no one loves spending hours on end in the kitchen cooking, only to eat the meal for 15 mins, then followed by more time spent cleaning the dishes. 

Occasionally I don’t mind spending a lot of time in the kitchen, like on a weekend night, when my husband and I can open a bottle of wine and leisurely cook our meal.  The aroma of the food, the taste of the wine, and the carefree conversation is something I look forward to.  Week nights do NOT follow under that category.  I want to spend as little time as possible in the kitchen.  In the winter, crockpot recipes are a big help and in the warmer months, using the grill is mostly time friendly. But for those inbetween nights I’ve developed a list of my top favorite simple and quick dinner recipes. All recipes I have made and shared in my weekly mealy planning menu. I’ve rounded up the top 12 to bring to you!

  
1. Chicken Stromboli– Recipe under Sunday night’s dinner idea

2. Cobb Salad Wrap– Tuesday night dinner

3. Black Bean Quesadilla– Recipe listed under Monday night’s dinner idea

4. Ground Turkey Tacos– Friday night dinner idea

5. Make Your Own Pizza- Found here 

6. Avocado, Tomato, Bacon Grilled Cheese

7. Eggplant Panini– Recipe listed under Wednesday night’s dinner idea 

8. Grilled Chicken, Fresh Mozzarella, Basil, and Tomato Panini– Thursday night dinner idea

9. Panini with pesto, fresh mozzarella, tomato, and prosciutto– Wednesday night dinner

10. Pesto pizza with tomato, shredded mozzarella, and fresh basil– Wednesday night dinner

11. Stuffed burgers -Tuesday dinner 

12. Pasta and meatballs.  And even better, make extra meatballs for grinders for another easy dinner!

  

Pesto Pizza

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This was an easy week night recipe, especially since I already had the pesto made up. If you don’t, no worries, it’s still simple to make. I used the pesto I made from sorrel. Click here for the pesto recipe. And I used store bought dough.

I LOVE fresh basil!!

 

Spray pizza stone and roll out dough, use flour if needed

 

Spread pesto on top


Ingredients

  • 1 package of store bought dough
  • Fresh pesto, click here for pesto recipe 
  • Mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • 1-2 tomatoes, slicked
  • 5-6 basil leaves, sliced

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Spray a cookie sheet or pizza stone and roll your dough out. Use flour if sticking to rolling pin

3. Spread pesto over dough

4. Add shredded cheese

5. Add slicedtomato

6. Bake for 12-15 minutes

7. Add basil slices

Week of May 31st

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Monday–Skirt steak, musrhoom, and kale stir fry served over brown rice. A one pot meal = minimum clean up and more time to watch the Bachelorette! (It’s my guilty pleasure!) 

Tuesday – Grilled Salmon with grilled asparagus and rice. Thank you to everyone who told me where to find cedar planks. We did try them, but I was really disappointed! The salmon did not have the same smokey, grilled flavor like when you lay it directly on the grates. It was so bad, I didn’t even want to take a picture of it or blog about it!  So for tonight’s recipe, we went back to old faithful and laid the salmon right on the grill. I would appreciate any tips from people who use wood planks! 

Wednesday – Panini sandwich with pesto, fresh mozzarella, tomato, and prosciutto. Another easy dinner.  My husband and I worked putting up a fence around our garden tonight, so I knew we needed something easy to make.  Panini sandwich to the rescuse! I used store bought pesto. Hopefully once our garden takess off, I’ll be making homemade pesto! 

 
Ingredients         Recipe is for two sandwiches

  • Your choice of panini bread
  • 2 tablespoons of pesto
  • Fresh mozzarella, sliced
  • Tomato, sliced
  • 4-6 slices of prosciutto
  1. Cut panini bread into two sandwiches
  2. Spread pesto on bottom piece of both sandwiches
  3. Lay prosciutto, mozzarella, and tomato
  4. Place on panini press or George Foreman grill. Grill until cheese is melted.

Thursday – Cheeseburgers with grilled squash and zucchni and baked beans. There’s just something about grilled veggies during summer! Can’t wait until I can use vegetables from my own garden! I season with just olive oil, salt, and pepper and use a grill basket to hold them. 

Friday – Seared scallops with brussel sprouts and prosciutto. Scallops were on sale for $6.99/lb, so I decided to treat my husband and myself! I used the rest of the left over prosciutto from Wednesday night’s panini sandwich to add to the dish. It sounds like an elegant dish, but it’s very easy and quick to make!    

  
Next week I start my CSA box and I’m so excited!! CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. To learn more about a CSA box click here to read about the farm I’m getting mine from. It’s a great idea because you are supporting a local farm and you get healthy and fresh produce!  Everybody wins!