Marin mama’s weekly dinner menu for November 17th
There’s my gorgeous ballerina Zoe! Zoe had her ballet rehearsal last night and I had to grab a quick shot of her before she left. I love the pairing of the sweatshirt with the big pink tutu, as it captures who Zoe is, she’s sporty but yet also has her girly side. I simply adore her and I love the person she is growing up to be.
If there is one thing I try to teach my kids, it’s to be kind to others, to say or do something nice for someone each day, and just to treat others as they would like to be treated. Well, I guess my kids are listening because I came home from the grocery store the other day and was greeted with this beautiful card and flower balloon from Eli. I was feeling a bit blue that morning and Eli totally tapped into my sadness and wanted to cheer me up. Well, he succeeded, and it was so nice to get a note saying thanks for all the simple things I do for him. Moms, you may think that your kids don’t appreciate all the little things you do everyday, but they truly do. They may not say thanks all the time, but just know that they notice all the little things we do and they appreciate it, and us.
Eli loves board games and if you offer to play a board game or really any game with him, he will drop whatever he’s doing and play with you. We’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t taken the time to really just “play” with my kids, so on Friday afternoon I asked him if he wanted to have an afternoon of game playing. He was so excited that he didn’t know what game to start with, and it took us about 10 minutes to decide. We ended up starting with the classic game, Sorry (we have the Disney edition). I played the cute little animals and Eli played the heroes.
John and Zoe got in on the action and we moved onto a family tournament of Jenga. As you can see in the photo below, we were a bit nervous as the tower got higher. We have declared to have a game night at least once a week, (if not more) as it’s a great and simple way to connect and have fun with one another! It also makes you laugh and laughter is the best medicine.
I baked a bit this week as well. I made up one of our favorite fall breads,
cranberry orange bread! Make it, it’s super easy and tasty and your house will smell amazing!
If you follow me on
Instagram and
Facebook then you will see the new challenge that I set up for myself this week. I decided to try and take a week off from caffeine and start off my morning with some lukewarm lemon water. I take 10 ounces of filtered water, warm it up just a bit on the stove so it’s not cold, and then squeeze 1/2 fresh lemon juice and add a pinch of cayenne pepper, (optional, to boost the metabolism). You’re supposed to drink this first thing before eating, as warm lemon water kickstarts the digestion process for the day. You can check out
more of the benefits here. John decided to join me on this and I have to say that we’ve been enjoying our warm lemon water the past two mornings. It actually tastes pretty good and it’s soothing. The downer came yesterday at noon when I hit a wall because I was so tired. I went to my highlight appointment and caved when they offered me a cup of coffee. I only took a few sips, but it immediately perked me up. Maybe having one tiny cup of coffee with breakfast (after drinking my lemon water) isn’t such a bad thing. I will at least stick to the lemon water routine. #Ineedmydailyfixofcoffee
I made up an easy weeknight Bolognese pasta this past week (recipe after Thanksgiving)! So good and so easy!
Ok, let’s move onto this week’s menu:
Sunday night dinner: We’re actually going to a friends for dinner tonight, (yippee) so I have the night off, but I’ll be baking up a batch of our favorite chocolate chip cookies to bring over for dessert.
Monday night dinner: Cauliflower soup and
couscous cakes. This is such an easy and tasty soup to make up, and only require 5 simple ingredients. It’s creamy and will warm up your tummy! It’s also totally kid approved. I love pairing this soup with these couscous cakes, as it’s a nice break from the typical grilled cheese sandwich that we usually pair our soups with.
Tuesday night dinner: Easy skillet chicken parmesan,
crispy garlic bread and
kid friendly caesar salad. We’re having a simple, but classic Italian weeknight dinner!
Wednesday night dinner: Spaghetti squash tacos and
lacinato kale salad. I just love these tacos and pairing them with my favorite salad in the world makes them even better.
Thursday night dinner: Cheesy baked tortellini and
kid friendly caesar salad. Yep, you see this pasta a lot on the weekly menu, because it’s one of our favorites and gets requested from the kids quite a bit. It’s cheesy baked goodness.
Friday night dinner: TGIF! It’s Marin mama’s night off!
Have a happy Sunday everyone!
xoxo, Jackie
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