Chilean sea bass, green beans, new potatoes. 3/3/22

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Beebamom
Roasted Chilean sea bay with steamed new potatoes and sautéed green beans

We buy frozen Chilean sea bass from Costco. Unfortunately when we got to the end of the bag there were three equal sized pieces, one thicker piece, and one oddly shaped piece with thick and thin parts. Since our daughter always opts in for Chilean sea bass, we had to apportion these five pieces among three people. We ended up getting three pieces each of differing sizes. Luckily Chilean sea bass is very forgiving when you cook it so even the thinner pieces tasted great.

John roasted the fish with just a little oil, seasoning, and thyme. I steamed the potatoes and kept them warm while I used the same pan to sauté the green beans. I am not a big fan of big green beans. I much prefer the thinner French ones but these were okay. (Actually I really wanted to “French” them with a little tool I have but John likes these big, stringier ones.)

Here’s a way to cut down on potato carbs. I shook 18 new potatoes out of their bag. They were assorted sizes. We each got 6. I took the smallest 6 potatoes and left the rest for John and our daughter. Although the 18 potatoes weighed 15 oz., my portion of 6 weighed in at around 4 ounces. Mind games!

Posted in American, Easy, Fish, Healthy tips, pescatarian, Vegetables | Tagged | 1 Comment

Fusilli with broccoli and mushrooms. 3/2/22

Posted on March 3, 2022 by Beebamom
Fusilli with broccoli and mushrooms

Is it a bowl of pasta or a bowl of vegetables? I would say it is about 50/50. By using a lot of mushrooms and broccoli in my pasta bowl, I created a satisfying dinner using less than 3 ounces of pasta.

While the salted water was coming to a boil, I sauteed the mushrooms, onions, and garlic in 2 teaspoons of olive oil. I seasoned the vegetables with salt, oregano, and red pepper flakes. While the pasta was cooking I added the stem pieces of broccoli and a little pasta water. When the pasta was almost al dente I added the florets. Then the drained pasta along with a half cup of the pasta water went into the sauce and cooked together for a couple of minutes. A little olive oil on top and dinner was ready.

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Lamb chops with fennel, leek, potato braise. 3/1/22

Posted on March 2, 2022 by Beebamom
Grilled lamb chops with a fennel, leek, potato braise

These lamb chops are part of the pack we bought at Costco for Valentine’s Day. Once again John did a super job grilling them. I am pretty happy with the vegetable side dish I concocted as well. After thinly slicing a leek, a fennel bulb, and some new potatoes I sautéed them in a little olive oil first and then braised them in chicken stock. They were seasoned with salt, pepper, chile flakes, and thyme. It took about 25 minutes to cook the whole dinner and we enjoyed a bottle of Merlot with it.

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Moroccan chickpeas with greens. 2/28/22

Posted on March 1, 2022 by Beebamom
Moroccan chickpeas with greens over rice

This vegan dinner entree is a delicious combination of spices, vegetables, and preserved lemon. There is a bunch of chopping up to do but the cooking is mostly hands off. To make it simpler I used a can of drained chickpeas rather than soaking and cooking them. Here is a link to how I adapted the recipe from February 9, 2022. https://dininglite.blog/2022/02/10/moroccan-chickpeas-with-chard-turnips-carrots-and-fennel-2-9-221/

Posted in Legumes, North African, rice, stew, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu February 28 – March 6, 2022

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Beebamom

We are starting off this week with Moroccan chickpeas which got pushed from last week due to laziness on the part of the cook. We are also having the rest of the lamb chops from our Costco sized pack that we bought for Valentine’s Day. I am looking forward to everything on this week’s menu!

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BFD (Breakfast For Dinner) 2/27/22

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Beebamom
BFD Soft scrambled eggs, veggie patty, rye toast, salad

Nothing fancy this Sunday, just a straight-forward breakfast with the addition of a small salad. Alternating bites and combinations keeps the eating experience interesting and knowing that every Sunday is a minimal work in the kitchen day makes me happy. BTW John ate an omelette for at least the 100th Sunday in a row (excluding vacations and holidays.)

Posted in American, Breakfast For Dinner (BFD), Easy, Eggs, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | Leave a comment

Null soup with chickpeas. 2/26/22

Posted on February 27, 2022 by Beebamom
Null (vegetable) soup with chickpeas

As I have written before null soup is a concoction I make which counts for nothing on my food plan. It is myriad vegetables in either chicken or vegetable stock. I usually add some sort of low calorie protein like chicken or beans or in today’s soup, chickpeas.

The vegetables in today’s null soup are onions, broccoli, carrots, celery, turnips, kale, parsley, and mushrooms plus chickpeas. In order to make chopping all these vegetables worthwhile, I make A LOT of soup! Now I have 4 days of lunches waiting for me in the fridge to pop in the microwave. Planning ahead, it works!

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Salmon with mustard sauce with sheet pan sprouts and squash. 2/25/22

Posted on February 26, 2022 by Beebamom
Salmon with whole grain mustard sauce and sheet pan roasted Brussels sprouts and butternut squash

Surprisingly quick and easy dinner tonight! John did a quick brine and then a 95% cook on one side of the salmon over a low burner followed by a quick flip that only took about 20 minutes of cooking time. I helped myself out with the vegetables by buying pre-peeled and chunked butternut squash and slicing up the sprouts earlier in the day. While the fish was cooking the vegetables were roasting on a sheet pan in a 425F oven after having been tossed in a little olive oil and salt.

The mustard sauce was made by combining some Skinny Girl buttermilk dressing, a tablespoon each of light mayo and non-fat plain yogurt, a couple of tablespoons of whole grain mustard, and a squirt of yellow mustard.

Posted in American, Easy, Fish, Methods, pescatarian, Sheet pan, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Chana dal. 2/24/22

Posted on February 25, 2022 by Beebamom
Dried split chickpeas (Chana dal) on white rice/cauliflower rice over raw kale

This is a pretty easy Instant Pot meal. I used my mini-prep to make short work of chopping the ginger, garlic, and onions. John measured out the spices and cooked the spices in a little oil to bloom them and then added in the onions, garlic, and ginger.When they were limp in went a can of diced tomatoes, a can of Rotel, some water, the dal and the whole thing cooked under pressure for around 15 minutes.

I served my heaping helping over raw kale and a cauliflower rice/white rice mix and sprinkled some cilantro on top. Delicious!

Posted in Easy, Indian, Instant Pot, Legumes, Mexican, rice, stew, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | Leave a comment

Fusilli in arrabbiata sauce with mushrooms and kale. 2/23/22

Posted on February 24, 2022 by Beebamom
Fusilli in arrabbiata sauce with mushrooms over kale

If you are like me you want a large helping of pasta. And by large I mean larger than 3 ounces. The way to stretch your pasta is by adding vegetables to your sauce and to your bowl. In this case I added mushrooms to the sauce and kale to the bottom of the bowl. It was all so tasty and filling!

Arrabiata means “angry” in Italian. It comes from Rome and has also the meaning of something to excess. In this case it is the spiciness of the dish that is the excess. The recipe I used is basically called arrabbiata as hot as you can stand it. For the heat I used 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, a few shakes of hot sauce, and 2 healthy squirts of sriracha. It was spicy but in a nice way.

The sauce itself is just canned tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and parsley. It comes together quickly and along with some pasta water makes a fine sauce. Usually penne is the shape of choice but fusilli worked just fine. For a vegan presentation omit the cheese.

Posted in Easy, Italian, Pasta, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | Leave a comment