Meal Planning

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes and family dining ideas that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.

Dragging myself out of bed, it’s time for the daily rush out of the house while also having to make breakfast and lunch all at once. I am so thankful for all the creative products out there to help me make lunch for my son, which I know, will be fun to eat.

My favorite lunchbox tool is the bento box. It fits neatly into my son’s standard lunchbox and I can stuff it full of yummy treats for him to eat. I have found that the easiest way to make a sandwich for him is to make tortilla wraps. They are easy to hold and the combinations of things that you can wrap are endless. I also love silicon cupcake wrappers, which I fill with goodies that would otherwise go everywhere not to mention they cheer up a lunchbox just like that!

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.

Nicole's meal plan for this week Skirt Steak with Oregano Chimichurri and Corn-Cilantro Ragu; Corn Soup with Roasted Corn and Avocado Salsa; Spaghetti with Arugula, Ricotta Salata and a vine ripe roma tomato sauce; Quick and Easy Thai Beef Curry and Chicken and Apricots with a Cilantro-Peanut Sauce.

Ok, I admit this sounds complicated but it really isn’t. The key is a food processor. A blender would also work. This is a super quick and easy recipe with the WOW factor. My family couldn’t get enough of it and it tasted even better the next day.

Servings: 6
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
for the skirt steak with oregano chimichurri sauce

• 1-1/2 pound skirt steak
• 1/3 cup dried oregano

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.

Nicole's meal plan for this week features quick and easy shrimp and green bean stir fry, 3 cup chicken with garlic spinach, rocket pesto with linguni, chicken fried rice, and these flank steak pinwheels.

It seems like premade flank steak pinwheels are the rage at the grocery stores where I live. I have bought them and never really thought that they were all that good. In this recipe, I attempt to make them juicer and tastier than anything you buy pre-made. The result is a fantastic salty-sweet filling that my family gobbled up. My son especially loved the sauce to dip the steak in. I served it with Israeli couscous and an heirloom cherry tomato salad.

Servings: 4–6
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.

Nicole's meal plan for this week features the yummiest peanut tofu stir fry ever, Moroccan chicken pot pie baked in muffin tins, English muffin casserole, and this fresh and simple farmer's market fettuccini.

With the continued bounty of my neighbor’s gardens and my own, I have been looking for new ways to eat all our succulent summer vegetables. This is a quick and easy raw summer pasta dish which can be easily adapted to fit children’s finicky palates. Just modify the recipe using vegetables that they like the best. In this recipe, I use a vegetable peeler to cut the zucchini into extra thin ribbons, which makes it fun for my son and mixes in nicely with the pasta.

Servings: 4–6
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups sliced cherry tomatoes
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 handful of fresh basil leaves

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.

Nicole's meal plan for this week features skirt steak with chimichurri dressing, tomato pesto penne, chicken with zucchini and cherry tomatoes, grilled eggplant, red pepper, and tomato foccacia sandwiches

Building on my famous quick roasted chicken thighs, this recipe uses the best of fresh seasonal favorites such as sweet red bell peppers and vine ripened tomatoes. We mopped up the sauce with a fresh loaf of herbed bread but pasta would be a nice accompaniment too.

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.

Nicole's meal plan for this week features soy-ginger chicken kebabs, spaghetti with a raw tomato sauce, rotisserie chicken Vietnamese sandwich (banh mi), slow cooker carnitas tacos, and this skillet steak peperonata.

I met Lynne Curry author of Pure Beef: An Essential Guide to Artisan Meat with Recipes for Every Cut at the Farmer’s Market last month. During her book signing, she had her book open to skillet steak peperonata. The image of the perfectly cooked steak with peppers drew me right in. I knew I needed to read her book and so, now I am in the process of cooking my way through it with a future larger discussion on local meat to come. Just skimming through the pages, I knew a lot of her recipes would work perfectly for the carnivore families who read A Family That Eats Together.

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.

Nicole's meal plan for this week features one-pot Asian chicken with rice and bok choy, rice with grilled summer squash, fusilli with olive and pancetta, tortilla soup, and this grilled shrimp flatbread with chickpea puree and cilantro pesto.

In the summer, I am always looking for light and healthy meals that don’t have to be cooked indoors. This is a quick and easy recipe, which can be made in minutes if you own a food processor. Just use the same food processor bowl for both the pesto and puree, making the pesto first. Also, make sure to buy peeled and deveined shrimp. Doing it yourself is time consuming and who wants to deal with the mess?

Recipe adapted from Bobby Flay.

Servings: 6–8
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.

Nicole's meal plan for this week features bucatini in a tomato and eggplant sauce, zucchini ricotta fritters, vegetarian tostadas with homemade refried beans, the yummiest peanut tofu stir fry ever, and this fresh and easy spaghetti with zucchini.

This is a quick and easy recipe that can be done in a flash using seasonally fresh zucchini. The trick is to julienne (AKA very thinly slice) the zucchini as finely as possible. This can be done with a knife or with a mandoline. If the zucchini is super fresh, you don't even need to cook it. It will be great raw.

Servings: 4–6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 zucchini, julienned
• 1 pound spaghetti

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.

Nicole's meal plan for this week features Chicken Bouillabaisse, One-Skillet Cheesy Beef and Macaroni, Skirt Steak with Haricots Verts, Linguini with Cherry Tomato Sauce, and this Not-so-White-Trash Burger with Special Sauce

Think In-n-Out Burgers gone high-end and you have my Not-so-White Trash Burgers. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t pine over In-n-Out Burger and this recipe is pretty terrific. What makes it "white trash"? Well, that’s the iceberg lettuce and special sauce. I add heirloom tomatoes just to take it up a notch.