Oatmeal : Autumn Soup : Meatloaf. 10/17/17

Posted on October 18, 2017 by Beebamom

I am taking this part-tine vegan to heart and trying very hard to only have one vegetarian/pescatarian/carnivorous meal a day. Today started off with oatmeal and blueberries which I know is very good for me but oatmeal is still not a fave for me.

This was followed by Autumn Soup (again!). I guess I made a lot of this. Today I decorated it with a lemon slice and chopped scallions. This purée of mostly root vegetables surely does keep one regular!

Autumn soup

Tonight’s dinner was meatloaf. As John says I could make this in my sleep following my mom’s recipe. I love it and I love a meatloaf sandwich the next day. I know I need to find a yummy substitute. Maybe a loaf made of lentils? I served it with half a baked potato and a whole slew of broccoli.

Meatloaf with half baked potato and a LOT of broccoli

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New name! Part-time Vegan! 10/16/17

Posted on October 17, 2017 by Beebamom

After taking a close look at what I’ve been preparing and eating, I renamed my blog, Part-time Vegan. It seems that my breakfast and lunch are vegan and my dinner is all over the map. Maybe I won’t save the world with my semi-commitment but for me and probably a lot of folks it is a good step.

Since my son is visiting we are eating a lot of lunches out. Today’s lunch was at Mad Pita Express where I had hummus and tabbouleh with their awesome pita.

Hummus and tabbouleh at Mad Pita Express

Sadly we took our son to the airport and hugged him goodbye after a super long weekend. Then we came home to make supper, Chicken Monday! We split one breast and here it is enjoying its sous vide Jacuzzi.

Warm bath for our chicken

I also made a combo mash of butternut squash and potatoes.

Hot bath for butternut squash and potatoes

Plus I prepared some broccolini that I sizzled in some olive oil.

Broccolini with olive oil and chili flakes

And here it is my vegetable dinner with chicken!

Half chicken breast with mashed root veg and broccolini

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All-veg lunch, meat dinner. 10/15/17

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Beebamom

Without intentionally doing it, I realize that most of my days I eat two vegan or vegetarian meals and then one meat or fish meal. Sometimes I have an all vegetarian day but mostly it falls into the former pattern. I am pretty pleased with this. It works for me and is healthy. Today, since, I knew we were having hamburgers for dinner so I had oatmeal and blueberries for breakfast and my root vegetable soup, Autumn Soup, for lunch.

Apple, carrot, sweet potato, butternut squash, onion, and Veg stock soup

Later John grilled up some burgers which we had with the rest of the tater tots and cole slaw.

Home cooked burger and fries

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Mongolian BBQ and Fried Scallops. 10/14/17

Posted on October 15, 2017 by Beebamom

This is one of our go-to places in St. George. Fresh ingredients that you choose yourself and watch being cooked. While our son choose beef, pork and vegetables and John opted for beef and vegetables, I always stick with an all vegetable combination. Delicious lunch!

Vegetarian lunch at Mongolian BBQ

Much later, since we were pretty full from lunch, we had a special request dinner. Our son loves the fried scallops that we make so John fried up some scallops and I made a broccoli salad and a bunch of tater tots.

Fried scallops, broccoli salad and tater tots

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Sent it back. 10/13/17

Posted on October 14, 2017 by Beebamom

We went out to dinner with our son here in St. George. We have a minimum that we have to eat at the restaurant associated with our subdivision so it makes sense to have our fancy dinner out there. I know that our mantra for dining in Utah is to have as few intermediary steps as possible between the meat or produce and the final dish. This means for instance “kill cow, cook cow, eat cow.” So when I ordered cheese filled ravioli in a pomodoro sauce with squash tips I knew it would probably not go well. And it did not.

Overcooked cheese ravioli and tasteless pomodoro sauce served with undercooked zucchini cubes served at slightly less than room temperature

What a pile of unappealing glop! The ravioli were stuck together under cold congealed melted cheese. Squash tips? Really? Don’t you mean zucchini cubes? Plus the messy presentation did not add any redeeming factor to the dish.

