NEW! Vietnamese flank steak with cucumber salad and rice 8/7/18

Posted on August 8, 2018 by Beebamom

I saw this recipe on NYTimes Cooking and thought I would give it a try or, rather, I thought I would encourage John to give it a try.

Vietnamese flank steak with cucumber salad and rice

Luckily John does not need a lot of encouragement to try something new to grill so he whips up the sauce which serves as a marinade for the meat, a dressing for the cucumbers, and a dipping sauce.

The sauce consists of a 1/2 cup of fish sauce plus some lime juice and zest, garlic, brown sugar, and jalapeño. For my taste it is fine although a little salty for the meat but way too fishy for the cucumber and radish salad that I make. I just do not expect to have the pungent aroma of fermented fish hit me as I am taking a forkful of cucumbers.

Next time we will make the sauce/marinade with less fish sauce and more lime juice and brown sugar. It should be perfect then.

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Grilled chicken and Texas caviar. 8/6/18

Posted on August 7, 2018 by Beebamom

I have not made Texas caviar for a while. It always feels a little bit daunting when I imagine all the chopping that must be done. I do love chopping up vegetables but I do not like chopping up tomatoes with their unbelievably tough skin.  I have made Texas caviar with canned tomatoes but it is not nearly as good. Kitchen tip – a ceramic knife does a great job cutting up tomatoes. Be careful, though, ceramic knives are really, really sharp.

SORT OF A RECIPE FOR TEXAS CAVIAR: It is basically two cans of beans rinsed and drained (I use black beans and black eyed peas), diced tomatoes, celery, carrots, spicy chile (I used a spicy poblano), onion, and green onion. I also add chopped up cilantro and some frozen corn kernels. Season it with salt, pepper, cumin, and chipotle chile powder for a smoky back note. Add olive oil and vinegar or use some Italian dressing and add extra vinegar and lime juice.) I wish I could tell you exact amounts. Start out with about equal amounts of the vegetables, add about 1/4 cup of the dressing plus 2 teaspoons of cider vinegar and the juice of a lime. Keep tasting it. It will probably need a little more salt and cumin than you think.

Texas caviar

Along with the Texas caviar our dinner consists of  some skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs that John grills. They come out juicy and charred.  Unexpectedly he also makes some chicharrones out of some extra chicken skin. So delicious!! We serve the thighs with some extra BBQ sauce.

Grilled chicken thighs, a little chicken skin chicharrones, and Texas caviar

This is definitely a dinner that tastes like the best of summer.

Posted in American, Grilling, Kitchen tips, Legumes, Poultry, Recipes, Vegetables | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Menu for Aug 6-12, 2018

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Beebamom

Menu for Aug 6-12, 2018

Two new dishes for this week, Vietnamese flank steak and mujaddara. The mujaddara got pushed from last week because of a change in plans so I am looking forward to trying it this week. The Vietnamese flank steak is a recipe I saw in NYT Cooking. With lots of sweet, spicy, sour, umami flavors it should be fun for John to cook. I believe my task will be the pickled cucumber salad

Otherwise it is a week of favorites with John’s yummy grilled chicken starting out the week, shrimp tacos in the middle, and my favorite favorite, fried scallops finishing off the week. Oh, and I am promoting my lunchtime smashed chickpeas with juniper berries to dinner status on Wednesday!

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Shrimp with creamy mustard scampi sauce. 8/5/18

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Beebamom

Does it sound like my shrimp sauce is conflicted?  That is because the last two times we had shrimp I froze the small amounts of sauce I had left over. Tonight they make a combo comeback as creamy mustard scampi sauce.

Shrimp with creamy mustard scampi sauce and rice and power greens

We are big on keeping bits and pieces of previous dishes in our freezer. Sometimes we even use them. Instead of having to create a sauce tonight we have one ready to go. John cooks the shrimp and I make some rice in the Instant Pot.

My recipe for white rice – 1 cup rinsed white rice, 1 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, oil or butter to coat the bottom of the Pot. (The water clinging to the rice from the rinsing is part of the liquid for cooking.) Set the Instant Pot to pressure cook for 4 minutes. After a 10 minute cool down release the rest of the pressure. Done.

The greens are from a salad package called Power Greens. I just dump the whole package in a pan with a little butter and some frozen corn and salt. In five minutes they are cooked.

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Easy vegan lunch. 8/4/18

Posted on August 5, 2018 by Beebamom

Here is an easy vegan lunch that everyone can enjoy. All you need is a can of chickpeas, some olive oil, and seasonings. After washing off my chickpeas I roughly mash them adding some olive oil to make it hold together loosely. Along with salt and pepper I add  juniper berries that I smash up in a mortar and pestle until they are chunky smaller pieces. One time in Italy we had a delicious side dish of white beans and juniper berries and they add a surprising flavor to beans. Their fragrance is reminiscent of a gin and tonic!

