Weekly Menu Plan Week 117 for which the theme is summery pastas and salads, punctuated by sweet vehicles for All the Summer Fruit.
Summer is in full swing, and nothing says that more than big plates of pasta and salads! Wait.What?! Stay with me here! We’re serving up all of the light and summery pastas, plus a few salads, and two great desserts that are the perfect showcase all of the summer fruits. There is a method to the Weekly Menu Plan 117 madness. Take a look:
Cheryl/Pook’s Pantry kicks off the week with this gorgeous Mediterranean Quinoa Salad that’s full of all sorts of goodness like lemon, mint, pistachios, and golden raisins. Yes, golden raisins. Trust me, the raisins work! If you’re a nut free house like we are, try substituting roasted pumpkin seed kernels (a.k.a. pepitas) for a safe and tasty crunch. I also suggest adding slices of Mediterranean grilled chicken to round out the meal. The leftovers make for excellent lunches for the rest of the week.
I make use of the abundance of leafy green kale available at the farmers’ markets this summer with my Lemon Garlic Linguine with Kale. The light lemony sauce it the perfect compliment to the kale with a healthy dose of crisp garlic and salty parmesan cheese. It’s practically a hearty dinner salad!
Now I realize that macaroni and cheese may not sound like a summer dish, but Jenni/Pastry Chef Online’s is a delightful exception. She calls it the The Hands-Down Best Mac and Cheese recipe. With a name like that, it deserves to be eaten year ’round. As long as we’re heating up the house, go ahead and bake up a batch of honey white bread to make garlic bread to go along with.
In the season in which grilling meats takes center stage, I feel like shrimp is often neglected. Shrimp cooks in a matter of minutes, and packs a nice punch of protein. Erin/The Speckled Palate’s Lemon Shrimp Pasta comes together in minutes, leaving plenty of time to relax after a long day. I recommend serving a chopped salad with orange poppy seed vinaigrette alongside to carry the citrus theme through.
We round out the week with Cheryl’s Chicken Taco Salad that’s so full of flavor, it’s destined to make your regular dinner rotation. As if all of the flavor isn’t enough, the crisp tortilla chips and a creamy avocado buttermilk dressing make it something special. After a dinner like this, I’d love to enjoy a few alfajores caramel sandwich cookies.
If cookies aren’t your thing…well…then we can’t be friends. KIDDING!! That is my thinly veiled attempt at a segue to tell you to make Jenni’s Whipped Cream Pound Cake. This particular pound cake has a fluffier texture than the usual run of the mill pound cake. I think it’s a perfect base for All of the Summer Berries on top. In fact, a little spoonful of easy strawberry freezer jam would be perfectly lovely with this cake.
If cake isn’t your thing, then Erin hooks us up with her Dairy Free Peach Cobbler. I live for peach season because cobbler is the quintessential summer dessert. Try it with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.
That’s it for this week, Friends!
What’s your favorite recipe on Weekly Menu Plan 117?
Comments