Simply soup. 5/17/19

Posted on May 19, 2019 by Beebamom

We are having odd weather here in Northern California. It should be sunny and mild but instead it is barely 60F for a high and raining.  Pretty much it has been raining for five days. The house has a winter’s chill to it and we are bundled up loathe to turn on the heat although the thermostat is reading in the low 60s.

What to make when you are cold and do not want to venture out to the store in the rain? Simply soup. We all have ingredients for a simple soup – some chicken or vegetable stock, carrots, onions, parsley, celery, maybe some leftover salad greens, and some kind of pasta. Today I broke up some spaghetti pieces to act as my noodles.

Simple vegetable noodle soup

When it gets hot out I will make gazpacho and cool parsley or celery soups. But today when it is chilly and gray a simple hot vegetable soup with some noodles in a clear broth will work just fine for me.

 

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

Chickpea and juniper berry pâté. 5/17/19

Posted on May 18, 2019 by Beebamom

We enjoyed the chunky chickpea spread that we had a few nights ago so much that I thought I would try more of a pâté with different flavors. This time I used my stick blender to make it smoother and added garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and cracked juniper berries. Chopped green onions topped the spread which was served on toasted Pugliese bread. The juniper berries gave it a fresh and interesting flavor.

Crostini with chickpea and juniper berry pâtés much 

The chickpea pâté or the chunky spread also make great lunches stuffed into a whole wheat pita with lettuce and tomatoes.

Smashed chickpeas with olive oil, onions, and parsley

For our main course I made marinara sauce with capers while John boiled up some spaghetti. I have been using San Marzano tomatoes which I think gives the sauce a good flavor.

Spaghetti and sauce cooking on the stove simultaneously

Posted in Easy, Italian, Legumes, Middle Eastern, Pasta, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Time for a tasty salad. 5/16/19

Posted on May 16, 2019 by Beebamom

I must admit that I have bad-mouthed making salads. By the time I have all my ingredients out and prepped the kitchen is a wet mess and I have gone through too many paper towels trying to contain it all. Plus my countertop compost bin is filled to the brim! Tonight we were just having some leftovers so I wanted to have a tasty salad first. Here is how I tried to solve my salad problems.

Tossed/composed salad with spring mix, Italian parsley, celery, cucumber, tomatoes, and avocado

I used spring mix as a bottom layer. It came pre-washed. Next I cut the tops off from a stalk of celery and put the leaves and bite sized celery pieces in a colander. Also in the colander I put some chopped up parsley and diced seeded cucumber. As I took out the amount of each ingredient, I put the remainder back in their storage bag and returned them to the refrigerator. Mess number one avoided!

I washed all these ingredients together and shook them vigorously and finished them off by blotting with one paper towel. Problem number two of using multiple paper towels and wet mess avoided. The herb/cucumber/celery mixture went on top of the spring mix in each of our bowls. No big salad bowl to wash! At this point I dressed our salads.

Next the cherry tomatoes got a wash in the colander I had used for the greens. I have a ceramic paring knife that makes very clean cuts so there is less tomato goo on my cutting board. Tomatoes go on top of the salad and there is a quick wipe up with my wrung out greens-blotting towel.


Lastly I cut the avocado from pole to pole around the pit and drop the pit in my compost bin. I take the halves, peel and all, and cut them into four pieces. It is easy to peel the tough skin off and just slice the pieces up. Peels go in the bin and the board gets wiped off. Season with salt and pepper and the salads are done.

Look around. There is no mess! The salad was a great starter to our meal AND I got John to empty my countertop compost bin. Feeling pretty good about conquering my salad-phobia tonight.

 

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Instant Pot beef stew. 5/15/19

Posted on May 15, 2019 by Beebamom

Do you have your favorite beef stew that you make on the stovetop or in your slow cooker? You can make it faster in your Instant Pot! Growing up, my mom always made beef stew in her stovetop pressure cooker.  So I took her basic recipe and made it in our Instant Pot.

All the basic ingredient are the same – seared boneless beef short ribs, sautéed onions and garlic, aromatic vegetables like carrots and onions, waxy potatoes, beef stock, tomatoes, herbs, and spices. Cook it on high pressure for 20 minutes and then let it cool down partially for another 10 minutes. Then open the pressure gauge to release the rest of the steam and add a slurry to thicken the broth. I served my bowl with a garnish of Italian olive oil and some Pugliese croutons.

Instant Pot beef stew with rustic Pugliese croutons

I added some extras like orange peel and thyme from our garden but you know what makes it best for you. Tonight, weirdly, it is raining heavily in NorCal and an aromatic beef stew really hit the spot.

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Vegan/vegetarian white bean stew. 5/14/19

Posted on May 15, 2019 by Beebamom

Today I went to see my doctor who prescribed a course of treatment for my bronchitis. I am feeling better right away! And am I hungry.

We started our dinner with chickpea crostini. This is a combination of mashed chickpeas, olive oil, green onions, parsley, lemon juice, salt, pepper and sumac spread on a toasted Italian crouton. Yum, so good!

