Meatless Monday chickpea stew. 6/17/19

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Beebamom

When was the last time I made this? Exactly this? Never! I did make something similar in May except that I used white beans instead of chickpeas and different dark leafy greens. The great thing about this legume and vegetable stew is that it is endlessly adaptable and every rendition is delicious! Here it is bubbling on the stove.

Vegetable stew cooking

Today I put in some of our daughter’s fava beans plus zucchini and cabbage and then finished it with some kale salad mix. As it gets hotter I will jettison the pasta and turn it into a raw salad. I am sure we eat some version of this every month! When I ask John to tell me a meatless dish he would like to have he invariably wants “that chickpea stew thing you make.”

And, we have leftovers for lunch!

Chickpea stew with ditalini

Posted in Easy, Kitchen tips, Legumes, Mediterranean, Pasta, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Weekly menu. June 16-21, 2019

Posted on June 17, 2019 by Beebamom

So glad to get back to cooking and eating in a more orderly fashion. This week features a couple of vegan meals, a seafood meal, a chicken meal, and John’s choice for the end of the week, lamb chops. It’s what I eat!

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Father’s Day dinner. 6/16/19

Posted on June 17, 2019 by Beebamom

When I was growing up the thing that my father liked to do on Father’s Day was play golf all day and then come home and watch the U.S. Open on TV. I think for him, not being with the family, was the epitome of a good day. Not so here! John was with us the whole day and even though he did watch some of the U.S. Open, we felt that he wanted to be with us.

Our daughter and I made him a dinner we knew he would love – brats in rolls with sauerkraut, German potato salad, and his favorite beer.  She picked up some sausages from Trader Joe’s and they were delicious! She also got Schneider’s Aventinus beer which he loves. The three of us had almost this exact meal in Munich at Schneider’s several years ago and it is a fine memory to recreate.

  Bratwurst, sauerkraut, and German potato salad

I listened to a clip from America’s Test Kitchen about sauerkraut and which brand is best to buy.  Amazingly they said the tasters liked the canned or jarred sauerkraut that is on the grocery shelf, not the stuff in the refrigerator case. The refrigerator stuff has preservatives in it to keep it from turning dark. Libby’s brand was the favorite. Always look for sauerkraut whose ingredients are cabbage, water, and salt. That’s it. We added about 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and some caraway seeds in ours.

John loved his Father’s Day meal!

Posted in Easy, German, Holidays, Kitchen tips, Pork, Vegetables | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Happy Father’s Day!

Posted on June 16, 2019 by Beebamom

Happy Father’s Day, John!

We are back from our little vacation with our son and his kids. We ate a lot of marginal food – burgers, pizza, tacos, etc., anything that the kids wanted. There really was not much to blog about. I brought along some banana cake that I actually made and a bunch of snickerdoodles that our dear daughter made. She is the cookie queen. I ate no cake and no cookies, I had a slice of watermelon or two and a bite of John’s ice cream. That’s pretty good I think.

These are roses from our rose bush that I don’t mind cutting since we cannot see the rose bush from any window in our house or from sitting in the backyard. I figure to enjoy the roses I might as well cut them.

I also harvested my first tomato today that did not have blossom-end rot. I imagine we will be having the ceremonial cutting of the tomato later today.

First tomato from my patio plant, Early Girl

Tonight we will start cooking again, planning menus, and eating at home. Yay!

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Dining at kid-friendly places

Posted on June 12, 2019 by Beebamom

Yay! We have started our trip! One of the challenges for me is to find dining selections that now are supposed to be 1) things I like. 2) lower in carbs. 3) lower in calories. This is not an easy task especially since I think eating a salad for a meal is like eating air.

Our lunch stop is at the Habit where I know I can eat a char-burger for under 500 calories especially if I do not have cheese and do not eat all the roll.

For dinner we go to the Lost Coast brewpub in Eureka. Almost everything is breaded or battered and fried! I order chicken wings and a small salad. There are too many wings and they are overcooked and dry, and way too spicy. I eat 4, give 4 away, and leave 2 on the plate. The salad is fine but hard to manipulate in its tiny bowl.

A flatter plate would have helped in the eating of this salad

This is a smaller (?) portion of chicken wings. They are too spicy!

We also stopped for ice cream. I had one bite of John’s. Sometimes my eating life seems so sad.

