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.
-
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
-
Join 383 other subscribers
Meta
Rotisserie chicken dinner. 8/11/25
Sesame shrimp bowl 8/10/25
Next in our dinners that don’t heat up the kitchen too much is sesame (BLANK) bowl. Sunday night’s bowl featured shrimp but we also make it with salmon and tofu. In the bottom of our bowls we put pre-made rice heated up briefly in the microwave. The vegetables come next – shredded cabbage, thinly sliced cucumbers, and edamame. Then we add quick cooking sautéed shrimp. Our dressing is a soy vinaigrette with lots of ginger. Finally on top we put a drizzle of sesame oil, furikake, green onions, jalapeños, avocado, and cilantro.
It’s a delicious salad with an interesting dressing that does not heat up the kitchen! Here is my recipe for the soy vinaigrette.
Posted in Asian, Hot weather meals, Legumes, pescatarian, Recipes, rice, Salad, Shellfish, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners
Tagged avocado, cabbage, cucumber, edamame, shrimp
Leave a comment
Gazpacho and salad. 8/9/25
My friend, Sophia, is visiting me for the next two weeks. Of course I want to make her all of my best dishes. But it is really hot here. Probably close to 100F today so I cannot make anything that involves heating up the kitchen. My solution? Gazpacho and salad. I make my gazpacho thick and hearty ignoring the directions to put the soup through a sieve. The soup is a combination of fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes, a can of Rotel, a cucumber, some onion and garlic, salt, and a little olive oil. I spin it in the blender until it has the consistency of a thick soup. I garnish it with chopped cucumber, cilantro, and olive oil. A nice salad rounds out the meal.
Posted in Easy, Hot weather meals, Mediterranean, Salad, soup, Uncategorized, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners
Tagged Gazpacho
Leave a comment
Banh mi take-out. 8/8/25
Friday was a conserve-energy day which means that between 4pm and 9pm you are supposed to turn off the A/C and other electricity. PG&E made this easy for us since we had a power outage twice during that period. So it is a good thing that we planned ahead for take-out.
Each of us have a favorite sandwich. Sarah likes the grilled chicken, John likes the pâté one, and my favorite is vegetarian. These Vietnamese sandwiches are on a French roll and have pickled vegetables, sometimes a smear of pâté, cucumber, jalapeño, and some sort of dressing. They are so delicious that I forget to take a picture.
Posted in Asian, Hot weather meals, take-out, Vegetables, Vietnamese, Weeknight dinners
Tagged banh mi, take-out
Leave a comment
Hot dog with sauerkraut 8/7/25
Hot night? Hot dog!
Chicken burrito bowl. 8/6/25
Sarah eats bowls almost every day. Sometimes they are Asian inspired, other times Mediterranean, and tonight we all enjoyed the chicken burrito bowl that she introduced us to recently. These are great meals to make when the weather is very hot.
Our bowls started with warmed rice followed by warmed black beans. Then I put on some shredded cheese, corn kernels, cabbage, rotisserie chicken, cilantro, and salsa. Usually I add tortilla chips but I forgot them. Except for some chopping the prep is very easy. It is really just an assembly dish. The summer is heating up so I imagine we will be eating lots of bowls.
Posted in American, Easy, Hot weather meals, Methods, Mexican, Poultry, rice, Salad, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners
Tagged chicken, Salad, Vegetables
Leave a comment
National Night Out. 8/5/25
August 5th was National Night Out and one of our neighbors organized a party for our cul-de-sac. People brought food to share and two of our city’s policemen came around to say hi and chat with us for a while. We have lived here for 32 years and it is the first time we have had a block party. Our block is pretty small with only twelve houses and not everyone could come but we had around a dozen people.
Some people brought sandwiches for themselves. Others ate the shared offerings. John and I brought shrimp cocktail, Chardonnay, and fresh cut-up vegetables with a dill dip. The shrimp were definitely a hit with the yellow jackets!
Lentils stew. 8/4/25
Lentils with turkey sausage makes for an economical and comforting dinner. I start chopping the vegetables and John starts the cooking right away. First I chop the onion and garlic which he starts cooking in some olive oil. By the time he’s got the onions ready I have finished chopping the celery and carrots. They go in the pot. Next we add the herbs and spices followed by chicken stock and the lentils. Lastly the sliced turkey goes in. The whole thing cooks at a simmer for about 25 minutes or until the lentils are cooked through. The whole dinner costs less than $5.00 and is packed with flavor, fiber, vitamins, and protein.
Posted in American, Easy, Healthy tips, Legumes, Poultry, stew, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners
Tagged lentils, turkey sausage
Leave a comment
Family Cook-out. 8/3/25
For our family cook-out we had the usual Zayde burgers (hamburgers grilled excellently by John aka Zayde to our grandkids), guacamole and tortilla chips, sliced mango, spice cake and ice cream, and the lovely Caprese salad that I made with ingredients from Sarah’s plot at the Community Garden. Yum, are tomatoes that you grow yourself so much better than the ones at the grocery store! Caprese salad is just sliced tomatoes, sliced mozzarella, and basil leaves finished with kosher salt and good EVOO. It’s easy to make, beautiful to look at, and delicious to eat!
Omnivore 