Week of Weeknight Meals: July 2024

Hello, friends! How are ya? Are you having a good week so far? We certainly are and I hope to dive into it more in an upcoming blog post but until then, I’m popping in today to share a post that is part of the week of weeknight dinners series I started on the blog  a while ago to give you a peek into what we’ve been eating lately. If I’m being honest, I’m feeling a little uninspired in the kitchen right now and know I need to spend a little time flipping through cookbooks and browsing through recipes I have saved on the internet for some dinner inspiration to try some new recipes because that always helps reignite my love for cooking. Also, I genuinely like meal planning and finding fun new recipes to try so it’s just a matter of actually doing it.

That being said, the dinners featured in today’s blog post were all still yummy (we just eat many of them a LOT, hence the desire to switch things up a bit) and, as always, they’re meals that can be prepared easily (all 20 minutes or less).

Also, I know a bunch of you like to see notes about what the boys eat since they don’t eat exactly what we eat every night (we try to do a variation of our meals but I let go of any self-imposed pressure to have them eat what we eat for dinner years ago) and I apologize but I forgot to make notes about what they ate this week and cannot for the life of me remember their meals beyond Friday night. Sooo I’ll do my best to bring that back next month!

Week of Weeknight Meals: July 2024

• Monday: Salmon Poke Bowls

When I tell you I could eat some variation of a poke bowl for lunch or dinner every single day of the week, I mean it. This is a meal I never get sick of, no matter how many times I eat it. The flavors combine so many of my favorite foodie things — seafood, poke sauce, varying textures — and Monday’s dinner certainly checked all those boxes. Brown rice served as the base and I topped the grain with teriyaki salmon, edamame, diced cucumber from our garden, Everything But the Bagel seasoning and poke sauce I made with sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar and ginger. It was simple and delicious!

• Tuesday: Chicken + Arugula + Grain Bowl

Tuesday’s dinner was all about leftovers. I chopped up some leftover chicken we had on hand from Sunday night’s dinner and served them on top of a bed of arugula and brown rice. I also added some chopped carrots to the salad as well as a homemade dressing made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, a bit of honey, garlic, salt, pepper and dijon mustard.

• Wednesday: Air Fryer Chicken Thighs with Mashed Sweet Potato and Sesame Green Beans

Surprise, surprise, I made Pinch of Yum’s air fryer chicken again. I’ve taken to making a gigantic batch of this seasoning to have on hand at all times in a big jar to make a quick dinner easier to throw together. On Wednesday, I paired the chicken with mashed sweet potatoes and sesame green beans I made on the stovetop with sesame oil, soy sauce and Everything But the Bagel seasoning. Ryan and I both loved the green beans prepared this way!

• Thursday: Zucchini Casserole with Tomato Basil Salad

I’m kicking myself for not taking the time to measure out the ingredients for this zucchini casserole but I used this super old recipe I shared on the blog back in 2011 (talk about a throwback!) as a baseline. I changed up a few things like swapping the squash for zucchini from our garden and added a bunch of cottage cheese to the casserole in place of the Greek yogurt. It was fantastic and I’ll be sure to measure everything out the next time I make it! On the side, I made a simple salad with fresh tomatoes and basil, red onion, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and plenty of feta cheese.

• Friday: Grilled Paleo Marinated Chicken Thighs with Leftover Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans and Rolls

Friday night’s dinner looked a lot like Thursday night’s dinner only we swapped out the air fryer chicken thighs for our favorite grilled paleo marinated chicken thighs. (I told ya this is the dinner recipe we make most often from the blog!) Leftover mashed sweet potatoes and green beans served as our sides as well as some Roro’s parker rolls.

Question of the Day

What was your favorite meal of the week last week?