I ate one ravioli and sent the plate back.

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The past few days. 10/12/17

Posted on October 12, 2017 by Beebamom

We have been busy getting ready for our son’s visit so cooking has been rather slap-dash and few pictures have been taken. On 10/9 we had spaghetti with a meat sauce that I unfroze and then pepped up with some fresh components. It was, being pasta, delicious!

Spaghetti with meat sauce

On 10/11/17 we had turkey sausage and Autumn soup.

I eat turkey sausage as a faux hotdog. Here it is slathered with mustard and relish (archival photo)

On 10/12/17 we made flank steak fajitas for the first night of our son’s visit.  He is a big fan of Mexican food. This came out okay but not great.

Steak fajita with non-fat yogurt crema (archival photo)

 

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Chicken Monday. 10/9/17

Posted on October 10, 2017 by Beebamom

If it is Monday it must be chicken. We are creatures of habit.

Sous vide half chicken breast, rutabagas, broccolini, and gravy

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Insulated fish. 10/8/17

Posted on October 9, 2017 by Beebamom

I am really surprised that I have not posted this dish before. I guess it fell out of favor when Chilean sea bass became so expensive. John once wrote out the recipe for me to use in a cookbook that a charitable organization was compiling. I will include the recipe after the picture. The fish comes out looking like an ice cream sandwich and it is really delicious.

Insulated fish (Chilean sea bass) with new potatoes and steamed cabbage

Recipe for insulated fish (serves four)

1 lb. firm white fish, preferably Chilean sesame bass 3/4 to 1 inch thick cut into 4 pieces, 1 clove garlic, 2 inches of carrot chopped, zest of one small lemon, 1 package of sliced mushrooms, 1/4 cup parsley, 1 small shallot, salt

Place carrot, shallot, garlic, and lemon zest in food processor. Process. Add mushrooms and parsley. Process. Put mixture in a pan with a little olive oil and some salt and cook to death. Sequester half the mixture. Make four beds out of the remaining mushroom mixture. Season fish and place on top of four beds. Top with remaining mixture. Bake in 350 F oven (upper third) for about 8 minutes then broil for 2 minutes making sure it does not burn.

John tested for doneness with a thermopen before doing the broiling. Luckily Chilean sea bass is a very forgiving fish when it comes to overcooking.

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Celery soup! 10/8/17.

Posted on October 8, 2017 by Beebamom

While John was washing windows this morning I whipped up this vegan celery soup for lunch It is really easy and I think it could be done with a variety of vegetables. It is adapted from a recipe for celery soup on the Epicurious website.  Their recipe calls for a stick of butter. I used 2 tablespoons of olive oil instead. It also calls for using chicken stock and I used vegetable stock instead.

Celery soup

Chop an onion, a whole head of celery, one waxy potato, and 2 cloves of garlic.  Cook them in the two tablespoons of olive oil with seasoning until the onion is translucent. Add 3 cups of stock and simmer until the potatoes are cooked, about 10 minutes. Add 1/4 cup herbs and blend or food process until smooth. Adjust seasoning. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a celery garnish.

Can you imagine doing this with other vegetables? I can!

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High fiber side dish. 10/7/17

Posted on October 8, 2017 by Beebamom

Since I am trying to bring down an upwardly creeping glucose level, I am making sure I eat some increased fiber especially when I eat an item with a high glycemic index content. Tonight’s no-no is a white bread hamburger roll. Tonight’s side dish is fiberful white bean and brussel sprout warm salad with a parsley lemon vinaigrette.

Cannellini beans with brussel sprouts in a lemon parsley vinaigrette

This concoction was inspired by a NYT recipe for white beans with asparagus and a tarragon dressing. I just made mine with what I had at hand.

The dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, and parsley came out really well. I think if I make it again, though, I would sub in smaller white beans. The cannellini beans were too mushy. Maybe if I had soaked the beans and cooked them instead of using canned ones they would have had more structure. But since this is supposed to be an easy side dish I think I will merely try a different canned bean.

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