Week of Weeknight Meals: June 2024

Good morning! Monday is here! How are you feeling? How was your weekend? I hope you’re checking in today feeling relaxed and rejuvenated. With the Fourth of July quickly approaching on Thursday, I’m sure a bunch of you out there are traveling this week but if you’re staying put and carrying on with normal everyday life and looking for a little dinnertime inspiration, I’m hoping today’s post will be helpful for you!

As part of my week of weeknight meals series, I’m sharing a glimpse into what last week’s dinners looked like in our house. I began sharing one week of weeknight dinners each month on the blog a while back as a nod to the early days of this blog when I used to share my dinner plate nearly every single night!

Last week’s meals were all easy, no-fuss recipes and as usual images were snapped in real-time — no fancy food photography allowed! You’ll see a combination of chicken and pork dishes as well as poke bowls and what I refer to as my “I have no idea what to make for dinner” weeknight dinner formula which popped up twice below. Hopefully at least one meal below will pop out at you if you’re trying to figure out what to make for dinner this week!

Week of Weeknight Meals: June 2024

• Monday: Everything Bagel Seared Tuna Poke Bowls

I arrived home from Milwaukee on Monday and since I didn’t put any thought into meal planning heading into the week, I turned to our freezer to see what we could work with for dinner that evening. I found some wild caught tuna and defrosted it before searing it and serving it poke-bowl style. Our tuna bowls included brown rice, roasted zucchini from our garden, edamame, green onions and an easy poke sauce I made with sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, rice vinegar and garlic. If you’re intimidated by seared tuna, my everything bagel seared tuna recipe makes it so easy! It’s still a recipe we make all the time in our house!

• Tuesday: Easy Marinated Pork with Baked Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans and Roasted Zucchini

I made it to the grocery store on Tuesday so we had more than just freezer food to work with for dinner Tuesday night! I marinated pork tenderloin in my favorite pork marinade, seared on the stovetop in my dutch oven and then baked it along with a few sweet potatoes. We also had steamed green beans mixed with roasted zucchini. It was a simple meal but a good one!

• Wednesday: Taco Bowls

Wednesday evening we had taco bowls for dinner! I reheated leftover brown rice from Monday night’s poke bowls and added taco meat made with ground beef and onions, tomatoes from our garden, avocado, green onions and cilantro. The meal was especially easy, as I used a packet of organic taco seasoning mix I keep on hand from Thrive Market!

• Thursday: Paleo Marinated Chicken Thighs with Baked Sweet Potatoes, Asparagus and Brussels Sprouts

This meal was very similar to Tuesday night’s meal but with a different protein and different veggies. It’s basically my go-to formula when I don’t have a meal plan — aka a protein, some kind of easy carb and a vegetable. Thursday’s protein looked like my paleo marinated chicken thighs (our all-time favorite and the dinner recipe we make most often from this blog) while the veggies were a combination of air fryer brussels sprouts paired with blanched asparagus. I didn’t love the brussels sprouts prepared in the air fryer but I think this was my own fault because I perhaps kept them a little too simple with just olive oil and garlic salt. Next time I’ll jazz them up a bit!

• Friday: Oven Baked Fajita Bowls

Friday night’s dinner was an old standby for our family: Oven baked fajitas! I shortcut this recipe every single time by using a bag of frozen sliced bell peppers and onions which makes it a breeze. I also swap the chicken breasts for chicken thighs and we love this meal so much! We had our oven baked fajitas bowl-style with brown rice, guacamole, tomatoes, lettuce, shredded cheese and cilantro.

Question of the Day

What was the best thing you ate for dinner this week?

Any new recipes making their way into your dinnertime rotation?

Do you have any delicious recipes you’re planning to make for the Fourth of July?