Chile Crisp Alfredo with kale. 6/12/25

Photo courtesy of NYTimes Cooking

When Sarah and I were talking about what she would make for dinner we decided she should try something new. She suggested she would like to make a pasta dish using the chile crisp I had recently bought. We looked through recipes and found one from NYTimes Cooking called Chile Crisp Fettucine Alfredo with spinach.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1023609-chile-crisp-fettuccine-alfredo-with-spinach?smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share

Using what we had on hand she subbed in spaghetti for the fettucine and kale for the spinach. I was concerned that it was going to be blazing spicy hot but instead it came out rather bland. We all added extra chile crisp to up the spice level. Also it needed quite a bit of salt. We were disappointed with the results and I do not know if we will make it again unless we do quite a bit of reworking the recipe.

Posted in Easy, Italian, Pasta, Recipes, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Do-almost-nothing dinner. 6/11/25

Chicken breast slices in gravy, mashed potatoes, asparagus and carrots

Step one: buy a rotisserie chicken and remove one of the breasts disposing the skin

Step two: make chicken gravy and mashed potatoes from packets

Step three: warm sliced chicken breast in gravy and sauté vegetables

Step four: enjoy

Mostly we do not use “instant” ingredients but on a busy day with not a lot of time for baking a chicken or peeling, boiling, and mashing potatoes we have shortcuts to use.

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Grill night! 6/10/25

Grilled hamburger with salad

Yum! We love grilled hamburgers night! Look at the cook on my hamburger. It is medium rare and has a nice crust on the outside. Yay, John, for an outstanding hamburger. It was voted by Sarah and me as best burger of 2025 (so far.)

I made a salad, ho hum.

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Afghani dal with rice and kale. 6/9/25

Afghani dal with rice and kale

We were supposed to be having chicken tonight but there were no rotisserie chickens available at Costco when Sarah stopped to pick one up. So we looked at our menu and decided we had all the ingredients for Afghani dal and went forward with a new dinner plan. Dal is another name for lentils and in this case we used red lentils (coral colored) which turn yellow when you cook them. They are quick cooking so are a great choice for weeknight dinners.

Here’s a link to the recipe I use.

https://www.afghancultureunveiled.com/humaira-ghilzai/afghancooking/2010/01/dal-afghan-soul-food.html-san92

Posted in Afghan, Asian, Easy, Legumes, Recipes, stew, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu. June 9-15, 2025

Screenshot
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Fish tacos. 6/8/25

Fish taco, mango salsa, spicy black beans with rice

We used tilapia to make our fish tacos but you could use any white fish. The fish cooks quickly in a sauté pan for only about 8 minutes depending on the thickness of your fish. I made a mango and tomato salsa using a drained can of Rotel and enhancing it with cut up mango, cilantro, fresh cherry tomatoes, and onion. To make the black beans and rice spicy I added jalapeño, green onions, and cilantro.

Posted in American, Easy, Fish, Legumes, Mexican, pescatarian, rice, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Sesame salmon bowl. 6/6/25

Sesame salmon bowl

This bowl of green and orange goodness is easy to make especially if you like to chop vegetables up (like I do!) John, of course, cooked the salmon because he is our protein master and I cut up all the veg since I am the vegetable lady. John cooked the salmon in a 400F oven for 4 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes on the other side. The salmon rested while we prepared the rest of our bowls. In first goes a layer of rice, then cabbage, edamame, and cucumbers, then the salmon. The top decoration includes green onions, cilantro, and avocado. Finally drizzle on the soy/sesame oil dressing, a squeeze of lime, and maybe a shake of furikake. I set up the components in a buffet so everyone can make their own bowl. It’s delicious and really good for you too!

All the components are raw except for this salmon and some pre-made rice. Here’s the recipe for the dressing.

Soy vinaigrette 

In a mini-prep food processor or by hand mince

2 cloves garlic

2 green onions

2 inches fresh ginger

Combine in a container with

½ cup minus 2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons water

⅓ cup rice wine or white vinegar

Dash of sugar or sweetener

½ teaspoon sesame oil

Dress the salmon bowl first with the soy vinaigrette then add sesame or a neutral oil to the bowl. This way each person can choose the amount of oil they would like to use.

Posted in Asian, Easy, Fish, Hot weather meals, Legumes, pescatarian, Recipes, rice, Salad, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Stuffed peppers. 6/4 & 5/2025

Stuffed pepper and salad

I bought a bag of four very large red and yellow peppers for $3.99. Since these peppers usually sell for $1.50 each or more, I felt pretty good about my purchase. I made some tomato sauce and mixed in one pound of browned ground beef and diced onion plus two cups of cooked brown rice. I cut the pepper in half and filled eight pepper halves with my ground beef mixture. They cooked for 45 minutes in a 350F oven.

The stuffed peppers were very filling plus I made a side salad. One pepper half was plenty for dinner. So we ate them again on Thursday. And we ate them for lunch on Friday! Finally we are down to one pepper half left. I think I will let John have it for lunch on Saturday. I like stuffed peppers but I need to think twice before making so many large ones!

Posted in American, Beef, Italian, leftovers, rice, Salad, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Chicken chili. 6/3/25

Chicken chili

We have not made chicken chili in a long time. In fact the last time was in September of 2023. I was looking for something to make with a shredded rotisserie chicken breast and it popped into my mind. I just needed a break from chicken enchiladas!

We use a recipe by the Neely’s who used to be on Food Network a long time ago. The recipe I have makes too much for just John and me so I made a half recipe. We follow the recipe pretty closely but do add some chipotle powder and salsa verde. The tortilla chips make a nice topping.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/patrick-and-gina-neely/white-chicken-chili-recipe-1922199

Posted in American, Legumes, Mexican, Poultry, Southwest U.S., stew, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Seared tuna, rice, snow peas. 6/2/25

Seared tuna, rice,snow peas

Our tuna dinner was very economical and delicious! I bought two seven ounce frozen tuna pieces on sale for $5.99 each. So the three of us ended up having almost 5 ounces of tuna each for $4 a person. Try ordering tuna in a restaurant for that price! John crusted the tuna with sesame seeds and cooked the pieces in a hot skillet for 3 minutes per side. It was perfect!

I had cooked brown jasmine rice earlier in the day using the oven method. I mixed it with some white rice leftover from our salmon dinner last week. The snow peas I harvested from the Trader Joe’s fresh stir fry vegetables that I used for several lunch soups. Waste not, want not!

Posted in American, Asian, Easy, Fish, leftovers, Methods, pescatarian, rice, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged , , | Leave a comment