Salmon and sauce Grabiche with cauliflower rice and green beans. 6/8/21

Posted on June 8, 2021 by Beebamom
Salmon and sauce Grabiche with Mediterrean cauliflower rice and sautéed green beans

This dinner was supposed to be made and eaten on Monday but, my bad, we decided we would rather have popcorn and drinks for supper yesterday. So the salmon got pushed to today and we have decided to eliminate the flank steak this week. We are also going out to dinner on Thursday and will not be making the kale and white bean stew. Sometimes you just have to be flexible! We will move those two dinners to next week.

John used his start-in-a-cold-pan-after-brining technique for the salmon. It is supposed to eliminate the albumin from seeping out. It worked on John’s piece but not on mine so the salmon is not as pretty as it might be. I made a sauce Grabiche to go with it. It is supposed to be an oil and Dijon mustard based sauce but I used light mayonnaise instead of oil because I could control the calories better with it. There are also capers, cornichons, tarragon, vinegar, and parsley in it. It also features a chopped up hard boiled egg.

The cauliflower rice recipe was billed as Mediterranean, not sure why. Maybe because it has lemon and almonds in it. We did not use any real rice and the dish kind of suffered due to it. If I make it again I’ll make the rices 50/50. The recipe is from the website Cookie + Kate https://cookieandkate.com/mediterranean-cauliflower-rice-recipe/.

In any case John and I enjoyed the dinner. The salmon is full of healthy omega-3 fat, the total carbohydrates are low, and the overall dinner tasted good!

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Veggie stir-fry with “egg noodles” 6/6/21

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Beebamom

Because I am never satisfied with the same-old same-old for our Sunday night Breakfast For Dinner, I made a veggie stir-fry with real egg noodles.

Veggie stir-fry with real egg noodles

To make my egg noodles I sprayed a frying pan with butter spray and then added two thoroughly whipped eggs. I left the eggs alone for a couple of minutes and then moved my disc of eggs around to make sure it was not sticking. Using a wide spatula I flipped it over and cooked it for maybe 30 seconds on the other side and then slid it off onto a plate.

For vegetables I used carrots, mushrooms, celery, onion, garlic, broccoli, and kale and seasoned them with some soy sauce and a little stock. To finish the dish I put the veg in a bowl, topped that with rolled up and noodle-sliced eggs, dropped on a tablespoon of peanuts, and gave the whole thing a good squirt of sriracha.

John had his usual Sunday omelet.

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Weekly Menu. June 7 – 13, 2021

Posted on June 6, 2021 by Beebamom

Since I have been super serious about staying on my diet this past week, I have gotten back and a little below my goal weight. This is a reason for celebration! Wait, hold on, Beebamom, don’t undo all the good you have done this week, just make the meals a little more exciting.

Presenting my “a little more exciting” weekly menu!

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Shrimp with spicy cauli-rice mix and snow peas. 5/5/2021

Posted on June 6, 2021 by Beebamom
Seared shrimp with spicy cauli-rice and sautéed snow peas

Since Saturday dinner is usually leftovers I used our leftover rice from Friday and stretched it by adding an equal amount of cauliflower rice and then enhancing it with red bell pepper, onions, garlic, jalapeño, and a little spicy salsa. It turned out really well and tasted mostly like rice and less like cauliflower. John cooked the shrimp in a lightly oiled pan for 3 minutes on the first side and then turned the heat to low and cooked the other side for around 2 minutes. It is important not to overcook your shrimp! While he was spending 5 minutes cooking the shrimp I took care of the snow peas. I cooked them briefly in a smidge of butter and a little water, covered for the first two minutes and then uncovered for the other three.

John said the snow peas were quite the star of the dinner. (I think that it was because i used that smidge of butter.) Everything was really tasty, though, and I really could have eaten twice as much. Since portion size is always my problem it is best if we do not make too much!!

