Grilled flank steak with roasted vegetables. 2/10/21

Posted on February 10, 2021 by Beebamom

Grilled flank steak with roasted vegetables

On Wednesday John fired up the grill to cook an out-of-the-ordinary beef flank steak. First he marinated it and then grilled it to a rosy pink. It was very tasty.

In the time it took to heat up the grill and cook the flank steak, I roasted a wide range of vegetables in an oven set at 425F. I chose vegetables that I thought would cook in about the same amount of time and put them on one sheet pan and the shorter cooking time vegetables on the other. The harder vegetables, carrots, onions, mushroom, and cauliflower got a ten minute head start. The faster cooking green beans, sliced cabbage, and asparagus cooked the final ten minutes. They were all tossed in a little olive oil, salt, and garlic powder. It is hard to say which vegetable was more delicious than the others. I think I liked the onions best. John liked the green beans best. Roast the vegetables until they get a slight char and can be easily pierced with a knife. It is easy and so delicious!

Posted in American, Beef, Easy, Grilling, Kitchen tips, omnivore, Sheet pan, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Sous vide chicken, IP rutabagas, veg. 2/9/21

Posted on February 9, 2021 by Beebamom

Sous vide chicken breast with gravy, Instant Pot mashed rutabagas, broccoli and cauliflower

We used a couple of our specialty cookers for our comfort classic on Tuesday. For me, this dinner has a holiday vibe since the only time we ever had rutabagas was at Thanksgiving or Christmas. Making rutabagas which are very dense and hard in the Instant Pot guarantees that they will be fully cooked and easily mashed. I set the Pot at 15 minutes on pressure and then a 10 minute cool-down before releasing the steam. When choosing a rutabaga the big waxed ones have a sweeter flavor than their younger, smaller, unwaxed siblings.

John set the sous vide at 159F and we let the chicken breast cook at that temperature for at least an hour and a half or longer depending on when we get the rest of dinner ready. Cooking sous vide allows more flexibility time-wise. John is also in charge of making the packet gravy and he adds the juice in the chicken bag after cooking to give it a more authentic flavor.

I finish out the dinner by mashing the rutabagas and steaming the broccoli and cauliflower. Classic chicken dinner is always a winner at our house.

Posted in American, Easy, Instant Pot, Kitchen tips, Poultry, sous vide, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Prize winner! Algerian tagine. 2/8/21

Posted on February 8, 2021 by Beebamom

This past week’s winner of most views by a country was Algeria with 355 views.  Dininglite.blog seems to be very popular in North Africa. Both Egypt, last week’s winner, and Algeria made strong showings. I decided to make a tagine which is a dish that is widespread in North Africa. The protein component is chickpeas. John and I made the tagine with a variety of vegetables and served it in the traditional manner with couscous.

Chickpea tagine with vegetables and couscous

In making the tagine we cut back on the oil that was suggested in our recipe and omitted the sweet potato. We pared back the cinnamon to 1/2 teaspoon because a whole teaspoon seemed like a really large amount. We substituted golden raisins for the dried apricots because that’s what we had. We added cauliflower and some green beans to up the vegetables content. Here is a link to the recipe we used.

While the tagine bubbles away the kitchen is resplendent with the aroma of coriander, cinnamon, and turmeric. A tablespoon of Harissa gives the dish a nice, spicy back-of-the-throat zing. We added a little sriracha to get a front of the mouth spiciness. Now that we have tried tagine, we plan on putting it into our vegetarian/vegan rotation of dishes.

Who will win next week? So far the Philippines are in the lead with Thailand close behind. I am looking forward to finding and making a recipe from either of these countries! (FYI, previous winners are not eligible for at least 8 weeks.)

Posted in Easy, Kitchen tips, Legumes, North African, Pasta, stew, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , | Leave a comment

BFD Eggs, veg patty, veg, salad. 2/7/21

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Beebamom

Scrambled eggs and veg patty on pita with onions and mushrooms plus a mixed green salad

First let me report that John had an omelet AGAIN! I made some scrambled eggs and a veggie patty which I topped with sautéed onions and mushrooms and served atop a split half of a pita. My green salad featured arugula and tomatoes with a salsa dressing.

