Southwest salad. 6/18/21

Posted on June 19, 2021 by Beebamom
Salad featuring chicken, corn, black beans, olives, green onions, salsa, pepitas, dried cranberries, and greens

It is still quite hot here, maybe not quite as hot as yesterday, but still a salad kind of dinner day. This spicy chicken salad is one of our go-tos when the weather demands a no-cook dinner. I buy pulled chicken breast from Costco in 2 lb. blocks and use it for sandwiches at lunch, salads, and even a hot dish of chicken in gravy with mashed potatoes or squash, and a green vegetable. I freeze half of each pack and then thaw it when we have finished eating the first half. Rather than going to a restaurant or getting take-out, I know I will always be able to rustle up some sort of dinner from my pantry and fridge.

Posted in Easy, Kitchen tips, Poultry, Southwest U.S., Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Seared tuna and salad with nuoc cham 6/17/21

Posted on June 18, 2021 by Beebamom
Seared tuna on salad with nuoc cham

Our town hit 108F according to the gauge on our car. I suggested to John that maybe our planned dinner, White Beans and Kale Stew, was probably not the best choice. Since we were visiting Costco we picked up some tuna and a bag of kale salad for an alternative dinner.

I made some nuoc cham to use a salad dressing and a dipping sauce. It is salty and sour and sweet. John seared our thick pieces of tuna for two minutes on each side. Then he encrusted the outside with black and white sesame seeds. It was nice, light fare and perfect for a hot evening.

Posted in Easy, Fish, Kitchen tips, pescatarian, Vegetables, Vietnamese | Tagged | Leave a comment

Vegetable stir-fry with egg zoodles. 6/16/21

Posted on June 17, 2021 by Beebamom
Vegetable stir-fry with egg zoodles

Tonight was supposed to be our traditional Pasta Wednesday but the idea of boiling a big pot of water when the outside temperature was in the 90’s made it a non-starter. We decided our fallback dinner would be a BFD or Breakfast For Dinner. While John opted for a breakfast sandwich with egg, cheese, and a veggie patty, I went for a vegetable stir-fry with egg zoodles.

I am not sure that zoodles is the right term but my “egg noodles” looked a lot like the zucchini zoodles that I made on Monday. I made them by whisking two eggs and just pouring them into a medium hot pan to set. Then I slipped my egg disc out of the pan, rolled it up, and sliced it into fettuccine sized noodles.

The stir-fry portion of my dinner was pretty straightforward. I looked in the refrigerator for any vegetables I had and them cooked them in a stir-fry manner and seasoned them with soy sauce, ginger powder, rogan josh, and garlic.

I really like the cheery yellow look of the egg zoodles. They really brightens up the dish. I garnished my plate with sriracha and black sesame seeds for color, spice, and texture.

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

Grilled flank steak, butternut squash, broccoli. 6/15/21

Posted on June 16, 2021 by Beebamom
Grilled flank steak, mashed butternut squash,, and steamed broccoli

Delicious dinner tonight coming from John’s great ability to accurately judge the doneness of meat on the grill. Flank steak is a very tasty cut of beef. It is important, though, to understand that giving it a dry rub and cutting it properly will insure a tender, delicious piece of meat. John used salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika as a dry rub. When slicing the meat after cooking cut it in thin slices across the grain.

For my part I defrosted the butternut squash that I had cut up a week or so ago. You can freeze it raw. I steamed the squash for 10 minutes and then mashed it up with a teaspoon of butter. Check the salt level because this squash needs a lot of salt. Lastly I steamed the broccoli. Include the stems!

If you look at the picture of my plate you will see that the majority of the plate is taken up by vegetables. I try to aim for at least two-thirds vegetables to one third protein. Eating this way is healthy and satisfying.

Posted in American, Beef, Easy, Grilling, omnivore, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Thai green curry with zucchini zoodles and tofu. 6/14/21

Posted on June 15, 2021 by Beebamom
Thai green curry with zucchini zoodles tofu, and herbs

Update: I forgot to post this dinner on June 14th. As you will read it was not entirely a success. We are trying it again this coming week with more and varied zoodles and chicken. We are going to amp up the coconut flavor with coconut extract. We are planning this for dinner Monday 7/28/21 so check back on Tuesday to see if we were successful!!

This recipe is from Food Network’s The Kitchen and started life as Thai green curry with meatballs and zoodles. Here is the link.. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jeff-mauro/thai-green-curry-meatballs-with-zoodles-6602978?_branch_match_id=932324760366743578

I am always taking recipes and then adapting them so that they fit my dietary standards. Here are the changes we made in bold print. The serving size is for two people rather than four. We used 2 teaspoons of oil in which we bloomed 2 tablespoons of Thai green curry paste and 1 teaspoon of minced lemongrass. We used 1 13.5 ounce can of light coconut milk and 1 extra firm block of Hodo tofu and 1 container of zucchini zoodles. We substituted 1 jalapeño for the Thai bird chile and also added lime zest, garlic, mint, and scallions.

