Got to admit it, I just did not feel like cooking last night. So we opted for something easy. Toast the bread, cut it like a hotdog roll, microwave the sausage and sauerkraut and we were done. Sometimes you just need a night off.
Having made a menu for the week the first thing I do is switch it all around because the avocados have ripened! I expected them to be like the last two I bought which took the better part of a week to become useable. So tacos it is tonight.
John sautéed the fish and toasted the tortillas in the oven while I prepared the rest of the “fixins’” and the black beans. The black beans were simply two cans of beans and one of Rotel with the addition of a little cumin. I set up a taco bar where we could each make our tacos exactly the way we wanted. Taco night is always a fun and yummy experience.
What, you may ask, is a frambled egg? I just saw the term, frambled, in a cooking email yesterday. It’s an egg that you don’t start scrambling until it is somewhat set like a fried egg thus the portmanteau, frambled. Actually taste-wise it is pretty much the same as a soft scrambled egg.
I put down a layer of raw kale followed by some microwaved cauliflower rice sprinkled with sriracha. On top of that came the sautéed mushrooms, scallions, carrots, and broccoli seasoned with salt, pepper, rogan josh, and garlic powder. Finally the egg topped the dish. The only tricky part is working fast enough so that everything is still warm when all the components are cooked!
This week we are having some of our favorites. It is going to be cold here (for Nothern California) this week and most of our menu ideas are warm and comforting. Plus there is the added bonus of making a couple of stews that we can eat the leftovers of for lunch!
Weekly Menu February 21-27, 2022
Monday – Chana dal, greens and rice
Tuesday – Pan roasted salmon with mustard sauce, B. sprouts, rice
Wednesday – Fusilli arrabbiata, greens
Thursday – Fish tacos, taco fixings, spicy black beans
Friday – Moroccan chickpeas, chard, turnips, fennel
Saturday – Chicken Marsala, butternut squash, broccoli
Sunday – Breakfast for Dinner, eggs, vegetables
When I first looked at the recipe for New England clam chowder I was taken aback by the amount of fat (olive oil plus grease from guanchiale and canola oil) and three cups of heavy cream for 6 servings. Certainly there must be a lighter way to make this soup!? So John and I set about making a lighter version of this New England classic. Here is the recipe we came up with.
To be honest I do not bother with picking the leaves off the thyme and just throw a large sprig in and let the leaves fall off on their own while they cook and last night I did not have tarragon so I just left it off. I also tend not to toast the bread and put it in the bottom of the bowl because I like to control the amount of soup that it is sopping up. Last night we had probably a quarter of a cup of cream left in the container and I used all of it. But, still, 1/4 cup in a dish for the two of us works out to 2 tablespoons each and that is not accounting for the fact that we have leftovers. The originally recipe would have had you eating 1/2 cup per person!
As written this is a delicious rendition of New England clam chowder that makes a filling dinner. I lived in New England for about 13 years and there are many ways to serve chowder from thick and starchy to super creamy to a thin broth consistency. I like my take on it!
Tonight we were going for ease so we used rotisserie chicken and pre-peeled, seeded, and chopped butternut squash. First John made a sauce with lemons, white wine, shallot, chicken stock, mushrooms, and capers. When I was almost finished mashing the squash and steaming the broccoli, he added some chicken pieces to the sauce and basted them to warm the chicken through.
Our super easy, quick dinner was not only really tasty but felt fancy too!
We have had a lot of these sesame bowls lately, some with salmon and some with shrimp. They are a big hit here. We were planning on shrimp scampi but changed the menu because we had a last avocado that was ripe and needed to use it. I could not imagine just pitching it what with ban on imports from Mexico. California grows avocado but not enough to satisfy all the guacamole eaters in the U.S! I imagine the next time I go to the store they will either be nonexistent or very expensive!
Anyway, delicious dinner that everybody enjoyed.
Tonight was supposed to be fettuccine arrabiata but after Tuesday’s harissa failure I needed a non-spicy dish, thus pasta and greens. With the exception of some salt, olive oil, and an optional sprinkle of parmesan cheese the caption under the picture lists all the ingredients.
I suppose if you do not like chopping things up (a personal pleasure of mine) you might find preparing the ingredients a bit onerous but you can buy all of them pre-chopped from the grocery store these days. I used Carba-nada pasta to keep calories and carbs down and I must admit to being in love with Trader Joe’s shredded kale.
Oh, Pasta Wednesday, you are my unabashed favorite dinner of the week!
Although this looks super interesting on my plate, we miscalculated proportions and ended up with an overly spiced bitter dinner. How did this happen? We decided that two cans of beans would be equal to one pound of dried beans so we kept the sauce as originally written and just added two cans of cannellini beans. The flavor of the harissa was over powering! Too late I looked up the fact that 3 1/2 to 4 cans of beans equals one pound dried.
We have leftovers so today we will add an additional can of beans and see if that helps. I am thinking of adding pinto beans since they have kind of a sweet flavor. We plan on having the rest of it as lunches.
It seems like every other day I am making a bowl of something that I start off with a base of raw kale. I really like the taste and volume of it which makes my dinner seem larger. Plus kale contains fiber, antioxidants, calcium, vitamins C and K, iron, and a wide range of other nutrients. What’s not to like?
As usual I augment my 1/2 cup of white rice with an equal portion of cauliflower rice. It still has the flavor and texture of rice for half the calories.
If you are interested in trying this dish the recipe can be found on the Food and Wine website. For a vegan dish omit turmeric yogurt or use non-dairy yogurt.
We had delicious grilled lamb chops for Valentine’s Day. John grilled them perfectly. I was in charge of the vegetables (as usual.) I bought a packet of already peeled and chopped butternut squash which I have decided is worth the extra money. When I buy a whole butternut squash the peeling and chopping is a real chore and usually there is too much squash for the two of us. I put the squash and the sprouts in a 425F oven for about 25 minutes after shaking them in a bag with a little olive oil and salt.
Looking through my food pictures I am always struck by how unattractive meat looks. The vegetable dishes I make are always so much more vibrant and make the plates look appetizing.
It has been quite a while since our last red meat dinner. Our dining has become almost exclusively plant-based, seafood, or chicken. It is a much healthier and planet-friendly way to eat. It was really tasty last night but I do not find myself yearning to have more.
Omnivore 