Weekly Menu Plan Week 15

Weekly Menu Plan Week 15 focuses on delicious 30 Minute Meals that are ready in a flash to feed your family well with very little effort during the week. 

Holy wow, Friends! Summer is speeding by faster than a rocket full of monkeys! That phrase was one of my favorite grandpa-isms. Faster than a rocket full of monkeys, that is. Grandpa had nothing to do with summer or the speed at which it seems to pass. Just so we’re all on the same page with my train of thought. It’s a real rabbit hole in there some days.

Just as the fleeting days of summer, the week is seemingly over before I realized that it began. Cruising toward August means that I spent the week cleaning and organizing closets in preparation for next week’s fun–cleaning and organizing our primary work spaces and the school room. All of these super fun activities are in preparation of sliding into August, in which all of the curriculum change over happens to get us ready for the next homeschool year. Be jealous of my Rock Star Life.

You may have noticed on my Instagram Stories feed that I did take time out this week to make a few (quadruple) batches of jam. Strawberry-Rhubarb and Strawberry, respectively. I’m hoping to squeeze in some time to take the Sons blueberry picking in the coming week. They practically inhaled Strawberry Supper’s blueberry-maple preserves that I made last year, so we’re due for a fresh supply.

Slightly On Topic: If you also like to can and preserve the goodness of the season, check out my BFF Rebecca’s cookbook Not Your Mama’s Canning Book: Modern Canned Goods and What to Make with Them.  Girlfriend knows how to can, and she shares modern recipes beyond your basic jams and pickles. She also gives tasty recipes for what to do with your newly preserved pantry items. It’s the bees knees of canning books!

But I digress. Let’s get back to menu planning, hmmm? Weekly Menu Plan Week 15 focuses on deliciously easy 30 minute meals that the whole family will love.  These appetizing recipes are simply perfect for the transitory days of summer.

Jenni/Pastry Chef Online starts the week with her Easy Marinara Cream Sauce. The vegetarian sauce comes together in minutes. It’s delightful when tossed with pasta or as the base sauce for DIY Pizza Night, on homemade 30-minute cornmeal pizza dough. Heck, I like it as a dipper for noshing on cheesy Italian herb pinwheels, too. If you’re a fan of the jarred vodka marinara sauces sold in stores, Jenni’s got you covered by including a variation for just that. You can’t go wrong with this versatile sauce.

Next up is Susan/Girl in the Little Red Kitchen’s Korean BBQ Rice Bowl. Bulgogi marinated short ribs (a.k.a. Galbi) rests atop jasmine rice, with kimchi and quick pickled daikon radishes. All the flavors of really great take out and ready at in 30 minutes! It doesn’t get much better than that. Since I can’t always find short ribs, I plan to try a version using my Kalbi (Korean BBQ Beef) recipe, which uses readily available (to me) round steak.

I’m really looking forward to Sarah/Chef Next Door’s One Pan Greek Beef Pasta. Seasoned ground beef, fresh green beans, and canned tomatoes are tossed with pasta and plenty of feta cheese for extra “Greek” inspired flair. Sound familiar? Fans of Greek food might equate this dish to the Greek beef and green bean dish called “Fasolakia.” Feel free to think of this as a fun twist on Fasolakia.

Oh. My. Goodness. I’ll be dreaming about Pook’s Pantry’s Cheese Stuffed Queso Fundido Chicken for weeks to come. Tender chicken is stuffed with mozzarella cheese, and topped with creamy queso fundido. Queso fundido is similar to my chile con queso con chorizo recipe, but rather than using chorizo sausage, the cheese sauce includes poblano peppers for a milder zip. It’s cheese stuffed chicken with cheese sauce, y’all! I’m speechless with anticipation! 

I’m rounding out the week with one of my favorite ways to eat my veggies–in 15 Minute Weeknight Pasta. This dish is perfect for those nights when you don’t much feel like cooking but are sick of take out. I flash saute seasonal vegetables to preserve crispness, and then toss them with perfectly cooked pasta in a simple sauce before garnishing with plenty of cheese. I usually use sweet bell pepper and onions, but feel free to toss in fresh asparagus, green beans, or other seasonal vegetables with a low water content. Follow the formula of the recipe and create your own version of delicious!

Weeks that end in not one, but two desserts are my favorite! Jenni/Pastry Chef Online sweetens the week with her super easy No Churn Salted Caramel Turtle Fudge Swirl Ice Cream. I love no churn ice cream recipes because anyone can make it without owning my favorite ice cream maker. I especially love when the flavors have a lot going on–as with my No Churn Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream recipe. Jenni makes a salted caramel ice cream base , before swirling in chocolate turtle candies and a ribbon of fudge. If you’re a nut free house like we are, I suggest substituting plain Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bars for the turtle candies in the ice cream.

Sarah/The Chef Next Door makes quick work of her Mini Walnut Cinnamon Buns by using a can of crescent roll dough for the basis of the rolls. I don’t mind the occasional can of crescent rolls, but if a can of dough goes against your made from scratch sensibilities, then feel free to set aside some homemade crescent roll dough for this very purpose. For a nut free version, just leave them out of the recipe, as it already includes your basic buttery sweet cinnamon roll filling. My family would adore waking up to the smell of these mini cinnamon rolls on Saturday morning. Your’s will too.

Do you have a favorite recipe from the Weekly Menu Plan Week 15?

As always, the Dinner Divas would like to hear the type of recipes that you’d like to see on our Weekly Menu Plans. Please drop a note in the comments to tell us what you like!