What to Cook This Week?
A new week means seven new meal ideas! We're back with our sixth Jernej Kitchen Weekly Meal Plan, featuring a delicious variety of recipes for every day of the week. This time, we're mixing things up and taking our taste buds on a little culinary adventure, from comforting homemade classics to Asian, Italian, and Mexican-inspired dishes.
We start the week with a hearty lentil stew, followed by quick ginger scallion noodles with shrimp, chicken with black rice and green beans, and crispy vegetarian empanadas. For Friday, we're making a delicious seafood pasta, Spaghetti alle Vongole. The weekend calls for something a little heartier, with a flavorful Chili con Carne on Saturday and a juicy Boneless Pork Loin Roast for Sunday dinner.
And what's a weekend without dessert? This week, we've picked two wonderful treats that are perfect for cozy fall days and the upcoming Halloween celebrations: homemade Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and soft Baked Chestnut Doughnuts with chocolate.
We hope this week's meal plan inspires you to try something new, spend less time wondering what to cook, and enjoy more delicious homemade meals with your family.
Monday: Easy Lentil Stew
We're starting the week with a comforting and nutritious Easy Lentil Stew, perfect for Meatless Monday. This hearty dish is packed with lentils, carrots, celery, tomatoes, and aromatic spices that create a rich, delicious flavor. It's wonderfully thick, filling, and just the thing to warm you up on a chilly fall day.
Serve it with a slice of fresh crusty bread, and if you like, add a dollop of sour cream or a sprinkle of fresh parsley. It's a fantastic option for a simple, satisfying lunch or dinner, and it tastes just as delicious the next day.
Get the Easy Lentil Stew Recipe
Tuesday: Ginger Scallion Noodles with Shrimp
On Tuesday, we're bringing Asian-inspired flavors to the dinner table with these delicious Ginger Scallion Noodles with Shrimp. Tender shrimp, fragrant ginger, fresh scallions, and a flavorful sauce come together to create a fantastic noodle dish that's both comforting and refreshing.
The best part? This recipe takes just 15 minutes to prepare! It's one of those meals you'll want to keep on repeat for busy weeknights when you don't have much time but still crave something homemade, fresh, and incredibly satisfying.
Get the Ginger Scallion Noodles with Shrimp Recipe
Wednesday: Chicken with Black Rice and Green Beans
Halfway through the week, we're making something colorful, wholesome, and a little different: Chicken with Black Rice and Green Beans. Black rice has a wonderful nutty flavor and a slightly chewy texture that pairs beautifully with juicy chicken and tender green beans.
This dish is light yet satisfying, packed with delicious flavors, and ready in about 40 minutes. It's a great family-friendly meal when you're craving something balanced, flavorful, and a little more exciting than your usual chicken and rice dinner.
Get the Chicken with Black Rice and Green Beans Recipe
Thursday: Vegetarian Empanadas
For Thursday's meal, we're making crispy, golden Vegetarian Empanadas. These delicious little pastry pockets are made with flaky puff pastry and filled with a flavorful combination of pumpkin, kale, and cheese. They're beautifully golden and crispy on the outside, with a soft, savory filling inside.
Serve them with a fresh seasonal salad or a simple yogurt dipping sauce for a delicious meatless lunch or dinner. Even meat lovers will enjoy these! Another great thing about this recipe is that you can prepare the empanadas ahead of time and freeze them, making busy weekdays a little easier.
Get the Vegetarian Empanadas Recipe
Friday: Spaghetti alle Vongole
Friday calls for seafood, and this week we're making one of our favorite Italian classics: Spaghetti alle Vongole. This simple yet elegant pasta dish proves that you don't need a long list of ingredients to make something truly special.
Fresh clams, garlic, olive oil, white wine, and parsley create a wonderfully fragrant sauce that coats every strand of spaghetti. The result is a light, juicy, and incredibly flavorful pasta dish that tastes like a little Italian seaside getaway.
And the best part? It takes about 25 minutes to make, making it an excellent choice for a quick Friday dinner that feels a little more special.
Get the Spaghetti alle Vongole Recipe
Saturday: Chili con Carne
Saturday is all about comforting, hearty food, and Chili con Carne is exactly what we're craving. This flavorful one-pot meal combines ground beef, beans, corn, tomatoes, and aromatic spices into a rich, satisfying dish that's especially wonderful during the colder months.
