Weekly Menu, August 31 – September 5, 2020

Posted on September 1, 2020 by Beebamom

A change that I am making to the usual weekly menu post is that I am changing the start day to Monday from Sunday so it coincides with our weigh-in day. Interestingly even though we did not strictly stay on our diet plan while we were on “fire vacation“, we both lost weight. Now that we have been doing our diet for almost one year is it possible that we have changed some bad eating habits? I hope so.

This week features three vegetarian or vegan meals, three seafood, and one carnivore meal. Being cozily at home again inspires a week of simple favorites.

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Substituting ingredients. 8/30/20

Posted on August 30, 2020 by Beebamom

Tonight we are making chicken chili with the last bit of our rotisserie chicken. Problem is, we do not have most of the ingredients that we normally use since we are still inhabiting the desert island of a rental unit. I really do not want to buy a bunch of expensive spices. We have half of a Fresno chile left so we will use that. We buy a can of white chile beans which come with some seasoning and a jar of salsa verde. Our last purchase is a packet of chile seasoning. It has chile powder and cumin in it.

This is our last night before returning home so we need to use up as much as possible from the refrigerator. I chop up onions, bell pepper, and garlic, the Fresno chile, and a carrot for sweetness. We add the beans, the salsa verde, and some chicken stock. Taste, adjust, taste again. It does not come out great but is an approximation of chile. John puts crumbled corn tortilla chips on his. I try to coax out some umami flavor with a packet of soy sauce. I also make cauliflower rice with the rest of our “power greens.”

Some times you just do the best you can. We will be driving all day Monday and just figure on some sandwiches for supper. I will be posting again on Tuesday with a new menu for the rest of the week and Tuesday’s dinner.

Chicken chili with cauliflower rice

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Hamburgers. 8/29/20

Posted on August 29, 2020 by Beebamom

Broiled hamburger on focaccia with garden salad

This is the first actual hamburger I have eaten in 11.5 months. Yes, I have had a couple of very low fat burgers on pita or a diet bread product a couple of times but there is really no comparison. This was a juicy hamburger on real bread!

John did a good job cooking them under the broiler since we have no grill and the stovetop here is very unreliable. I made a salad that we dressed simply with oil and vinegar.

Sunday night is our last night here in Utah before we return home. The fire nearest to us is no longer a threat and the air has cleared considerably. While on our fire “vacation” we have relaxed our dietary rules quite a bit and we will be returning to our mindful eating with the emphasis on plant-based meals when we get home!

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Rotisserie chicken. 8/28/20

Posted on August 28, 2020 by Beebamom

I just noticed that I skipped August 28th! My bad! Maybe I skipped it because we had a rather unimaginative meal of a Costco chicken with a mix of cauliflower rice and leftover yellow rice and the always available broccoli. It is hard to cook here in our away-from-home kitchen with its lackluster appliances and a shortage of our usual spices and ingredients so I guess I kind of phoned it in.

Rotisserie chicken breast with cauli/yellow rice, and broccoli

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Fancy dinner night. 8/27/20

Posted on August 27, 2020 by Beebamom

Tonight we gave into the hardcore carnivore within each of us and made lamb chops with a baked potato and asparagus.

Broiled lamb chops with baked potato and asparagus

Since we do not have a reliable cooktop here John broiled the lamb chops in the oven, I microwaved the potatoes, and I only used the cooktop for the asparagus. Our daughter scooped out her potato and made it twice baked style with butter, onions, and cheese. I think we all enjoyed this change of pace dinner.

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Cooking in a strange kitchen. 8/26/20

Posted on August 26, 2020 by Beebamom

Lentils with chicken sausage, onions, carrots, and celery

Although we are trying to convince ourselves that we are on a “vacation” and not running away from fire and smoke, I still want to eat in a healthy manner. Because of the pandemic and my diet, dining out is not a good choice. But cooking in a strange kitchen is hard! The A/C in the kitchen blows across the gas cooktop making it difficult to get a constant heat source. The lentils I cooked tonight cooked at least twice as long, absorbing the cooking liquid but not ever really softening.