I thought the flavor of the dish was good but would be better with full fat coconut milk but that is way too many points in my WW plan to use. Zoodles were fine but actual pasta would be better and I think that the tofu lacked flavor. I think chicken would be tastier. Unfortunately I was hungry later so if I make this again not only will I use chicken I will add additional vegetables.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Vegetable stir-fry with soft scrambled eggs. 6/13/21

Posted on June 14, 2021 by Beebamom
BFD – Asian inspired vegetables stir-fry with soft scrambled eggs

When I was thinking about what to prepare for my BFD (Breakfast For Dinner) I first thought about just keeping it uber-simple and make scrambled eggs, a veggie patty, and toast. Problem with that is it really takes too short a time to eat it. I need to linger over dinner until my brain catches up to my satiation level. So even though it is a lot more work I decided on stir-fried vegetables with scrambled eggs on top.

For my vegetable portion I cut up and stir-fried mushrooms, scallions, carrots, celery, asparagus, and rainbow kale. As usual I started with the longer cooking veg and finished with the leafy segments of kale. I flavored my concoction with garlic powder, rogan josh, soy sauce, and sesame oil. A few tablespoons of vegetable broth insured that all the hard vegetables would be cooked through.

After taking the vegetables out of the pan, I sprayed it with some cook oil and cooked the scrambled eggs. I considered a couple of fried eggs and maybe I will try that next week. I garnished my BFD with additional soy sauce and sriracha.

Posted in Breakfast For Dinner (BFD), Easy, Eggs, Kitchen tips, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | 1 Comment

Chilean sea bass with asparagus and butternut squash. 6/12/

Posted on June 13, 2021 by Beebamom
Roasted Chilean sea bass, asparagus, and butternut squash

In the interest of making the cooking and clean-up as easy as possible we cooked our entire dinner in the oven. The last time I made butternut squash I had a bunch of cubes leftover so I froze them raw and they were already totally prepped when I needed them tonight. I gave the squash a 10 minute head start in a 425F oven and then added the asparagus. The fish also went in the oven at this point. Everything cooked an additional 14 minutes and finished at the same time.

I had asked John to make extra of the fish because I love it so much. It was absolutely delicious! The butternut squash did not brown as much as I expected and I think that was due to it having been frozen. The asparagus, I thought, was a little under-done but John thought it was perfect. This was a fabulous Saturday night dinner and we will be off to Costco this week to buy more of their exceptionally economical and beautiful Chilean sea bass.

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

Weekly Menu. June 14 – 20, 2021

Posted on June 12, 2021 by Beebamom

We are trying a recipe from the show, The Kitchen, that we saw last week. It is for a Thai green curry using zucchini zoodles. We are substituting tofu for meatballs. It should be interesting. Otherwise, the week is pretty standard except for the lack of fish or shellfish.

Posted in Weekly menu | Leave a comment

Sheet pan turkey sausage with veg and mustard sauce. 6/11/21

Posted on June 12, 2021 by Beebamom
Sheet pan turkey sausage with roasted carrots, leeks, potatoes, broccoli, and sauerkraut with mustard sauce

After a delicious dinner out it is time to get back to eating correctly. Friday’s dinner was heavy on the vegetables and light on the turkey sausage. I started the vegetables in a pre-heated 425F oven 15 minutes before adding the already cooked turkey sausage and then cooked everything together for an additional 10 minutes. The vegetables were lightly oiled and salted to help with the browning.

The sauce consisted of some whole grain mustard and Dijon mustard, lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, and shallot. We thinned it out a bit with a dash of water. It added a nice mustard-y zing to the vegetables and the meat. Pretty soon it will be too warm to be heating up the oven to make these sheet pan dinners but I am thinking that maybe the grill would work just as well.

Posted in American, Easy, Poultry, Sheet pan, Vegetables | Tagged | 1 Comment

Penne with mushrooms and kale. 6/10/21

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Beebamom
Whole grain penne with rainbow kale, mushrooms, onions, and garlic

I love Pasta Wednesday! And I can probably spin out a different variety of pasta, mushrooms and vegetable indefinitely! John and I have really grown to prefer the taste of whole grain pasta (Barilla) and it is better for us, so win-win. Always cook pasta in water salted so it tastes like the ocean as the TV chefs say. This is good advice if you live near a coast but middle America is probably wondering, wha? Plus drain it just short of done because you are going to put it in the pan with the vegetables and cook it a little more.

Here is our routine for Pasta Wednesday. I cut up all the veggies while John fills and salts the water, weighs out our portion (3 oz. of pasta each), and gets out all the things I have a hard time reaching in our cabinets like pepper flakes, oregano, and olive oil. He brings the water to a boil while I cook the mushrooms, onion, and kale stems. When the mushrooms and onions are cooked enough he puts the pasta in for six or seven minutes. I put the spices in with the veg. With two minutes to go on the pasta I add the kale leaves. He drains the pasta reserving at least a half cup of pasta water and drops the penne into my veg. I stir it all around over medium-high heat and add the pasta water and a little olive oil and we are done.

This dinner comes together in about 15 minutes and always tastes great. John garnishes his with toasted pine nuts, parmesan cheese, and additional olive oil. I do not have the luxury of adding extra calories so I have mine without the embellishments. It tastes really good anyway.

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