On The Menu 3rd Week In March

Need dinner ideas? Here’s a week’s worth of scrumptious dinner recipes, plus more! There are delicious main dishes, side dishes, vegetables, salads, desserts, and breads, as well as lots of early spring recipes!

Happy Spring, friends! What a yummy week I’ve planned for you. A nice variety of flavors and textures. We eat with our eyes, so I try to be aware of making food look appealing, too! Lots of early spring recipes to start to make since Tuesday, March 19th is the first day of spring.

Here’s what’s On The Menu for the 3rd week in March…

MONDAY

I love pizza, and I really, really love French Bread Pizza! YUM! It is so easy and delicious, and it is a crowd-pleaser. I think I’ll add some caramelized onions and mushrooms to this yummy recipe!

I say this a lot, but Mondays are super busy for me. As long as the weather is good, I spend quite a big chunk of the day styling and doing photo shoots. So dinner has to be easy!

Thanks for the delicious pizza recipe, Holly, from Spend With Pennies.

If you like artichokes, you really must try the delicious artichoke side dish featured below—especially if you are an artichoke lover like me!

• FRENCH BREAD PIZZA
• ARTICHOKE PROVENCAL

TUESDAY

I know it might be the beginning of spring today, but any day is the perfect day for Nani’s Sauteed Chicken!

Nani’s Sauteed Chicken is a family favorite. My grandmother and her mother made this recipe. I’m not sure how many generations of my family made it, but I bet quite a few! I call it peasant food. It’s easy, has basic ingredients, and is just so tasty.

I’ve changed the recipe a little. I follow the recipe until everything starts to simmer in the pan on top of the stove, and then I put it in a 350-degree oven for 30-40 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. The skin stays very crisp, and the meat almost falls off the bone. I’m making this with mashed potatoes. The potatoes and the sauce from the pan are incredibly delicious together! And carrots are also on the menu. This is another old post, but it’s a very tasty recipe. Roasted carrots with thyme have a flavor profile that adds a bit of herbaceousness and sweetness to the chicken.

Sauteed Chicken will make your whole home smell so delicious as it cooks! When I make Sauteed Chicken it smells like home to me.

• NANI’S SAUTEED CHICKEN
• MASHED POTATOES
• SCRUMPTIOUS ROASTED ORGANIC CARROTS

WEDNESDAY- INSTANT POT SOUP DAY

My kids rave about their Instant Pot. Actually, I wasn’t impressed with mine, so I gave mine away. However, my girls kept talking about all the great recipes they made with theirs, so I got another one, thinking maybe I did not give my first one a fair try. And I’m so glad I bought a second one. I learned how to use it and love it.

Tonight’s dinner is beautiful chicken soup with orzo swimming in a lemon-forward broth. This soup sounds like spring! And I’m adding garlic toast to this menu. Who doesn’t love garlic bread and soup?

This is such a delicious-looking recipe from Simply Happy Foodie.

• INSTANT POT LEMON CHICKEN ORZO SOUP
• EASY HOMEMADE GARLIC BREAD

THURSDAY

Tonight’s salmon recipe is wonderfully easy and so flavorful. What a great combination, right? Bobby and I try to eat salmon about once a week! It’s just so good for us! So we like to find easy and different ways to make salmon. Tonight’s salmon recipe calls for a flavorful mustard sauce. That sounds so good. And slices of lemon top the dish.

Lemons do something luscious for salmon because it is a fatty and rich fish. The acidity of the lemon cuts the fat and laces its fragrance and flavor with the salmon. If you don’t like the way your house smells when you make salmon, try salmon en papillote. Make a little packet out of parchment paper and cook the salmon in it. You can see this easy technique HERE.

The salmon is paired with lemony couscous. I’m a big fan of Israeli couscous. The grains are larger and have more substance than regular couscous, which, to me, is like eating sand. These tiny grains are really pasta made from semolina flour.

Thanks, Flavor The Moments, for the delicious salmon recipe!

• EASY BAKED LEMON DIJON SALMON
• ISRAELI COUSCOUS SALAD

FRIDAY- COMPANY COMING

I think a beef tenderloin is the best-kept culinary secret. It tastes like filet mignon, but it’s a roast! If you have a meat thermometer, the tenderloin comes out perfect every time! I usually find a tenderloin just a little over a pound, which feeds Bobby and me with leftovers for lunch.

