ON THE MENU 3rd Week Of April

Need dinner ideas? Here’s a spring menu plan for the third week of April with scrumptious dinners and 49 delicious recipes! There are delicious main dishes, side dishes, vegetables, salads, desserts, and breads, as well as lots of early spring recipes!

I stopped at Trader Joe’s this afternoon, and that was no simple thing. You see, we do not have a Trader Joe’s anywhere close to where I live. I had to drive over an hour to get there. But so worth it. I got a bunch of pink tulips for  $12.99, lots of produce, and some other odds and ends. The first time I stopped at a Trader Joe’s was in San Diego decades ago, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Please, Trader Joe’s, come to Lancaster! You will love it here.  Now, here’s what’s On The Menu this week!

I love to try new recipes. Many of them are as new to me as they are to you, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they taste even better than they look!

MONDAY

Our freezer is stocked with a wonderful combination of deer and beef hamburgers. It is amazing! Thanks to a huge deer Bobby hunted this year, I’ll be using this recipe to make The Recipe Critic’s fabulous Swedish meatballs. YUM! Thanks, Recipe Critic

Tonight’s menu starts off with an absolutely delicious salad originally from Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

I’ll serve the Swedish meatballs over wide egg noodles and pair them with smashed broccoli. Have you heard of it? It’s so crispy.

• SWEEDISH MEATBALLS WITH WIDE EGG NOODLES
• SMASHED BROCCOLI WITH PARMESAN CHEESE
• RUTH’S CHRIS CHOPPED SALAD

TUESDAY

I have a mostly love but a little hate relationship with Chicken. It can be scrumptiously moist and the foil for delicious ingredients, but it can also be as rubbery as a rubber chicken! It’s all about the way you treat it! The chicken in this recipe was treated to a bath in creamed spinach, layered with beautiful bacon, and dotted with cheese and mushrooms. No wonder it looks so good! I can’t wait to make this! Thanks, Julia @ Julia’s Album.

I’m serving the chicken with a family rice dish that my grandmother taught me how to make. It’s so easy, and adding just a couple of ingredients to the rice makes it a stand-alone favorite. Another favorite family making an appearance on tonight’s menu is my Arugula Salad.

• SMOTHERED CHICKEN WITH CREAMED SPINACH BACON AND MUSHROOMS
• NANI’S SAUTEED RICE
• ARUGULA SALAD WITH PINENUTS AND SHAVED PARMESAN CHEESE

Wednesday- Easy Dinner

Salad can make a great dinner. It just needs to be hearty and filling, and for us Here at StoneGable, it should also have meat! As an added bonus, this great dinner salad also has some of the Southwest flavors we love! Thanks, Chungah at Damn Delicious.

• BBQ CHICKEN SALAD

Thursday

If you try one thing this week, Baja Fish Tacos should be it! We usually make these during the summer when we grow most of the produce in our garden. But these are delicious any time of year!

You are missing a culinary treat if you don’t make your own guacamole. Try my homemade guacamole recipe below. It is the best!

• BAJA FISH TACOS
• GUACAMOLE AND CHIPS

Friday

Growing asparagus is one of the things that Lancaster Co. does best! Fresh Lancaster asparagus has an amazing taste. We had beds of asparagus mounds at StoneGable, but there is not enough room in the yard to have any here. So we rely on local farm markets we trust to provide fresh asparagus from the fields.

Tonight’s recipe is one I have made several times, and I love it for its taste and also because it is such a quick dinner—a one-pan meal! I’ll serve it over rice again instead of water and use beef stock to give it more flavor.

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• ASPARAGUS AND BEEF STIR FRY
• RICE

Saturday- Pizza Night

Pizza is a great weekend food for entertaining. But it’s even better if you make it homemade and serve it with a delicious Greek salad.

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• MUSHROOM PIZZA WITH PANCETTA AND CARAMELIZED ONIONS
• THE BEST GREEK SALAD

Sunday- Dinner With Friends 

Almost every Sunday, my friend Donna comes over, and we have dinner together. Sometimes, my kids and grandkids come too, but unless she or Bobby and I are away, it’s our evening to have dinner together, catch up, and watch whatever series we are watching together. Right now, we are watching the latest season of When Calls The Heart. It moves slower than the catsup on top of the meatloaf!

Donna loves meatloaf, so I am making this delicious recipe as a main course. Thanks, Natasha from Salt And Lavender.

I’ll be serving it with sour cream and chive mashed potatoes with the meatloaf. While the meatloaf is in the oven, roast a tray of root vegetables. I love to eat these vegetables for lunch the next day.

For dessert, while we watch When Calls The Heart, Southern Chocolate Cobbler in a bowl with vanilla ice cream will be a treat.

• EASY MEATLOAF
• SOUR CREAM AND CHIVE MASHED POTATOES
• ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES
• SOUTHERN CHOCOLATE COBBLER

Sweet Treat This Week

One of the things I miss most about our StoneGable home is the rhubarb. We had huge, glorious plants! I harvested those plants from late May into the summer, leaving lots of leaves on the plants to energize them for the following year’s harvest.

I wish I had found this recipe earlier, as I know it would have been a family favorite. Thanks, Tricia @ Saving Room For Dessert.

• RHUBARB CRUMBLE BARS

More Delicious Recipes To Try

A strawberry lemon dessert I make when company comes for coffee.

One of my favorite chicken recipes.

I LOVE these potatoes!

This homemade salad dressing is worth making.

This beef recipe is so tender and amazing.

This high protein egg recipe.

This potato salad boasts a secret ingredient.

A layered salad to feed a crowd.

This easy soup recipe is a family favorite.

This cheese asparagus recipe.

A pretty spring slab pie.

A chicken dish that will melt in your mouth.

These tiny pastas are bathed in lemon and herbs.

A spin on a green bean casserole.

Classic French beef recipe.

This is a yes, please, vegetable dish.

You will want to make this mind-blowing salad.

This cake is named for a tiny bird.

These vegetable chips.

I can’t wait to try this baked pasta recipe.

This is a gorgeous beef recipe.

This Asian salad is a must-make.

These muffins taste like a cinnamon roll.

This delicious fried chicken that isn’t fried.

Baked potatoes done right.

Make this steak with garlic herb butter.

This salad is made with broccoli.

A no-bake blast from the past dessert everyone loves.

A crock pot chicken recipe that should be in your recipe box.

This is one of my favorite side dishes.

Make these meatballs at your own risk!

Delicious savory pies.

This is a devil of a salad!

Have a scrumptious week, friends!