Instant Pot Chana dal 9/9/22

Posted on September 10, 2022 by Beebamom

We made this Chana dal early Friday morning and released the steam outside again because it is still really hot. As it turns out it was 107F during the hottest part of the day so we were glad we did our cooking before the extreme heat alert for conserving energy between 4 PM and 9 PM kicked in. Tomorrow things are supposed to be more normal-ish weather-wise and we can go back to our regular cooking regime.

Chana dal is an Indian dish using dried split chickpeas, tomatoes, ginger, onions, and garlic. You can stir some greens in at the end but I usually layer mine with raw kale on the bottom followed by cauliflower or regular rice, then the Chana dal, and cilantro on top. Depending on how spicy I want it, I put a few squirts of sriracha on as well. Here is the recipe I use.

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Hummus and tabbouleh with pita 9/8/22

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Beebamom
Hummus and tabbouleh with pita

Thursday night’s dinner was another extreme hot weather enterprise. This no-cook dinner featured hummus bought from the local grocery store, whole grain pita, radishes, feta, pepperoncini, and tabbouleh which I made myself. My recipe is one that I adapted from a NYT recipe.

I admit that making the tabbouleh is quite a chore. As the family gave the dinner great accolades and asked that I make it again, I am thinking of trying the tabbouleh from a deli or restaurant that sells it and then merely doctoring it up. I see nothing wrong with taking a shortcut.

The weather people are saying today might only get to the upper 90s and should be the last day of the extreme heat. I certainly hope so! Our high temperatures typically only last for three days before the cooler Pacific air makes it way to the East Bay. Ten days of heat is unprecedented. I am hoping that we will be spared any more high temps this year but I have lived here long enough to not start hoping for the end of summer until October 1!

Posted in Grains, Hot weather meals, Legumes, Middle Eastern, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Instant Pot Vichyssoise and avocado toast. 9/7/22

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Beebamom
Vichyssoise with chives and chive flower

Avocado toast

I have to admit I much prefer making gazpacho on these seemingly endless days of temperatures well over 100F. With gazpacho I just drop a bunch of raw vegetables in a blender, whiz them up, adjust for salt and acid, and I am done. With Vichyssoise I needed to peel and chop onions, clean (ugh) and chop 3 leeks, and peel and chop 2 lbs. of potatoes!

To try to keep the kitchen cool, I used my Instant Pot. When it was time to vent the steam John carried the pot outside! Except for the peeling and chopping the soup was actually very easy to make. Here’s how I did it.

Into the Instant Pot put one roughly chopped onion, 3 leeks (white parts only), cleaned and cut into half moons, one clove chopped garlic, two pounds of russet potatoes, 32 oz. of chicken or vegetable stock, and 1 teaspoon of table salt. Set the Instant Pot on Soup for 10 minutes. When the cooking is complete vent the steam. Using a stick blender, purée the soup. Add 1/4 cup (or more) of heavy cream. Taste for salt level. Chill. In order to get my soup chilled in time for dinner I put the entire metal bowl from the instant Pot in a larger bowl of ice water. That cooled it down somewhat. To get it chilled the rest of the way, I put containers of soup in the freezer for 40 minutes. When serving I garnished the bowls with chives and chive flowers plus extra virgin olive oil.

We really enjoyed the cool silky soup. The mashed up avocado spread on toast was good too!

Posted in French, Hot weather meals, Instant Pot, Methods, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Raw vegetable salad with tofu. 9/6/22

Posted on September 7, 2022 by Beebamom
Raw vegetable salad with tofu

We have been eating a lot of these bowls lately. Given the fact that we are under this unrelenting heat dome (113F again, yikes!), this vegetable salad with tofu seemed like the best choice. I had planned on Thai basil eggplant today but the idea of cooking when we are trying to keep the house cool made the dish a non-starter. I just hope the eggplant keeps until Friday when it should merely be in the 90s.

The vegetables I used for the salad were shredded cabbage, soy-marinated extra firm tofu, edamame, cucumber, avocado, green onions, and spicy chiles. No rice this time but you could definitely include it. I gave it a drizzle of olive oil and then poured over a dressing composed of 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup vinegar, a dash of water, 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil, and some whizzed up garlic, green onions, and ginger. (Too much trouble? You could probably substitute garlic, onion, and ginger powders.) After I combine those dressing ingredients I sweeten it with a half packet of Splenda but you could use a teaspoon or so of sugar or whatever sweetener you like. Garnish is a shake or two of furikake.

