New! Vegan! Lentil salad with roasted potatoes. 5/21/18

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Beebamom

I am always on the lookout for a new recipe to incorporate into my vegan/vegetarian Tuesdays. This recipe came into my mailbox via the Washington Post but I see there are lots of similar recipes online.

Lentils over hearty Italian greens with roasted potatoes

I was hoping for crispier potatoes. These were oven roasted with an olive oil, smoky paprika, and onion flake topping and were quite tasty and creamy although not crispy. The lentils were cooked and then mixed with olive oil, tomato paste, parsley, and red pepper. This was all served over an arugula and radicchio salad mix. Personally I think I would rather serve the salad greens separately with a bracing vinegary dressing for a little contrast.

I think I will tweak this recipe a bit and see if I can improve it.

Tweakable?

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3-Cup Chicken with Garlic Sesame Broccoli. 5/21/18

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Beebamom

I got the garlic and sesame broccoli recipe from NYTimes Cooking. Reviews were saying it was like broccoli “crack”. I’ve never had crack but I have had broccoli many different ways and certainly “death by broccoli” (an insane casserole) and “crunchy broccoli” (a sweet/sour celery seed salad) were more delicious to me than this broccoli dish. It was okay but I don’t think I will make it again.

Last time we made 3-cup chicken it turned out pretty well except for it was a little too soy sauce-y and the pieces were too big. I made some notes on my recipe to correct those faults this time. Here is my mise en place.

Mise en place for 3-cup chicken

Strangely the chicken did not come out better. The sauce seemed lacking in flavor and not thick enough plus the chicken had a boiled aspect to it. I was disappointed.

3-cup chicken with garlic sesame broccoli and rice

We are supposed to have the leftover chicken later this week over pasta. I guess we will look into making more sauce and improving it.

Not great, sigh…

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Menu for the week 5/20/18

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Beebamom

Since I have been pretty lazy over the weekend with my cooking, the only thing I have to show is my menu for the week.

We are planning on two vegetarian meals, two chicken meals, two seafood meals, and one red meat meal plus plenty of vegetable sides. Hopefully this will keep me interested in cooking this week!

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Gobi Mongolian Grill. 5/19/18

Posted on May 20, 2018 by Beebamom

It does not look like this is going to be a cooking weekend. In addition to our traditional Chinese takeout on Sunday night, our son came over for a visit on Saturday and we went out to lunch. We tried a new place, Gobi Mongolian Grill.

Normally when I go to our favorite Mongolian BBQ in Utah, I keep it strictly vegetarian but I thought I would try a few meats at this new place. They had beef, lamb, turkey sausage, and chicken. I chose a little beef and some turkey sausage and then a bunch of vegetables. They also had tofu which I tried. The turkey sausage and the tofu were not good. Both had a bad texture. Son and John raved about the lamb. All the vegetables were great. I think I will stick to vegetables next time!

A plateful from Gobi Mongolian Grill (I could not eat it all!)

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Spaghetti Bolognese-ish. 5/18/18

Posted on May 19, 2018 by Beebamom

Spaghetti with meat sauce garnished with fresh oregano

Hardly a week goes by that I do not have some version of this dish. I made a bunch of sauce on 5/9/18 and froze two containers of it. The first time I used it, I diluted it too much. this time it came our perfectly after a little reducing and the strategic addition of fish sauce. It gives it such a great depth of flavor. The reason I call it Bolognese-ish is because it does not contain any dairy and only ground beef whereas true Bolognese usually has beef and pork components and milk. I like mine just fine and it is a lot less time consuming.

My fav

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Shrimp tacos. 5/17/18

Posted on May 18, 2018 by Beebamom

Shrimp tacos with Texas caviar

Who does not love a taco? And even though we did not get to have a taco truck on every corner, you can make delicious, healthy tacos at home easily. Before a brief sauté John marinated the shrimp for a short time in garlic powder, cumin, salt, and cayenne for extra flavor and toasted the white corn tortillas over the stovetop’s open flame. (That was actually my idea!) I enhanced a drained can of Rotel into salsa, whipped up a sour cream and cumin crema, and chopped some cilantro, tomatoes, and cabbage. The side with our tacos was the remainder of the Texas caviar (fresh vegetable and bean salad) we had on Mother’s Day. This is a dish that is great visually and delicious to eat!