Posted in American, Easy, Healthy tips, leftovers, pescatarian, rice, Shellfish, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Red lentils Afghani style

Posted on June 5, 2021 by Beebamom
Afghani red lentils with Tuscan kale and rice

On Friday we used Tuscan kale grown by our daughter in the community garden as a base for our delicious Afghani red lentils. This simple and homey dish cooks in about 15 minutes and is tasty and nutritious. I garnished mine with a dollop of non-fat Greek yogurt and sriracha but to keep it vegan skip the yogurt.

Afghani Dahl

2 tsp. olive oil
1 finely chopped medium onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tbsp. finely minced fresh ginger
1 tsp. ground turmeric
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. ground cayenne
1 cup red lentils
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. kosher salt

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.

Posted in Afghan, Easy, Legumes, Recipes, rice, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | Leave a comment

A little chicken, a lot of veggies 6/3/21

Posted on June 4, 2021 by Beebamom
Chicken breast slices with BBQ sauce on cauliflower rice with roasted butternut squash, onions, carrots green beans, and cabbage

John bought some bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs to grill and I decided that I would be better off with some of my Costco precooked chicken breast warmed through with a little BBQ sauce. I laid my slices on cauliflower rice. With the oven at 425F convect I cooked all the vegetables on a sheet pan for 25 minutes. They were simply seasoned with olive oil and salt. The vegetables were delicious and the chicken was fine. John’s grilled chicken thighs looked pretty spectacular but I was totally happy with my dinner.

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Whole grain penne with mushrooms and broccoli. 6/2/21

Posted on June 3, 2021 by Beebamom
Whole grain penne with mushrooms, broccoli stems, and broccoli florets

Pasta Wednesday is one of my favorite dinner nights. We usually make vegetarian or vegan pasta. Sometimes it’s pasta and greens, or broccolini, or broccoli like tonight’s. It almost always includes mushrooms, onions, and garlic. The sauce is a little pasta water and a couple of teaspoons of olive oil. Simple, quick, delicious.

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Fish tacos, spicy black beans, watermelon salad. 6/1/21

Posted on June 2, 2021 by Beebamom
Fish tacos, spicy black beans, salsa with mango, and watermelon salad

For Taco Tuesday John pan-roasted some Pacific cod with a dusting of spices, we heated up a can of black beans with some spicy salsa, and I cut up a mango and made a watermelon, mint, cucumber, red onion, and feta salad with a lime juice/olive oil dressing. Between the garnish of cilantro on the tacos and the mint in the salad, our dinner was kind of a Mexican-Greek combination. This was plenty of healthy food for a small investment of time and calories.

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Grilled lamb, potato salad, vegetable salad

Posted on June 1, 2021 by Beebamom
Grilled lamb with tzaziki, lemony potato salad, and tomato, cucumber, onion, and pepper salad

This is actually a plate of leftovers from our Memorial Day cookout with the family. John divided a 6 lb. boneless leg of lamb into several pieces and then cooked it to various degrees of doneness so that there was some slice that would appeal to everybody there. On Sunday we served it with pita pockets but John and I just ate it un-sandwiched with the tzaziki that I made.

I also made the lemony potato salad. It is basically steamed new potatoes that you cut up while they are still hot and plunge into a dressing of lemon and olive oil with salt, pepper, and mint. The potatoes slurp up the dressing.

Our daughter made the vegetable salad which is a combo of summer vegetables in a vinaigrette with herbs. Since we are still just in spring I am looking forward to the salads she makes with her own produce from the community garden. The grocery store has pretty looking vegetables but cannot beat the taste of the ones fresh from the ground.

Now that most of our leftover have been eaten, John and I are looking forward to getting back to our regular healthy eating plan. Tomorrow for taco Tuesday we will be making fish tacos and spicy beans!

Posted in American, Lamb, Leftovers For Dinner, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu. May 31- June 6, 2021

Posted on May 31, 2021 by Beebamom

We had a fabulous cookout on Sunday, May 30 with all the family and no masks! All the adults are totally vaccinated and our two grandkids have received their first dose. There were giant hugs all around. Of course we ate a lot and had some yummy wine and even dessert! This week is back to basics to lose the couple of pounds acquired on Sunday.

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