I enjoy these easy Breakfast For Dinner meals. They are no stress and I only have to worry about what I want to eat!

Since this is a short post I will include a picture of a great salad that I made for lunch the other day. I usually like to eat a sandwich and I really do not like making a salad but I am trying to limit carbs at breakfast and lunch. So here’s a picture of my lunch from Saturday.

 

Kale and romaine salad with chicken, tomatoes, and mushrooms and a non-fat salad dressing

Posted in American, Easy, Eggs, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu – 2/8 – 2/14/21

Posted on February 7, 2021 by Beebamom

This week’s winner is Algeria for visiting Dininglite.blog more than any other country! To celebrate their mistakes on finding their way to my blog, we are making a vegetable tagine. Along with chickpeas and some standard root vegetables, our tagine will feature harissa, a little cinnamon and coriander plus a touch of turmeric.

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LFD-Koshari/chickpea stew with turkey sausage. 2/6/21

Posted on February 6, 2021 by Beebamom

Koshari/chickpea stew with turkey sausage

For our Leftovers For Dinner (LFD) meal we used the tiny bit of koshari we had left over from Monday. Obviously we were going to have to figure out some way to stretch this into a whole dinner. I started out by sautéing some mushrooms, onions, and garlic. That is always a great beginning to any dish! Then I added some cut up turkey sausage which needed using and a can of drained chickpeas. Chickpeas are a great canned vegetable that you should keep extras of. Next came the koshari remnants and the end of a package of kale. Just enough chicken stock and a dash of sriracha brought the whole dish together.

Posted in American, Easy, Egyptian, Kitchen tips, leftovers, Legumes, stew, Vegetables | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Chicken parmesan with linguine and broccoli. 2/5/21

Posted on February 5, 2021 by Beebamom

Chicken parmesan with linguine and broccoli

Just a reminder, the pictured food in my blog is my actual dinner plate and I eat all of it every day. In addition to my dinner I eat breakfast and lunch plus enjoy half a bag of popcorn during our faux cocktail hour (no cocktails.) So what I am saying is that it is totally possible to eat a wide variety of delicious dinners and still lose weight. Not depriving yourself is really key if you want to be successful in changing to a healthier lifestyle. I lost 62 pounds in a little over a year and have now maintained my weight loss for 3 months.

Tonight we made chicken parmesan. John did a great job pounding out and cooking the chicken and cooking the pasta. I made the tomato sauce and the broccoli. Making my own sauce means I know exactly what goes into it and I am not sabotaged by added sugars and starches. Broccoli is part of the dinner because vegetables take up room on the plate and fill you up!

I have had pasta three times this week! It has been a good week.

Posted in American, Healthy tips, Italian, Kitchen tips, Poultry, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Orecchiette with mushrooms and broccolini. 2/4/21

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Beebamom

Orecchiette with mushrooms, onions, garlic, and broccolini

If you are like me and could sit down to at least 8 ounces of pasta and wish you could have more then you need to find a way to make a little pasta go a long way. I stretch my pasta calories by adding a lot of vegetables to 2 or 3 ounces of pasta. This yummy dish is less than 3 ounces of orecchiette and contains 1 teaspoon of oil. I use a lot of mushrooms cut fairly chunky, half of a large onion, chopped, 2 or 3 minced garlic cloves, and a bunch of broccolini, stems and all.

Here is how our process goes – John salts a pot of water and puts it on to boil. While that is going on I cut up the vegetables and start to saute the mushrooms in a spray of olive oil, then I add the onions, and finally the garlic being careful not to let the garlic get dark. By this time the water is boiling and John puts the orecchiette on to cook. It takes about 10 minutes. At the five minute mark I put the chopped broccolini stems in to cook with the mushroom mixture along with a little pasta water. At the one minute mark I add the broccolini tops. John drains the pasta but reserves a half cup or so of the pasta water. He dumps the pasta into the vegetables and I stir it around adding one teaspoon of olive oil and some of the pasta water to make a sauce.

