🩃 Red beans and rice. 1/1/20

Posted on January 3, 2020 by Beebamom

Wow, 2020! It sounds like a date from science fiction when we would be driving our cars through the skies, terrible diseases would have been cured, and robots would be making our dinners! But no, John and I are still making our own dinners every night although we did get a robot vacuum who can suck up the schmutz  from our floors while we are busy doing something else.

Tonight we actually had pinto beans with rice. Our son had told us this dish was lucky for New Year’s Day. In looking around the internet I found red beans and rice are served on Mondays in the southern U.S. and it is black-eyed peas that are served on New Year’s Day. It is a good thing that I am not superstitious!

Pinto beans and rice

I made a mirepoix of onions, celery, and red bell peppers and sautéed it until the onion was translucent. Then added some garlic and half of a Serrano pepper along with some spices.  We added the beans and some stock, chicken or vegetable work equally as well. I thickened it up with a little canned fat-free refried beans and served it over white rice.

P.S. I forgot to mention we used some turkey sausage in our dish.

P.P.S WW blue points = 6 (oil, turkey sausage, rice)

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⚓ New Year’s Eve scallops. 12/31/19

Posted on January 2, 2020 by Beebamom

Happy NYE and I hope you have celebrated responsibly.  Our scallop dinner was a fine way to usher in 2020. John seared some scallops and I made the broccoli, new potatoes, and tartar sauce. John bought a half bottle of champagne. We clinked and wished each other a happy and healthy new year. Hopefully we will have many more.

WW blue points (minus champagne) = 8 (oil, butter, potatoes, mayo)

Enjoy!

Seared scallops with tartar sauce, broccoli, new potatoes

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🐖 Pulled pork chili. 12/30/19

Posted on January 1, 2020 by Beebamom

I am behind in getting these meals that we so carefully planned posted. We have been sticking to the menu this week and eating lots of good things. Unusually for us we are eating pork tonight in a pulled pork chili. I made the pulled pork in the slow cooker and we served it on rolls as sliders for Christmas Eve.

We cooked some chiles, onions, and garlic. We added some black beans and the pulled pork, some pork stock, part of a jar of salsa verde, and fat-free refried beans as a thickener. I made a salad so I would not eat too much. The chili was really good and a great way to use the leftover pork.

Don’t forget to try using fat-free refried beans to thicken your bean dishes if they are too soupy.

WW blue points = 6 (oil, pork)

Pulled pork chili with fresh salsa and salad

Posted in American, Easy, Kitchen tips, leftovers, Legumes, Mexican, omnivore, Pork, Vegetables | Tagged | 1 Comment

đŸ„ł Weekly menu, Dec. 29, 2019 – Jan. 4, 2020

Posted on December 29, 2019 by Beebamom

As usual I have planned 8 dinners for 7 days to give me plenty of flexibility. This week however I know what we will be eating for the first part of the week since it will be a fancy dinner for New Year’s Eve, a traditional dinner for New Year’s Day, and then we are having friends stay over on January 2. After that we will just see what item on the menu strikes our fancy.

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đŸ„Ź New! Coconut red curry with tofu 12/28/19

Posted on December 29, 2019 by Beebamom

I wish I could link the NYTimes Cooking site recipes to my blog but they are behind a paywall. So if you are subscribing to the app, you might want to try this recipe with the following caveats!

John and I had been wanting to try this. It looked like a filling vegan dish. But it was sooooo spicy with just a third of the red curry paste and no Thai chiles that I don’t know how people eat it. I was coughing, sneezing, and my eyes and nose were running. The dish is basically tofu, mushrooms, and snow peas in a red curry paste and coconut milk sauce. We used light coconut milk which was a mistake because you need the creaminess of the full fat coconut milk to help cut the spicy hotness. My basic warning is to taste your red curry paste to judge its hotness before you blithely put in 3 T.

WW blue points = 6 (rice, coconut milk, oil)

Coconut red curry with tofu over rice

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⚓ Shrimp tacos. 12/27/19

Posted on December 28, 2019 by Beebamom

On Christmas Eve one of the hors d’oeuvres we served was poached shrimp with a cocktail sauce. We had some left over so for dinner tonight we made very easy shrimp tacos.

John heated up the shrimp in a pan with a little oil and I made some fresh salsa, chopped cilantro, and yogurt crema. John placed the tortillas directly on the burner for a nice char. Assemble and eat!

Shrimp tacos

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đŸ„Ź Red lentils and ginger with creamed spinach. 12/26/19

Posted on December 27, 2019 by Beebamom

Our house is still awash with baked goodies—rum cake, all sorts of cookies, focaccia, and panettone, but it is time to put the brakes on the endless eating. Oh, I have enjoyed it, the prime rib, the silky mashed potatoes, bagels and lox for breakfast, chips and dip, and wine. Lest these old food friends make me gain back the 22 lbs. I have lost, I need to put some sanity back into my kitchen. Ignoring most of the bounty, we make red lentils spiced with lots of fresh ginger, onions, and garlic plus the leftover creamed spinach which we have carefully shed of its cheese-y top layer.

My suggestion for you? Don’t wait until January 2 to start eating healthily. You can do a lot of damage in a week. Start today and by January 2 you will have lost all the Christmas bloat.

Red lentils with ginger (and a dollop of yogurt) plus creamed spinach

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đŸŽ…đŸ» Merry Christmas Eve! 12/24/19

Posted on December 25, 2019 by Beebamom

Homemade panettone and rum cake!

Panettone


Panettone full of raisins and citron


Rum cake

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🍗 Comfort food – Chicken breast, smashed potato, Brussels sprouts. 2/22/19

Posted on December 22, 2019 by Beebamom

There is a lot going on in the kitchen today. I am making pulled pork and John is roasting beef bones for gravy and then using them to make stock. Our daughter is working on making a panettone in remembrance of the fabulous one we had last Christmas in Florence, Italy. So the idea of a complicated chicken cacciatore has lost its appeal and we decide to make a straightforward chicken dinner.

John pan roasts the chicken breast and makes a packet of McCormacks chicken gravy. I steam some new potatoes and then smash them with just salt and pepper-no cream or butter. I also make what the family refers to as IYBS, incredibly yummy Brussels sprouts. I slice the B. Sprouts in half and season them with salt and a tiny bit of sugar then steam them cut side down for a couple of minutes.When the water is gone I add a bit of butter and a tablespoon of dry sherry. When the sprouts are browned, they are done. Yum!

Chicken breast and smashed potatoes with gravy and IYBS
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đŸ„Ź Chickpea, fennel, and mustard greens with ditalini. 2/20/19

Posted on December 22, 2019 by Beebamom

Our regular chickpea stew got some new ingredients for tonight’s supper. Instead of celery, I used fennel. In place of collard greens or kale, I used spicier mustard greens. It is the same comforting dish with a slightly altered taste.

Chickpea stew with fennel, mustard greens, and ditalini

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