Rarely a week goes by that John and I do not make what we call our classic chicken dinner. John puts one chicken breast that we share in the immersion circulator and sets the temperature to 160F.  I chop up a rutabaga or two and cook the pieces in the Instant Pot under pressure for 12 minutes. When everything is almost ready I give the broccoli a quick sauté.
Chicken breast, rutabagas, broccoli
I came across this recipe and decided to make it my own. The original recipe called for chorizo, russet potatoes, tomatoes, kale, and broth. My version has turkey sausage, kale stems and leaves, small red potatoes, cannellini beans, carrots, tomatoes, celery, onions, red bell pepper, and broth. Here it is bubbling on the stove.
Kale soup on the stove
Soup can be anything you want to make it. Chorizo is too fatty for me so I subbed in turkey sausage. I wanted potatoes that held their shape so I used waxy small potatoes. I wanted it to be heartier so I added cannellini beans. I thought more vegetables would make the soup taste better so in went carrots, celery, bell pepper, and the cut up stems from the kale. I used chicken stock and reinforced the chicken-y flavor with powdered bullion (we call that chicken salt.) Since we were missing the smoky flavor of the chorizo, John suggested smoked paprika and red pepper flakes for a bit of zip. Some of the ideas I got from reading other peoplesâ comments about the dish and others we just came up with on our own. A recipe is just a starting point. Put your personal flair on it! And donât forget to make notes of everything you did!!
Finished bowl of soup
We are using up meat that has been in the freezer for more than 6 months. I think that these boneless beef short ribs are the last ones. Making a beef stew in the Instant Pot is really easy and relatively quick. Season the meat and leave it in fairly big chunks so you donât have to keep turning it over as you sear the beef on the SautĂ© function. Add some beef stock, a can of tomatoes, onions, potatoes, carrots, and celery. Set the Pressure cook time for eighteen minutes and when itâs finished let the pressure drop naturally for 10 minutes and then release the rest. Make a slurry of a little gravy and your favorite thickener to give the gravy a bit more viscosity. Voila! Youâre done in around 45 minutes (mostly hands off cooking.)
Instant Pot beef stew
For some unknown reason I did not get around to writing a post yesterday. It is not like I donât have a ton of time given that we are locked down. Ah, I remember! Yesterday we cleaned and disinfected the house. That took up quite a bit of time.
Anyway on Monday night we had agnolini which are circular ravioli type pasta. We bought them pre-made in the fresh pasta section of the grocery store. They were served in a veg broth with carrots, onions, celery, and mushrooms. The agnolini were stuffed with a mushroom purée. This dinner was easy and good!
Agnolini en brodo
We are beginning our third week of quarantine here in the Bay Area. Our pantry and refrigerator are well-stocked for making breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So far everyone in our household is cooperating well with each other and the quarantine. John and I pretty much make our breakfasts and lunches individually and cook our dinner together. Our daughter eats whenever but usually makes her dinner after ours. In other words, the kitchen is busy most hours of the day.
This week has three comfort favoritesâour usual Sunday Breakfast for dinner, Classic chicken, and Seared scallops. This week also includes a it-has-been-too- long-in-the-freezer boneless short ribs beef stew. Two new recipes, agnolini in brodo and kale soup, will probably debut at the beginning and end of the week. The clams I will make either as a pasta or soup dish.
Original Joeâs is a restaurant founded in 1937 in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco by a Croatian immigrant. This Bay Area institution, still open today, serves mostly Italian-American fare with the idea of delivering the diner good, affordable food. One of the items on their menu is Joeâs Special, a scramble of eggs, spinach, ground beef, and onions. I skipped the ground beef and added some red bell pepper to the mix. Original Joeâs charges $19.95 for his special but you can make it at home for much less with or without meat.
Scrambled eggs with spinach, onions, and red bell pepper
We decided to get back on our diet track with a vegetable stir-fry. I have been making this type of stir-fry for lunch recently so I merely had to cut up more vegetables to make it an entree for both of us to eat for dinner. John manned our large frying pan while I cut up the vegetables in order of cooking time. John likes the mise en place to be completely done before cooking but I find my method gets dinner on the table much more quickly. Our stir-fry consisted of onions, mushrooms, garlic, carrots, celery, broccoli, red bell pepper, zucchini, snow peas, and spinach. It was seasoned with soy sauce and red pepper flakes. We served it on rice with a drizzle of sriracha.
Vegetable stir-fry with rice
I post what John and I eat almost every day. I try to make up a weekly menu that is full of easy-to-make, healthy dinners. Â On the days when I do not post it is usually because something like last nightâs binge happened. I have been dieting for over 6 months and have lost 34 lbs. But I never expected to be quarantined. Our quarantine in Northern California is two weeks old already. Â I want to eat junk.
No doubt you will think that my binge is hardly worth mentioning. Whereâs the ice cream, cake, Doritos, etc. But for someone who has been so careful for so long, it makes me feel ashamed and mad at myself. Mea culpa.
Also I washed this dinner down with a half bottle of white wine.
First course –
Half bag of popcorn
Second course –
3 1/2 pretzel rods
Main entree –
1 1/2 bowls of Cheerios one of which had raisins on it
Dessert –
Honey crisp apple which I cut up and salted (because thatâs the way I roll)
Since this dinner item appears almost weekly I wonât say much about it other than it comforts me – sous vide chicken breast and mashed rutabagas from the Instant Pot with chicken gravy that I make from a McCormackâs packet plus broccoli cooked in a little light butter.
Chicken breast and rutabagas with chicken gravy plus broccoli
Vegetarian or vegan, this chickpea stew is the epitome of goodness in a bowl. Healthy and filling but also quick, easy, and economical, it is the perfect shelter-in-place kind of meal. My original recipe came from Melissa Clark of the NYTimes but I have adapted it to suit John and me. This meal is one that I make on my own since it is all veg so John gets a night off.
Chickpea stew with ditalini and spinach
Chickpea stew with ditalini and spinach
2 tsp. olive oil
1 medium carrot, cut in discs
1 large stalk of celery, chopped
1 small zucchini cut in discs
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
Dash of red pepper flakes
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
1 (15-oz.) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 oz. ditalini or other small soup pasta
5 oz. baby spinach leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese and good olive oil for garnishing (optional)
In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add carrots, celery, and onion and a dash of salt. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook another 2 minutes. Pour in broth plus the 2 additional cups water and bring to a boil.
Once the mixture is boiling, add the chickpeas, tomatoes and ditalini. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Simmer about 12 minutes until ditalini is tender. Uncover and stir in spinach and simmer until spinach is soft, about 2 minutes.
Taste and season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and top with (optional Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of good olive oil.
For us this serves 2 with a bowl leftover for lunch the next day.
Omnivore 