That is about 20 minutes total and you end up having a giant bowl of pasta that is delicious and filling.

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

Sheet pan shawarma with cod. 2/3/21

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Beebamom

Sheet pan shawarma with cod, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and red onion

This is a very easy and tasty dinner that uses only one pan. The important step is not to overcook the fish. Give the vegetables about a 20 minute head start and then add the fish. Depending on how thick your fish is you will need to adjust its cook time. Our 3/4 inch pieces of cod cooked for 8 minutes and I would say that 7 minutes probably would have been optimal.

Oven roasted cod shawarma with vegetables. Serves 2

For the fish (two 5 oz. portions)
Zest of one lemon
2 tsp olive oil
¼ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp kosher salt (or to taste)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
¼ tsp turmeric
Pinch of cinnamon

For the vegetables
Season with salt, garlic powder, and coriander (sprinkle over)
3 carrots cut in 3 inch lengths approx. ¾ inch diameter
1 large red onion, quartered (or in eighths)
10 new potatoes, halved
¼ head of cabbage sliced in 4 pieces through root

Combine the zest and the fish spices with the olive oil. Coat the fish with the resulting paste. Marinate for ½ hour while you prepare the vegetables.

Heat the oven to 425F. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil and spray with olive oil spray.

Cut the vegetables and spray them on one side with olive oil and sprinkle on vegetable seasonings. Place the vegetables ONLY on the sprayed sheet pan with the olive oil side up. Bake for 20 minutes.

Add the cod after the 20 minutes have elapsed and place on top of cabbage slices or just on the sheet pan. Cook for 7-8 minutes (the timing really depends on how thick your fish is.)

Posted in American, Easy, Fish, Middle Eastern, pescatarian, Sheet pan, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Rhode Island clam chowder 2/2/21

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Beebamom
Rhode Island clam chowder

Rhode Island clam chowder is similar to New England clam chowder but is brothier. I used only 2 tablespoons of cream in a fairly large pot of soup. You may be thinking that this is the poor relation of its creamier cousin but it is full of flavor and a healthier choice. I make it with minced canned clams and bottled clam juice so it is a snap to make. Recipe below.

When she saw that I was making clam chowder, our wonderful baker daughter made us a loaf of sourdough bread to have with it. Just the smell of baking bread makes me ecstatic. The sesame seeds on the crust are so delicious. Needless to say we ate almost the whole loaf and I will pay for it at the scale. Sigh.

Sourdough bread with sesame seeds

CLAM CHOWDER WITH CROUTON.     Serves 3-4 Adapted from a recipe by Gabrielle Hamilton

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, minced

2 ribs of celery, minced

2 leeks, dark, woody green parts removed, ¼” coins

10 ounces golden new potatoes, medium dice

2 sprigs thyme, picked

2 sprigs tarragon

6 ounces dry white wine

2 bottles/16 ounces clam juice

Juice from 2 cans chopped clams (~8 oz.)

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons heavy cream

12 ounces chopped clams (2 cans, reserved liquid, see above)

3-4 slices hearty bread, toasted 

Step 1

In the Dutch oven, heat the olive oil, and add onion, celery, leeks, potatoes, tarragon,  and thyme, stirring to coat. Season with salt, and cook over low heat until the vegetables have just started to soften, taking care not to brown, about 5 minutes. Deglaze with white wine and then add the clam juice and reserved clam liquid. Simmer until potatoes are al dente.

Step 2

Stir in the cream, and simmer until vegetables are cooked through, taking care not to boil. Add the chopped clams, and season to taste with salt and ground black pepper. Remove from heat.

Step 3

Toast the bread until golden, and place each piece in a bowl. Add a ladleful of chowder around the toast. Add another ladleful partially covering the toast and serve.

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