Marin mama’s weekly dinner menu for April 13th

Yesterday the kids and I had a day in the city. We had to go shopping for new spring clothes as well as a graduation and party dress for Zoe, so we decided to make a whole afternoon and evening out of it. The shopping trip was a success as we found 2 dresses for Zoe, and Eli scored with a bunch of new spring clothes as well as these neon sneakers he’s sporting in the below photo. Eli is sneaker obsessed, and the brighter the sneakers are the better. He really wanted these red neon sneakers and has had his eyes on them for the past month. Everytime we would go into Nordstroms he would grab these sneakers, come find me in the store and give me the hard sell on why he needed to have them. I have a set price for Eli when it comes to sneakers because he blows through them in about 2-3 months, but Eli really wanted these, so he chipped in $20 of his own money as a compromise. As you can see from the photo below, he is one happy dude!

After shopping I took the kids to David’s Tea to warm up and chill out after a long afternoon of shopping. If you haven’t been to David’s Tea, you should totally go. They have over 150 unique loose leaf teas and the flavor combinations are amazing. Eli sampled their birthday cake tea and loved it. It literally smells like a birthday cake and is sweet to boot. Zoe sampled their strawberry rhubarb parfait tea and liked it, but thought Eli’s tea was a bit more fun. I was the boring one and just had a cup of their organic green rooibos tea, but I loved it! After tea we walked on over to Delarosa for some super yummy pizza. We ordered their spinach, goat cheese and sun-dried tomato pizza as well as their Prosciutto di Parma, arugula and mozzarella pizza. Both pizza’s were given the thumbs up.

Eli was super psyched because he saw a root beer with his name on the menu, so we had to order it of course. He also was super sneaky and smuggled the bottle home so he could show all of his friends.

After stuffing ourselves with pizza, we got in the car and drove to Bi Rite Creamery for some ice-cream. Ok, a friend just turned me on to Bi Rite ice cream and I have to tell you that it’s amazing! I splurged and gave up my sugar cleanse to have their salted caramel ice cream, and I have to say that it was well worth it. We also scored and got parking right in front of the store, which was great because it was a bit chilly out, so the kids and I finished up our ice cream in the car with the heater on! Yep, that’s how we role in San Francisco!

Ok, so let’s move onto this week’s menu:

Sunday night dinner: Vegetarian banh mi sandwiches and miso kale salad. We love these sandwiches, they are chock-full of flavor and they’re super fun for the kids to eat. I always make up a big batch of the miso kale salad, as I could eat it for days.

Monday night dinner: Asparugus and gruyere cheese pizza and miso kale salad. I know we had pizza on Saturday night, but we’ve been craving this pizza. This pizza takes no time to whip up, espically if you get some store bought crust, which I always do. I made a huge batch of the miso kale salad yesterday, so we will pair that with the pizza.

Tuesday night dinner: Orecchiette pasta with pesto, sausage and green beans. This is another family favorite weeknight dinner. It’s super simple to throw together and it’s a one-bowl pasta which is even better. I’m going to use some broccoli rabe in place of the green beans. I also know exactly how long my orecchiette pasta takes, so I will just add the broccoli rabe in at the last-minute of the pasta’s cooking time, making it an even easier dinner to prepare.

Wednesday night dinner: Curried chicken salad sandwiches and sliced red pepper and carrots. We love these chicken sandwiches and they are the perfect make-ahead dinner. We usually substitute fresh mango for the grapes, and it’s amazing. This is another kid friendly/kid approved dinner!

Thursday night dinner: Leftover night. We have plenty of leftovers to choose from. The kids have a choice between the pasta and curried chicken salad!

Friday night dinner: TGIF! It’s Marin mama’s night off!

Stay tuned this week as I’m going to post the recipe for this chicken farro salad. It’s sweet and nutty at the same time, and is the perfect bring to work or picnic lunch because it’s served cold.

Have a great week everyone!

xoxo, Jacquelyn

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