Zucchini and rice gratin. 8/29/25

Zucchini and rice gratin with salad

Due to our mixed up week Sarah’s contribution dinner was moved to Friday. She got up early to bake this gratin so the oven would have minimal effect in heating up the house. This is a recipe she got from the website Smitten Kitchen. You can view it here-

At dinner we each took a block of the gratin and heated it up in the microwave. To be frank the dish was a bit bland. You can see in my picture that I added sriracha to my piece. It also needed more salt than the recipe called for. But all in all with a bright salad accompanying it the dinner was quite good.

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Classic chicken. 8/28/25

Classic chicken

John is a bit swollen and bruised from his procedure yesterday so we go with our easy comfort food classic, sliced chicken breast in gravy, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. It is easy to make and clean up and very comforting.

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Chinese take-out 8/26 and 8/27/25

Sometimes things do not go quite as I expect. It has gotten hot again and no one wants the oven on to cook chicken enchiladas. We buy enough Chinese take-out for tonight and tomorrow when John is having his eye surgery. I just have to reheat them. This is definitely in my skill set. We order two of our favorites mu shu pork and Mongolian beef.

Mu shu pork
Mongolian beef (extra spicy!)
Posted in Asian, Beef, Easy, Hot weather meals, Pork, rice, take-out, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Greek Fisherman’s Stew. 8/25/25

Greek Fisherman’s Stew

In the past we have tried making a Mediterranean fish stew following a recipe by Rick Stein. It was very fussy with an array of seafood that cooked at different times and loads of vegetables which needed chopping. It included fennel and Pernod and came out tasting very licorice-y which is not a favorite flavor of mine. I see by looking back through my blog that after several attempts we gave up making it in 2021. When I saw this Greek fisherman’s stew on the NYTimes Cooking site it seemed much easier and I thought I would give it a try.

I have changed up the recipe a bit to cater to our tastes and am posting it below. I took some advice from the comments made on the Times website. I think using clam juice or fish stock imparts more flavor to the stew. Also make sure your potatoes are cooked before putting your fish in. The fish cooks very quickly and cannot wait for the potatoes to be done. BTW, I used humble tilapia and it turned out really good.

Screenshot
Posted in Easy, Fish, Mediterranean, pescatarian, stew, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu August 25-31, 2025

Now that my friend has gone home it is time to get back to my usual posting of a menu and following through with it. John is having a surgical procedure on Wednesday so our cooking options will be limited with no grilling and no complicated meats.

Screenshot
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Grilled NY strip steak, baked potato, broccoli. 8/18/25

Grilled NY strip steak, baked potato, broccoli

Another great dinner while my dear friend is visiting. This one is so easy! John seasoned the strip steaks and cooked them to perfection on our gas grill. He also put some grill marks on the baked potatoes. I steamed up the broccoli and added some butter.

To top everything off we opened a bottle of 1998 Chateau St Jean Cabernet Sauvignon. It was delicious and made the whole dinner special.

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Lasagna! 8/15/25

Lasagna

Sarah made delicious lasagna for our dinner tonight. Who doesn’t love lasagna!? Luckily we were able to hold ourselves enough in check that we will be able to have a leftovers dinner on Sunday.

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Chickpea stew. 8/13/25

Chickpea stew

This delicious chickpeas, vegetables, and pasta stew can be easily made vegetarian or vegan.

Screenshot
Posted in American, Legumes, Pasta, stew, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Grilled hamburger and salad. 8/12/25

Hamburger and salad

John’s grilled hamburgers are a favorite at our house. We like ours medium rare with mayo, ketchup, and red onion.

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Rotisserie chicken dinner. 8/11/25

Rotisserie chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy, broccoli and cauliflower

Just an easy home style dinner tonight. John warmed the sliced chicken breast in chicken gravy and I made instant mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli and cauliflower.

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