🍤 Shrimp in a Pernod cream sauce. 2/22/20

Posted on February 22, 2020 by Beebamom

Here is a dish that George Washington could have enjoyed on his birthday! A melange of finely diced vegetables (fennel, tomatoes, onions, garlic, celery, and bell pepper), herbs, and spices (thyme, oregano, bay leaf, saffron, cayenne and salt) are sautéed until tender in a little  oil. A cup of white wine is added and cooked down until the pan is almost dry. A couple of tablespoons of Pernod are then flamed off.  Then add 3-4 tablespoons of heavy cream plus enough clam juice to equal one cup and bring to a simmer. Add shrimp and cook until just pink. Serve over rice. Garnish with fennel fronds.

Happy birthday, George!

Shrimp in a Pernod cream sauce

Posted in French, rice, Shellfish, Vegetables | Tagged | 1 Comment

🐟. Salade Niçoise. 2/21/20

Posted on February 21, 2020 by Beebamom

Salade Nicoise is a main course salad.  Mostly it is just an assembly of  component parts. I used the same pot of boiling water to cook the egg, blanch the snow peas, and boil the potatoes. I have a salad dressing that I make with a Good Seasons Italian dressing packet. In order to avoid using a half cup of oil, I make the whole packet with water taking the place of the water and the oil that it calls for. Plus I use 1/4 cup of vinegar. Then I add just one teaspoon of olive oil (it really makes such a difference!) and with my immersion blender on add in 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum. This last addition makes the emulsion stable and gives it the thickness of  salad dressing. An overnight in the refrigerator helps as well.

Salade Nicoise

There are various recipes for Salade Nicoise . It seems like after the tuna, tomatoes, and egg you can throw just about anything on the plate. As you can see along with salad greens my salad contains tomatoes, potatoes, tuna, a hard boiled egg, radishes, and snow peas. As much of a hassle as making salad is, this one is worth the effort!

Posted in Easy, Fish, French, Healthy tips, pescatarian, Recipes, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

🥬 Resend of White beans in broth over toast 2/20/20

Posted on February 20, 2020 by Beebamom

Note: please excuse prior title-only post. I hit the publish key by accident.

This is a great, easy vegan or vegetarian supper. For a vegan version swap in some white miso paste for the parmesan rinds.

I hope everyone is saving their Parmesan rinds because the rinds cooked in the broth give this dish such a great flavor. Just store them in the freezer. I use three small pieces of rind in my broth.

White beans in broth over toast

My version of this dish is based on a recipe by Tejal Rao writing for The NY Times. That recipe is way more complicated than mine since it includes dried beans instead of cannellini beans out of a can.

First saute 1/2 cup of chopped onions and 2 minced garlic cloves in a teaspoon of oil. When the onion is translucent, add 4 cups of vegetable stock and three small pieces of parmesan rind (about 1.5” x 1.5”). Simmer for half an hour. Add one can of cannellini beans, liquid and all. Continue to simmer until the beans are warmed through. Before serving remove the parmesan rinds and add chopped parsley and oregano to the broth. Place a toasted piece of bread that has been scraped with the garlic clove in your soup bowl. Pour the broth and beans over it. Finish with additional herbs, grated parmesan cheese, and your good olive oil. Enjoy!

 

 

Posted in American, Easy, Kitchen tips, Legumes, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , | Leave a comment

🥬 White beans in broth over toast. 2/20/20

Posted on February 20, 2020 by Beebamom

Note: please excuse prior title-only post. I hit the publish key by accident.

This is a great, easy vegan or vegetarian supper. For a vegan version swap in some white miso paste for the parmesan rinds.

I hope everyone is saving their Parmesan rinds because the rinds cooked in the broth give this dish such a great flavor. Just store them in the freezer. I use three small pieces of rind in my broth.

White beans in broth over toast

My version of this dish is based on a recipe by Tejal Rao writing for The NY Times. That recipe is way more complicated than mine since it includes dried beans instead of cannellini beans out of a can.

First saute 1/2 cup of chopped onions and 2 minced garlic cloves in a teaspoon of oil. When the onion is translucent, add 4 cups of vegetable stock and three small pieces of parmesan rind (about 1.5” x 1.5”). Simmer for half an hour. Add one can of cannellini beans, liquid and all. Continue to simmer until the beans are warmed through. Before serving remove the parmesan rinds and add chopped parsley and oregano to the broth. Place a toasted piece of bread that has been scraped with the garlic clove in your soup bowl. Pour the broth and beans over it. Finish with additional herbs, grated parmesan cheese, and your good olive oil. Enjoy!

