New Leaf beginning 6/21/18

For the last few months John and I have been eating anything that strikes our fancy-fried stuff, red meats, carbohydrates galore. It is time to stop and get back to eating in a healthy manner. Luckily we have been cooking all along and now just have to switch gears a little.

We have decided that each week our dinners should be comprised of two vegetarian meals, two poultry meals, two fish/shellfish meals, and one red meat meal. Breakfast and lunch have never been a problem. We also need to cut down on the snacks before dinner. Eating dinner a bit earlier should take care of that. We also have never had an eating-after-dinner problem.

Here is our menu for next week-

Menu 6/21-27/18

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Chinese take-out. 6/20/18

We spent the day driving home so decided to just get some Chinese take-out. After three weeks in Utah moo shu pork and Mongolian beef definitely count as comfort food.

Moo shu pork

Mongolian beef (extra spicy!)

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Dining out: Eggplant Parmesan. 6/19/18

Last night we were on the road coming home from Utah. We stopped for the night in Bakersfield, CA, a large-ish agricultural town in Southern California. We had dinner at Macaroni Grill. Our server spent the hour or so we were there in their mostly empty restaurant trying to hurry us along. Could she put our order in yet? Look at the dessert menu when we were only part way through our dinner. Could she clear our plates? It was pretty annoying. I asked her if she got a bonus for getting people out of the restaurant fast.

Anyway, we both got eggplant Parmesan with angel hair pasta and it was very good. I do not make eggplant Parmesan at home because it is super messy to make. Having it out is a real treat. I forgot to take a picture but it looked something like this internet picture –

Eggplant Parmesan (thanks to BigOven)

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Two fancy-ish dinners in a row. 6/16 & 17/18

The last two dinners with our visiting family had some pretty high-end ingredients-dry packed scallops and prime ribeye cap steaks. Since we were serving children as well as our son, we made them in a not haute cuisine way. Tater tots were a prominent ingredient and some food was fried. The kids really like to eat sweets so these dinners fell mostly on deaf palates. I gave them macaroni and cheese again on scallop night. On our farewell dinner night they avoided the meat but did try the roasted broccoflower which they said was good. At some point they will want to try new things!

Fried scallops, tater tots, collard greens and corn

Rib eye cap steak, tater tots, roasted broccoflower

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Beef overload. 6/14 & 15/18

We have been eating way more beef than usual since the family is visiting. Thursday and Friday were no exception. Thursday we ate at a nice restaurant nearby. The whole event was almost derailed since one of our grandsons has a peanut allergy and at first it seemed like he would not be able to eat anything kid-friendly on the menu. After some serious discussion with the waitstaff and cook it seemed that there were no dishes containing peanuts and no peanut oil is used. Crisis averted!

I ordered steak following Utah rules. In other words don’t order anything in a Utah restaurant with an elaborate preparation. Kill cow, cook cow, eat cow is our mantra. Along with the dead cow I also got a dead baked potato cooked some time in the last decade and a few limp “seasonal” vegetables.

NY strip steak with old potato and seasonal vegetables

On Friday we cooked at home and had our son’s favorite, meatballs with gravy over noodles and green beans. The kids did not like it. It is hard to find something that everyone likes. Tomorrow the three adults are having fried scallops and the kids are having macaroni and cheese. Divide and conquer!

Meatballs and gravy over noodles with green beans

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Fry bread and fajitas. 6/13/18

On Wednesday we took the family to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. It is exceptional and we were happy to give the kids a chance to see it.

A view from the north rim of the Grand Canyon

For lunch we ate in the dining room of the North Rim Lodge. On the advice of our waitperson we ordered elk chili in a fry bread taco. Fry bread is a flat bread dough that is fried. The dish got varying reviews from the table. Son thought his was great while I was less enthused. This is probably because mine was cold. I think I must have gotten the last of some pot.

Fry bread taco. Picture thanks to Cooking Classy.

