Slivered pears in a salad. 4/16/19

Posted on April 16, 2019 by Beebamom

We are coming home tomorrow and I will be so glad to get back in the kitchen! I have picked up a few ideas while away that I will be hoping to incorporate into my cooking.

One idea is generally to follow a more Mediterranean diet. We were regaled with health statistics by our Spanish guide who credited the Med diet for a great increase in longevity in Spain.  He said the keys are eating fish and shellfish, lots of vegetables, cooking and dressing with olive oil, and keeping meats to chicken and rabbit. Sounds good to me!

I had a carpaccio (really more like salted, cured meat)with arugula and shaved Parmesan that also had finely sliced pear in it. While the meat was a little overwhelming, I can imagine this salad as arugula, Parmesan, and pear. The juicy, sweet pear really added another dimension to my dish.

Carpaccio with arugula, Parmesan, and pear

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Porchetta. 4/7/19

Posted on April 8, 2019 by Beebamom

I have been a little derelict with posting to my Omnivore site while we have been on vacation. This is partly due to the fact that I am busy writing my travel/personal blog every day and partly because I am lazy. Sorry.

Anyway, for lunch today they had porchetta and it reminded me of the feeble attempt that we made just before Christmas, 2017. A porchetta is a pork loin book cut so it is a large rectangular, thin piece of meat. It is rubbed with a garlic/fennel mixture, rolled up and tied. We cooked our low and slow. This is what it looked when sliced.

Our attempt at porchetta. I kind of hid it behind the vegetables

So it did not come so great. It was a little dry and it had been hard to roll up so there wasn’t any pretty spiral. No wonder John was awe struck when he saw the beautiful porchetta made by the chefs on the ship. He definitely has porchetta envy.

John’s beautiful photo of the porchetta on the ship

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I don’t like sweet! 3/31/19

Posted on April 1, 2019 by Beebamom

Oh, there are so many desserts here on this cruise ship. There are myriad chocolate choices, glazed this and that, and oozing pastries. What is a sweet hater to do? Although I know that John likes the occasional sweet, he is a sweetie and shares a cheese plate with me after dinner. Mmm, cheeses. Some soft, some hard, some mild and others intense. The cheese plate is served with a small basket of baguette slices, a handful of grapes, some dried fruit, a unsweetened fig jam, and the random nut or two.  This is my kind of dessert!

Cheese and fruit plate

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Cruise dining. 3/28/19

Posted on March 30, 2019 by Beebamom

We have spent all day yesterday flying across the country and we have landed in San Juan, Puerto Rico where we board our ship. It is easy to overeat on a cruise ship. The food is endless. My plan for lunches is to eat the fish of the day and some salads and vegetables. I do a good job today with a piece of nicely cooked salmon, a piece of broccoli, a little warm fennel and onion, and squid salad. I am feeling pretty good about myself!

Salmon with vegetables and salad

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Pasta fagioli. 3/26/19

Posted on March 27, 2019 by Beebamom

John is working at his office today so I am flying solo tonight for dinner. This pasta fagioli is based on a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis of Food Network fame. You can take a look at her recipe here. The changes I make are to add carrots and celery, use cannellini and kidney beans, sub out the chicken stock for half veg stock and half water, add Parmesan rinds to the stock, and sub in ditalini for macaroni. Although it is easy to make this soup vegetarian by leaving out the pancetta, the pancetta  does give it an incredible depth of flavor. But if you do use the pancetta, do not use additional salt!

This turns out so delicious!! Plus I have an additional portion of it to freeze or serve with tomorrow night’s purchased sandwiches!

Pasta fagioli

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Meatless Monday: Asparagus and Penne. 3/26/19

Posted on March 26, 2019 by Beebamom

Eating asparagus always tastes like springtime. I am old enough to remember when  asparagus was only available for a few weeks and during that time it seemed like asparagus was omnipresent in every meal. Now, of course, we can eat it almost any time of the year (but not for $1.99/lb.!)

I cut the asparagus into the same shape as the penne and really only cook it while adding the penne, pasta water, pepper, and parmesan together to make a sauce. It turns out kind of like cacio e pepe except with penne instead of strands and asparagus.

Penne and asparagus

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Burger and a salad. 3/24/19

Posted on March 25, 2019 by Beebamom

As I said we are keeping things pretty simple this week. We start dinner off tonight with a bagged salad that I enhance with various toppings.

Salad

The weather is lovely today so it is great for grilling. John cooks us each a burger and I add a bit of onion and lettuce to mine.

Burger with onion and lettuce

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Short week menu. 3/24-27/19

Posted on March 24, 2019 by Beebamom

This week is a short week for cooking since we are on vacation starting on Thursday. As usual I will be posting occasionally when we have something especially interesting or beautiful to eat.

We did an excellent job with our menu this past week having prepared everything that we set out to do. Not only was it fun cooking from all around the world but the leftovers (which we mostly ate for lunches) were great too. This week’s short menu is  very  simple since we have a lot to do to get ready!

Four day menu 3/14-27/19

Grilling Sunday – hamburgers and salad

Meatless Monday – penne with asparagus

Soup-y Tuesday – pasta fagioli and artisanal bread

Lazy Wednesday – purchased sandwiches and leftovers

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Roasted chicken thighs, rice, broccoli. 3/22/19

Posted on March 23, 2019 by Beebamom

After preparing dinners from all over the world this week, we come back to a humble chicken dinner to finish off the work week. John bakes the chicken thighs in the oven and then crisps the skin under the broiler. I reheat the rice from Thursday and steam some broccoli.

We are child-watching Saturday night while our son and his wife go to a wedding. I am making Beeba’s much loved mac ‘n cheese (the blue box) for the kids and toting along some of our leftover lasagna for adult dinner. That being said, no new posts until Sunday or Monday when we will be having a short week since we are leaving on Thursday for vacation.

Roast chicken thighs, basmati rice, steamed broccoli

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Shrimp biryani. 3/21/19

Posted on March 22, 2019 by Beebamom

Biryani is an Indian dish thought to have been brought to India by Arab traders and has an etymology stemming from the Persian word for rice. Since it is the first day of Spring, it is also Nowruz, a new year’s celebration which is observed by more than 300 million people from the Balkans to the Black Sea Basin to Central Asia to the Middle East. Plus the Indian Spring festival of Holi is also occurring. I am always looking for an inspiration to cook something and today’s shrimp biryani seems like a good way to celebrate Spring.

Shrimp biryani

John marinates the shrimp in the same spices I am using for the rice – ginger, chili powder, smoked paprika, turmeric, salt, and garlic. I am making the basmati rice in the Instant Pot using those spices plus a can of tomatoes, water, onions, and lime zest which is standing in for curry leaves today. When the rice is cooked, I add some lime juice to it and John quickly sautés the shrimp. Our Spring dinner is garnished with cilantro and lime wedges.

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