Classic chicken dinner with rutabaga and broccoli. 5/4/21

Posted on May 5, 2021 by Beebamom

May the fourth (of good nutrition) be with you. I remember taking our son to see the movie in 1983 when he was six years old. He’s been a Star Wars fan since and his kids are too. Personally I am not so much of a sci-fi person although that is akin to blasphemy in this family.

And what has this got to do with a chicken dinner? Absolutely nothing.

Sous vide chicken breast with mashed rutabaga and broccoli

John sous vide the chicken breast at 159F. After the water was at temperature, the chicken enjoyed its bath for 1.5 to 2 hours. During this time I Instant Potted the peeled and cut up rutabaga for 15 minutes with an instant release. John had been nice enough to do the peeling and cutting up of the rutabaga while our daughter and I went out to lunch. This rutabaga was the kind that has the waxed coating and it was as big as a bowling bowl! We now have leftover mash in the freezer for the next classic chicken night.

So nothing left to do at the last minute except for the broccoli which I steamed and added a dollop of faux butter to. I like my vegetables to be on the more cooked side and I do not think that it is the way John likes them but he does not complain.

Each time we have this old favorite dinner we always comment on how much we like it. If we added a little cranberry sauce it would be like a mini-Thanksgiving! I am afraid, though, as the weather gets hotter (and hotter) that classic chicken dinner will appear less and less. Who will want to heat up the kitchen with hot water and a steamy Instant Pot?!

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Chana dal with kale and cauli-rice. 5/3/21

Posted on May 3, 2021 by Beebamom

This is one of my favorite meals and we made a double recipe so that we could have it again on Saturday, our Leftovers For Dinner (LFD) day. We used two cups of the Chana dal plus one half cup of toor dal for a creamy texture. It cooks in the Instant Pot under pressure for 15 minutes and then cools down for 10 minutes before releasing the pressure.

Chana/toor dal combination over cauliflower rice and raw kale with cilantro garnish

I also added kale stems to the Instant Pot, various spices, and a can of tomatoes with green chiles as well as the requisite water. On the bottom of the plate is cauliflower rice seasoned with salt and rogan josh, followed by raw kale leaves, and sriracha and cilantro leaves as a garnish. Yum!

Posted in Indian, Instant Pot, Kitchen tips, Legumes, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

BFD – Egg and veg stir-fry with cauli-rice. 5/2/21

Posted on May 3, 2021 by Beebamom

Sunday is always Breakfast For Dinner day. John always makes some sort of omelet and I always make, well, a bunch of different things! Tonight my BFD was a stir-fry of mushrooms, onions, garlic, green beans, broccoli, carrots, and celery. At the end I made sort of a one egg omelet and tore it up to add to lay vegetables. Usually this stir-fry would be served over rice but I used cauliflower rice instead.

Vegetable stir-fry with egg and cauliflower rice

For seasonings, I salted each component as I cooked it and towards the end of cooking I added a little sesame oil, soy sauce, sriracha, and cardamom. A sprinkling of black sesame seeds added a little crunch.

Once again I have to say what a pleasure it is to be eating in a healthy manner after being on our road trip for two weeks. I tried to make reasonable choices but sometimes there was just nothing on the menu that fit the description of healthy. Tomorrow night’s dinner is spicy Chana dal with kale and cauliflower rice. Can’t wait!

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Weekly Menu – May 3 – 9, 2021

Posted on May 2, 2021 by Beebamom

This week’s menu is pretty basic and leans heavily on plant-based dishes. I am hoping to get back to my goal weight in the next week so making easy dishes that taste great and have a lower calorie count will help me in my quest to lose vacation weight.

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Orecchiette with broccolini and mushrooms. 5/1/21

Posted on May 2, 2021 by Beebamom

Happy May! And for me, happy to be home!! What a pleasure to be cooking in my own kitchen where I have everything I need close at hand.

Orecchiette with broccolini and mushrooms

John said he felt like pasta so while he heated up the water, I got the mushrooms cut up and in a sauté pan followed by some onion and garlic. When the pasta was getting close to done I added the stems of the broccolini. When John drained the pasta I put in the broccolini florets and then he dumped in the orecchiette. I made a sauce with some reserved pasta water and a little olive oil.

Usually I do not put cheese on my pasta and just keep it vegan but tonight I wanted parmesan strips on top. I feel like since yesterday was a travel day that it still counted as vacation and I could splurge a bit. But on Sunday it is back on the straight and narrow as I need to lose a few pounds gained over the last two weeks. I know it is never a good idea to let my weight go up even a few pounds without doing something about it. I am, after all, a serial dieter and I have been down this road too many times.

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

Dining out – Bakersfield, CA. 4/30/21

Posted on April 30, 2021 by Beebamom

This is our last dinner out before we are home tomorrow. We went to an Italian restaurant with the hopes of having eggplant parmesan, one of our real favorites. Unfortunately the restaurant pared down their menu after re-opening after the pandemic restrictions were somewhat relaxed and eggplant parmesan did not survive the cut.