Stuff this all in a toasted whole wheat pita with lettuce and tomato and you have a delicious vegan lunch that even meat eaters will enjoy. John is always trying to a pinch a bit of my chickpea mixture!

Whole wheat pita pocket stuffed with mashed chickpeas flavored with juniper berries

Posted in Healthy tips, Kitchen tips, Legumes, Mediterranean, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Be cool! 8/3/18

Posted on August 4, 2018 by Beebamom

Here we are meandering off the menu again. Why is it that I have trouble getting enthused about fish? Anyway, cut the fish and paste in vegetables! I am trying gazpacho for a third time and think I get it right this time.

Gazpacho

I make enough that we each have two bowls and it is plenty for dinner.  I use a combination of fresh tomatoes, canned diced tomatoes, and fresh salsa for the tomato component. I also add some V8 for more liquidity. There is cucumber, onion, garlic, and cilantro along with sherry vinegar and olive oil in the mix. And speaking of mixing I really enjoy plopping everything in the blender roughly chopped, hitting the button, and seeing my ingredients turn into soup! This is a great way to keep the kitchen cool on a hot night and a wonderful way to eat lots of veggies.

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Steakhouse dinner at home. 8/2/18

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Beebamom

You do not need to spend big bucks at a steakhouse to get a great quality steakhouse dinner. You can make it at home! We buy prime cuts of beef at Costco and split one steak between the two of us. The beef tonight is the cap piece of a rib eye steak which comes rolled up and tied.

You could grill it full time on the grill but since we are the House of Gizmos we use the immersion circulator to cook the steak to 125F and then slap it on the grill for 2 minutes on each side. The baked potato halves which have been cooked in the microwave get the grill treatment as well. A little embarrassing since I am the queen of vegetables is to admit that the spinach is Stouffer’s spinach soufflé and also cooks in the microwave.

So our fancy steakhouse dinner cost less than $20 for the two of us and we did not have to get dressed up!

Steakhouse dinner at home!

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Lentils with turkey sausage and vegetables. 8/1/18

Posted on August 2, 2018 by Beebamom

Gosh, here it is August already. I know a lot of people love summer because the weather is warm. I prefer the other seasons. Fall, winter, and spring are much more comfortable seasons in Northern California. The fires are so bad this year. My heart goes out to my fellow Californians who are suffering from the fires. Also many kudos and thanks to the firefighters!

Today’s dinner is really more of a cool weather dish. Lentils are a quick cooking legume and have a delicious earthy flavor. We add turkey sausage, carrots, onions, celery, and a lone mushroom into our stew. I top mine with some fresh oregano from the garden. It turns out very tasty. It helps that we have not prepared this in a long time so the taste is unexpected.

Lentils with turkey sausage

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Cacio e pepe. 7/31/18

Posted on August 1, 2018 by Beebamom

When I was in Rome in March I had this plate of cacio e pepe and it was just delicious. It was maybe the best dish I had on our Italy trip-simply made but perfect! Big shout out to Leonetti’s! Since then I have been dreaming about that wondrous plate of pasta and getting up my nerve to try and prepare it at home.

Cacio e pepe at Leonetti’s in Rome

Cacio e pepe has only a few essential ingredients. You need some boiling salted water, strand pasta, pecorino cheese, and pepper. We start by grating about 4 oz. (100 grams) of pecorino. We are using 8 oz. (200 grams) of whole grain linguine and when the linguine is just al dente we drain it and put in a bowl that has been heated with hot water. We also reserve a cup of the pasta water. Now we slowly add the pecorino to the pasta while stirring vigorously. The cheese and the pasta water and the pasta itself create the sauce. I am also adding fresh ground pepper along the way. The creamy sauce just happens!

My cacio e pepe

Although my cacio e pepe is pretty good, I can see that more practice is needed. There is quite a bit of congealed cheese left in the bowl. Luckily this does not go to waste as John is very happy to adorn his bowl with it.

You should definitely try this!

 

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Chicken Marsala. 7/30/18

Posted on July 31, 2018 by Beebamom

We start off the week with a nice twist on Classic Chicken Monday. John sautes some mushrooms and makes a sauce of chicken stock and Marsala and mounts it with some butter. I absolutely hammer the rutabagas in the Instant Pot because last time they were not quite done. They have a rather funky flavor which really needs that Marsala sauce! Otherwise, same old, same old. The chicken breast cooks in the immersion circulator and the broccoli is just quickly steamed.

Chicken Marsala, rutabagas, broccoli

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