Welcome to the first edition of Weeknight Dinner Recap! A roundup of everything we made for dinner this week. Just an FYI: "this week" refers to meals made Sunday-Thursday which is what we consider the workweek for cooking. Come Friday, it's time to go out and enjoy the weekend! 

Some of the photos shown here have also been shared on Instagram where you can follow along for all of our gluten free meals made at home, as well as dining out adventures in Boston and beyond.  Come join us!

Recap begins after the jump! 

Sunday: OK, it was our first wedding anniversary weekend (!!) and we went out to Lone Star Taco Bar for tacos, margaritas, and some fab nachos (and several other spots that I mentioned on Insta.) If you haven't been to Lone Star yet, you must. I could eat my weight in tacos sitting at the bar and not even notice. Plus, we took this adorable photo that I love, since we have the same one from shortly after we got engaged. :) The majority of the time though, we do cook on Sunday nights, and lately it's been a lot of seafood! 

Monday:  Hello, August! To begin the month we had a classic with a twist! Chicken pesto Parmesan over zucchini noodles. Zucchini season is in full swing and we are complete taking advantage of this plentiful vegetable every week. We made the pesto using fresh basil from our balcony garden and man, was that scrumptious! Our trick for making chicken pesto parm is by spooning a little pesto on each piece of chicken before topping with cheese and putting under the broiler. This creates an amazing layered creating of pesto and cheese that's irresistible. Serving with zucchini noodles makes it feel slightly healthier, but just slightly. If you were wondering, I ate the leftover pesto out of the bowl through the rest of the week, no spoon required. ;)

Tuesday: Summer classic feature! It's finally corn season and we had our first farm-fresh corn of the season and served it with quick, pan-grilled chicken! This meal was absurdly easy to prepare and just delicious. Sometimes you just need a combo like that after a long day - and it was only Tuesday! The corn was great and I can't  wait to have it as much as possible through the rest of this joyful summer season. 

Wednesday:  A weeknight classic now on repeat! We adore the zucchini noodles with sausage and kale recipe from The Lemon Bowl, and have no shame admitting it's now in our regular dinner rotation. I love finding a dish that's delicious and reliable every time it's made. Those familiar flavors and ease-of-preparation really make a difference during a busy work week. Zucchini noodles are finding their way all over our meals lately, but I'm not complaining! Be sure to use sweet Italian sausage as the recipe recommends as it pairs really well with the other ingredients. However, I can imagine it would be just as good with beef or another meat of your choice (or go vegan, if you wish!). Of note, for this dish we added extra garlic and sprinkled pine nuts on top. Personal preference on those two, but it really enhanced the meal. Try it! 

Thursday:  Our classics week finale! We made the turkey and zucchini burgers with green onion and cumin from the Ottolenghi book, Jerusalem. The flavor in these babies is fabulous and they go so well with a traditional cucumber, feta, and tomato salad (dressed only with salt, pepper, a little lemon juice, and olive oil!). The burgers are pretty straightforward and can be made small enough for a crowd, or a little bigger for a great date night for two at home. The sauce we dipped them in came right from the cookbook as well and is excellent - a yogurt and sour cream base with lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. What I love about this meal, as with many we make, is that it's so versatile and the main item can be paired with any number of sides. Maybe next time we will try the burgers with a chilled quinoa salad or warm rice on the side. Could be great! These burgers are definitely the new standard for "sliders" in our house! 

Well, that wraps up dinners for this week! If you have any questions about the meals we made, please ask! My husband is the chef in our house and I am the meal planner. I am hopefully going to begin baking again, a "promise" I made last year which has yielded about two batches of cookies so far! Perhaps I'll thrown on my apron and find my GF flour once the fall begins, but no promises. ;)

TGIF: this weekend will include dinners out at some of our local favorites that offer awesome GF options that are (must be) Celiac-safe for me. Tune in on Insta Stories for details and a full review of where we went on Monday! 

Eat well! 

~ Mollie  

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