Posted in Asian, Easy, Hot weather meals, Legumes, Methods, Salad, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | 1 Comment

Indoor Labor Day picnic 9/5/22

Posted on September 6, 2022 by Beebamom
Picnic spread

So much for an outside event today. Happy “All-time record heat” Labor Day. We topped off at about 113F. It’s supposed to be hotter tomorrow. Ugh. Anyway, we made a little picnic in the family room where it was only about 80F. Between 4PM and 9PM we had to turn the air conditioning to a higher setting and not run any big appliances so that the electrical grid could cope.

Our no-cook picnic consisted of cheesea, salami and crackers, crusty bread and pesto, vegetables and dip, and microwaved pre-made meatballs in marinara sauce. We watched the U.S. Open and some cooking shows and ate our picnic. I am so glad I did not suggest having the whole family over for the holiday!

Posted in American, Beef, Easy, Holidays, Hot weather meals, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Sunday supper salad. 9/4/22

Posted on September 5, 2022 by Beebamom
Mixed vegetable salad with tuna and hard-boiled egg

My recent Sunday suppers have been more salad-like and less egg-like. Since it was VERY HOT yesterday, I cooked the egg in the morning and blanched the broccoli in the microwave. Along with the egg and the broccoli I had tomatoes, olives, edamame, red onion, mushrooms, tuna, and three sorts of greens underneath, Romaine, kale, and basil. I dressed my salad with one part olive oil to two parts red wine vinegar. And, of course, plenty of salt and pepper.

I have been on record as saying I do not really like salads. They always seem like so much trouble for so little payback. But my Sunday supper salad was surprisingly good and I might make it again!

Posted in American, Easy, Eggs, Fish, Hot weather meals, Legumes, pescatarian, Salad, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu September 5 – 11, 2022

Posted on September 4, 2022 by Beebamom

Almost the entire week coming up is forecast to have temperatures over 100F. Monday and Tuesday will probably be over 110F. That is hotter than it has ever been in the thirty years we have lived here. Needless to say we are looking at meals that are no-cook or that can be made in the early morning and reheated in the microwave. It should start to cool off a bit next weekend.

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Seared shrimp with salsa slaw and cauliflower rice 9/3/22

Posted on September 4, 2022 by Beebamom
Seared shrimp, salsa slaw, and tomato-y cauliflower rice

Granted this is not a pretty plate of food but it tasted good. We needed a dinner that would have minimal cooking because it was over 100F. Originally John was going to put the shrimp on skewers and cook them outside on the grill but standing over a hot grill on a super hot day seemed like a bad idea. So he gave them a quick sear in a skillet.

I made salsa slaw which is a combination of light mayonnaise, medium salsa, and cabbage. It is surprisingly good. I topped mine with some thinly sliced basil because we had some left over from our bounty that we made into pesto. The cauliflower rice has some of the salsa in it as well as tomatoes on top. The salsa turned it an unfortunate color but gave it some flavor.

Posted in American, Easy, Hot weather meals, pescatarian, Shellfish, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Asian tofu salad bowl. 9/2/22

Posted on September 3, 2022 by Beebamom

We are in the midst of a very hot spell which is forecast to last for a week! Since we are expecting many triple digit days and we are supposed to be conserving electricity, John and I will be trying to make dinners that have minimal cooking. Tonight’s dinner is one of them.

This salad is based around extra firm tofu that has been marinated in soy sauce, a few drops of sesame oil, ginger and garlic. The other components of the dish are shredded cabbage, red onion, avocado, cucumber, Fresno chiles, and edamame. They all go on top of some rice (which we cooked in the morning and heated up in the microwave.) The salad is dressed by first drizzling on some olive oil and then ladling a dressing composed of soy sauce, ginger, green onions, sesame oil, a dash of sweetener, and a little water. It is almost the same thing as the marinade. As garnishes I used some chow mein noodles and furikake.

Posted in Asian, Easy, Hot weather meals, Legumes, Methods, rice, Salad, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Light clam chowder with oyster crackers. 9/1/22

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Beebamom
Light clam chowder with oyster crackers

In celebration of it being September and in anticipation of Autumn we made soup even though the temperature outside was 104F! This is a light clam chowder with only 2 to 4 tablespoons of cream in about 4 servings.

Since we had some shrimp stock in the freezer we used it instead of clam juice. Also instead of bread we substituted oyster crackers. And since we were feeling indulgent we used 4 tablespoons of cream.

Posted in American, pescatarian, Recipes, Shellfish, soup, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | 1 Comment