We are having company, so I’ll make at least a two-pound roast tonight. Just think about having restaurant-quality fillet mignon for dinner at home!

One of the most important things about cooking a beef tenderloin, or any roast for that matter, is getting the temperature right! I push an oven-safe meat thermometer into the fattest end of the tenderloin, making sure it is embedded into the middle of the roast. I let it roast until it is medium-rare, about 135 degrees.

The secret to a very juicy roast is to LET IT SIT! Take it out of the oven and tent it with foil for at least 15 minutes. This gives the meat a chance to reabsorb all the delicious juices and goodness back into the meat so it does not end up on your cutting board!

As you can see, I really love this cut of meat. Give it a try!

We love to serve it with mushrooms sauteed in marsala wine! Oh, these are just so scrummy (thanks for the word, Dane Mary Barry)! You really should give them a try. I like to use sliced white mushrooms for this recipe; it’s easier.

I am so excited to make the baked, mashed potato cakes. They sound amazing! Although they are very straightforward to make, they look so professional and will make a handsome pairing with the roast. I’m also serving an arugula salad. Its fresh, peppery taste will be a nice contrast to the rich roast.

For dessert, I’m making a vanilla cake that makes its own custard. Doesn’t that sound divine?

Thanks, Simply Recipe, for the beautiful roast recipe.

• ROAST BEED TENDERLOIN
• BABY BELLA MUSHROOM IN MARSALA WINE
• BAKED MASHED POTATO CAKES
• ARUGULA SALAD WITH SHAVED PARMESAN, PINENUTS IN A LEMON VINAIGRETTE
• MAGIC CUSTARD CAKE

SATURDAY- ANOTHER INSTANT POT DINNER

This is a WW recipe, but it does not taste like one! It’s creamy and so good! The whole wheat pasta gives this recipe a nice tooth, and the creamy sauce is made tangy with yogurt and creamy with cottage cheese. You will never guess it is a WW recipe!

I love salads with pasta, so tonight’s is an Italian chopped salad that I can’t wait to try!

Thanks, My Crazy Good Life.

• WEIGHT WATCHERS TUSCAN CHICKEN PASTA
• MOM’S CLASSIC ITALIAN CHOPPED SALAD

SUNDAY

The weather is getting beautiful in my area. Spring and asparagus go so well together! I just love this gorgeous fresh asparagus pie made with puff pastry. Another blissful combination!

I’ll make this for lunch and have our son and family over after church. I’m not sure my grandchildren will eat it because it’s not mac and cheese! But they will eat my dill pickle potato salad. My grandmother taught me how to make this delicious potato salad, and it is my most requested recipe.

Thanks for the glorious recipe, Aline Made.

• GREEN ASPARAGUS CHEESE TART
• THE BEST POTATO SALAD
• FRESH STRAWBERRIES AND VANILLA ICE. CREAM

TREAT OF THE WEEK

This is my kind of goodie. It has a bit of chocolate and a little crunch—just enough to tame my sweet tooth. And this recipe is so easy to make!

This WW recipe is from Skinny Points. Thanks!

• CRACKER COOKIES

MORE RECIPES I’D LOVE TO MAKE

These SCONES are amazing!

Bobby will love this SNACK CAKE.

My favorite Air Fryer RECIPE.

This PASTA says spring to me.

This lemon-glazed sweet QUICK BREAD is so pretty and scrumptious.

APPETIZERS any “tot” would love.

Beautiful ways to use LEFTOVER HERBS.

This recipe is COMPANY WORTHY.

A SWEET TREAT with strawberries and lemons.

If you like tacos, you will love this SOUP.

Scrumptious MAIN DISH!

Morning breakfast MUFFINS that taste like sunshine.

A cake turned into BARS.

Starbucks’s BREAKFAST RECIPE knockoff.

A tasty take on a traditional QUICHE.

This SALAD is so delicious.

A light lemony MAIN DISH RECIPE

Flavorful FISH RECIPE I can’t wait to make.

A savory GRATIN I can’t wait to make.

Another winner is APPETIZER RECIPE.

Our favorite BARELY BAKED COOKIES.

Easy recipe using ROTISERIE CHICKEN.

A tried and true yummy blast from the past RECIPE.

Have a scrumptious week, friends!