So we changed gears and had chicken Marsala which has a lot fewer calories than the eggplant parmesan. It made having a piece of bread and a salad with real salad dressing fit into the day’s meals.

Chicken Marsala with angel hair pasta

To be honest, I am really looking forward to planning my menu for next week and sending it out on Sunday. These last two weeks have been a big departure from the way I normally eat now and I am looking forward to eating my own food the way John and I cook it.

Posted in Dining out, Italian, Pasta, Poultry | Leave a comment

Penne with asparagus and mushrooms 4/28/21

Posted on April 28, 2021 by Beebamom

We started off tonight’s dinner with some tuna salad appetizers. I had made the tuna salad for lunch and there was a little left over so I toasted up a piece of bread and used a slice of cucumber as the platforms for my hors d’oeuvres.

Tuna salad hors d’oeuvres

Our serving vessels for our main course were plastic containers we bought to store stuff in as our rental kitchen is woefully supplied. Normally I would serve pasta in bowls.

Whole grain penne with onions, garlic, asparagus, mushrooms, celery, and carrot

While the pasta water was coming up to a boil I cut up and sautéed the vegetables. We really like the taste of Barilla’s whole grain penne and John has gotten very good at cooking it to a perfect al dente. He added the cooked pasta to my vegetables and I created a sauce with a little olive oil and pasta water. A delicious dinner!

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Pan-seared ribeye steak, baked potato, broccoli. 4/27/21

Posted on April 27, 2021 by Beebamom

Tonight’s dinner is in celebration of John’s consulting contract being renewed. He loves his part time job and I am very happy for him. When I suggested steak for dinner I think he was both surprised and pleased because any type of red meat is a very infrequent visitor to our table.

Pan-seared ribeye steak, baked potato, and broccoli

John cooked the steak in a little olive oil and rosemary. If we had been home he would have grilled it outside but it turned out really tasty nonetheless. I microwaved the potato until it was almost done and the seared the cut side in a pan with a little butter. The broccoli was simply cooked in a little water.

Our trip is coming to an end as we head home at the end of the week. I will enjoy being back in my own kitchen making healthy dinners again!

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Dining out – better choices 4/27/21

Posted on April 27, 2021 by Beebamom

One thing we were planning on doing during our road trip was to have picnics. That way we would have better control of the ingredients that would go in our lunches. In fact we even brought along a folding table and chairs in case we could not find a picnic table. Up until Sunday, though, we had only managed one very cold picnic.

On our way to Boulder, UT we stopped in Capitol Reef National Park and found a picnic table and were prepared with food we wanted to eat. So we had a lovely picnic in a beautiful location.


Naan with hummus, tomatoes, cucumber, and olives (And yes that is a small bag of chips in the upper left)
Here’s John enjoying our picnic with a huge chocolate cliff behind him.

Later that day we had an excellent dinner at the Burr Trail Grill in Boulder, UT.

Seared trout with rice and beans and a beet, lettuce, and goat cheese salad

Out in the wilds of Utah it is not always possible to find a restaurant. We did, however, find one in Escalante, UT called Escalante Outfitters. The had crustless vegetable and egg soufflés with a side of grapes. The soufflé was so surprisingly good that I think I will try to make these at home.

Crustless egg and vegetable soufflé with grapes

After driving through a horrific downpour we made it to St. George, UT which is our last stop on our trip. A favorite place of ours is Mad Pita Express where we ordered just what we wanted, hummus and tabbouleh with pita. Their pita is so yummy and they give you so much of it that we had plenty leftover to take to our accommodations. We will be somewhere with a full kitchen so we will be able to shop and cook what we like.

Hummus and tabbouleh with pita

For our first dinner John wanted sushi but I was craving lentils. We compromised and got sushi for an appetizer and made lentil stew with carrots, mushrooms, and chicken sausage.

Lentils with mushrooms, onions, garlic, celery, and chicken sausage over a bed of greens with parsley garnish

We will be here in St. George for a few days before heading home and are looking forward to cooking our own food. Yay!

Posted in American, Dining out, Eggs, Fish, Legumes, Mediterranean, Poultry, stew, Vegetables | Leave a comment

Dining out – Grand Junction, CO and Moab, UT

Posted on April 24, 2021 by Beebamom

I have been finding a few better choices for lunches and dinners. Here are some suggestions for you to try the next time you are faced with a restaurant decision.


Corn tortilla grilled shrimp taco


This salad was part of a half turkey sandwich/salad combo

A note about salad dressings: Instead of dumping the whole container of salad dressing on your salad just dip the ends of the tines of your fork in the dressing. Then stab some salad. Try dipping once and eating twice. You will find you eat a lot less dressing this way.


Thai spicy basil eggplant with tofu and white rice


Salad with pears and almonds which I had with…


Half of a personal size pizza (John ate the other half)

I am on a vacation so of course I am going to have a little splurge once in a while. And it is okay. It is physically impossible for me to gain back 60 lbs. during a two week vacation!

Posted in American, Dining out, Healthy tips, Italian, Mexican, rice, Thai, Vegetables | Leave a comment