Later I tried to hard boil some eggs and put a small pot on to heat. After 15 minutes it still had not come to a boil! I finally gave up and put the eggs in and cooked them for another 15 minutes. The water never came to a boil! The eggs were cooked but just barely. Anyway, just saying, that it has been a cooking adventure.

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Escaping the fire and smoke. 8/25/20

Posted on August 25, 2020 by Beebamom

You may have noticed that I did not publish a weekly menu or any updates for a few days. We have been dealing with the fires and smoke in Northern California. Over the weekend our air had fallen into the hazardous range so we decided to find some better air on Monday. After packing up important papers and sentimental items in case our house burned down, we left for St. George, Utah. We rented a condo with a kitchen so now I am able to get back to my usual routine. (BTW the fires are getting under control and we plan on returning next week.)

Sauteed shrimp, yellow rice, broccoli

Cooking in a strange kitchen temporarily is a challenge. The pots and pans are different and you do not have the wide array of spices and condiments that you have at home. I really do not want to buy too much basic stuff so we are lacking things like ketchup and mayo, oregano, cumin, and lots of other things. On Monday night after our long drive we just bought some prepared food but on Tuesday we were ready to tackle something homemade. The result was sauteed shrimp, with yellow rice (by Vigo), and broccoli. It turned out fine and we had so much broccoli that our daughter had it as a healthy side to blue box mac and cheese!

Hopefully we will be cooking for the rest of the week in our new clean air digs.

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Pinto bean tacos with spicy tomato rice (vegan). 8/22/20

Posted on August 22, 2020 by Beebamom

Pinto bean tacos, spicy tomato rice, and diced mango

Our taco meal was surprisingly filling and satisfying. The canned pinto beans were cooked with onion, garlic, Serrano chile, and cumin. The beans went into stovetop toasted corn tortillas and then garnished with salsa, cabbage, and cilantro. One of our sides was white rice with fresh tomatoes, Serrano chile, and cumin and the other was refreshing diced mango seasoned with salt, cracked pepper, and a squeeze of lime.

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Vegan chickpeas with veg and pasta. 8/21/20

Posted on August 21, 2020 by Beebamom

Chickpeas with assorted vegetables and pasta

Each time we make this dinner it is a little different from the last time. This time we added a can of tomatoes with chiles which gave it a nice zing. Sometimes we add fennel instead of celery, this time we added celery and zucchini. Our finishing greens vary as well—kale, or chard, but tonight I was lazy and just bought a container of mixed hearty greens. So what I am saying is chickpea stew/soup is endlessly variable and always a welcome addition to the week’s menu.

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Pan-seared salmon. 8/20/20

Posted on August 20, 2020 by Beebamom

Pan-seared salmon, creamy parsley sauce, rice/cauliflower rice, broccoli, and snow peas

This was a quick cooking dinner. There was, of course, some prep time for making the sauce, seasoning the fish, cutting up the veg, and steaming the rice. John took care of the rice in the morning so all we had to do was re-heat it in the microwave. (I added some cauliflower rice to my portion of rice so I could have more!) The salmon cooks in about 5 minutes which is enough time to get the broccoli and snow peas cooked as well.

The sauce turned out really well. I used 2 tablespoons of light mayo, 1/2 teaspoon of yellow mustard, a chopped up dill pickle spear, a handful of chopped parsley leaves, a tablespoon of water, and a dash of salt, garlic, and curry powder to make the creamy sauce. I think capers would have been good in there too! The sauce really lifted the dinner into the “fancy dinner” realm.

The fires here in Northern California are getting close to us and we will pack an emergency go-bag this afternoon. We are hoping that the fire takes a different course or gets under control before it gets to our town. It is 14 miles away currently but the wind is pushing it in our direction. It is better to be prepared and have a plan.

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