Chickpea crostini

For our main course we made this simply delicious vegetable stew. Use whatever vegetables that are in your refrigerator and larder. Cut them up in similarly sized  chopped pieces. Sauté the vegetables. Add 2 cups veg stock and 2 cups water plus the drained tomatoes from a 14 ounce can and a can of drained small white beans. If you are making a vegetarian dish you might add a parmesan rind or two. Bring it to a boil. Add orzo, ditalini, or noodles and cook until al dente. Add some greens. Part of the contents of a spinach salad pack is easiest. Let it wilt in the hot liquid. Garnish with olive oil, green onions and parsley.

White bean stew

In my stew the vegetables are onions, garlic, carrots, canned petite-diced tomatoes, celery, and pimentos. The pasta is ditalini and I used a Spring Mix pre-packaged salad mix. While my canapés are vegan, my stew is vegetarian since I used the Parmesan rinds which give the broth a great depth of flavor. We will have plenty of leftover stew for lunches.

 

 

Posted in Easy, Italian, Legumes, Mediterranean, Pasta, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Spaghetti Bolognese 5/13/19

Posted on May 14, 2019 by Beebamom

Since I have not been very interested in cooking and eating due to my cold (which is going on for 10 days now!), John suggested spaghetti Bolognese for dinner tonight knowing that it is one of my favorites.

Spaghetti Bolognese

My ingredients are pretty simple – ground beef, onions, garlic, oregano, chili flakes, tomato paste, a large can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes, and a regular sized can of petite diced tomatoes, and salt. Oh, and you must not forget my secret ingredient, fish sauce. A teaspoon of fish sauce gives the dish an amazing depth of flavor!

I made the sauce around 4 PM and let it simmer until dinner at 7PM when John boiled the water and cooked some spaghetti rigati, spaghetti with striations. I took 4  ladlesful of the sauce and put it in a separate pan so I could finish cooking the spaghetti in the sauce. The plate is garnished with Parmesan cheese, finishing oil, and fresh oregano. It was delicious!

Bonus! Three containers of sauce in the freezers for future dinners!

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Lamb chops. 5/12/19

Posted on May 13, 2019 by Beebamom

Sunday is our leftover day so we took a tour of the freezer and found a couple of 2 rib lamb chops from a couple of weeks ago.  We need to be more proactive in using the food we have in the freezer so I think Sunday will be our day for using up items that have been in the freezer long enough.

By the way we have not made a menu for this week since I am recuperating from my cold and do not know what I want to eat. Everything seems unappealing.

Two rib lamb chops from a rack of lamb with a grilled baked potato and spinach

John had prepared the lamb earlier so all he needed to do was vacuum seal the chops and put them in the immersion circulator at 134F for a couple of hours.  It came out perfectly pink from edge to edge. Then he seared the lamb on the grill along with a baked potato I had nuked until it was almost done. The spinach is just a frozen side dish from Stouffers. As I said I am not very interested in food at the moment. The dinner turned out well and John finished off anything I did not want to eat. So win-win.

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Pretzel rolls!!! 5/12/19

Posted on May 12, 2019 by Beebamom

Since I am still pretty sick with this cold, all our plans were cancelled for Mother’s Day. This means I don’t get to see our son and daughter-in-law or our grandkids, or sip mimosas, and open lots of cards. So that is all pretty sad. But I do have John and our daughter who lives with us to make the day a little brighter. And what way to make the day brighter than freshly baked pretzel rolls made by our super-baker daughter!

Pretzel rolls cooling off

To me baking is a mysterious art. An art that I have never mastered. I am very impressed with these rolls which rose overnight in the refrigerator, boiled in a baking soda bath, and then baked to a deep brown in the oven. They taste great (I have eaten three already) and I know they are filled with love.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, grandmoms, doting aunties, Dad-moms, and anyone who has helped to love and raise a child in their lives.

Pretzel roll

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Eggplant Parmesan. 5/10/19

Posted on May 11, 2019 by Beebamom

I am beginning to wonder if I will ever kick this horrible cold. I have been pretty sick for a week and I do not feel like I am starting to get better yet. Mother’s Day has been cancelled so that is pretty depressing.

Anyway, we have gotten to the point of taking a MichaelAngelo’s eggplant parmesan out of the freezer for dinner. An hour in the oven and you have a passable dinner. We bought a couple of these at Costco for emergency dinners. In my defense I did make a salad.

Eggplant parmesan with Mediterranean salad

Posted in Easy, Italian, Mediterranean, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Chicken enchiladas. 5/9/19

Posted on May 10, 2019 by Beebamom

I am still really under the weather with this horrid cold so we are making dinners as easy as possible. My main function tonight was to put the filling in the enchiladas and roll them up.

John went to the store and got a couple of bottles of Herdez medium spicy tomatillo sauce and a rotisserie chicken. He shredded the chicken and dipped the tortillas in some hot oil to soften them. After putting a coat of the tomatillo sauce in the bottom of a baking dish, I put a filling of chicken, sauce and onions in the tortillas and rolled them up. I snugged them one against the other to keep them from opening up, added more sauce on top, and sprinkled on feta cheese (it’s what we had.)

Chicken enchiladas ready to go in the oven

We baked our enchilada casserole for 20 minutes at 375F. They came out pretty tasty and we have leftovers for lunches.

Two enchilada serving with additional onion, cheese, cilantro, and sour cream

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