Sea bass, Vichy carrots, new potatoes, parsley sauce. 7/28/20

Chilean sea bass with new potatoes, Vichy carrots, and parsley sauce

This was a stellar dinner. We bought these Chilean sea bass individually frozen fillets from Costco and they were great. It is on the expensive side since the per meal cost of the fish is about $13 for the two of us but if we had this in a restaurant it would cost $80 or more. Oh, the advantages of having to eat at home during the pandemic! Cook the fish in the oven at 400F for about 13 minutes. The fish was seasoned with salt plus enhanced with paprika, bay leaves, garlic powder, and lemon zest.

The sides were 4 oz. steamed new potatoes each and Vichy carrots, a recipe I found on NYTime Cooking. Basically it is cook the carrots in a little water for about 15 minutes. Into the dry pan (since the water has evaporated) add olive oil (I used spray), some finely diced shallot (I used onion), a teaspoon of honey (I used brown sugar), and thyme. Cook another two minutes.

The parsley sauce was a whizzed-together bunch of parsley leaves and tender stems, 1/4 cup minus one tablespoon water, one tablespoon olive oil, one tablespoon lemon juice, and one eighth teaspoon xanthan gum powder. The original recipe calls for one quarter cup oil but I did not want that much oil so I substituted oil with water but kept the viscosity using xanthan gum.

This dinner was so good that it was impossible to not keep saying “yum” while eating.

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Weekly Menu. July 26 – August 1, 2020

If there is any upside to this pandemic it is that it has been a great boon to my diet. Hopefully this week I will pass the 50 lbs. lost mark. Not being able to travel or eat out means that all our meals are under our control and there is much less temptation. And speaking of temptation, John and I have crafted a pretty tempting menu for this week.

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Pulled pork tacos with Texas caviar. 7/27/20

This dinner was a reprise of Sunday’s family lunch. Since this pork is a fattier cut than most of “the other white meat,” I had to keep my portion small. I did not fold up my taco but ate it open faced which made it last longer and kept me at a pace where I would not have to sit around watching John eat! I made some yogurt crema to go with the taco and also had taco fixings of salsa, cabbage, and cilantro. Texas caviar is a combination of black-eyed peas and black beans with myriad crunchy raw vegetables and a low calorie dressing.

Pulled pork taco and Texas caviar

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Shrimp stir fry and breakfast for dinner. 7/25, 26/20

We finish off last week on Saturday with a tasty shrimp stir fry and start off the new week on Sunday with Breakfast for Dinner.

Shrimp stir fry with leeks, bok choy , carrots, celery, serrano chile, broccoli, snow peas, and rice

Spinach, ham and egg scramble served on top of a flax, whole wheat, and oat pita plus iced tea

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Salmon with rice and snow peas. 7/23/20

Salmon, rice, snow peas

We are eating more salmon to help support our HDL with omega-3 fatty acids. Tonight’s salmon was quickly pan fried in a spray of olive oil. It took less than 10 minutes to cook. Along with snow peas and rice we made a curry yogurt sauce with chopped cucumber. A squirt of sriracha pepped the sauce up.

I think I have finally figured out that when you eat in a healthy manner, you not only look better but you feel better too. And really, isn’t living a long active life what we all want?

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Vegan whole grain penne with mushrooms and broccolini. 7/22/20

Penne with mushrooms and broccolini

I really enjoy eating a big bowl of pasta but my healthy eating plan wants me to eat fewer carbs. What to do? First, select a whole grain pasta and second, make a sauce which is loaded with vegetables – your eyes will see a big bowl of pasta, your tummy will be satisfied, and your psyche will be happy. Our pasta contained about a 2 ounce penne portion for me with a load of onions, garlic, mushrooms, and broccolini stems and florets. The sauce was made with pasta water and a drizzle of olive oil. Win, win, win!

 

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Chicken breast with rice and broccoli. 7/21/20

Chicken breast with rice and broccoli

I know it is chicken breast again! Last week to make it a little different I ate the chicken with BBQ sauce. This week I ate it with soy sauce. At first we were going to have rutabagas instead of rice but it turned out that they were so woody that we had to throw the whole lot of cooked rutabaga out. That made me angry! Luckily John had made some rice earlier in the day for some concoction he was having for lunch so at least we had a last minute back-up.

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Red lentils with kale and mushrooms. 7/20/20

Red lentils and kale

Red lentils are an excellent quick-cook dinner. Cooked along with onions, garlic, ginger and a spice mix of turmeric, cumin, cayenne pepper, and salt, the lentils are ready in about 15 minutes after you add either your vegetable or chicken broth. A ratio of 2.5 parts liquid to 1 part lentils will give you a slightly soupy mixture. Stir in a little lemon juice after they are cooked for a little acidity.

We served the lentils with sautéed kale. First I sautéed mushrooms, onions, and garlic. Then I added the kale stems and a little water so the stems could steam. When they were tender I put in the chopped kale leaves and sautéed everything together for about 3 minutes.

 

 

 

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Weekly Menu, July 19-26, 2020

This week features four vegetarian meals three of which are vegan, two seafood, and one chicken dinners. I really like all these meals but am especially fond of the Thai spicy tofu and eggplant dish. It is an adaptation of our favorite dinner at our local Thai place (which we have not been to in such a long time! ) New dish this week is pan roasted salmon with a curried cucumber yogurt sauce.

 

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Fresh, vegan sauce for penne. 7/18/20

Pasta is one of my favorite foods to eat. But I really have to watch the sauces that I pair with it so I do not exceed my caloric intake for the day. For me, what could be better than a bowl of whole grain penne with a fresh, vegan sauce made from a couple of teaspoons of olive oil, onions, bell pepper, garlic, homegrown tomatoes and zucchini, plus a little pasta water?

Vegetable sauce cooking

In the time it takes to heat the water and cook the pasta my sauce is ready to be tossed with the penne. I foresee many great pasta dinners in the future using delicious, summer vegetables!

Whole grain penne with vegetable sauce

 

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