Cold sliced chicken with tomatoes, mushrooms, and pickles on a bed of mixed greens (no dressing)
Because we had such a fabulous dinner on Thursday, I decided to make myself a saner dinner on Friday. I am using chicken breast meat from the Costco rotisserie chicken, Power Greens Earthbound Farms greens, and some cut up cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and pickles. As a starter to my salad-y meal I microwaved an artichoke and ate that with some butter spray.
Weirdly I have noticed that having a big meal makes me hungrier the next day. By eating carefully the week before our dinner out and again on Friday, the damage at the scale has been minimal.
Thursday John and I went out to celebrate being married for 49 years. The actual date is Saturday and we will continue celebrating then as well. We did not actual have a wedding but eloped instead finding a Justice of the Peace in the yellow pages (when actual books of phone numbers existed!) Anyway John and I have been married a long time and cooking together for a long time. Maybe cooking together is a key to a successful marriage!
So the following are pictures of our dinner last night and it will show that I do not diet every day of my life plus I did not feel guilty while having our celebration dinner. No doubt I will pay for this at the scale this week but I am confident in my ability to just eat correctly the rest of the week and the extra pounds will come off.
Amuse bouche – Pork confit on top of a cucumber slice with shishito jamFirst course – Ahi tuna in leche de tigre with plums, scallions, and sweet potato chipsSalad – Baby lettuces, crispy new potatoes, ocopa, huacatay, cucumbers, and radishesMain course – Seared king salmon, corn purée, zucchini, pickled cauliflower, and leeksDessert – Summer pavlova, apricot ice cream, meringue, plum sauce, and creme chantilly (plus a little extra anniversary surprise dessert)
In looking over what I have just pictured, this dinner minus dessert would not have been too bad from a diet point of view. After all there was lots of fish and vegetables! What I failed to mention, however, is that this restaurant is associated with a winery so there was also copious amounts of wine. Good thing that our anniversary only comes once a year!
Orrechiette with onions, garlic, mushrooms, and broccoli
Woo hoo, pasta twice in one week!! We were scheduled for salmon on Wednesday but changed direction when we found out that our restaurant dinner on Thursday would feature salmon. Making pasta was a simple solution since I had all the ingredients on hand.
I got a new mini food processor which, although noisy, makes short and great work of chopping up garlic and onions. Once I have the mushrooms partially cooked I drop in the chopped up onions and garlic followed by some dried oregano and red pepper flakes. And salt, do not forget to season as you go.
John cooked the orrechiette (little ears in Italian) for 8 minutes and then drained and added the pasta to my vegetables. Stir, stir. Add the reserved pasta water (1/2 to 1 cup) and 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Stir a little more and serve. Yum!
Mahi mahi on a bed of greens with spicy rice and beans and taco toppings
For Taco Tuesday I decided to skip the tortillas and put my taco innards on a plate. The thing with tacos is once you have taken your first bite they are hard to put down so you just keep eating them until they are gone. I need my dinners to have volume and to take a while to eat! I put down a bed of greens and then put my taco dinner on top of it. I made spicy rice and beans and, along with fish, had shredded cabbage, salsa, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime. I finished my dinner way after John finished his two tacos. Know thyself! The secret to weight loss and maintenance is doing what works for you.
As a first course on Monday we started out with a tossed green salad with lots of extras. Mushrooms, carrots, cabbage, cherry tomatoes, and some spicy pepperoncini gave interest and texture to the salad. John complimented me on the salad saying that anytime someone else makes the salad it is especially good.
Tossed green salad with carrots, pepperoncini, mushrooms, cabbage, and cherry tomatoes
For our main course we had whole grain penne which was mixed with the pesto I made last week. It was sooo good. I froze the rest of the pesto and will use it the next time we have pasta. I think I’ll eat very carefully that day so I can have another ounce of pasta!
Soft scrambled eggs on top of sautéed onions, mushrooms, carrots, cabbage, and broccoli with a raw spinach base
It’s Sunday so it must be BFD (Breakfast For Dinner)! While John was busy making his usual omelet, I was chopping up and sautéing my BFD veg. I cooked the mushrooms and onions first and then added everything else. I gave the dish an Asian twist by adding soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, and a pinch of sugar. When the vegetables were cooked I put them on top of raw spinach causing it to wilt slightly. Lastly I cooked my eggs turning off the heat when they were still pretty runny and letting the residual heat in the pan cook them to a soft consistency.
Is this as quick, easy, healthy, and delicious as it looks? Definitely!!
This week John and I are celebrating our 49th wedding anniversary! Almost 50 years! Wow, the time has flown by and I think we are happier than ever. We have had a wonderful life together and are hoping for many more years. We are having a dining out celebration on Thursday and a cooking for ourselves celebration on our actual day, July 17. Happy Anniversary to us!!
When it is too hot to cook the best thing to do is to have an assembled dinner. Since it was around 104F yesterday, we decided on a Southwest chicken salad. We set up the ingredients on the kitchen island and each of made our own salad.
Salad greens ready to be dressed with chicken, olives, black beans, corn, tomatoes, scallions, pepperoncini, and salsa
Since we usually serve this with ranch dressing, I bought some Skinny Girl ranch dressing which only has 10 calories for 2 tablespoons. It’s not as good as the real thing but it was not terrible. So we kept the kitchen as cool as possible and enjoyed a colorful and filling dinner.
My red lentil sundae has rainbow kale on the bottom, then a 50/50 rice/cauliflower rice combo, next red lentils, and finally a dollop of Greek yogurt with a kale garnish
I know it is hardly the sundae you were looking for but this is a delicious vegetarian (or vegan minus the yogurt) dish that is super healthy, tasty, and pretty to look at. I first had this red lentil stew at a restaurant nearby and was blown away with how delicious it was. I was determined to make it for us at home. I found a recipe on an Afghani recipes site and adapted it for our use.
Heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a medium sauce pan. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and saute for about 5 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the salt, turmeric, cumin, cayenne and let them cook in the pan briefly and then add the lentils and broth, stir and turn the heat up to high. When the liquid boils, turn the heat down to a simmer, cover and cook until the lentils are very tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice and adjust salt if needed Serve with a spoonful of plain yogurt (or not) and rice, greens,warm pita or nan bread.
We probably make this once a month because it is so easy and so delicious. I also love it because I do not feel guilty if I go in for seconds. Using a 50/50 rice combo definitely keeps the guilt factor at bay!
We were supposed to be preparing shrimp tonight but we opted to change the menu to a favorite of ours, clam chowder. I have taken a traditional recipe for New England clam chowder and lightened it up so that it fits within my healthy eating plan. It reminds me very much of a clam chowder we once had at the Binnacle, a restaurant (sadly no longer) in Mystic, Connecticut.
Healthy clam chowder
My recipe, which I am including below, only contains 2 tablespoons of cream. Of course you could make it richer by adding more cream, half and half, or even milk. I love that it contains so many pantry ingredients. Only the leeks are a little out of the typical.
Omnivore 