Fusilli with mushrooms and kale 4/27/22

Fusilli with mushrooms and kale

It’s Wednesday so it must be pasta! I cannot tell you how much I look forward to pasta night. Our pasta is a healthy, vegan bowl of vegetables and olive oil with some pasta water to make a thin sauce. As additions we also use onions, garlic, oregano, pepper flakes, and of course salt. I cook the mushrooms in a little olive oil first and then add the onions, garlic, spices, and a little more olive oil. Right before the drained pasta goes into the vegetables I add big handfuls of kale and about a cup of reserved pasta water. After stirring the whole thing around for a couple of minutes it is ready to be served. Top the pasta with a drizzle of your best olive oil and some optional parmesan cheese.

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Salmon bowls 4/26/22

Salmon bowl with edamame, avocado, cabbage, cucumber, and cilantro over rice

This is a family favorite. While John brines the salmon for half an hour in 1 quart of water and 2 tablespoons of table salt, I cut up the veggies (thinly sliced cucumbers, chopped avocado, cabbage shredded, and edamame) and make a dressing. The dressing consists of soy sauce, rice vinegar, a neutral oil, a few drops each of sesame oil and fish sauce, a dash of sugar, and minced ginger and scallions. The dressing doesn’t emulsify so you have to stir it up each time you use it. John quickly sears the fish and cuts it into pieces. All the bite-sized components go in a bowl with rice. We finish the dish with a squeeze of lime, cilantro, and a dusting of furikake.

Posted in Asian, Easy, Fish, Methods, pescatarian, rice, Vegetables | 1 Comment

Chicken Marsala with sheet pan squash and sprouts 4/25/22

Chicken Marsala with sheet pan butternut squash and Brussels sprouts

The most onerous job in this dinner was cutting the sprouts in half! The chicken is pulled rotisserie breast meat from Costco and heated through in the sauce. The sauce is a packet of McCormack’s chicken gravy made with Marsala wine instead of water with added mushrooms. The pre-cut butternut squash from Trader Joe’s and the sprouts were shaken in a plastic bag with salt and olive oil. Then I roasted them in a 425F oven on convect for 15 minutes until they were super crisp. Be sure to watch the veg, though, depending on the size of the pieces they could be done even faster.

Really easy, really fast, really good!

Posted in American, Easy, Methods, Poultry, Sheet pan, Vegetables | Leave a comment

Soy seasoned vegetables and eggs 4/24/22

Sautéed vegetables seasoned with soy sauce and ginger with soft scrambled eggs

Sunday’s breakfast for dinner consisted of several different vegetables sauteed until crisp/tender and seasoned with soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. In a separate pan i soft scrambled two eggs and laid them on top. The vegetables I used were mushrooms, onions, carrots, celery, broccoli, snow peas, and kale. sometimes I leave the kale raw but this time I cooked it. Except for the chopping, this is a very simple and quick dish which nonetheless is quite satisfying.

Posted in American, Easy, Eggs, Methods, Vegetables, Vegetarian | 1 Comment

Weekly Menu April 25 – May 1, 2022

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Chickpea stew with ditalini and vegetables 4/23/22

Chickpea stew with ditalini and vegetables

I made this enjoyable vegan entree on Saturday for dinner but there is enough left over for lunch on Sunday as well. Sure, there is a lot of chopping but the results are really delicious. Along with the chickpeas, ditalini, and vegetable stock there are onions, garlic, carrots, zucchini, spicy canned tomatoes, thyme, celery, kale, and scallions as a garnish. This is the kind of dish where you do not feel guilty for having a second helping.

Posted in American, Easy, Healthy tips, Legumes, Pasta, stew, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Leave a comment

Tilapia with mustard sauce, new potatoes, and broccoli 4/22/22

Roasted talapia, steamed new potatoes and broccoli with mustard sauce

It is so nice to be cooking again! During our vacation I ate everything I could possibly want and it is great to get back to the clean, crisp flavors of my own kitchen. I have planned out the rest of this week with a vegan chickpea stew with ditalini and vegetables for Saturday and our usual BFD (Breakfast For Dinner) on Sunday. I even have next week’s menu ready and have been to the grocery store to re-stock.

Talapia gets a bum rap from the foodie community I think. It is an inexpensive, unobjectionable mild white fish which perks up with sauces or in a taco. John roasted it at 400F in the oven for about 12 minutes while I finished steaming the potatoes followed by the broccoli. The mustard sauce brought the whole plate together.

For the mustard sauce I mixed together a tablespoon each of Dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, and light mayonnaise. (I like Maille brand mustards the best.) I thinned it out with a tablespoon or so of water. It goes well with the fish, the potatoes, and the broccoli!

Posted in American, Easy, Fish, Methods, pescatarian, Recipes, Vegetables | Tagged | 1 Comment

Lentil soup with turkey sausage 4/21/22

Lentil soup with carrots, celery, onions, and turkey sausage

We got back from vacation last night and I needed to find something fast and easy to make with the few things I had available. Let’s see, I have turkey sausage, a piece of an onion, some carrots, and some wilting celery. With the addition of some lentils and chicken stock I can make lentil soup!

On Friday I will figure out some meals for the rest of this week and go grocery shopping. It is time to get back into the swing of cooking and eating right!

Posted in Easy, Legumes, Poultry, Vegetables | Tagged | 1 Comment

Next post

I have been unable to post while away due to a feeble internet connection. I will be back with a new post on Friday, April 22, 2022.

Spaghetti alle vongole, lightly sauced spaghetti with clams eaten at Blankenberge, Belgium overlooking the North Sea
Posted in Dining out, Italian, Pasta, pescatarian, Shellfish, Vacation cuisine | Leave a comment

Vegan Spring pasta. 4/5/22

Fusilli with asparagus and mushrooms

Asparagus is coming down in price as its season is beginning. It is a great Spring addition to our usual pasta plus vegetable plus mushrooms dinner. The only other ingredients are garlic, onion, oregano, and pasta water. And salt, do not forget to salt the pasta water and the vegetables as you cook them.

This will be the last of my posts about our dinners for a couple of weeks while John and I take some time off for a vacation. I’ll be posting occasionally with ideas for dining lite while on holiday and different cuisines. Happy Spring!

Posted in Easy, Italian, Kitchen tips, Pasta, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , | 1 Comment