 

 

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Salad, collard greens, and steak. 6/10/19

Posted on June 12, 2019 by Beebamom

My doctor has told me I need to eat differently. Cut down on the carbs because of rising blood sugar. I am really at a quandary with this because I eat quite a lot of carbs – pasta, beans, polenta, rice,  bread etc. I have switched to brown rice and whole grain pasta mostly. I eat almost no simple carbs such as desserts or candy and no fruit. I am going to have to do some serious research on this!

Tonight instead of the chickpea and ditalini stew with collard greens that I had planned, I sent John out to the grocery store for a steak. We had a tasty salad and then a hunk of meat on a plate with a pile of collard greens. So boring and how is eating a hunk of meat better than chickpeas and various veg?

Salad

Collard greens with shallots and garlic with steak

We are taking our son and grandkids on a road trip for the next five days so my posting will be scanty. I imagine a lot of kid-centric food in the near future!

 

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Fried rice. 6/9/19

Posted on June 9, 2019 by Beebamom

On Tuesday John and I along with our son and grandkids are taking an intergenerational roadtrip! We are heading up the North Coast to commune with redwoods, Paul Bunyan, small Victorian towns, and the spectacular coastline. So we are in eat-down mode to try to finish off our perishable vegetables before we leave.

Our fried rice consists of brown rice and a piece of jalapeño from our Chana dal meal, leftover broccoli from steak night, mushrooms from who-knows-what, and usual staples like carrots, celery, onions, ginger, and garlic. There is also a scrambled egg and some leftover Chinese take-out. This dinner can be vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore depending on what you have at hand.

Fried rice

 

 

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Pasta with tuna, snow peas, and parsley. 6/8/19

Posted on June 9, 2019 by Beebamom

Today, for my half birthday celebration (what? you don’t celebrate your half birthdays?!) I made campanelle with a lot of snow peas and parsley plus a can of tuna. I sautéed a little onion and garlic and then, when the pasta was ready, I added it along with the tuna, parsley, and snow peas to the onions and garlic. The heat of the pasta warmed up the veg and tuna. The sauce was basically just some pasta water and EVOO. It probably could have benefited from a little acid like some lemon juice or a handful of cherry tomatoes. I will have to remember that for next time.

P.S. Always de-string your snow peas or they will be unpleasant to eat!

Campanelle with tuna, snow peas, and parsley

Posted in Easy, Fish, Italian, Kitchen tips, Pasta, pescatarian, Vegetables | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Working with take-out. 6/7/19

Posted on June 7, 2019 by Beebamom

Apparently I have thrown my menu out the window. Being short of prep time yesterday, I froze the chicken we were supposed to have and John ran out to the store to pick up something pre-prepared. He chose ribs, potato salad, and cole slaw. I was thinking of just not posting these two days due to embarrassment over what we have consumed. But this blog is supposed to be “It’s what I eat!” So here it is.

We ate some of ribs and salads on Thursday and the rest of it  on Friday. Since there was only a tiny bit of coleslaw left, I augmented it tonight with more cabbage, onions, mayo, vinegar, and celery seed. Seriously there was a time when we would have polished the whole thing off in one night. I think eating it over two days shows personal growth!

St. Louis style ribs with potato salad and coleslaw

Now we have a ton of veg left in the refrigerator that has gone uneaten. So I imagine this will be a fairly vegetable intensive weekend.

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New vegan recipe! Chana Dal with brown rice, tabbouleh, and pita

Posted on June 6, 2019 by Beebamom

New recipe tonight! Chana dal is a stew made from split chickpeas seasoned with cumin seeds, chili powder, turmeric, and tomatoes. This is a snap to make with your Instant Pot. I found this super easy recipe at Piping Pot Curry. I paired the Chana dal with brown rice that I also made in the Instant Pot. Use twice, wash once!

I had lunch with our daughter at a new Mediterranean place and got a big plateful of falafel, hummus with pita, and tabbouleh. It was way too much for one person to eat so I took most of it home and repurposed the tabbouleh and the pita for tonight’s dinner. John and daughter munched up the rest of my lunch plate before dinner!

My enormous lunch of falafel, hummus with pita, and tabbouleh

After the split chickpeas have a 30 minute soak, they cook in the Instant Pot under high pressure for 15 minutes and then a natural cool down which took about 20 minutes.  But it is totally hands off once you get the onions, garlic, and ginger sautéed. The turmeric gives it a nice yellow color.

Chana dal with brown rice, tabbouleh, and pita

So I had a totally vegan day and enjoyed cooking this meal while John was at work. I hope it balances out the steak from yesterday!

Posted in Easy, Grains, Indian, Instant Pot, Legumes, Mediterranean, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , , | Leave a comment