Here we are back to the easiest dinner of the week, Breakfast For Dinner (BFD). John was busily concocting his omelet but I felt like, “Easy. All I want is easy.” So I made some simple soft scrambled eggs, microwaved a veggie patty, threw together a salad, and toasted a pita. After all the eating of the last week it was nice to eat a dinner that was not too big, not too fatty, and not too complicated. BFD, you are just what I needed!
Scrambled eggs, veggie patty, salad, pita
Since we did a lot of heavy eating Thanksgiving week it is time to buckle down and stick closely to our diet since we both have a couple of holiday pounds to lose. This week features seafood and vegetarian dinners only but I do not think that we will feel like we are dieting!
Chicken vegetable soup
Open-faced tuna salad sandwich
Easy dinner tonight. I made soup with chicken stock plus whatever produce I had and some chicken breast pieces. I also made tuna salad which I eat as an open-faced sandwich with a lettuce leaf as my top “bread”.
Chicken breast with stock, butternut squash, b. Sprouts, cranberry chutney
Originally I had planned for duck tacos tonight but I was done with rich food and John wanted to make a “Peking duck” leftover meal so I decided on some chicken warmed up in chicken broth and the leftover sprouts, squash, and chutney. Our daughter finished off the mashed potato casserole and onions.
Although we were just three people (our household), we had a lovely Thanksgiving full of all the foods we like best. Of course, not having eaten rich foods for over a year, dining royally meant that I felt sick all night, slept little, and gained weight (but actually less than a pound.) Here is what we had—
Our dinner table with our daughter’s homemade rolls and potato casserole
Cranberry chutney- bittersweet with a touch of spice. John called it the star of the dinner.
Delicious roasted creamed onions
Brussels sprouts lined up and ready to be cooked with some butter and dry sherry
Duck breasts that John cooked perfectly. Hey, Pilgrims did not live on turkey alone!
A picture of my plate which includes chipotle spiced roasted butternut squash
Warm Indian pudding with melting vanilla ice cream, not the traditional pumpkin pie. Warm and bittersweet against cold and sweet, divine!
We managed to touch all our Thanksgiving bases for just the three of us. We were thankful that everyone in our family has stayed healthy and that we are without the food insecurity that is ravaging the US. John was great and did the dishes. We ate at 3 PM and managed to stay awake until 8 PM. It was a lot easier cooking for three than ten but we missed the hubbub and companionship. Next year hopefully we will all be vaccinated and celebrating together!
Afghani masoor dal, white rice/cauliflower rice mix, and sautéed zucchini, mushrooms,onions, and peppers
Tomorrow is our big Thanksgiving feast for the three of us so we wanted something fairly light for dinner tonight. These red lentils cook up in 15 minutes and are flavored with ginger, onion, garlic, turmeric, cumin, and cayenne. A squeeze of lemon at the end of cooking brightens up all the flavors.
While the lentils were cooking I sautéed onions, garlic, poblano pepper, and mushrooms. With a few minutes left before the lentils were cooked I added thinly sliced coins of zucchini. The rice was from last week and we just heated it up in the microwave.
Scallops with rice and snow peas and a parsley-caper sauce
Yum, scallops! John does such an incredible job cooking them and they are just so sweet and tender. He lets our cast iron pan heat for five minutes with just minimal oil and then the cooking process also takes about five minutes. Cook them on one side until there is a nice sear, turn them over, and then finish cooking for a minute or so until they are just barely cooked through. Is there anything sadder than an overcooked scallop?! It is a waste of a beautiful product.
Along with my usual cauliflower rice/white rice mix and sautéed snow peas, I made a kind of loose parsley and caper tartar-ish sauce. John pronounced it delish! Ingredients are light mayo, yellow mustard, parsley, capers, a little olive oil, lemon juice, red onion, a splash of water, salt, pepper, and sriracha. Just keep tasting it until you like it!
Wednesday’s dinner will just be a simple lentil dish with more rice mix and some spinach as we prepare for our Thursday Thanksgiving feast. Preparations have been going on for several days! I hope our pandemic Thanksgiving and yours will be filled with wonderful food and memories.
Swiss cheese, spinach, onion, and mushroom omelet with a tossed salad
I love easy Sundays! No thinking,little prep, and a satisfying outcome. I sautéed some onions, mushroom, and spinach and laid that mixture and an ultra thin slice of Swiss cheese on my forming two-egg omelet. When the bottom egg mixture was set, I flipped over half of it and let it cook another minute to make sure that the inner egg was cooked. I paired the omelet with a simple, bright salad and, voila, supper was made.
On Sundays John and I each make our own egg dish which makes my Sunday supper even simpler. His omelet was a lot like mine except he used three eggs and included ham in his prep.
Whole grain penne with mushrooms and asparagus
I realize that my menu said we were having orecchiette with broccoli and mushrooms but John saw some good looking asparagus at the store so we changed directions. Penne is a great look-alike when paired with asparagus cut on the diagonal. And the hearty taste of whole grain is great with any vegetable.
I used a couple of teaspoons of oil to sauté the vegetables and some pasta water to make the sauce. Easy-peasy and dinner made in less than 30 minutes!
Usually Thanksgiving is a large family gathering but this year we are celebrating as just our household in order to keep the virus at bay. Instead of the usual turkey we are having duck breasts with a cranberry chutney and then the usual fixings. I need to keep the rest of the week fairly light so that I do not end up gaining too much weight from our feast on Thursday. With that on mind, the rest of the week is mostly seafood or plant-based.