As the chili simmers, all those delicious flavors come together to create a thick and hearty meal that's perfect for sharing.
Serve it with fluffy rice, warm tortillas, or a slice of good crusty bread, and finish with a dollop of sour cream. It's a wonderful choice for a relaxed family lunch or dinner when you have a little extra time to cook. We recommend making a bigger batch because it tastes even better the next day.
Get the Chili con Carne Recipe
Sunday: Boneless Pork Loin Roast
Sunday dinner deserves something special, so we're making a juicy Boneless Pork Loin Roast with sage and garlic. The pork is seasoned with mustard, garlic, and fragrant sage, then roasted until beautifully golden on the outside and wonderfully tender and juicy on the inside.
It's one of those classic homemade dishes that makes the whole kitchen smell amazing and brings everyone together around the table.
Serve it with roasted potatoes, creamy mashed potatoes, roasted seasonal vegetables, or a fresh salad. Ready in about an hour, this delicious roast is a fantastic choice for a traditional Sunday family meal without spending the entire afternoon in the kitchen.
Get the Boneless Pork Loin Roast Recipe
Two Delicious Desserts for the Weekend
Because weekends are always a little better with something sweet, we've picked two wonderful homemade desserts to enjoy this week. The first is a playful chocolate-covered treat that's perfect for Halloween, while the second celebrates one of our favorite fall ingredients: chestnuts.
Both are perfect for spending a little extra time in the kitchen, baking with the kids, or treating yourself to something delicious alongside a cup of coffee or tea.
Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies
Our first dessert is homemade Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies, and they're just as adorable as they are delicious. Each cookie features a crunchy peanut cookie base topped with a light and fluffy marshmallow filling, all coated in a thin layer of chocolate that gives a satisfying crack with every bite.
The combination of crunchy cookies, soft marshmallow, and rich chocolate is simply irresistible.
With Halloween just around the corner, you can decorate these sweet treats with candy eyes and turn them into the cutest little ghosts. They're a fun baking project to make with kids, perfect for Halloween parties, or simply a delicious weekend treat.
Get the Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies Recipe
Baked Chestnut Doughnuts
For our second dessert, we're celebrating the flavors of fall with these delicious Baked Chestnut Doughnuts. These soft, wonderfully nutty doughnuts have a delicate, cake-like texture that makes them extra special. Chestnuts give them a distinctive autumn flavor, while a rich chocolate glaze adds the perfect finishing touch.
What we love most about this recipe is that the doughnuts are baked instead of fried, and the whole recipe takes just 30 minutes to prepare.
They're perfect for a cozy fall afternoon, as a sweet treat after Sunday lunch, or whenever you're craving something chocolatey and a little different.
Get the Baked Chestnut Doughnuts Recipe
What to cook this week?
We hope our sixth Weekly Meal Plan makes planning your family meals a little easier and saves you from the everyday question of what to cook for lunch or dinner. Feel free to switch the recipes around to fit your schedule, prepare some meals ahead of time, or make larger batches to enjoy the leftovers the following day.
This week, we've combined comforting homemade dishes, quick international-inspired meals, and heartier recipes for the weekend. We start with a nutritious Easy Lentil Stew, followed by quick Ginger Scallion Noodles with Shrimp, Chicken with Black Rice and Green Beans, and crispy Vegetarian Empanadas. For seafood Friday, we're preparing classic Italian Spaghetti alle Vongole, while the weekend brings a hearty Chili con Carne and a juicy Boneless Pork Loin Roast with sage and garlic.
And for something sweet, we have two wonderful treats: fluffy Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies that you can decorate for Halloween, and soft Baked Chestnut Doughnuts with chocolate glaze, perfect for cozy autumn days.
You'll find plenty more inspiration on Jernej Kitchen, including easy dinner recipes, quick weeknight meals, family-friendly lunches, meatless recipes, comfort food, Sunday roasts, and homemade desserts. You can also explore our previous weekly meal plans whenever you need a little extra inspiration.
We'll be back next week with seven more delicious meal ideas to make answering the question "What's for dinner?" a whole lot easier.