Mmmm, healthy, fresh, and delicious!

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Vegan chickpea stew. 5/16/18

Posted on May 17, 2018 by Beebamom

 

Chickpea stew with ditalini and collard greens

We try to eat vegan or vegetarian once or twice a week. I figure it is good for us and good for the earth. Plus there are so many tasty dishes that do not require meat.

Chickpea stew is a favorite of mine since you can change it up in so many ways and it is quick and easy to make. Tonight’s dish started with a base of onions, carrots, and celery. To make it different I added some poblano pepper, fresh tomatoes, zucchini, and a chiffonade of collard greens at the end. I am sure you could make this with a different bean or change the pasta shape or use rice instead. The possibilities are endless.

This is another NY Times Cooking recipe and on the site it goes by the name of Chickpea Stew with Orzo and Mustard Greens.

Yum!

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New recipe! Chicken Paprikash. 5/15/18

Posted on May 16, 2018 by Beebamom

I have been trying out a lot of new recipes lately. Last week’s Three Cup Chicken was a real winner. Last night’s Chicken Paprikash was not. I used a recipe from NYTimes Cooking.  The chicken itself came out pretty good and the noodles were lovely but the sauce was a non-starter. Maybe our paprika was too old and bitter. John had his with the sour cream mixed into the sauce. I had mine on top. We ate the chicken and some of the noodles and threw the rest out.

I am sure there are wonderful recipes out there for chicken paprikash and certainly better cooks than I. You should try some recipe for chicken paprikash that you like.

Chicken paprikash with noodles and sour cream

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Meat loaf. 5/14/18

Posted on May 15, 2018 by Beebamom

We had five hamburgers left over from Mother’s Day so I made meat loaf. I make meat loaf the way my mother did-nothing fancy, egg, breadcrumbs,Worcestershire sauce, some chopped up onions, garlic powder, salt and pepper. I cook it at 350F to an internal temperature of 145F. I like it a lot and even though my mom has been gone 34 years, it still makes me think of her.

Cannot wait for tomorrow because even better than just out of the oven meat loaf are cold meat loaf sandwiches!

Meat loaf served with Texas caviar and Lebanese tabbouleh

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Happy Mother’s Day cookout. 5/13/18

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Beebamom

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there. For the most part we do a pretty terrific job taking care of our children plus working outside the home and working inside the home. I hope everyone had a pleasant and relaxing day.

Our daughter who lives with us got up early to complete the Swedish tea ring she made for me. It is a favorite of mine from childhood. No, I am not Swedish. This was a coffee cake that the Dugan’s man use to bring to our house when he stopped a couple of times a week with a display case of breads and pastries. Things were very different in the 1950’s.

Delicious Swedish tea ring

Later on our son and his wife and our two grandkids came over along with his wife’s parents and sister for a cookout. John made hamburgers on the grill. (Eating vegetarian/vegan? Substitute a portobello mushroom for the hamburger!)

Hamburger on a bun

I made Lebanese tabbouleh with the emphasis on the parsley rather than the bulgur wheat. You can find the recipe for it at The NY Times cooking site. (Unfortunately this summer the NYT is going to be putting the cooking site behind a paywall so get it while you can!) I added a little chopped cucumber to mine.

Lebanese tabbouleh

I also made some Texas caviar which is basically a whole bunch of chopped up vegetables and black beans and black eyed peas with a light spicy dressing. I added a touch of chipotle powder to give it a smoky taste.

Texas caviar

For dessert we simply had some of our daughter’s Snickerdoodle cookies with vanilla ice cream. I think all the moms felt loved!

Snickerdoodle cookies

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