 

 

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🥬 Instant Pot Chana Dal (split chickpea stew) 2/19/20

Posted on February 19, 2020 by Beebamom

Boy, is this delicious! And quick and easy! Here is the simple recipe to follow https://pipingpotcurry.com/instant-pot-chana-dal/#wprm-recipe-container-6238  Thanks pipingpotcurry.com!

Chana dal with rice and broccoli

My changes are to skip the Asafoetida because I do not have any and to cook the Chana dal a little longer (14 minutes) and do a release of residual steam after 10 minutes of cool down. This time, after opening my instant pot, I put in the broccoli and then put the lid on so that the broccoli could cook in the remaining steam heat. I saved washing another pot this way!

Even though I have vowed not to take seconds at dinner, I cannot help myself and go back for an additional ladleful! Try this super vegan Indian inspired dish!

(I found split chickpeas at my local Neighborhood WalMart Grocery Store in the international foods section.)

 

Posted in Easy, Indian, Instant Pot, Kitchen tips, Legumes, Recipes, rice, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | Leave a comment

🐟 Restaurant quality dinner at home. 2/18/20

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Beebamom

Tonight we prepare a dinner as good as any you might get in a restaurant and one that you would have to probably pay $30 a person for. But with $17 for the fish and $3 for the vegetables, we save ourselves $40.

Chilean sea bass on a bed of collards and corn with seared tomatoes and aioli

I admit that the tomatoes get away from me and burn a bit while I am looking for the corn in the freezer but otherwise everything else is spot on. John cooks the fish in a 400F oven for about 15 minutes, I sauté the collards and corn, make aioli, and scorch the tomatoes. It is a really delicious dinner.

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

🥬 Vegetable soup with beans. 2/17/20

Posted on February 17, 2020 by Beebamom

We are supposed to have fish tonight. We went to Whole Foods today to buy it (on sale) so it would be as fresh as possible. Then I am reaching into the refrigerator and notice that the light inside is not working. I go tell John and in doing so notice that the clock is not working. Uh oh, a power outage. Our power is not supposed to come back on until either 8 PM or 3 AM. We make some popcorn. You know you can actually pop microwave popcorn in a pot on the stove? Anyway, as the sun goes down completely, any idea of fish is gone.

So at some point the electricity comes back on sooner than 8 PM and it is time to make something quick for dinner. I cut up some onions and garlic and John sautes them. Then I add carrots, celery, and potatoes plus some tomatoes that need using. We add pinto beans and vegetable stock. Cook the whole thing for about 15 minutes and then add some spinach. When it is wilted, it is time to eat.

Vegetable soup with beans, potatoes, and spinach

Our emergency dinner turns out to be quite tasty, quick and easy to make, and it is a very healthy choice as well. Fish tomorrow night!

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🥚 Breakfast for dinner. 2/16/20

Posted on February 16, 2020 by Beebamom

John and I always have breakfast for dinner on Sunday. On our healthy-eating diet plan our weigh-in day is Monday. So we want to keep it light on Sunday night. John made a couple of sunny-side up eggs and toast for his dinner. I made an omelet with green onions and garlic, an English muffin, and a Morningstar breakfast patty. These vegetarian patties taste really good to me and having 2 eggs, the breakfast patty, and an English muffin seems like an extravagance on a light eating night.

Breakfast for dinner

P.S. I gained 1 lb. on my little vacation last week. I consider that a success. John lost weight.

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

Weekly Menu February 16-22, 2020

Posted on February 16, 2020 by Beebamom

Here are eight ideas for dinner this week—four vegetarian/vegan, three seafood, and one chicken.  They are in no particular order except BFD (breakfast for dinner) which we always eat on Sunday night. I am trying a new dish, chickpea stew with coconut and turmeric. I will need to make major adjustments to the recipe to make it fit into my healthy lifestyle eating plan. We will see how it turns out.

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🦃 Lentil soup with turkey sausage. 2/15/20

Posted on February 15, 2020 by Beebamom

I’m back from our little road trip to Portland, OR and so happy to return in my kitchen. While away I tried to eat some things that I don’t make at home. I had pho twice and even found a place to try the veggie combo Ethiopian style. I feel excited to try some new things.

However, the food landscape at our house was looking pretty bleak when it comes to making dinner last night. I resolved to use as many vegetables as I could that were looking mighty sad in the refrigerator. With me chopping and John sautéing we were ready for dinner in no time.

The lentils in the soup are bolstered by chicken stock and turkey sausage. To make it filling I used carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms, green onions, jalapeño, leaf lettuce, and parsley. The jalapeño kind of took over the flavor but John likes spicy stuff so it worked out.

Colorful and healthful lentil soup with turkey sausage

 

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