🥬 Black bean tacos and Texas caviar. 3/4/20

Posted on March 4, 2020 by Beebamom

Black bean tacos and Texas caviar have a lot of components that need chopping but there is very little cooking. I take a short-cut with the Texas caviar and use half of a can of drained Rotel and dump the other half in the black beans. Chopping up tomatoes is not one of my favorite things to do.  In addition to the Rotel the Texas caviar has black eyed peas, corn, carrots, celery, bell pepper, white onion, and green onion all in uniform size. I use plenty of cumin and some garlic powder, a dash of vinegar, some of my super salad dressing, salt, and a bunch of sriracha to season the vegetables.

John chars the tortillas over the stove’s open flame and we garnish our black bean tacos with cabbage, salsa verde, green onions, and yogurt crema. After you eat this you feel good about yourself for having so many servings of vegetables!

NOTE: For a vegan version substitute or omit yogurt

Black bean tacos and Texas caviar

Posted in Easy, Mexican, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | Leave a comment

🐓 Comfort Food. 3/3/20

Posted on March 3, 2020 by Beebamom

There is a lot to be worried about at the moment so a plate of comfort food seems like the right dinner. For us that is pan-roasted chicken breast, rutabagas and broccoli. It doesn’t make the worries go away but surely is good.

Pan roasted chicken, Instant Pot mashed rutabagas, broccoli

Posted in American, Easy, Instant Pot, Poultry, Vegetables | Tagged | 1 Comment

🥬 Leftovers: Spiced red lentils 3/2/20

Posted on March 2, 2020 by Beebamom

We have a lot of spiced red lentils left over from last week and a container of rice. So I pick up some more broccoli from the store and we have an almost no-work dinner. These lentils, whose major claim to fame is the addition of butternut squash, are really not spicy at all. Perhaps it is the difference between the words spiced and spicy. Spiced means containing spices while spicy conjures up a blast of heat in the mouth. John and I made up for the lack of spiciness with a liberal application of sriracha.

Spiced red lentils with rice and broccoli

Posted in Easy, Indian, leftovers, Legumes, rice, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | Leave a comment

👍 Weekly Menu March 1-7, 2020

Posted on March 2, 2020 by Beebamom

Here are eight ideas for your personal dinner menu this week. They are in no particular order and there are eight ideas for seven days so we can be flexible. There are 4 vegetarian meals a couple of which are vegan, 3 fish or seafood, and 1 chicken meal. My menu is especially good for dieters! We always start with breakfast for dinner on Sunday night. This week John made himself a fancy omelet while I stuck with over easy eggs on toast with a veggie breakfast patty and blueberries with plain yogurt for dessert. Enjoy!

 

Posted in Weekly menu | Leave a comment

🐟 A pretty, perfect, lunch (or dinner) 2/29/20

Posted on February 29, 2020 by Beebamom

This is my second go at a Nicoise Salad. It is so colorful and a delight to eat. I subbed in black beans for a green vegetables and used spinach instead of traditional salad greens. John and I ate our lunch in the dining room with no cell phones (except for taking a picture) or iPads. Lovely.

Niçoise salad #2

Posted in Easy, Eggs, Fish, French, Healthy tips, Legumes, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

🥬 Farro with mushroom and leeks. 2/28/20

Posted on February 28, 2020 by Beebamom

Tonight we try a new recipe, farro with mushroom and leeks (other major players include yogurt, chives, and dill). After sautéing the mushrooms and leeks, John pops them in a low oven to keep them warm while cooking the farro. The farro cooks risotto-style adding a little warm stock at a time. Once the farro is cooked, the two components are put together along with the various garnishes.

Farro with mushrooms and leeks served with broccoli

Here is another picture where you can see the farro better.

John is pretty enthused about this dish. I am less so. I like using the oven method for the farro. It brings out the inherent nuttiness of the grain. Maybe we can find a way of combining oven-baked farro with mushrooms and leeks in the future.

Posted in American, Grains, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | Leave a comment

🐚+🐟 Scallops!

Posted on February 26, 2020 by Beebamom

Scallops are my favs and whenever we have them for dinner it is like we are having a celebration of a happy occasion. Easy and quick to fix, scallops are a bundle of goodness in a small package. We get ours from Costco where they are flash frozen with no additives and reasonably priced. They are for sale in the meat and fish counter and are not the ones you find in the frozen foods cases.

Seared scallops with snow peas and new potatoes

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

🐓 White chicken chili. 2/25/20

Posted on February 25, 2020 by Beebamom

The recipe I use for white chicken chili is from Food Network. I make a few changes. Since there are only two of us I halve the ingredients. We still have plenty left over.  Instead of mashing some of the beans, I keep all the beans whole and add in half of a can of fat free refried beans. I also use half of a cup of salsa verde for more chili flavor.   I swap yogurt for sour cream and do not add chips on top.  This is a simple, quick way to make a white chili, with or without chicken.

White chicken chili

Posted in American, Easy, Kitchen tips, Legumes, Mexican, Poultry, Recipes, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

🥬🐓🐚🐟 Weekly menu. February 23-29,2020

Posted on February 24, 2020 by Beebamom

This week we have a straggler from last week (chicken chili) and of course our Sunday night dinner, “breakfast for dinner.” On Thursday our son’s a capella rock band is giving a concert at a local brewery. There is no food sold there, only beer. We will have to bring along some sandwiches for that.

 

Posted in Weekly menu | Leave a comment

🥬 Spicy red lentils with squash (masoor dal). 2/24/20

Posted on February 24, 2020 by Beebamom

This dish is similar to the split chickpea entree I made last week. Red lentils are quicker cooking than split chickpeas which I had to soak and then cook in my Instant Pot.
They both have onion, ginger, cloves, chili, coriander, cumin, and tomatoes but spiced red lentils have turmeric and a sweet potato! Since I did not have any sweet potatoes handy I used some frozen butternut squash which worked fine. At the end you whisk it together and the sweet potato or butternut squash sort of disintegrates. What looks like parmesan cheese in the picture is actually coconut so this is a vegan dinner. The inspiration for this dish is a recipe by Nigella Lawson on the NYTimes Cooking site.

Spiced red lentils with rice and broccoli

Posted in Easy, Indian, Legumes, rice, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | Leave a comment