Later we stayed over in Kanab, UT. Although dining choices there are limited, there are a few vegetarian restaurants and some Mexican restaurants. Due to our mixed party we went to the Escobar’s Mexican Restaurant. It was very good. John and I both ordered beef fajitas. I managed to transfer two of my three tortillas to my grandson, Sam, and my son. There was definitely plenty to eat.

Beef fajitas. Picture thanks to seriouseats.com

 

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Recipe: Shrimp with saffron Pernod sauce

Saffron shrimp with Pernod sauce and yellow rice

Here is the recipe for the Shrimp in Saffron Pernod Sauce. We had this originally at the now defunct Kenwood Restaurant in California. We have made a few adjustments. I hope you like it as much as we do.

Kenwood’s Shrimp in Saffron Pernod Sauce   Serves 2 or 3

The Mixture
1 cup finely chopped tomatoes (if using drained, canned add 1 tsp sugar)
1⁄4 cup finely chopped celery
1⁄4 cup finely chopped onion
1⁄4 cup finely chopped fennel
1⁄4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper.                                                                                               1 cup white wine
1 clove minced garlic.                                                                                                                         Pinch of thyme                                                                                                                                   Pinch of oregano.                                                                                                                                    2 bay leaves
Healthy pinch of saffron                                                                                                                   Salt and cayenne to taste.

The Rest
1 cup heavy (double) cream
2 tablespoons Pernod
24 shrimp (31-40 count)
Fennel fronds or cilantro for garnish

Method
Cook “the mixture” until nearly dry. Be sure your vegetables are a very fine dice. Add 2 T Pernod and cook briefly to get rid of the alcohol. Add the cream. Add shrimp and continue to cook for 2 minutes (until shrimp is done.)
Serve with rice and garnish with fennel fronds or cilantro.

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Pancakes and shrimp. 6/12/18

No doubt you are saying to yourself, is this like chicken and waffles? Interesting concept but this is what I made for the kids and what we adults ate for dinner. Two separate things.

I got the pancake recipe from my daughter-in-law so that the grandkids would for sure to  like it . The recipe comes from the Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook and I made it as best I could. Sam liked them a lot while Alex was not ready to give them two thumbs up. He told me they were fine but were missing the magical touch of his mom. He instead praised me for my Kraft macaroni and cheese. Okay, I am good with that. A mother’s dish should always be more magical.

Pancakes!

Later John and I (but mostly John) made saffron shrimp in Pernod sauce. It was a big hit. We have reformulated the recipe a bit and I will make a separate post of it. It is delicous and you will love it.

Saffron shrimp with Pernod sauce and yellow rice

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Zayde burgers and tots. 6/11/18

Along with my blue box mac and cheese our other super hit with our grandkids is Zayde burgers. While Jon, the kids, and I went to the bread store and did a little sightseeing around St. George, John got the burgers ready for cooking. He seasoned the meat well and added a little baking soda to keep the burgers juicy even though we cook them more well-done for the kids.

Before dinner we had family movie time with some snacks. Today we watched the movie, Clue, since we played the game for the first time this morning.

Rounding out our dinner we had a bunch of tater tots and cole slaw. Since Jon and the kids also spent a couple hours at the pool, the kids were ready for an early bed time. (Daddy, Beeba, and Zayde too!)

Grilled hamburger and tater tots

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Sweet Italian sausage and polenta. 6/10/18

Our son and two grandkids have arrived for a fun week in the hopefully not too blazing sun of Utah! Obviously there will be less time for blogging as we hike, swim, play games, travel to the Grand Canyon, etc., etc.

Meals will be a bit disjointed as we have some all together and some in two shifts, one for kids and one for adults. The first night we split up into mac and cheese lovers and sausage and polenta lovers. There is not much to say about the mac and cheese other than it comes in a blue box and is revered as Beeba’s mac and cheese.

For our grown-up meal we had Italian sausage with peppers and onions over polenta. I got to relax while John and Jon cooked. Pretty sweet!

Sweet Italian sausage with peppers and onions over polenta

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