This week's meal plan is about keeping it simple and easy, and inviting friends over! Indulge in a New England clambake or a juicy bison burger. Every recipe is easy to scale up or down.

This month, we welcome back Marta Rivera for more of her meal plans. Marta is a trained chef, mom of twins, and wife to a newly-retired soldier!

Summer vacation has barely started and I’m already on the verge of losing my sanity. With no schoolwork to keep the kids’ minds occupied, we’re in the kitchen learning life skills and getting meals knocked out in one fell swoop.

Light and easy dinners are popular in my Central Texan home. Cutting down on oven use, which heats up the house unbearably, is important to maintaining everyone’s good attitude. Heat = irritability.

I’m also doing my best to introduce new cuisines and types of food, like Vietnamese-Style Noodles, while keeping favorites, such as Chicken Piccata, close at hand.